Edited By: arzan sam wadia on Fri 3 Jul 2009
Jehangir Palkhivala: Yoga – A Reason To Smile
Mickie Sorabjee, a regular reader and friend of Parsi Khabar sent us a tip to a great article on Uppercrust.com
How many are privileged to be nurtured by Yogacharya B.K.S.Iyengar himself? To be simultaneously blessed by Sri Aurbindo and Mother of Pondicherry? To inherit the legal virtuosity of father Behram Palkhiwala and Uncle Nani? Meet Jehangir Palkhiwala, an astounding individual, who chose and carved his own path through time and is an enlightened soul. His journey of yoga commenced during his formative years at the correct age of seven. While his mother tenderly coached him in yoga daily, Jehangir played truant from class if the asanas were difficult. Yet, he was a rather favoured student of Yogacharya B.K.S.Iyengar. Affectionately calling his teacher ‘uncle’, he would sit around on his lap and play. Yogacharya B.K.S.Iyengar, considered the benchmark of a strong teacher, evokes awe in Jehangir even today. Whilst cultivating yoga in her three sons, Adil, Feroze and Jehangir, their mother also instilled a belief in the Mother of Pondicherry in him. If as a child, he suffered toothache or a bad dream, his mother’s strong belief led her to give him the offerings of the Mother of Pondicherry in the form of rose petals and his pain would just ease away. His dimension of spiritualism and healing are a result of his strong connections with Sri Aurobindo, his faith in the Mother and the imbedded character of yoga.
Continue reading the entire article at UpperCrust.com
Edited By: arzan sam wadia on Thu 2 Jul 2009
The Demands on our Holy Fire
This is a delightful piece sent to us by Mickie Sorabjee, a regular here at Parsi Khabar. The author of this piece is not known. The intent of this article is humour and nothing else.
It is* Friday and Behram Roj ‘motto daro’.* The Fire Temple is buzzing with people. All sorts and all ages. Every face is at its serene best. The Flame is leaping with delight gorging at the large diet of Kathi and Sukhad and in return is offering patient ears to the various request prayers. Some serious, some almost comic, some trivial, some greedy, some incessant and the odd one out of only Thanks. A little girl is poking her dimples with a sukhad until mom says ‘M nai karvanoo’.
Some daily regulars are in corners swaying and shifting their weight. Some ladies have stifled the circumstance of their face with a tight scarf and are hobbling ahead pushing aside any in their way. Some men are darting around hurriedly as they are at the brink of a busy day.
Coomi is praying— pug no sojo ochho thai.
Jamshed is praying — bawa bike apavey
Edited By: arzan sam wadia on Wed 1 Jul 2009
Parsi Cuisine in Los Altos, California
Around the corner from Spicy Leaves, Panini’s proprietor Dinyar Anklesaria has an exciting sideline to his main business of providing sandwiches for the lunchers of Los Altos. Anklesaria, Indian born and of the Parsi minority, cooks some Parsi classic dishes on Saturdays for those who know enough to request them.
His dhansak, a chicken or lamb stew with four kinds of lentils, vegetables and spices, harkens back to his ancestors’ Persian origins. Request the dhansak, a kebab or his oven-baked halibut, wrapped with mint in a banana leaf for a delicious change. Call ahead to make sure he’s cooking the week you want to try a dish, at 941-7616.
Panini’s is located in the Village Court shopping Center, 4546 El Camino Real.
Original article here.
Edited By: arzan sam wadia on Tue 30 Jun 2009
First Parsi run Lady Taxi Service
First Parsi Lady Taxi Service Driver Anahita Mistry nee Driver stays in Malcolm Baug.
Anahita and her colleagues are already busy round the clock, ferrying ladies working for hotels, BPOs, etc. 24X7.
She can be contacted for all your travelling needs, eapecially for ladies and kids in aircond comfort.
Her business card reads as :
ANNAHITA – 9320156622
MUMBAI CAB : 44 333 222 / 67 070 211 / 67 070 287
FOR WORLD CLASS EXCLUSIVE LADIES’ TAXI SERVICE
ADVANTAGES JUST A CALL AWAY :
- air conditioned well maintained cars
- well groomed, skilled and trained FEMALE Chauffeurs
- suitable for ladies, kids and special people as it ensures secured travel
- cars available for airport transfers, local usage and outstation trips
.
Edited By: arzan sam wadia on Mon 29 Jun 2009
Kyra Shroff: Parsi at Wimbledon
Kyra eyes main draw
Mumbai’s Kyra Shroff will be India’s lone campaigner at the Junior Wimbledon this year. Hoping to make it to the girls’ singles main draw, Kyra is currently playing at a Grade One event in Roehampton. The qualifying rounds for Wimbledon that begin on Thursday will feature Kyra. However, if she enters the semifinal of the ongoing ITF tournament in Roehampton, she might be exempted from playing the qualifying rounds and may walk straight into the main draw.
More here.
Edited By: arzan sam wadia on Mon 29 Jun 2009
Food Pilgrimage to Udvada
Kunal Vijaykar….the famous foodie takes you on a pilgrimage to Udvada…..but its not a religious pilgrimage. Its a Food pilgrimage.
Be warned that this will leave you all hungry and yearning for some lip smacking food.
Check out part 2 and 3 on Times Now
Edited By: Shirin Kumaana-Wadia on Wed 24 Jun 2009
Parsi Prayers and their Significance
The following is from a series titled "What is Prayers" on Frashogard.com written by our godo friend Ervad Marzban Hathiram,
Of the many gifts given to Parsis by their Prophet Zarathushtra, that of the Manthras is one of the most significant. Manthras are the divine words of the Prophet and His appointed disciples which form what we loosely call today the ‘Avesta’. Over the thousands of years that have passed since the time of the advent of Zarathushtra, the great majority of the Manthras have been, unfortunately, lost. What we have left is not more than 5% of the original, which are used for daily prayers as well as the rituals which form the core of the faith. The question is often asked: What is the use of praying in a language we do not understand? Cannot the same prayers be translated in to a common language like English and the same said with more concentration and meaning? Would it not be better if some newer and shorter prayers were introduced? In order to answer these and related queries, it is necessary to firstly understand who man is, what is his role in nature, what is prayer, why does man need to pray and what benefits accrue from praying.
Continue reading the entire article here.
UPDATE:
Part 2. Part 3 and Part 4 of the series are up on Frashogard’s site.
Edited By: arzan sam wadia on Mon 22 Jun 2009
Thrity Umrigar Wins Cleveland Arts Prize
The employees of McLean & Eakin Booksellers are so taken with Thrity Umrigar’s stories that they pooled frequent-flier miles to bring her to a July 9 reading at their Petoskey, Mich., store.
"She’s been a staff favorite for a very long time," says Leighanne Law. "A few of us have had a chance to meet her, and for the big scope of her books, and their emotional intensity, it’s a shock that she’s such a humble and charming woman."
Umrigar, who has just sold her sixth book to HarperCollins, wears her acclaim lightly. She made tenure two years ago at Case Western Reserve University, has won a midcareer award from the Cleveland Arts Prize and will lecture at the Chautauqua Institution next month.
Edited By: arzan sam wadia on Sat 20 Jun 2009
Nestling Vultures: BPP and BNHS join hands
The Bombay Parsi Panchayat in collaboration with the BNHS plan to build a breeding centre for vultures at the Borivali National Park Sonu Bohra hunts for the details.
Sonu Bohra
While the Parsi community is coming to terms with their declining numbers, the burning issue now is the dwindling numbers of vultures in the city, which aid their sky burial ritual. According to a Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) survey done in 2007, there were about 11,000 white-backed vultures, 1,000 slender-billed vultures and 44,000 long-billed vultures in the country as against an estimate of approximately 40 million vultures in the early ’80s.
“The vulture population has declined by more than 99 per cent and is diminishing at the rate of more than 40 per cent annually. If precautionary measures are not implemented, they will soon be extinct,” says Dr Vibhu Prakash, deputy director and head – Vulture Conservation Breeding Programme, BNHS.
Edited By: arzan sam wadia on Wed 17 Jun 2009
Tales from Firozsha Baag now a play in New Zealand
Indian Newslink from NZ reports
A play around migration and its conflicts is at the heart of an ambitious new project of the Auckland based theatre group Prayas.
Following the success of its earlier productions including Charan Das Chor by Habib Tanvir, and The Terrace by Madhu Rye, the group decided to write and stage its own play.
“It was an ambitious thought,” writer-director Amit Ohdedar said.
Khoj (The Search) was the result of intensive reading and discussions that he had with co-writers Sananda Chatterjee and Poorna Prakash.
Dramaturge Fiona Graham facilitated the initiation; the rest was the creative talent of Prayas, led by Amit and his group.
Edited By: arzan sam wadia on Mon 15 Jun 2009
Fraudster Aspi Satarawala
Last week, on June 11, 2009, Parsi Khabar linked to an article in the Times of India titled “NRI Parsi asked to Pay for Dad’s upkeep”. Within an hour we retracted that post. A few of you got the post in your email newsletters and found a non-active link, wrote to us. Rarely have we ever pulled an article out of circulation after it has been published. However, knowing that the article contained false information, bordering on outright lies, we could not go ahead and let it remain online, without a proper rebuttal. We hope that our readers will agree with us on this stance.
Most times we read news articles and move on. News is something that is happening to “them” and we are mere readers to the aftermath of the event. However once in a while the news hits home, when the people in the news are those we know.
That is exactly what happened when I read the article titled “Pay for dad’s upkeep, court tells NRI son” published in the Times of India dated June 09, 2009 by TOI reporter Yagnesh Mehta.
The article talks about how an NRI son abandoned his old father and refuses to pay for dad’s upkeep.
The “son” in the article just turns out to be Pesi Satarawala, a dear friend of many years now, who lives in New Jersey with his wife and two kids. However I did not relate the Pesi in the article to the friend I know because of the numerous factual errors in the article. However Pesi did let me know that he was “the Pesi in the article” and the first he knew about this was when a friend from Poona forwarded the link to him.
Edited By: arzan sam wadia on Fri 12 Jun 2009
New Rasna kids: Arzeen and Avan Khambatta
If you miss the adorable girl from the ‘I Love You Rasna’ campaign, then this news is going to be heartening for you. The Ahmedabad-based Rasna Group is likely to launch chairman Piruz Khambatta’s daughters Arzeen, 7, and Avan, 3, as the new Rasna mascots.
Arzeen and Avan have pipped Bollywood celebrities and the cricketing world.
"A production house has prepared a Rasna advertisement filming my two daughters. We have seen the film and liked it. The advertisement has clicked. Probably, Rasna’s next campaign will star both my little angels," Khambatta told DNA.
"We have been doing advertisement campaigns for Rasna with celebrities. But now is the time when emphasis is put on product-based campaigns rather than celebrities campaigning products," he said.
In the past, Rasna had roped in celebrities such as Anupam Kher, Kapil Dev, Vivian Richards, Hrithik Roshan, Paresh Rawal, Karisma Kapoor and Johnny Lever to promote its products.
"But the trend nowadays is to focus advertisements on your products and not celebrities," said Khambatta, who has received the Dr Dadabhai Navroji Millennium Award for Young Entrepreneurs.
Talking about the company’s future plans, Khambatta said they wanted to expand their fast food chain — Devil’s Workshop.
As for soft drink concentrates — a segment in which Rasna enjoys 93% share of the Indian market — the company plans to focus on health drinks.
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