By Vir Sanghvi in The Mint.

I know a lot of people are going to treat this as blasphemy so I better just come out and say this. I saw a DVD of a concert by Queen with Paul Rodgers on vocals and you know what? I didn’t really miss Freddie a whole lot. Of course, it wasn’t the same without the Mercury factor. The camp element was missing. So was the over-the-top nature of the classic Queen concert. As an Indian, I always felt a certain horrified fascination at watching a Parsi boy prance around on stage looking like a gay weightlifter in a Cusrow Baug gymnasium.

But apart from that, the concert was fine. Rodgers is one of rock’s great vocalists and while he can’t go quite as high as Freddie, he makes Queen sound like a rock band, rather than an opera queen’s little dalliance with rough trade.

It’s a funny thing about Queen, but I always felt that there were at least two bands struggling to get out from under Freddie’s leotard. My first exposure to the group came with the early hits, Seven Seas of Rhye and then, the song that broke them in the UK: Killer Queen. But, while both were full of Freddie-style whimsy (“She keeps the Moët et Chandon in a pretty cabinet/ let them eat cake, she says/ just like Marie Antoinette”), there were also harder-edged songs. Now I’m Here began like Arnold Layne, turned into full-fledged rock and even ended with a snatch of Chuck Berry’s Little Queenie.

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By Manoj R Nair

A group of Indian-Zoroastrian reformists acquires land at Malad to build a fire temple that will be open to even spouses of community members married outside the fold

It could be an event quite unprecedented in the 3000-year-old history of the Zoroastrian religion. A group of Indian-Zoroastrian reformists called the Association for Revival of Zoroastrianism (ARZ), are planning to set up a fire temple that will be open to spouses of community members married outside the fold.

The move is likely to create a storm in the Indian Zoroastrian (Parsis) community which bars entry at fire temples to non-Parsis, including non-Parsi women married to Parsis and children of Parsi women married outside the community.

In August 2005, the group had converted a Colaba apartment into a prayer hall more liberal in allowing people to attend religious ceremonies. The hall also offered navjote or initiation ceremonies for children of Parsi women married outside the community.

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Ask Parsi youth, who want to know whether issues like housing will be resolved

MUMBAI: Last week, the High Court passed a judgment, one that would in many ways shake the age-old hierarchy of the Parsi community: Every Parsi above 18 years can now elect the trustees of the Bombay Parsi Panchayat (BPP). It is a big deal when one considers that it is this institution which controls the purse strings of the Parsi trusts and the allotment of thousands of homes to community members.

While the Parsi youth have welcomed this move, there are still a number of issues that need to be addressed. “If the candidates in the election are going to be the same trustees as before, what’s the point?” asks Viraf Balaporia, 27.

He’s not the only one asking this question. Jehangir Dadachanji, 23, is also deeply cynical. “I can foresee the tamasha. Just like it is with our country’s elections, we’ll have contenders going around begging for votes,” he says glumly.

But despite their reservations, young Parsis believe that it is a step in the right direction. The key is to ensure that they don’t lose the momentum. Sanobar, 20, a stunt professional and physiotherapist, is more gung-ho than Jehangir and Viraf. “Maybe now the BPP will work for the welfare of our community, and not for themselves,” she says. To ensure that this happens, Sanobar would like youth representatives on the board. “Of the seven trustees, at least two should be a part of the youth,” she says. “The elders can continue to keep our traditions and values in check, while the youth can tackle the issues we face today.”

Two of the most talked about issues are the decrease in numbers and burial rites. Many believe that at the rate at which the number of Parsis in India is falling, it is only a matter of time before they lose their status as a community and become a tribe. The second issue of burial rites is also related to the decline in numbers, but of vultures, in this case. But while the community elders debate over morals, and quibble over religious principles, the youth are more concerned about the housing problem. The BPP, they feel, is not carrying out their role in this regard.

Ruhanghiz Sethna, 29, a homemaker, says. “I know that there are houses on properties owned by the BPP that lie vacant. So far, internal politics of the BPP has determined the owners of these flats.”

Viraf Pithawala, a 33-year-old banker feels that the elderly trustees have forgotten how important it is for the youth to get a place to stay. “We delay our desire to settle down until we have a home. This is a factor that affects the size of our community. If the BPP can promise flats to newlywed couples, they might get married and start a family sooner.”

Sanobar has another solution to their shrinking population. “The BPP should take a stand allowing all Parsis, not just men, who marry outside the religion to be allowed to continue practising their faith. And, yes, incorporate their children in the community, too.”

Original article here.

Cities are complex entities. They provide shelter for different communities who, over the years, generate their own sub-cultures, shops, markets and restaurants.

This collection of sub-cultures can be termed ‘villages’. London and New York, to those who know them well, are in truth a collection of villages interacting with each other under the umbrella of an urban government, and Mumbai is no less.

You see this more in South Mumbai than anywhere else. At a particular cross roads is the demarcation between the predominantly Maharashtrian Girgaum and the once predominantly Parsi Princess Street and Dhobi Talao areas.

This area around the Metro Cinema boasts some extraordinary buildings, including the imposing Jer Mahal and around it exist several fire temples, the Parsi Dairy Farm, and a number of Irani restaurants. Kayani’s still goes strong with its Shrewsbury biscuits, chicken patties, cherry custard, and bun maska pao.
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Time is a precious commodity for Zubin Karkaria, chief executive officer and managing director, India & South Asia, Kuoni Travel Group. Steering the Rs-1,800-crore travel company, the largest in the country, has its own advantages. He is a sought-after travel professional. There is no doubt about that. But the biggest disadvantage is that he can barely find time for himself or his family. Karkaria, however, is not complaining. “As you grow in your professional life, you have to be prepared for it,” he says.

Peers describe him as a go-getter. “He is very alert and conscious and constantly tries to raise the bar for himself and his team,” says an industry executive. This go-getter also loves taking up challenges. At the same time, he never hesitates to turn to God when the going gets tough. “I am a Parsi priest. So I know the importance of God in my life. I turn to him all the time,” says the father of two.

This spiritual side, in fact, helps Karkaria maintain a fine balance between his family and professional roles. It is something that has held him in good stead throughout even as he embarked on a career in travel and tourism some 19 years ago. “I graduated from HR College in Mumbai and began working with a friend, who had a travel company. My love for the travel business started then.”

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An Indian Giant

India’s extraordinary conglomerate has found unique solutions to many of its problems. But it’s still unclear what will happen when the boss retires

The favourite boast of executives of the Tata Group is that it accompanies the average Indian throughout the day. They wake to the alarm of its Titan clocks, drink its tea or coffee for breakfast, wear clothes bought from its Westside shopping centres, take a Tata car or bus to work on a computer set up by Tata Consultancy Services, lunch in a Tata hotel, arrange their evening appointments on a Tata mobile phone and use Tata power to light their homes.

These days, the influence of the Indian conglomerate is spreading beyond its home country. Back in 2000, it made the first major acquisition by an Indian group when it acquired the Tetley tea company; last year, that was trumped when it bought steelmaker Corus for £6.2bn, while in March it was confirmed as the purchaser of British icons Jaguar and Land-Rover from Ford. Next month, it will make its first foray into UK financial services when New Star launches an Indian investment fund that will be managed by Tata Asset Management.

That spending spree, together with less high profile acquisitions like chemicals company Brunner Mond, US business General Chemical Industrial Products and the truck-making business of South Korea’s Daewoo, means that India now represents just a quarter of the group’s interests, a smaller proportion than the UK; and it means that Tata can count itself among the world leaders in industries as various as tea, steel, consultancy services and soda ash, the key ingredient in washing soda.

Much of the credit for the transformation goes to the reclusive Ratan Tata, who has chaired the group since 1991. While he does not even get a walk-on part in Keepers of the Flame, the film that reverently charts the group’s 140-year history, when the history of his chairmanship is finally written, he will be credited as being at least as influential as group pioneers such as founder Jamsetji Tata or JRD Tata, Ratan’s predecessor who led the group for a marathon 51 years.

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KISH, Iran — The indoor dolphin show was in full swing as Hossein Sabet walked in to a burst of applause from the 1,200 people in attendance. Clad in tight beige equestrian pants and tall black boots, he waved at the crowd and went straight to his office behind the pool.

Tourists at the hotel, which incorporates replicas of ancient landmarks that symbolize Persia at the zenith of its power.

Kish is accessible to foreigners who do not have a visa.

Mr. Sabet, 58, an Iranian who spends most of his time in Germany, is no performer, however. He is a businessman and something of a local legend, having invested more than $300 million here in hotels and attractions like the dolphin show, the only one in the Middle East.

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By Simon Robinson

Since Ratan Tata first suggested building a car that could sell for 100,000 Indian rupees ($2,500) four years ago, rival automakers have sniggered. “If you think about the direction that safety and environmental standards are going in India, you can’t sell a car for that kind of price,” said Osamu Suzuki, head of the eponymous Japanese car company that is the Indian-market leader. But in January, Tata unveiled his baby car, a cute rear-engined bubble called Nano. The Nano will meet all of India’s automotive standards and sell for 100,000 rupees.

“A promise,” said Tata, “is a promise.”

If the idea behind the Nano is to put a car within affordable reach of millions more Indians, Tata’s other big auto play is focused on the few. In March, Tata Motors, an arm of the Tata Group—a sprawling conglomerate based in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) that spans tea, steel, software, business services and hotels—bought the prestigious British automakers Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford for $2.3 billion.

Analysts often cite Tata Group as the paragon of a company from a developing nation that is reshaping the globe. To ensure that the group stays at the forefront of that change, Tata, 70, a bachelor with no children, who told the Financial Times last year that he would like to retire after the successful launch of the Nano, will have to choose someone as savvy and visionary as he has been to lead the 140-year-old firm. That could prove even more difficult than creating a $2,500 car.

Original article here

Despite a 2006 ban on veterinary diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug for cattle, vultures are fast vanishing from India. So quick is the decline in numbers that experts say three species could be extinct in less than 10 years.

The oriental white-backed vulture, once thought to be the commonest bird of prey in the world, has lost 99.9% of its population since 1992, according to a study by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). This makes it the fastest declining wild bird in history, a demise more rapid than that of the dodo. Numbers of long-billed and slender-billed vultures have together fallen by almost 97% in the same period.

Scientists say this is because diclofenac, which causes kidney failure in these birds, is still in use in the country.

“It’s been over two years since the ban but there is still a lot of old stock. Also, a version of diclofenac developed for human use is being utilised by farmers to treat livestock. Because it’s an effective drug, vets and farmers are just buying it from pharmacies for use. When vultures feed on dead cattle that have been administered this drug, they die,” says Vibhu Prakash of BNHS who led the study with colleagues from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

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Every Parsi, over the age of 18 years, will now have a vote in deciding the future of the Parsi community.

In a significant judgment, Bombay High Court on Wednesday entrusted the process of electing trustees of the Bombay Parsi Panchayat (BPP) - a 350-year-old institution which controls the purse strings of Parsi trusts and is the biggest private landlord in the city - to all Parsis aged above 18.

Disbanding the Anjuman Committee, a 3000-member collegium which, so far, indirectly elected the seven trustees of the BPP, Justice S Radhakrishnan and Justice AV Mohta ruled, “It appears that since the entire (Parsi) community has accepted that it
is high time that every adult is given an opportunity to select the trustee and the said power should not be vested only in a limited body as that of Anju- man Committee.”

Rejecting the appeal filed by three Parsis, challenging the ushering in of universal adult franchise of direct elections of trustees, the HC directed the BPP to complete the process of enrolling new members above 18 years of age and preparing the electoral roll within two months. The election of the new trustees has to be completed within four months.

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Wed 30th April: Daepmeher roj

• Zaiya Wadia Dadgah at Surat

Fri, 2nd May: Sarosh roj

• Cama Baug Agiary, Mumbai
• Mewawalla Agiary, Byculla
• Soonawalla Agiary, Mahim
• Chinoy Daremeher, Gandevi, Gujarat
• Gadabhai Daremeher, Pardi, near Udvada
• Randeria Daremeher, Rander, near Surat
• Anjuman Daremeher, Quetta, Pakistan

Mon 5th May: Behram roj

• Sir J J Adarian, Adajan
• Zaibordi Adarian, near Dahanu-Gholvad
• Sardar Patel Daremeher, Poona/Pune

Tuesday, 6th May: Ram roj

• Rao Dadgah, Rustampura, Surat

Wed 7th May: Govad roj

• Adenwalla Adarian, Lonavala

Thurs, 8th May: Daepedin roj

• Saronda Anjuman Agiary
• Bharuch Narielwalla Agiary

Fri, 9th May: Din, roj

• Mota Shapur Daremeher, Valsad

Sun 11th May: Ashtad roj

• Bhumgara dadgah, Indore
• Adelji Unwalla Dadgah, Bhaya Street, Nanpura Surat

Thurs 15th May: Aneran roj

• Petit Dadgah, Udvada (in Iranshah’s premises)

This list was received via email on a newsgroup.

You have to feel sorry for vultures. For animal campaigners they are a difficult case. Other, more photogenic, slightly less sinister creatures may gain the world’s sympathy at the drop of a hat, but raising money to save the world’s most proficient scavenger is a different matter.

As far as the Asian vulture is concerned, however, the situation is now urgent. Asian vultures may be ugly, but soon, if current trends continue, their unprepossessing appearance will be consigned to history.

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The route from Churchgate to Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus is sprinkled with memorials to sentinels of Mumbai history. Only, nobody cares

Sipping my masala chai one morning, I suddenly realized that the Khada Parsi statue, literally the Standing Parsi standing not far from where I live, had a name: Shet Cursetjee Manockjee, whose statue had been erected in his memory in the 1860s.

A newspaper report said a group of Parsis were hoping to have the iconic statue, after a thorough scrub-down and a restoration, to a new location—Parsi Colony, Five Gardens. Wedged at the point where the Byculla flyover splits to go in two directions, the statue was one among several public monuments to historical figures who feature prominently in the city’s history, the report said.

That’s where my dusty journey began, to find the other sentinels of our streets, and to see if they were faring better than my Khada Parsi.

“We tend to hurry up erecting statues in the memory of great personalities but end up demeaning them by our negligence,” says writer and city historian Sharada Dwivedi, also a member of the heritage committee.

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Looking trendy-as-ever, Jennifer Kotwal of Just Mohabbat fame gets chatty while on a visit to the city

From several Hindi television serials like Just Mohabbat, acting in a brief role in Subhash Ghai’s Yadeein to working as a model for the past six years, Jennifer Kotwal retains her appeal and her piquant style.

She was spotted in the city on Thursday for the launch of a beauty cream. Kotwal, a Parsi actress from Mumbai, has even worked extensively in the Kannada film industry. A perfect blend of splendor with intellect, on asking about Jennifer’s experience as an actor and a model and the distinction between the two diverse professions she is into, she says, “For me, both the careers are of same importance. I try my best to perform well in both the fields. Whatever I do, I do it with confidence. But there is surely a considerable difference in the two patterns - acting and modelling.” Both of these are her hobbies and she works at upholding them.
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SAM ERUCH IRANI MEMORIAL EDUCATIONAL TRUST is founded on June 13, 2006 with a view to advance some charitable objects like encouragement and spread of education, research and other charitable objects.

The objects of the trust is to assist the underprivileged sections of the society at large by awarding periodical or occasional scholarships or prizes to the students prosecuting any studies or doing other research or in donations or grants to universities, schools or other educational bodies or to Institutions or Associations doing research, other education or for work of promotion of social reforms or removal of economic distress caused by floods, famine, epidemics or towards such other charitable objects.

More information at their site www.parsitrust.com

Ancient priceless gemstones and jewels belonging to postdated Achaemenid era have been unearthed in Iran’s southern province of Fars.

Archeologists succeeded in discovering over 20 pieces of 2,200-year-old bracelets, necklaces and earrings adorned with agate, ruby and opal in ancient graves behind Salman-e Farsi Dam in Iran’s southern city of Yarj.

“The discovery of such gemstones is a unique achievement. Agates in various colors, ivory, opal and rock crystal (Quartz) in many colors were used to embellish the bracelets, necklaces and earrings,” said Alireza Ja’fari Zand, head of the archeological team at the dam.
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Eggs and toddy jars for a fire temple? The good-life-loving Parsis are not finicky about mixing the sacred and the secular. Still, I was intrigued by the E&T detail in Nauzer Bharucha’s report on the 300th anniversary of the Banaji Limji Agiary last Thursday. Mumbai’s oldest fire temple was badly damaged in a fire in 1803. For its reconstruction, the Sethiyas gave munificent sums; the poor contributed the eggs and toddy jars which were smashed to strengthen the foundation. Would it be unforgivable sacrilege to connect this to the standard, egg-topped Parsi dish, and call it ‘eeda par agiary’?

Our agiaries are cool, quiet refuges with no sound louder than the hum of faith. They are adorned with little more than a garlanded picture of the Prophet Zarathustra, and the oil portraits of the endowing family, the uniform grimness of these grandees deepened by the decades of wood smoke. The only dramatic feature is the inner sanctum’s gleaming urn with its leap of flames tended by the white-robed priest. He strikes the bell at each of the 24-hour cycle’s five gehs, its reverberations penetrating the very soul of the vicinity’s cluster of faithful.
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Archaeologists working at Sarab-Mort site in Kermanshah Province announced the news of the possible discovery of a Sasanian Fire Temple adjacent to the Parthian Manor house, reported Persian service of ISNA on Monday 21, 2008.

“During this year’s [archaeological salvage] excavation, we have unearthed the religious section of the structure; it consists of a Chahar-Taqi (free-standing Zoroastrian Fire Temple), which in fact was a private chapel,” said Yousef Moradi, director of archaeological salvage operation team at Sarab-e Mort.

The Parthian manor house consists of various sections including official, administrative, ceremonial and religious.

Moradi stated: “we started our excavation in the Parthian manor house last year. Last season we discovered the official, administrative and ceremonial quarters, and this year the religious section. However, the residential quarter has totally been destroyed and there is no hope of finding the private chamber belonging to the lord of the manor.”

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24 Apr 2008, 0434 hrs IST,Nauzer Bharucha,TNN

MUMBAI: For the past few centuries, they have been one of Mumbai’s most important religious and architectural landmarks. On Thursday, the city’s oldest Zoroastrian fire temple-the Banaji Limji agiary-enters its 300th year.

Tucked away in a side lane called Banaji Lane opposite the Akbarallys showroom, the ancient fire was consecrated in 1709 by Seth Banaji Limji, a prosperous Parsi businessman. “It is the oldest surviving agiary in Mumbai,” said Parsi historian Marzban Giara.

Incidentally, the second oldest agiary-Manekji Sett agiary- is also located less than a kilometre away in Perin Nariman street near CST. It completes 275 years on Thursday (1733).

In the western suburb of Andheri (west), the Seth Pirojsha Ardeshir Patel agiary also celebrates its centenary on the same day (Roz Adar-Mah Adar), an auspicious day for Parsis.

Mumbai’s fire temples were established after the Parsis started migrating from Surat and other parts of Gujarat about five centuries ago. According to the Highlights of Parsi History written P P Balsara in 1963, there were Parsis in Mumbai in 1538.

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…when we cannot understand it????

This is beautiful story sent to us by Cherag Sam Karkaria, a good friend and regular reader of Parsi Khabar

An old Priest lived on a farm in the mountains with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading his Khordeh Avesta. His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way he could.

One day the grandson asked, ‘Grandpa! I try to read the Khordeh Avesta just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Khordeh Avesta do?’

The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied, ‘Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of water.’

The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, ‘You’ll have to move a little faster next time,’ and sent him back to the river with the basket to try again.

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Archaeological studies on some engravings on rocks on Khark Island have identified them as a compass and ancient game boards.

The engravings are between 2000 and 3000 years old, archaeologist Reza Moradi Ghiasabadi, who conducted the recently concluded studies, told the Persian service of CHN on Saturday.

The compass has been etched in rectangular form with rounded angles on a flat rock located on the ground beside an ancient route, Moradi Ghiasabadi explained. A curve has been engraved on the upper half and four lines forming a cross stretch to the four sides of the rectangular shape, he noted.

The lines have been placed in a position to determine the cardinal points and have only two degrees of error based on the Global Positioning System (GPS), he added.

The compass has been damaged in some parts because it appears to have been severed from a larger rock in a collapse.

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Exactly 90 years ago today, the Quaid-i-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, married Ruttenbai Dinshaw Petit, a charming Parsi girl; Mr Jinnah was 42, while Ruttie, as she was known more commonly, was 18.

Despite her father’s strong opposition, Ruttie married her beloved ‘J’ — as she called the Quaid — and converted to Islam in 1918.

Unfortunately, the marriage was not a happy one, given that within 10 years the couple separated.

The final blow came when Ruttie died after protracted illness. According to Hector Bolitho, author of Jinnah — Creator of Pakistan, her funeral was one of the rare moments that Mr Jinnah abandoned his defences: he bowed his head and sobbed. The couple had one daughter, called Dina, who now lives in India.

Original article here.

Vadodara, April 18 One of the three men was a Barodian; almost 80 years after it was first published, his son will release a new edition of the book today

Just in their twenties and living off a shoestring budget, three young Parsis, one from Baroda, ventured on the first ever trip around the world on bicycles on October 15, 1923. The trio covered 44,000 miles in three years and three months across 27 countries and four continents. On their return, Adi Hakim from Vadodara, Jal Bapasola from Mumbai and Rustom Bhumgara from Pune, who later became a freedom fighter, wrote a book of their memoirs from the epic journey, of which but a few copies still exist. The original book includes a foreword by Jawarharlal Nehru and comments from leaders around the world like Benito Mussolini and Calvin Coolidge.”

Now, after five years of labour and commitment, Hakim’s son Daryous will release a new edition of the book in Vadodara on Saturday, almost 80 years after it was first published.

Says Daryous, who is fondly called Dara: “The original line-up of cyclists was six, but only three completed the tour, with three others returning to India for various reasons. In their book, the trio believed they wanted to take India to the world, even as they were caught up in the fervour of the freedom movement.” He says the three were left with not much money and did odd jobs while travelling, for meeting their expenses for food, clothing and shelter. They decided on the trip after meeting at the Mumbai Weightlifting Club, he says.

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Recently we reported about the launching of the book that chronicles the bicycle trip around the world by Parsi cyclists. Below is an article by Ervad Marzban Hathiram, a good friend of the Parsi Khabar, which appeared in the TOI in 2002.

Around the World in 53 months

by Ervad Marzban Hathiram

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2002 11:14:10 PM ]

MUMBAI: The three men knelt before Pope Pius XI, thanking God for their luck so far and seeking the pontiff ’s blessings for their onward journey. The date was October 15, 1924. Dressed in khakis, Gustad Hathiram, Keki Pochkhanawala and Adi Hakim were in the midst of an adventure that had commenced exactly a year ago when six young men set out from the dusty streets of Gowalia Tank in Mumbai on an unbelievable expedition—one which involved circumnavigating the globe on bicycle.

After weaving an intricate web of lies to avoid their parents’ ire, holding secret conclaves and making brave attempts to gather money, these three, along with their friends Jal Bapasola, Rustam Bhumgara and Nariman Kapadia had set off with a few clothes, a second-hand compass and crude copies of the map of the world. They chose a route that ensured that they would pass through terribly inhospitable terrains, for their objective was to show the world that, although the British ruled them, Indians were capable of much.

From Mumbai the cyclists headed to Delhi, passing through central India. After meeting the Viceroy, Lord Reading, they cycled through the Punjab and on to Baluchistan, crossing the Duki pass at 11,000 ft. They ploughed through three feet of snow and battled temperatures of minus 13 degrees C before finally reaching Varechhah—the last outpost of colonial India on January 20, 1924. From there, the youngsters sent their first postcards to their parents, revealing the details of their journey (which they had somehow managed to keep secret).

Crossing into their ancient motherland, Iran, the young Parsis reached Tehran, where they met Reza Shah Pahlavi. There, Nariman chose to return back to India and his fiance, while the rest proceeded to Baghdad. Despite dire warnings, they set a new record—crossing the Mesopotamian desert from Baghdad to Aleppo in 23 days. During these 956 kilometers they struggled through shifting sands, temperatures that crossed 55 degrees C and sand-fly-fever- induced delirium, and it was only thanks to a group of Bedouins that they escaped certain death.

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From The Economist print edition
Apr 17th 2008 | DELHI

Adherents of an ancient faith worry about its disappearance

TWO of India’s biggest business clans—Tata and Godrej—are Parsees, descendants of Zoroastrians, who fled the Muslim invasion of Persia for India more than 1,000 years ago. But well though some of its members have done, the Parsee community is dwindling. At the time of the 2001 census India had fewer than 70,000 Parsees, a 40% drop since 1941. Since then, the decline has accelerated. A survey suggests that only 99 Parsees were born in the year to August 2007, compared with 223 in 2001.

The community’s very success has played a part in its shrinkage. Young Parsees tend to put off marriage until they have established careers, “leaving time for two children only, if that,” says Mehroo Bengalee, a Parsee member of the government’s National Commission for Minorities. Emigration is another factor: like many prosperous Indians, Parsees tend to go to university overseas, and stay there. But most important is the large number of women who marry non-Parsees. Their children are not recognised as Parsees.

The Parsee community, concentrated around Mumbai, is trying to push up the birth rate. New Parsee-only fertility centres are being built. Young Parsees are given lectures about the benefits of early breeding. Girls and boys are brought together at youth camps, in an effort to encourage inter-Parsee marriage.

Many Parsee women, meanwhile, complain that the one change that could stem the decline will never come. They would like the concession that allows men in mixed marriages to bring their children up as Parsees to be extended to them. “My brother’s children are recognised as Parsees; mine are not,” says Shireen Vakil-Miller who, like her brother, married “outside”. The effect on the Parsee population of her hometown, Delhi, is dramatic. When she arrived in 1991, there were thought to be 800 Parsees in the capital. Today, that number has fallen by half.

With Cyclists Around The World (Roli, Rs 350)

by Adi B. Hakim, Rustom B. Bhumgara and Jal P. Bapasola

It is the fascinating memoir of three young Parsi men of a group of six from the Bombay Weightlifting Club, who set a precedence in globe-trotting by going around the world in bicycles. Starting in October 1923, they journeyed for over four years, going from the Middle East to south Europe, across the British Isles to America, then covering Japan and China to come “rolling home” through Bengal, Madras and Ceylon. While the authors revel in the “gay amusements” of Paris, they have nothing but scorn for the filthy Italian peasants with dirty neckties, and are repulsed by the Japanese meal of live mice dipped in honey. However, they find the biggest surprise of the trip right in their own country, in Calcutta, when only a handful of people turn up to welcome the cyclists, who had become quite famous elsewhere in the world by then. To read the book is to travel not only all over the globe but also to another time preserved in the memory of the adventurers.

Original Review here.

Received via an email comminique

From: pervezbhesania
Subject: Another victory to savour:

The mail:

To,

All Zoroastrians of Thana,

We have a phenomenal piece of news to share with you once again.

As you must be aware, we had filed a case (writ petition / PIL) against the Government of Maharashtra in the Honourable High Court of Bombay to save the Byramji Jeejeebhoy school land way back in 1998.

As any legal battle goes, it was a long, arduous conflict that went on for a little over a decade. Today, on April 16, 2008, Wednesday, this protracted battle came to an end when the Honourable High Court Bench, comprising of his Lordships Justice Billan Nazki and Justice Bhangale, endorsed the validity of our case and gave a ruling in our favour directing the State Government to construct a school and make it up and running within a five year duration. The bench took this view after having heard the arguments on both sides.

It’s a matter of great personal satisfaction for all of us who have been involved in this case for so long. No praise is too high for our Senior Counsel Ms Kiran Bhagalia who fought on our behalf without charging us a single penny throughout the case’s duration. This letter aims to share / put across our sense of satisfaction and our happiness within the much wider forum of our proud community, a whole lot of us who are deeply concerned on a day-to-day basis at the disappearance of our community’s assets.

Yours sincerely,

Pervez Bhesania

Vice President

Thana Parsee Zoroastrian Anjuman

TEHRAN: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago has started taking three-dimensional pictures of Iran’s Achaemenid inscriptions.

The pictures will enable people to read the various inscriptions should they be damaged in the future, press tv quoted Abdolmajid Arfaei, a prominent Iranian linguist and inscriptions expert, as saying.

There are thousands of inscriptions 5000 of which will be photographed as they have already been read, leaving over 10,000 to be photographed at a later time, Arfaei added.

The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago preserves thousands of inscriptions belonging to Iran’s Persepolis. They contain valuable information about life during the Achaemenid dynasty.

Original article here.

Renowned Iranian miniaturists are to portray parts of the stories told by the prominent poet Ferdowsi in his magnum opus, Shahnameh.

Some 25 artists will take part in the project including prominent painters Mahmoud Farshchian and Majid Mehregan.

The miniaturists will undertake the project on the sidelines of the International Conference of Painting Shahnameh, which will be held from May 14 to 17, 2008 at Iran’s Academy of Arts.

Shahnameh or ‘The Book of Kings’, recounts Iran’s mythical history from the creation of the world until Islam was established in the country.

Original article here.

We received this from the organisers.

Farohar Foundation Exhibition

“ ZOROASTRIANS THROUGH THE AGES”

at Allbless Baug, Charni Road, Mumbai.

From 13th April 2008 to 16th April, 2008

Exhibition Inaugurated by Vada Dasturji Saheb Dr. Kaikhushru Minocher JamaspAsa On 13th April Evening 6.30 p.m

If you plan to attend, please let us know your review of the same.

Statues make it to the news in Mumbai mostly when miscreants use them to stoke trouble in the city. At other times, they stand on busy road junctions or watch dusty playgrounds, derelict and often covered in bird guano.

But for a group called the Bombay Parsi Association (BPA), the city’s statues are more than just obscure monuments from the past. Last week, members of the group honoured the statue of Sir Hormusjee Adenwalla, a philanthropist who was a former chairman of the Union Bank of India and also a trustee of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet in the early part of the last century. Early on Friday morning, members of the group gathered near the Bikha Behram well near Churchgate, where the statue is located, and offered garlands and bouquets.

The BPA’s annual calendar features two more such events featuring statues and monuments. The statue of freedom-fighter Dadabhai Naoroji at Flora Fountain is similarly honoured on September 4, his birth anniversary. On the Zoroastrian equivalent of the All Soul’s Day, the war memorial at Khareghat Colony on Hughes Road too is the venue of a small memorial service.

Read the rest of this entry »

A proposal to build a multi-storey residential building near the Towers of Silence on Malabar Hill has caused concern among a section of Parsis. They worry that residents of the upper floors of these buildings will be able to see the bodies laid to rest in the towers.

The building is to come up inside Godrej Baug, a residential complex on the Western boundary of the doongerwadi. Though trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) — which manages both the Towers of Silence and Godrej Baug — said that the building plans are yet to be finalised, officials of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s building proposal department say they have given permission for a 11-storey building.

Levelling of the ground started two days ago and according to plans submitted to BMC by BPP, the new building will come up in Block M.

BPP trustee Dinshaw Tamboly says the time-limit granted for commencement of work was running out. “That’s why we’ve started work,” Tamboly says.

Another trustee Burjor Antia says the government could acquire the plot under Urban Land Ceiling Act if it was left undeveloped. “The plans were sanctioned a long time ago,” he says, “but we could not start construction because of shortage of funds.”

The existing 16 buildings in Godrej Baug are only four-storeys high.

A former BPP trustee says that one tower, Banaji Dokhma, was closed down 35 years ago after the Grand Paradi building came up nearby. “Upper floor residents could see the bodies and it was decided not to use the tower anymore,” the trustee says.

“Now there are worries that the other towers will be visible from the new building. It is a big concern for the community,” says religious scholar Khojeste Mistree. Others feared that debris from the construction site will be dumped in the forest where peacocks can be seen. “This is the only green belt in South Mumbai,” says Viraf Kapadia, a resident of Godrej Baug.
mumbai news

The clock is ticking away fast and furious for India’s Parsi community. Alarmed by their dwindling numbers - as per the last census the Parsi population was less than 70,000 - the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has swung into action. The NCM intends to encourage timely marriages and the joint family spirit among Parsis as non-marriage, falling fertility and separation are some of the leading causes behind the decline in their population.

“We want to help them in checking the decreasing numbers,” NCM chairperson Mohammad Shafi Qureshi told IANS. He said Mehroo Dhunjisha Bengalee, a Parsi commission member, was coordinating with community leaders.

The panel took this mission upon itself after its survey found that only 99 childbirths took place in the community last year till August 2007. In 2002, 206 births were reported across the country and the figure came down to 174 in 2006.

Read the rest of this entry »

What experts have warned and feared for the past few years about the humidity level at the world heritage site of Pasargadae after the inundation of Sivand dam, has now become a bitter reality as the humidity has risen to a dangerous level, and lichen funguses are growing over the body of the Cyrus the Great’s Mausoleum.

Humidity which was previously unknown to the area is now easily felt. Members of the public and a number of associate members of various Friends of Cultural Heritage Societies who have visited Pasargadae and the Mausoleum during the Norouz holiday, said that the high humidity is apparent, and damp can be smelt for miles.

Fars Province’s Meteorological Centre have also confirmed that the area has been suffering from a drought for the past six months and during this period it has rained only three times, totalling 75millimeters, therefore this amounts to nearly nothing to have an impact on the Pasargadae’s current atmospheric condition.

Back in 2007 an agreement was made between Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organisation (ICHTO) and the Ministry of Energy, if the humidity levels become apparent and thus places the heritage site in danger, the dam inundation should be stopped immediately, and necessary measures to be taken to safeguard the ancient site. As the result a small-hygrometer was installed was installed at Pasargadae by the Ministry of Energy to monitor the humidity level. Since then however no access was granted to the experts to read the data, or any information made available to the public regarding the current and exact extent of humidity in the area.

In addition the Islamic regime as well as the Ministry of Energy officials have refused to be interviewed, or willing to issue any statements in this regard. ICHTO which is controlled by the government in Tehran has also refused to give an explanation and its administration has forbidden their staff to accept any interviews or to give any comments regarding this issue.

Sivand Dam became operational in April 06, 2007 by the order of the Islamic regime’s president Mahmood Ahmadinejad, in the presence of a number of high ranking clerics and members of the Islamic republic officials.

To this date the artificial lake at Bolaghi Valley has submerged an Achaemenid village, a large section of the Achaemenid Pardis (Garden), hunting ground, 7,000-years-old industrial settlement, as well as a large number of small pre-historic sites. According to the visitors a large number of trees at Bolaghi Valley, some hundreds and few even thought to have been well-over a thousand year old have also been uprooted and burnt for no reason.

Continue reading the article at the CIAS Site.

The return of vultures to the Kolkata sky after a three-year gap has delighted the Parsi community in Kolkata despairing of the loss of their traditional way of disposing the deceased.

The vultures’ reappearance has been particularly welcomed by lone Parsi activist Dhan Baria who has been pursuing an alternative to leaving the dead on the ‘Tower of Silence’ after the number of birds dwindled alarmingly in Mumbai as well.

”It is definitely a very good news for the Parsi community,” Baria said.

Baria, who lives in Mumbai, was the first man to show the world photographs of piles of rotten, half-eaten bodies from the Tower there and vigorously campaigned for doing away with the practice of leaving corpses to be fed by vultures.

Read the rest of this entry »

The words used most often to describe Ratan Tata are shy and loner. The 71-year-old chairperson of the Tata Group shuns the media spotlight.

Quiet and unassuming, the Indian business baron drives himself to work in an unremarkable Tata sedan. His beachfront bachelor pad is found in the hippest tip of south Mumbai, but Ratan has only CDs, books and his dogs for company. He does not drink or smoke. His vices revolve around speed: driving fast cars, flying jets and at weekends racing his speed boat across Mumbai’s harbour.

Yet last week Ratan Tata found himself making headlines — and characteristically ducked any interviews. The reason for the attention was that the Tata Group found itself cast as reverse colonialists: an Indian company taking over two of the most distinctive British marques in car-making — Jaguar and Land Rover — for a little more than £1-billion.

A symbol of the shift in power from West to East, Tata is now the ultimate boss of 16 000 British workers, who were until this deal employees of United States giant Ford.

Read the rest of this entry »

New Jersey in the 80’s was undergoing a wave of attacks on Indians. These attacks were perpetrated by a group of locals who saw the new “immigrants” as unwanted nuisances in their neighborhoods. They called themselves Dotbusters and stalked the neighborhoods of Jersey City, at that time one of the more dangerous cities of the US.

With this background I would like to point you all to a fantastic piece written by a good friend of Parsi Khabar. Filmiholic is a famous critic of Indian movies and blogs about them on her blog www.filmiholic.com

Her recent post however has nothing to do with films…

…I wanted to post this story here, in the hope that more people will learn about Navroze Mody’s life, and to counterbalance all that’s been written about his violent death…

As Filmiholic put forth in an email to us

….it’s about a young Parsi man who was killed in NJ 20 years ago and to whom I had an unusual connection…..

Continue reading the entire article here. If you like what you read, please let Filmiholic know.

This update was sent out by ZAGNY: The Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York

Please join us for a screening of Tenaz Dubash’s documentary film,
“Crisis in Faith: Zoroastrians Today”
followed by a brief question and answer session.

Sunday, April 27th, 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM

Anthology Film Archives
32, 2nd Avenue (at the intersection of second avenue and second street) in lower Manhattan
New York, NY 10003 USA
Telephone: (212) 505-5181

Read the rest of this entry »

An interview with Dr. Farzana Irani.

Irani was born and raised in India, where she graduated from medical school. She immigrated in 1978 to Albany, where she is an obstetrician and gynecologist in Niskayuna. She and her husband, Khushru, live in Loudonville. They have three sons: Khoozan, 25; Perzan, 23; and Farzad, 19.

What is the origin of Zoroastrianism?

The ancient religion was founded about 3,500 years ago in Yazd in what is today Iran. The prophet we follow was named Zartosh, or Zoroaster. His followers are known as Zartoshi or Zoroastrian.

It is the world’s oldest monotheistic religion. People were idol worshipers at that time. Zoroaster told the people about Ahura Mazda, one God. We respect natural things like sun and water and fire.

Boatloads of Zoroastrians migrated to India in the 10th century. There, they were known as Irani, later as Farsi for the language they spoke, then as Parsi.

The three important mottos are good thoughts, good words and good deeds.

Read the rest of this entry »

Bhicoo Manekshaw, elegant with her short, elegantly set silver hair, finger nails neatly manicured is 85 years and proud to be so. One of the best-known names in the world of gastronomical delights, she arrives before 11 every morning at her son-in-lawrestaurant Basil and Thyme at the Santushti complex. She oversees the menu for the day and makes the soups, sauces and desserts for the day.

“It’s food `85.cooking that keeps me going,” she says. She has one of the largest collections of cook books and loves to read them as much as she enjoys cooking gourmet meals. “I don’t fiddle around with classics, be it roast beef or fish meuniere but otherwise experiment happily with my cooking.”

Coming from a traditional Parsi background, Bhicoo recalls that it was the excellent Parsi and continental food served at her parents’ home that enthused her about cooking. The cook was a Goan who had specialised in both cuisines. In school, Bhicoo was not interested in neither science nor French. She could not imagine how these subjects would help her in life. She opted for domestic science because it would help her to become a good housewife and she excelled in continental cuisine.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Persian Day Parade was held in NYC to celebrate Navroze. The parade was organised by the Iranian-American association.

Continue here for more pictures and a detailed report.

Away from the noise and pollution in Byculla, BMC plans to shift the century-old statue to Five Gardens

The landmark Khada Parsi statue may find a new home at Five Gardens near Dadar. The statue now stands between two flyovers in Byculla.The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to shift the century-old statue of Shet Cursetjee Manockjee to Dadar so that it could be protected from the corrosive effect of pollution. But the idea has met with opposition from residents of nearby Parsi colony who say the BMC has no right to move the statue. The BMC says the statue has deteriorated because of the effect of traffic fumes and bird droppings. Street dwellers use the limbs of the statue to dry clothes; the foot is occupied by pavement dwellers.

Once the statue stood at the centre of a road junction. It still stands in the same place, but has been sandwiched between two flyovers.

Read the rest of this entry »

The vestibule of a middle-aged building at Princess Street creaks with the sounds of broken bones. It also sings with the prattle of restless patients. Who knew a Parsi bone-setter saw so much action. Even in this day of multi-syllabic specialisations and sleek machines, large numbers (old and young, modern and classic) with sprains, dislocations and hairline fractures have great faith in the antiquated techniques of a Parsi Bonesetter or hadvaid. One of the patron saints of bone-setting in Mumbai, Ardesher Bhimjee, mended bones in this foyer as early as 1879—a fact his great-granddaughter (who keeps her privacy by refusing her name) announces with vigour. “Only five or six of us survive in this city today. Few Parsis want to continue in the family practice,” she says, “Muslims have got into the line, but Parsis are more skilled.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tell Shernaz Patel that everybody thought that she had given up acting and she laughs.
“That’s a huge misconception. It’s just that I haven’t been offered too much work. I try to take up whatever suits me,” she said.

Right now, her centre of focus is a new show Angrezi Mein Kehte Hain (on NDTV Imagine) where Shernaz plays a teacher teaching a classroom of varied students the essentials of the English language.

“I just don’t fit into the saas-bahu shows that the television scenario is full of. So I just kept myself away from it. But when Siddharth Basu came up with this concept, I simply couldn’t say no,” Shernaz said.

Read the rest of this entry »

To understand the implications of these changes, I sit down to discuss the situation over a very hot lamb vindaloo with Cyrus Todiwala, late one afternoon at Cafe Spice Namaste, his Indian restaurant in east London.

I chose to meet Todiwala for several reasons. At 51, he is slightly older than his London contemporaries and widely respected, not just by the capital’s other chefs but also by the large hospitality companies, whose chefs attend his masterclass events, which are also run for the public.

He has given a great deal back to the UK, his home of 17 years, principally via training organisations such as Springboard UK and Investors in People, for which he was awarded an MBE in 2000.

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We explore the avant-garde Progressive Art Group as veteran art collector Kekoo Gandhy unearths its history

Many art veterans believe that the formation of the ‘Progressive Art Group’ is one of the most significant moments in the history of Indian art. The group boasts of people including MF Husain, SH Raza, KH Ara, FN Souza and other masters. The group, when it came into existence, grabbed eyeballs in the art circuits all over the globe. It’s interesting to trace back the birth of this group influenced by an Austrain artist Walter Langhammer.

Art veteran Kekoo Gandhy narrates the story: “Walter Langhammer from Austria came to India during the World War II. He was a contemporary of the famous painter Oskar Kokoschka, who was professor of the Academy in Vienna in the 1930s. A Parsi girl named Silloo Vakil from Mumbai who was Langhammer’s student would invite him over to India and he would dismiss her invitation by saying “Ja, ja.”

According to Kekoo when Hitler invaded Austria, Walter was forced to leave Austria and he wrote to Vakil, expressing his desire to come to India and he took up a job as the art director of a leading publication in 1936.

Read the rest of this entry »

Jimmy said when he was six, his kidneys failed and the doctors told his parents that their son was as good as dead. But then something very odd, if not miraculous, happened, and happened on its own. His kidneys healed themselves, which is what makes Jimmy believe that he was saved for a purpose

The mystery is resolved, at least for me. The secret of Jimmy Engineer’s waistline is out. He walks, which is what everyone losing the battle of the bulge should do. The man in the long flowing kurta, a Taliban-style beard and a score of causes to sell was in Washington last week, where the embassy ensnared him — or perhaps it was the other way around — into mounting an exhibition of his prints.

Why prints, one might well ask because painters bring paintings to their exhibitions, not prints. Here is Jimmy Engineer’s answer: “My canvases are so large that they cannot be lugged around.” However, he offered any who were interested, provided the cause was a good one, a CD of his prints, which he said would be as good as his paintings. Or maybe he said the CD of his paintings would be as good as his prints.

This was my first sighting of Jimmy Engineer. So far I had only read about him and I wasn’t sure if he was for real. Am I sure now? I am not sure if I am sure. Jimmy Engineer is a Parsi and all Parsis are good people. Someone asked Jimmy if he was an engineer (trust a Pakistani to ask a smart question like this). “I am not an engineer but my father and grandfathers were. Among us Zorastrians, it was the custom to adopt the name of your profession as your family name,” he said, and he was right. Sohrab Junglewala or his ancestor thus, must have been a forester at one time. Then to avoid being asked if Jimmy was short for Jamshed (as in Jamshed Marker), he said Jimmy was the name he was given at birth, so it wasn’t short for anything. Jimmy was Jimmy. There were no further questions about his name from his audience, which was a relief.

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“Chairman of Corporate India”

By William Langley

It is tempting to look at Ratan Tata, the Indian tycoon whose company last week took over Land Rover and Jaguar, as a symbol of a nation’s headlong charge towards economic superpowerdom. This, we suspect, is how it tends to be with those pesky, nouveau riche Asians; one minute you’ve never heard of them, the next they are snaffling up all your best-known firms, and treating themselves to large, stucco-fronted mansions in Kensington.

Ratan, 70, and his faintly mysterious Bombay-based family, do not fit this caricature at all. Resoundingly non-nouveau, the Tatas have moved among India’s business aristocracy since Queen Victoria was on the throne, and while the last 150 years have seen a steady growth in their power, wealth and reach, the family is famed for never having done anything even remotely headlong.

Yet Britain is succumbing to them. The £1 billion acquisition of two of the UK motor industry’s most illustrious marques follows the £250 million purchase of Tetley tea in 2000, and last year’s £6.75 billion takeover of Corus, the Anglo-Dutch steelmaking combine. All this, moreover, is likely to be a mere warm up for the big invasion Ratan appears to have in mind. The Tatas are currently involved in everything from luxury hotels to watchmaking, but while their presence is inescapable in India, they see abundant room to grow in Britain.

The calm - some would say stealth - with which Ratan operates appears to be a consequence of both temperament and heritage. Sometimes described as the “Chairman of Corporate India” he is a non-drinking, non-smoking bachelor Parsee, descended from Zoroastrian priests who fled persecution in Iran more than 1,000 years ago. In the Gujarat region where they mostly settled, the Parsees have clung tightly to their distinctive culture and an austere set of religious values.

Even today they observe a prohibition against polluting earth, air or water, and traditionally dispose of their dead by leaving the corpses atop high, wooden “Towers of Silence” to be eaten by vultures - although a worsening Indian vulture shortage, even in rural areas, has lately led to the embrace of alternative methods.

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This country seems to honour its heroes only after they have kicked the bucket. We name our battleships, our airports, our boulevards and bridges after them. What’s wrong with naming a few things after people who can still walk?

To embark on a mission to reclaim Karachi from rogue developers and robber contractors you are going to need help. That help is available. The Parsi community has played a pivotal role in shaping Karachi as it once was. Dinshaw, Nusserwanji, Cowasjee, Kothari and Avari are only a few names that come to mind. Their children are still living among us. Their love for their city is evident in some of the landmark structures the city is still proud to have.

Ask Ardesher Cowasjee for help and advice. He loves his city. Listen to the wisdom of this grand old man. He might give you an earful before he gives you some good ideas and advice — a small price to pay for being in the company of an idiosyncratic iconoclast who has never turned away a friend or foe who he thought he could somehow help in some way. It is just that Ardesher suffers fools badly.

Continue reading the entire article here.

Tanaaz and Bakhtiyar Irani were recently blessed with a baby boy. Bakhtiyar was so excited that he has recorded the entire sequence of the operation.

The actors had planned the birth of the baby on Navroz, the Parsi New Year. The couple has christened the baby, Zeus B Irani.

photocms.jpgBarely able to hold his excitement, Bakhtiyar says, “I have fallen in love with my wife all over again after seeing all the pain she has gone through while delivering the baby. Everyone sees this glamorous, bubbly actress on screen, but I saw her going through immense pain.”

Adds Bakhtiyar, “My mother and mother-in-law are taking care of Tanaaz. The baby looks all pink and white and I am sure will turn out to be a true Irani boy.”

So what’s going on right now in his mind? Says Bakhtiyar, “It’s a great feeling to be a father. Tanaaz and I have yet to cuddle up and have our special moments with the baby. We haven’t laughed or cried yet, three of us are simply chilling in the hospital. The pleasure of having a baby is for the initial 24 hours and then begins the sweet pain of taking care of the baby and the sleepless nights - but nothing to beat the feeling of being a father to Zeus B Irani.”

The new parents are visibly elated and are getting used to the idea of changing nappies and spending sleepless nights.