Parsiana

19/07/2024

The plaintive statement, “The Zoroastrians of Pakistan are not a declining community, we are a dying community,” made by Karachi Parsi Anjuman Trust Fund chairman Dinshaw Avari at the Global Working Group meeting at the Banaji Atash Behram Hall on January 8, 2024 reflects the grim reality of what is happening to the global Zoroastrian community.
You can read the full article on our website parsiana.com

Column: Editorial Viewpoint
Issue March 7-March 20, 2024

18/07/2024

While no audiovisual could do full justice to the munificence and vision of Jerbai Wadia, the 15-minute presentation and the accompanying sound-and-light show on December 22, 2023 reflected the gratitude of the approximately 320 families that call the 100-year-old Rustom Baug (RB) home. A gala evening and dinner was the finale of the year-long celebration of Byculla’s iconic stone structured housing colony.

Colunm: Celebrations
Photo: Rehan Daruwalla
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024

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17/07/2024

On December 10, 2023 to attend the 19th Zochild Day (ZCD) neurosurgeon Dr Mazda Turel said Control your diet, reduce saturated fats, sleep adequately, go for a walk, swim, take a safari, spend some time in the forest, disconnect from your TV/mobile screens, be with nature. And lastly, “fill your life with gratitude.

Photo: Dr Mazda Turel
Column: Youth
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024

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16/07/2024

16/07/2024

“Build on your strengths and understand your shortcomings… Do not shy away from mistakes. Instant success will only last for an instant… Don’t confuse intelligence with education. Intelligence is what we need, education is only a tool.
stated Boman Irani, chairman and managing director of the Rustomjee Group. at the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC) in Poona January 4 to 7, 2024.

Typography seen on the computer is distinct from calligraphy that “comes from the heart and hand” said calligrapher, Pudumjee Coyaji

Photo: Boman Irani and Perin Pudumjee Coyaji
Colunm: Business
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024

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15/07/2024

“The transformation took over five months and the Master family has spared no expense,” Desai noted. Arin, Percy, Xerrxes and Kainaz Master refurbished the bungli in memory of Xerrxes’s first wife Pinaz who was tragically struck down by a hit-and-run driver outside the Princess Victoria Mary Gymkhana on November 28, 2003 while on her way to attend an evening function. She was a day shy of her 28th birthday.

At first the Punchayet built out of funds at its disposal a bungli at the lower level of the hill on Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy Road, and then a donor came forward to build another. These bunglis were only for the geh sarna before disposal of the body at the Towers. From 1928 onwards the trustees built, from out of donations, bunglis at the upper level for the four days’ ceremonies.
Source: History of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet 1860-1960 by Sapur F. Desai

Refurbished Hodiwala Bungli
Photo: Farokh Mojia
Colunm: Trusts
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024

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14/07/2024

“The Parsi community should live as a joint undivided family if we want to survive in this fast changing world,” counselled Burjor Antia before stepping down as chairman of the Global Council of Zoroastrians Trust (GCZT) on January 8, 2024. “Addressing global issues requires collaboration and partnership with individuals and institutions who share similar values,” stressed his successor Neville Shroff, president of the Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hongkong, Canton and Macao, who has over the years served as the non executive chair of the Global Working Group (GWG), the second chamber of this bicameral Trust.

Burjor Antia, Rohinton Rivetna, Neville Shroff
Photo: Sarosh Daruwalla
Colunm: Politics and Policy
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024

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13/07/2024

Viraf Mehta (VM): Our number one priority is to improve the financial health of the BPP by generating funds. Apart from raising enough to cover costs, we need to restore all the commitments made to the community like second and third child subsidy, financial aid to our mobeds, etc.

Viraf Mehta (r) being felicitated by Aspi Sarkari while Percy Siganporia applauds
Colunm: Politics and Policy
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024

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12/07/2024

A fire temple is neither a kitty party nor a club to exchange gossip. Not preserving the sacrosanctity of silence is disrespecting the holy fire, a living entity of high spiritual status, for those who believe. Also, not being sensitive to your coreligionists who are there to seek solace in quiet contemplation. In places of worship, it is critical that conversation is limited to the absolutely essential.

Colunm: The Occasional Piece by Berjis Desai
Illustration by Farzana Cooper
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024

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11/07/2024

Nearly one-third of the participants selected for the Zoroastrian Return To Roots (RTR) were Iranian Zoroastrians. The object of the 10-year program is to familiarize the youth abroad with the community in India.

Participants of the 7th Zoroastrian Return to Roots program outside the Iranshah
Column: Zoroastrians Abroad
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024

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10/07/2024

“For advancing social change through human-centered media,” Firdaus Kharas was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada, one of the country’s highest honors on December 28, 2023. Founder and chairman of Chocolate Moose Media, an animation and documentary creator, his hybrid venture makes for-profit television series and not-for-profit media campaigns. He is recognized as “a social entrepreneur, humanitarian and mass communications media producer.”

Photo: Firdaus Kharas and his mass media creation
Column: Zoroastrians Abroad
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024

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09/07/2024

In the last six years the Asha Vahishta dadgah in Poona has fulfilled the religious and spiritual needs of inter-married Parsis and other Zoroastrians… It is a place of worship and venue solely for Zoroastrian social and religious ceremonies such as navjotes, weddings, jashan, maachis, and the four-day obsequial funerary prayers for those who opt for burial or cremation, which non-Parsi family and friends can attend,” trustee Vispy Wadia stated.

Photo: Asha Vahishta dadgah
Column: Events and Personalities
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024

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08/07/2024

“My acceptance speech was one line: ‘Der aayé par durust aayé (Better late than never)’… People said I’m luckier to get the award in old age than those who are posthumously rewarded.” India’s first openly gay poet Hoshang Merchant was speaking to Parsiana on being recognized at the Rainbow Lit Fest — Q***r and Inclusive held on December 9-10, 2023 at the Gulmohar Park Club, New Delhi for his work in gay activism over decades.

Photo: Hoshang Merchant (r) receiving his award from feminist publisher Urvashi Butalia
Column: Events and Personalities
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024

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***r

07/07/2024

All new students to the Dadar Athornan Institute will be entitled to the benefit of the Sarkari-WZO scheme under which each one will be granted Rs 5,000 per month. The cumulative amount of around Rs 8,00,000 will be handed over after the student completes his navar, maratab and SSC.

Column: Readers’ Forum
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024

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03/07/2024

Changes in the leadership of three critical community institutions took place this January. The chairpersonship of The Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India (FPZAI) and the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) changed dramatically and unexpectedly from BPP trustee Armaity Tirandaz to trustee Viraf Mehta while the chairpersonship of the recently formed Global Council of Zoroastrians Trust (GCZT), the monetary arm of the Global Working Group, shifted from trustee Burjor Antia to Neville Shroff, president of the Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hongkong, Canton and Macao.

Photo: Viraf Mehta and Neville Shroff
Column: Editorial Viewpoint
Issue January 21-February 6, 2024
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02/07/2024

With the passing away of Dr Gieve Patel, 83, of cancer at the Cipla Palliative Care and Training Centre in Poona on November 3, 2023, we lost a doctor, artist, sculptor, poet and playwright.

Photo: Dr Gieve Patel
Colunm: In Memoriam
Issue January 7-January 20, 2024

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01/07/2024

As parents, we play a key role in enabling overall wellness of how our children think, regulate their feelings and behavior. A child’s struggles to do so lead to mental health issues later on. Mental health disorders are defined as patterns or changes in thinking, feeling or behaving that cause distress or disrupt a person’s ability to function.

Illustration by Farzana Cooper
Column: Health
Issue January 7-January 20, 2024

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30/06/2024

“It is a rapidly growing sport which provides a unique test of technique, stamina and mental strength as it finds the most gifted all-round racket sports player,” stated Naheed Divecha, the first lady vice president of Bombay Gymkhana who was delighted that the Federation of International Racketlon (FIR) decided to bring some of the best international players from Great Britain, France, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and the USA to play alongside the top Indian players at the Bombay Gymkhana.

Photo: Nevil Malao and Naheed Divecha
Column: SPORTS
Issue January 7-January 20, 2024

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29/06/2024

“Overall fitness, running and triathlon is a way of life for me and I am constantly racing and training,” stated Delhi based Adil Nargolwala who had signed up for 27 marathons, big and small, national and international in 2023. As compared to him, KurushWadia and Burzin Engineer participate in fewer events.

Photo: Clockwise from top Adil Nargolwala, Kurush Wadia and Burzin Engineer
Column: SPORTS
Issue January 7-January 20, 2024

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28/06/2024

Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw’s contribution has not been celebrated enough in popular culture, especially at a time when the political leadership likes to take credit for military victories in jingoistic narratives. India’s most famous military hero, and certainly the most popular in modern times, has not received the attention he deserves. Director Meghna Gulzar’s Sam Bahadur thus fills a much needed gap even if she has given us an adulatory biopic of an outspoken military strategist who had the spine to speak the truth to those in power.
Bakhtiar Dadabhoy

Colunm: Cover Story
Issue January 7-January 20, 2024

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27/06/2024

Some may argue that the concepts of marketing and secular education are inappropriate for dealing with the problem of the shortage of mobeds. They may argue that the mobeds’ religious education has been eternally fixed by our religion and traditions and cannot be changed, leave alone improved on. But no one is asking to change the mobeds’ religious education. What is suggested is to augment their worth and value in the community by appropriate secular education so that students are not only good performers of rituals, but also friends and counsellors to the community regarding their secular problems.
Dr Jamshed A. Modi

Seminar organized by Athornan Mandal at Banaji Atash Behram Hall
Photo: Sarosh Daruwalla
Colunm: Comment
Issue January 7-January 20, 2024

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26/06/2024

Palmists, card readers, practitioners of Unani medicine and ear cleaners professing to cure ailments were encountered by the then young Dr Farokh Udwadia on Elphinstone Bridge while he walked from the railway station to his alma mater, King Edward Memorial Hospital in Parel. When he questioned one of them about the efficacy of his treatments, he was told that to find out he would have to visit the roadside practitioner if he had a earache!

Photo: Dr Farokh Udwadia: expounding on Ayurveda
Colunm: Medicine
Issue January 7-January 20, 2024

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25/06/2024

A decorative yellow ribbon tied to the three cricket stumps was snipped by Dr Homi Doodhwala. Bat in hand, the 70-year-old president of the Surat Parsi Panchayat (SPP) as also Surat’s Zoroastrian Club then proceeded to stand at the crease while his 86-year-old co-trustee Yazdi Karanjia bowled him a delivery. The presence of the two community stalwarts was heartening for the sports enthusiasts from the city as also from Nagpur, Jamshedpur, Calcutta and Secunderabad who had come to participate in the 35th Jiji Irani Challenge Cricket Cup Tournament in mid November 2023.

Photo: Dr Homi Doodhwala (l) and Yazdi Karanjia: supporting cricket meet in Surat
Column: Politics and Policy
Issue January 7-January 20, 2024

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24/06/2024

Browsing through the World Development Report, an annual publication of the World Bank that deals with issues of poverty reduction, climate change and global crises, Zenobia Panthaki from Virginia, USA, was surprised that in the 2023 edition, the subject of “Migrants, Refugees and Societies” included the milk and sugar “Parsi legend.” The Parsi head priest’s symbolic gesture of adding sugar to the vessel of milk sent by the local ruler to denote that the migrants would enhance but not unsettle the local society was narrated therein.

Top photo: depiction of the sugar in the milk legend
Photo from: In Search of My God
above photo: World Bank report
Column: Zoroastrians Abroad
Issue January 7-January 20, 2024
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23/06/2024

The Jashn-e Sadeh festival celebrated on January 30 each year has been added to the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. As reported in the December 2023 issue of Zoroastrianism Today, the monthly newsletter of the SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies, Sadeh or Sada (denoting one hundred) marks the end of the coldest winter days with 50 days and 50 nights remaining to spring.

Photo: Sadeh celebrations in Iran
Column: Zoroastrians Abroad
Issue January 7-January 20, 2024

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22/06/2024

The monajat Khudavind e Khavind set to modern music “aimed to raise awareness among the younger generation about the declining Parsi community and its prayers,” won singer Naynaz Munsaf and music director Kaizad Patel awards at the Evergreen Music Awards 2023.

Photo: Naynaz Munsaf (l) and Kaizad Patel
Column: Events and Personalities
Issue January 7-January 20, 2024

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