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BPP Roundtable Discussion on Education Policy
The below is a report by Zubin Madon.
In an unprecedented move, the BPP trustees called a brainstorming meeting to discuss the education program for Parsi youth at Jimmy Mistry’s Della Technica. Noted educationists, Parsi Principals & teachers were in attendace. Among them were Ms. Diana D. Marfatia, Ms Silloo Commisariat and Mrs Rati Wadia. Other members of the community, especially the youth were also present.
In a session that lasted over 5 hours, the Principals and teachers shared many ideas on career counselling, parental counselling and special help for children with learning disabilities. Olympic yachtsman Farokh Tarapore talked about the importance of sports as a recreational activity and a career, and stressed on the need for ’sports counseling’ and offered his services to the community to hone young athletes and guide them in the right direction.
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Of Dhansak and Nan Khatai
During the sixties, the city had over 3,000 Parsees. Today, there are just 650, and the community is counting every birth and death.
Thus, when the Parsee Club on the Maidan recently completed its century, it was time for community members to reaffirm their ethnicity.
The centenary was marked with a bang. For one year, there were celebrations galore: tournaments, dance, music, fashion shows, art competitions and, of course, food all in traditional Parsee style. On Sunday evening, when members finally took leave of each other at the end of the club’s centenary celebrations, they agreed it had been a wonderful year of togetherness.
The Parsee Club was established on November 4, 1908, with the idea of promoting sports. Since then, teams from the club have played official league matches be it hockey, football, basketball, cricket or tennis. Every weekend, a majority converges at the club to play, chat, eat and drink. “It has become a way of life with us. When the community is small, it tends to gravitate towards a centre that holds the community together,” said Bahadur Postwalla, one of the most active community members.
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Parsis reduced to tears for homes
As if the 25-year wait for a house was not enough, allegations that she and many like her lied to get a house became too much for a 55-year-old Parsi woman at the charity commissioner’s office on Wednesday, and she broke down.
She, along with at least 30 other people from the community, have consistently been attending all hearings at the charity commissioner’s office, to find out if they will finally be allotted homes under the Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s (BPP) homes-for-the-needy scheme.
The last board of the BPP had unanimously cleared 104 names, along with hers, as being eligible for housing under the category. But the new trust has said that it will first ascertain the merit of the applicants.
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The Garden and the Fire: Heaven and Hell in Islamic Culture: Nerina Rustomji
Islamic conceptions of heaven and hell began in the seventh century as an early doctrinal innovation, but by the twelfth century, these notions had evolved into
a highly formalized ideal of perfection. In tracking this transformation, Nerina Rustomji reveals the distinct material culture and aesthetic vocabulary Muslims developed to understand heaven and hell and identifies the communities and strategies of defense that took shape around the promise of a future world.
Ideas of the afterworld profoundly influenced daily behaviors in Islamic society and gave rise to a code of ethics that encouraged abstinence from sumptuous objects, such as silver vessels and silk, so they could be appreciated later in heaven. Rustomji conducts a meticulous study of texts and images and carefully connects the landscape and social dynamics of the afterworld with earthly models and expectations. Male servants and female companions become otherworldly objects in the afterlife, and stories of rewards and punishment helped preachers promote religious reform. By employing material culture as a method of historical inquiry, Rustomji points to the reflections, discussions, and constructions that actively influenced Muslims’ picture of the afterworld, culminating in a distinct religious aesthetic.
More here.
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Calcutta Parsees: Christmas Show as Part of Centenary Celebrations
The Calcutta Parsee Club, founded in 1908, will have the last of its centenary celebrations during the Christmas week.
The 100-year-old club will organise a big show on December 25 night, followed by a Parsee Carnival on December 27 and 28, complete with stalls highlighting the community’s cuisine, culture and artefacts.
“This is the first time in recent years that the members of Calcutta Parsee Club are organising a carnival of this scale. We expect at least 2,000 people a day,” says 72-year-old member Bahadur Postwalaa.
The centenary celebrations started on the club’s 99th birthday on November 4 last year with a prayer and dinner. During the course of the year, there were several events to mark the diamond jubilee.
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Shame on Godrej Baug!
This is a note sent to us by Zubin Madon.
While the whole city is sill trying to come to terms with the horrible tragedy that struck us barely a month ago, and all the new year celebrations across the city have been cancelled, a small bunch of idiots in Godrej Baugh have decided to go ahead with their New Year bash. They even fought with the BPP trustees tooth and nail, when the latter refused to grant permission for the event.
What is truly disturbing is that Hyderabad Estate- the official residence of all top police officials- is 10 feet away from Godrej Baugh. From what I figure, a very small group of organizers have a lot of money to be made by organizing this do, and considering all other baughs have cancelled their events, most young folks will be going to the Godrej Baugh do, which makes their pot of dirty-money even larger.
Considering so many upright officers died saving our city, and the fact that their residence is a stone’s throw away from G-baugh, makes this even more repulsive. 3 young Parsis also passed away in this tragedy. Have we Parsis become so shallow and cheap that we can’t do without one silly New Year bash? Can we not show even that much respect for the people who gave the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty, saving our lousy, ungrateful backsides??? I don’t know what kind of a soul-dead, low-life, sub-human reptile you have to be to attend this event at a time like this.
I sincerely hope the residents of Godrej Baugh will do something to stop these handful of idiots from tarnishing the image of an entire community, that has a reputation of producing the greatest nationalist heroes for our motherland. WAKE UP!
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The Parsi Connection
The below article appeared in the Spanish press, in the aftermath of the Mumbai terrorist attacks of 26/11.
Parsi Khabar’s Editor Mehernaaz Sam Wadia was interviewed for this article. The original article is in Spanish and the translation below is from Google Translations. It does not make perfect grammatical sense, but you can get the gist of the article.
MIKEL Ayestarán | BOMBAY
“I do not think that the terrorists know what is a ‘Parsi’. They attacked the Taj Mahal hotel and cafe Leopold because they were very popular among foreigners, nothing more. ” Yazdi Tantra and Ader Gandi direct the most visited websites by the community-Zoroastrians known as’ Parsi ‘in India-all over the world.
The Internet has become an indispensable tool for keeping together the members of this confession millennial born in ancient Persia from the hands of Zarathustra and that is its true center in Bombay world. ‘The directory Parsi’ received thousands of visitors from around the world following the attacks in the Indian financial capital, a city where some of the largest fortunes belong to families with members Parsis as Tata, current owners of the Taj Mahal.
“To think well, speak well and act well” are the three principles of this confession born 3700 years ago by the hand of Zarathustra, the first prophet that brought monotheism to the world. His most sacred city is Yazd in the south of the Islamic Republic of Iran, where his eternal fire has not been shut down ever.
Thousand years ago who emigrated from his birthplace in ancient Persia, fleeing religious persecution. Since then, the city of Bombay has become their second home because it is home to some sixty thousand of them, approximately half of the entire world community. They live throughout the city, but are concentrated especially in a kind of colonies, called ‘baugs’, built by philanthropists Parsis in the past.
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Vulture Conservation Project in Surat
The following text and pictures were forwarded to Parsi Khabar by Goldi Gandhi
BCSG Surat chapter and Nature Club Surat have taken up a project of Vulture Conservation. Many 
activities are carried out for the said project and we have often noticed some positive response for the same. Many a times we find people from the villages or school children informing us about the dead vulture or a sick vulture which has fallen down the tree from its nest or roosting sites. Up till now the villagers were unaware of the importance of Vultures in our life and so due to various awareness programs conducted in the villages nearby the Hazira Coastal area people and students have come forward and led a helping hand. To mention few of the activities and the report of the same for the past four months is briefed as under:
Ø Vultures are mainly found in the Coastal area of Hazira which is near Surat. Many villages are 
covered in this region. To name few of them are Suvali, Junagam, Rajgiri, Damka, Hazira and Mora. In these villages awareness programs are being conducted and a film on Vanishing Vulture which is in the local language is shown to them. Many T-Shirts and booklet named “Chalo Gidh Bachavie” are also distributed. These kinds of programs are not only carried out in Surat but also in Mahuva, Kodinar and Rajula. Many of the primary and secondary schools are covered in these regions by explaining the students the importance of Vulture in our Eco-System and their role and as to why save them.
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Young Parsis moving to Silicon Plateau: Bangalore
Dasturji Jamshedji Unvulla, who took over priestly duties at the city’s only Parsi temple, the Zoarastrian Anjuman, after his brother passed away last month, reveals an interesting aspect about the community. “More Parsis have been migrating to Bangalore to work in IT companies and accountancy firms. The work culture here has attracted young Parsis from across the country, especially from Ahmedabad and Mumbai, where Parsis have settled in large numbers,” Unvulla told TOI.
Anahita Pagdiwalla, visiting faculty in MBA colleges, came to Bangalore in 2006, and finds the work culture very comfortable. “Bangalore has the reputation of an easy city, with a great climate, so working here is very pleasant,” says Anahita.
There are about 700 Parsis in the city, up from around 550 in 2006. The community members struck roots in the early 1900s when retired bankers, accountants and businessmen moved here. “Bangalore was a retirement paradise for Parsis once, but now I see more younger people,” says Unvulla.
The early migrants built the the fire temple on Queen’s Road in 1926 with the help of Dinshaw Cawasji, a contractor from Mumbai. Dasturji Pestonji Unvulla was the chief priest and his eldest son Dasturji Nadirshah Pestonji Unvulla succeeded him. After his demise at the age of 90 on Nov. 25, 2008, his younger brother Jamshedji, a retired banker with the Central Bank of India took over.
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The Last of the Zoroastrians
Postcard from Yazd
By Deena Guzder Tuesday, Dec. 09, 2008
Far removed from Tehran’s bustling tin-roofed teashops and Isfahan’s verdant pomegranate gardens, the deserts known as Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut meet at the city of Yazd, once the heart of the Persian Empire.
Walking across the wind-whipped plains of the forgotten city, a young Iranian woman dressed in colorful floral garbs points out a sand-dusted tower hovering in the distance like a dormant volcano under a relentless sun. “This is where we put tens of thousands of corpses over the years,” she explains with a congenial smile.
The funerary tower is part of the ancient burial practice of Zoroastrianism, the world’s oldest monotheistic religion. Zoroastrians (known in India as Parsis) regard sky burials, in which the bodies are exposed to natural elements including vultures in open-topped “Towers of Silence,” as an ecologically friendly alternative to cremation, consistent with their religion’s reverence for the earth. A Zoroastrian priest clad in a long, cotton robe explains: “Death is considered to be the work of Angra Mainyu, the embodiment of all that is evil, whereas the earth and all that is beautiful is considered to be the pure work of God. We must not pollute the earth with our remains.”
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By Shanaya Lalkaka for DNA India
Sooni Taraporevala’s Little Zizou is busy making the rounds of film festivals and will hit Mumbai theatres soon, reports Shanaya Lalkaka
Sooni Taraporevala’s directorial debut Little Zizou has done well at all the film festivals in which it has been screened so far. Come February 2009, Mumbaikars will get a chance to watch this film when it releases in the city.
Sooni says, “We have shown the film in New York, Italy, Washington DC, Goa and Singapore. Next we plan to screen the movie in Delhi and Kerala, which would be followed by its release in Mumbai.”
Often thought to be a chronicler of the Parsi community, Sooni says, “I have been a screen writer for about 20 years and have written about 20 scripts, out of which only six got produced. Of those six, except for my book and Such A Long Journey, there has been no Parsi content. So I won’t say that the subject is something that I concentrate on.”
The movie talks of themes like love and tolerance, something that Sooni believes is relevant in today’s time. She says people who knew nothing about Parsi’s have been roaring with laughter. “But,” she continues, “The responses so far have had nothing to do with the religion so much as with the story.”
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Bombay Parsi Punchayat fails to release list of homes
After promising the charity commissioner twice that they would present a list of people they examined since assuming office on October 23, 2008, the Bombay Parsi Punchayet failed to release the list even on Thursday.
“We have not come with any list. On the contrary, we are not party to it and want an extension,” said Persi Gandhi, who will appear as counsel for the six trustees in the next hearing.
The trust was to take a decision on 104 people who were given houses by the earlier trust (see DNA, December 5). Then trustees Rustom Tirandaz and Jimmy Mistry stated that they would produce a list on Thursday’s meeting of the people they had considered. Joint charity commissioner N Deshmukh had insisted on it, saying, “The trust needs to show it is doing something on the issue. Show the names you have considered.” Later, he said, “Since you do not have any list, I will now pass orders on December 16.”
Trust representatives wanted to know on what basis or application the order would be passed, to which Deshmukh said, “Do not try to anticipate my order. After hearing you out and looking at whatever has transpired, orders will be given.”
Mistry, one of the trustees present, was unavailable for comment. Said Kersi Randeria of Alert Zoroastrian Association (AZA), “The decisions to give 104 houses were taken unanimously by the old board of trustees, and unless the new board finds something malafide, they should not be harassing people by delaying the allotment.”
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