Behram Contractor

Behram Contractor (1930 – 9 April 2001), also known as Busybee, was an important figure in Indian journalism: "In the history of Indian journalism, there will never be another humorist like Busybee; he was the Art Buchwald of India, the P.G. Wodehouse of our times and more, a writer with a brilliant sense of timing for satire and humour, but with a soft and sensitive pen. And with a flow of words that could have readers rolling in their living rooms, offices and suburban trains on their way home; or moist-eyed with emotion and sepia-tinged nostalgia. That was Busybee." (About Busybee)

A prolific and popular writer, Contractor worked at The Free Press Journal, The Times of India (Bombay), and Mid Day before founding his own newspaper The Afternoon Despatch and Courier (better known as Afternoon) in 1985. Contractor continued to write articles for the Times of India and the Midday under the pen name Busybee even while serving as editor of his own paper, and his column Round and About was one of the most loved editorials in the city.

Contractor also wrote the series "Eating Out," which featured one of the best Mumbai restaurants, giving a glimpse of many Indian and international cuisines. Described as "the first food writer of the country," Contractor also served as the editor of UpperCrust, a publication that honored him with 50 quotations.

A humorist, but also a writer who searched for treasures and beauty wherever he went, Contractor leafed through the guestbook at the Samovar restaurant at the Jehangir Gallery in Mumbai and admitted, "I have no words to write about Samovar"—only to write another moving piece, "A Russian Samovar in India."[1]

He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1990,[2] and the Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism in 1996. In 1998, Contractor published From Bombay to Mumbai, a collection of the best of Busybee's columns from 1996 and 1997.

Behram Contractor died in 2001 from a heart attack.