Today is the Vahishtoishti Gatha, the fifth and final Gatha day of this year’s muktad. And in the 2025 Everyday Parsi...
arZan Articles
Everyday Parsi: Persis Driver
Today is the Vahishtoishti Gatha, the fifth and final Gatha day of this year’s muktad. And in the 2025 Everyday Parsi...
Makkah, the birthplace of Islam was a Hijazi…
Khaleej Times Makkah, the birthplace of Islam was a Hijazi trading haven rich from the Red Sea caravan trade between Yemen and Byzantine Syria, a place where a Syrian monk, a Persian Zoroastrian...
Learn culture the Parsi way
We want to educate the youngsters of the Parsi community about their religion and culture... The Russian Cultural Centre at Peddar Road is currently showing an exhibition on the Zoroastrian...
Iranian-Americans mark a doubly festive holiday
New year coincides with birthday of Persianfounder of Zoroastrianreligion. An overflow crowd packed the California Zoroastrian Center in Westminster on Saturday to celebrate the Iranian new year and...
Udvada Where The Fires Are Always Burning
CYRUS H. MERCHANT describes and FARZANA CONTRACTOR photographs Udvada for the UpperCrust. A tribute to the Holy City of the Zoroastrians on the occasion of Jamshedi Navroze today. The 20th day of...
Yesterday was Navroze, the 2,500 year-old festival of…
Yesterday was Navroze, the 2,500 year-old festival of the vernal equinox that a wide swathe of Asia celebrates. The two gentle communities from Iran who are part of us naturally celebrated it:...
The palaces of Iran
Iranian Ben Sarjhi has been photographing the architecture of his homeland for many years. The whole collection is found here
Being Cyrus is a unique attempt
A feature film by a photographer has a few advantages. It is crisp, taut and precise, and rarely suffers from avoidable fluff. Being Cyrus falls into this category. A debut venture by director Homi...
‘Being Cyrus- Bollywood stars speaking English
'Being Cyrus- Bollywood stars speaking English in a darkly twisted tale about a Parsi family and the 'stranger' they let in it changes their lives forever . Even as the film is getting raves from...
Bawas and Bollywood
Bawas and Bollywood A quick quiz question: Which dialogue is probably Bollywood's most memorable line after Shashi Kapoor's 'Mere paas maa hai' from Deewar and Amjad Khan's 'Kitne aadmi thhe' from...
Boman Irani talks about playing his…
Boman Irani talks about playing his first Parsi character onscreen and dating Sushmita Sen! Faheem Ruhani ednesday, March 22, 2006 18:35 IST What was it it like finally playing a Parsi in 'Being...
Being Cyrus – A Psychological Thriller Set in…
Being Cyrus, a psychological thriller by debutant film maker Homi Adajania will open in theatres this Friday. The cast of the film may not be star laden but it sure has some fine actors -...
Saal Mubarak Dikra
The indomitable zest of the Parsi community in the city came out in full force at the Navroze celebration at the Dadar Parsi Gymkana grounds yesterday, as the entire Fasli community of south Mumbai...
Parsis pray, party & say Navroz
CITY’S PARSI community celebrated Janshedi Navroz at Parsi Anjuman Mirbai Marg on Tuesday. Jamshedi Navroz is a Spring festival which falls on March 21 stated to be the start of springs and also the...
Navroze: Noruz: Nowroj: What’s in a name ??
On the occassion of Jamshedi Navroze, the Persian New Year, I received a very interesting email from a friend, Tamina Davar. She writes about Navroze and what it means. And raises some very...
Small yet big
The Parsi community in the city will soon usher in its New Year by celebrating Jamshedi Navroz. JAMSHEDI Navroz is knocking at the doors of Parsis in the city, and with it, the community will...
Jamshedi Navroze….a festival to welcome Spring
Jamshedi Navroze is one of the three main festive days in the Parsi Calendar. The others being Parsi New year in August and Khordad Saal, the birthday of Zarathustra. Navroze falls on March 21st,...
Navroze: A great time to bond
Zoroastrians are looking forward to celebrate Navroze with their loved ones tomorrow.. Oh yeah, the preparations have begun. At the Kajanwalla household in Grant Road, it’s just finishing touches to...
Noruz in Iran
Noruz, a festival marking start of the new Iranian year, is celebrated in Iran. Passage of time has not reduced importance of the traditional festival and it is being observed by people more...
Vyarawalla: Witness to History
NO, no, no. No blinding flash, not again," shouted Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of peace, as the Parsi photographer, a woman in her early thirties, clicked her camera using a big bulb for flash....
Life without Parsis would be like bun without maska
And for the last Saturday before Parsi New Year, the fifth without Busybee, a few stray thoughts. by Farzana Contractor | Saturday, March 18, 2006 11:11:0 IST Without doubt, life without Parsis...
Humata Hukhta Hvarashta strikes a century
The only serial based on Zoroastrian religion and culture, completed 100 episodes recently Funded only by donations, Humata Hukhta Hvarashta — the only serial on air based on Zoroastrian religion —...
Joy Ride
As the Parsi couple in their jalopy who often gave a lift to the troubled heroine, Dinesh Hingoo and Piloo Wadia immortalized the quintessential Parsi eccentricity on-screen. Piloo in her...
New Things Coming to Parsi Khabar
The blog has completed six months and now is heading in a new direction. As the blog evolves, we thank all the people who have taken the time and effort to send us their suggestions and criticism...
Bombay’s Opium Past
... The bungalows of Malabar and Cumbala Hills, of Breach Candy and Walkeshwar were mostly Parsi-owned and unexceptionally lent out to Europeans. ... Read On...
The Magi of the East
‘the Magi’. Now, historically, the magi were well known as astronomers, interpreters of omens and dreams, even kingmakers whose duties included electing the king. But more importantly, they were the...
Naoroji and Jinnah
....Parsi leader Dadabhai Naoroji, a leading Indian nationalist, ran for the English Parliament, Jinnah and other Indian students worked day and night for him. Their efforts were crowned with...
Eagle Brigade of Dadar Parsi Colony
.....group comprises 12 to 14 boys, some his age, some older, and they form the Eagle Brigade of Dadar Parsi Colony. Their task is to patrol the Five Gardens area, keeping an eye out for any...
Commemoration of Zoroaster held in Tehran
Tuesday, December 27, 2005 - ©2005 IranMania.com LONDON, December 27 (IranMania) - Zoroastrian Association in Tehran held a ceremony in commemoration of Prophet Zarathustra (Zoroaster) in Tehran on...
Pilgrim Painter: Jehangir Sabawala
With his impeccable social graces, his dandy deportment and his luminous painterly style a la Lyonel Feininger (1871-1956), Jehangir Sabavala, 83, hovers between the problematic and the passe. Ever...
..Till the cows come home
“The Parsi baba is an animal saviour, the police do not even listen to us.” Read on
Challenge of religious conversion and Hindu response
Thus, when the Dwarka Mutt Shankaracharya gave the arriving Parsi refugees in Sanjaan [Kutch coast] a five-point requirement for settling in the country, they readily accepted and have not deviated...
The first female to smooch Dev Anand onscreen
The only thing that people are talking about Dev Anand's latest release Mr. Prime Minister is his onscreen smooch with an NRI actress in the film. And while Dev Anand is known for the skin-show in...
Dhansak at the Tea Center
Occasionally, there is mutton dhansak, supplied by a Parsi lady, it is known as Mrs. Cooper's dhansak. I have not tried it yet, when I do, I will let you know. Read On...
Boomla: The Parsi Bombil
My thali had two bombils (Bombay ducks), crisp fried. Not as crisp as Gajali's, perhaps, which are like biscuits, but still crisp. What they do is slit the fish and remove the single bone, unlike in...
Valley’s first East Indian restaurant keeping tables full
One week’s menu featured the “Melting Pot of Gujarat,” focusing on India’s northwest coast. The four entree selections included Parsi Chicken with Organic Turkish Apricots, Sarka Dhhal (a red lentil...
Pravasi award winners
Rusy M. Shroff is managing director of Ruttonjee Estates Continuation Limited, a company admired for its integrity in business. He was appointed a member of the Most Excellent Order of the British...
Plans to woo Parsi Students
CONCERNED over the number of Parsi students leaving the country to pursue higher studies abroad, the Ministry of Social Justice and ... Read on here technorati tags: parsi, study
Vulture species threatened
Namibian - Windhoek,Namibia ... Followers of the minority Parsi faith depend on vultures for disposal of their corpses, considering the burial or burning of human remains to defile the ......
The idea of Dimple’s character
The idea of Dimple’s character is to annoy the audience and she ... IndiaFM - Bombay,India ... The backdrop of this movie seems Parsi. Is it a Parsi movie? It’s not at all a parsi movie....
Curry boss in bid to save India’s vultures
[email protected] 15 March 2006 THE boss of an Archway curry house is helping spice up a new campaign to save India's vultures from extinction. Cyrus Todiwala, who owns The Parsee, in Highgate...
Agiaries will go high-tech
'Parsi Resource Group' (PRG) aims to strengthen pillars of Parsi community - its Agiaries, priests and youth.. Jimmy Mistry, an architect by profession and owner of Della Tecnica, has launched...
Zoroastrians use Internet dating to rescue religion
Zoroastrians use Internet dating to rescue religion MUMBAI, India -- After trying for four years to have a baby, Khorshed Bulsara called on her fellow Zoroastrians for help. She tapped into a new...
Indian Cowboy
Throughout Indian Cowboy, performer and playwright Zaraawar Mistry asks us to "connect the dots" of his narrator's life. Yet the dots don't necessarily add up in this premiere production at Mixed...
Dadabhai Naoroji on British currency notes
The image of Dadabhai Naoroji, the first ever Asian MP to enter the House of Commons in 1892, may soon be printed on British currency notes, if the recommendation of an influential Labour Party...
Gender, Race, and Spectatorship in Early Indian Cinema
These are the choice of men to play women's parts, and the use of European or 'white' actresses posing as Indian. Both these masquerades can be located in prior theatrical traditions of western...
Old pacemakers win hearts
Most families at the rally had cars that had been in the family for years, like AR Dadachanji, a Parsi priest, who took his family for a spin in their 1939 Morris-8. "It's from the same year that I...
Kurshetji murder puts spotlight on Parsis
The Adi Kurshetji murder case of May 2003, which culminated in the conviction of the accused on Friday, has exposed the soft underbelly of the Parsi community. With an increasing number of aging...
The Truth About Secret Societies
Parsi (Persian Zoroastrianism) influence is also seen in the Kusti ritual where each day they would tie a sacred cord around their waist. The fact that the Templars were accused of holding a ritual...
“Farsi” or “Persian” ?
"Farsi" or "Persian"?: Persian (Iranian) people in the English-speaking countries are the only community who use two different terms to refer to their language, "Farsi" and "Persian." This behavior...
Love, death and adjectives in Mumbai
Two for one, three for two: no noun without an adjective, never a single adjective where two or more will do. Silence is "utter", hatred "raw and naked", puddles "brown, murky and stagnant". The...