Applications are open for the 3rd WZYLF 2026 to be held at the ASHA Center in the UK in May 2026 The ASHA Centre is...
arZan Articles
Behramji Malabari—Parsi activist who fought widowhood, child marriage in Hindu society
Shedding scrutiny on his ‘anglicised’ Parsi roots, Malabari emerged as the force behind the Age of Consent...
FEZANA Bestows Lifetime Achievement Award On Ervad Dr. Jehan Bagli
FEZANA’s highest award is The Lifetime Achievement Award which recognizes a highly-respected North American Zarathushti, who through his/her personal achievements and meritorious service has brought...
From Rs 20,000 to Rs 100-crore Business: The journey Of Jimmy Mistry
Education is very crucial, but the lack of it should not be an obstacle to chasing your dream. Engineering dropout Jimmy Mistry has always been a firm believer in self-learning and on-the-job...
Morgan Freeman: Christianity, Judaism and Islam Draw Their Tenets from Zoroastrianism
Morgan Freeman tells the origins of three major world religions in the second season of The Story of God by Elisa Meyer, worldreligionnews.com National Geographic, known for its matter-of-fact...
President of France bestows National Order of Merit on Zubin Karkaria
President of France François Hollande bestows the prestigious National Order of Merit on Zubin Karkaria Zubin Karkaria, CEO – VFS Global, and CEO – Kuoni Group, was appointed ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre...
Nargis Wadia and Indian advertising’s “Mad Men” years
Women were an important part of the ‘60s change. Nargis Wadia didn’t want to be an air-hostess or secretary, and her mother refused to let her become a teacher or doctor. “So she sent me to JJ...
India’s ‘Parsis’ Renounce Sky Burial as Vultures Go Missing
Parsis are the followers of the ancient Zoroastrian religion, whose ancestors settled in Indian 1,000 years ago to escape persecution in Iran (erstwhile Persia) that had turned Islamic. They brought...
United States First Parsi Judge Appointed to Los Angeles Superior Court
Indian American attorney Firdaus Dordi, a former public defender and co-founder of the Dordi, Williams, Cohen law firm, has been appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown to the Los Angeles...
Ronnie Screwvala: After Building a Media Empire, What’s Next? Lifting One Million From Poverty
Ronnie Screwvala sat cross-legged early last month on the floor of a three-room schoolhouse here in Nate, a village about 100 miles from Mumbai, the city of his birth where he built a billion-dollar...
Sail Away: Zephyr Khambatta
Zephyr Khambatta is a Singaporean singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, actor, model and host who also plays the drums. An engineering dropout from the National University of Singapore, it...
WZCC CHARMS HONG KONG
In its pursuit of attaining its goals to promote Entrepreneurship and Professionalism, WZCC’S venue for this year’s Global Meet was Hong Kong – strategically located at the mouth of the Pearl River...
How food inspires names of India’s Parsis
It is no exaggeration to say that Parsis, the Zoroastrians of India, take their food seriously – very seriously. Love of good food and drink plays a central, oftentimes quirky, role in nearly...
Global Working Group 2016 Meeting in Hong Kong: Press Release
The Global Working Group brings together representatives of Federations in the diaspora. The GWG met in Hongkong on 15 and 16 December. As per tradition, the meeting was presided by the host...
How a Mumbai cemetery tour turned into a debate on religion and menstrual rules
On December 11, professors from Wilson College and the principal of a Zoroastrian religious school led a group of 25 people, including a few foreign travellers, on a one-hour tour of Doongerwadi,...
Heritage Walk at Doongerwadi
Dr. Viraf J. Kapadia opines on the subject in the Mumbai Samachar. Since the last few days turmoil has enveloped the orthodox members of the Parsi Community when the proposed 2 hours heritage walk...
Dr. Maneck Bhagat: Pioneering Pediatrician, Teacher, Musician
Dr. Maneck Bhagat: Pioneering Pediatrician, Teacher, Musician (1917 – 1982) Article by Dr. Patricia Steckler Bhagat 7:30 am sharp, Pediatrics Ward 2, at the King Edward Memorial (K.E.M.) hospital,...
Nadir Godrej: Keynote Address at WZCC Global AGM in Hong Kong
The following is the keynote address delivered by Nadir Godrej at the Awards Gala at the conclusion of the Global Annual General Meeting of the World Zoroastrian Chamber of Commerce, hosted in Hong...
Fate of Rs 22 Lacs in Cash in BPP CEO’s Cupboard
The Mumbai Samachar asks about the status of the Rs 22 lacs that was found in the BPP CEO’s cupboard. The community is aware that cash of more than Rs. 22 lakhs was found in September 2014 in...
132-year-old Ripon Club plans partial sell-off to cut rising losses
Although the 132-year-old Ripon Club has endured the vicissitudes of time and fortune, a part of the good old Parsi bastion may suffer partial eclipse. A controversial proposal to surrender or sell...
The Parsis fighting to stop their culture dying out, and why it appears doomed
The birth and death notices in Parsiana tell a stark story. The June edition of the Mumbai-based magazine for Parsis lists two births and 46 deaths in the city. Perhaps June was not a typical month,...
ZYNG Speaks Up.
‘We will continue ZYNG’ing’ For 7 years ZYNG has served society and our community, working tirelessly for the positive growth of our community youth. We are now the largest youth body of our...
Bombay Parsi Punchayet cuts ties with youth wing ZYNG
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) is the talking point once again in the community after its board of trustees cut ties with its youth wing Zoroastrian Youth for Next Generation (ZYNG). Article by...
Miracles and Legends in Zoroastrianism: Desk Calendar 2017
Background about Persiart7: Persiart7 is an initiative undertaken to create awareness amongst community members and others about various important and interesting aspects of our history and...
Dishoom Opens in Edinburgh
Our dear friend Meher Marfatia informs us about the opening of Dishoom’s first outpost in Edinburgh. Meher writes… The sparkling thespian actors of my Laughter in the House are gracing the walls of...
A Walk In Karachi’s Katrak Colony
Parsi influence on Karachi’s architecture is immense. Parsi businessmen and philanthropists commissioned some of the most remarkable structures in Karachi especially at the turn of last century....
Old relatives from Mumbai pay tribute to Jer Bulsara
Days after the late British rocker Freddie Mercury’s greatest champion, his mother Jer Bulsara, passed away quietly in her sleep in the UK, a wave of grief has hit Dadar’s Parsi Colony, where the...
Zara Heeramaneck: Preserving a collector’s dream
Eighteen-year-old Zara Heeramaneck has been passionate about art conservation since childhood. Her home at Kemps Corner also boasts of artefacts from across the world. ic/Suresh Karkera Article by...
Edward Talkies: Small Talk with Fred Poonawala
Edward Theatre is seeking a cultural revival after surviving a dark tunnel of the single screen’s demise Slated to open towards the end of the month, the Goethe Institut’s ambitious...
Arm Wrestling “Panja” and Parsis: A nod to a great legacy
A recent arm-wrestling competition at the Parsee Gymkhana provided a window into a storied past involving physical culture and strongmen With one shaky hand steadying the other, Peshoton Patrawala...
Jimmy Engineer Conferred The Peace Ambassador Medal In Beijing
Renowned Pakistani artist and social worker Jimmy Engineer was awarded “The Peace Ambassador’s Medal” in Beijing. According to a message received here Wednesday, “The Peace...
Los Angeles Welcomes A New Atash Kadeh
A new Atash Kadeh is born in the world ! Los Angeles welcomes its second Dar-E-Mehr as the Zoroastrian Association of California inaugurated a brand new ground-up Atash Kadeh at their center in...
Toronto’s Fred Mirza Volunteers On 74th birthday making Santa Claus Fund boxes
“What better way to pass time?” Mirza has been holding down the mystery warehouse where Santa Fund boxes are packed and organized since September. He says the operation becomes “more high tech” with...
FEZANA’s Statement on the US Presidential Elections 2016
On Tuesday, November 8th, Donald Trump was elected the 45th president of the United States of America. The reverberations both within the United States, Canada and globally have led to everything...
Dubai Pravasi Yatra 2016: A Resounding Success
The Dubai Pravasi Yatra, one of the most awaited events of the year 2016, turned out to be a grand success with participation ranging from 70 international delegates to 600 local residents at...
Parsi and Jewish culture collide at Challahwalla
clatl.com | Nov 3rd 2016 “Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. A Parsi and a Jew walk into a restaurant…” So begins the official introduction for the first ever...
Debate on Navjote ceremony in Delhi
Even as the debate of rights of children from Parsi mother to non-Parsi father and Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is being debated in the community, a case of a Navjote ceremony on a boy born to Parsi...
Murree and The Lush Life Lahore
In the congested Saddar area of Karachi, on a busy street lined with restaurants and cafeterias, rests the Lucky Star Wineshop. It’s not advertised as a place of alcoholic purveyance, but it’s not...
The mystery of the clock tower deaths
A century and a quarter after two Parsi girls fell to their death from the iconic Rajabai Clock Tower in Mumbai, the shocking incident continues to intrigue On 25 April 1891, at about 4pm, Bachubai...
Documentary ‘Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds’ pays homage to Zubin Mehta
Bettina Ehrhardt’s film on the celebrated music conductor is being screened at the Mumbai Film Festival. The central tenet of Zoroastrianism, “Humata, Hukhta, Hvarshta”, or “Good thoughts, good...
Capt. Hormazdiar Desai: A ray of light for those in dark
Padma Shree awardee, Capt. Desai who celebrates his 100th birthday on October 20, today has founded seven institutes for the blind community. In the bylanes of Colaba, sitting in the living room of...
Mistry Vs Tata: Duel of ‘dikras’ has Parsi community shaken and stirred
A day after the Tata group sacked Cyrus Mistry as chairman and appointed Ratan Tata as interim chairman, there is widespread dismay in the Parsi community at the way events unfolded. “This is a very...
Parsi Tea Parties for Two
Parsis and hill stations are irrevocably connected. Where you find one, you will find the other… And they make for the most delightful conversations and the most uplifting friendships One of the...
Zubin Mehta – Good Thoughts, Words, Deeds, And Music!
‘Aapro’ Zubin Mehta is in the news. The ongoing Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival has an 89-minute documentary on the celebrated Western classical music conductor in its ‘Discovering...
India’s Tata gives UCSD $70M in hot area of genetics to University of California San Diego
One of India’s top philanthropists is giving UC San Diego $70 million to explore ways to use a radically new way of editing genes to fight insect-borne diseases, make crops more resistant to drought...
Shakeup at House of Tatas: Ratan Back !
The board of Tata Sons, the holding company of the Tata Group, has unexpectedly replaced Cyrus Mistry as chairman. Ratan Tata has been named as interim chairman and a selection committee has been...
Remembering the 20th century theatre impresario who built Mumbai’s iconic Opera House
A slice of history is being resurrected in Mumbai this week. The Royal Opera House, an imposing Baroque building, will come alive again on Thursday after a hiatus of 22 years and following seven...
Family matters: Raghu Karnad and the Calicut Parsis
On the Calicut seafront, Raghu Karnad traces the lingering stories of the Parsis who lived there, including a thrice-great-grandmother It’s soon after sunrise, and women in burqas are power-walking...
Zubin Karkaria: Meet the first Indian to head a Swiss company
‘Sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission,’ Zubin Karkaria, CEO of the Kuoni Group and the first Asian to head a listed Swiss company, tells Niraj Bhatt....
All You Ever Wanted To Know About Sacred Rituals Of A Parsi Wedding
Marriage in India is a sacred institution where the bride and the groom exchange vows and promise to stay together through thick and thin, not only in this birth but in the following births as well....
Patiala court acquits Kobad Gandhy of all charges
The court of Additional Sessions and District Judge Mohammad Gulzar on Tuesday acquitted Kobad Ghandy, an alleged leader of banned CPI (Maoist), of all charges in a six-year-old case. He was booked...
With Kersi Lord’s Passing a Long Era of Hindi Film Music Comes to an End
In 1969, Hindi film music fans were enthralled to hear the songs of Aradhana, a film starring a budding actor Rajesh Khanna and the well-known actress Sharmila Tagore. Each song was hummable, but...