The final edition of Parsiana has rolled off the presses.Established in 1964, the semi-monthly magazine was a vital...
arZan Articles
Rayomand J. Patell Launches New Venture — Firestarter
Rayomand J. Patell, a senior creative professional with a career spanning three decades across advertising and...
Dying Iranian language gets boost
BORI, in collaboration with London University, to hold 10-day course in Avestan, an ancient language now fading into oblivion. In an attempt to resurrect the ancient Iranian language Avestan,...
Bombay Parsi Punchayet Trustees’ kin line up for elections
In the run up to the polls, which are likely to be held on October, names of some trustees' kin have started doing the rounds. Article by Kamlesh Pednekar | DNA Elections to the Bombay Parsi...
Hotfut: Mistry Brothers bring Soccer on the Roof in Hyderabad
Ten floors above the busy Begumpet traffic, a live football game is on. Hyderabad is the first city in South India to get two rooftop football pitches. “Hotfut” has been built on the 10th floor of...
Pianist Zubin Kanga: Dark Twin
Zubin Kanga goes where few pianists dare- expanding the possibilities of his instrument in the process. In his Dark Twin concerts, themes of media intrusion, climate change and multiple...
Seattle Music Community Stunned by Untimely Death of Darius Minwalla
The Seattle music community was shaken yesterday when news began to spread, first by phone calls and text messages, and then across social media, that Darius Minwalla died Wednesday at the age of...
Farthest Field An Indian Story of the Second World War
Raghu Karnad the author of “ Farthest Field: An Indian Story of the Second World War” writes in about the new book. It features stories about Parsi soldiers in World War 2. Three young men gazed at...
Narendra Modi to Visit Udvada in December 2015
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi is likely to visit Gujarat in December. He will be visiting Udvada in south Gujarat to attend a function of Parsi community. District administration and local BJP...
Jehangir Sabavala’s last six works now at Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai
Family of painter donates his easels, brushes, palettes to CSMVS The family of the late master painter donates his final six paintings, study material and archives to the museum for maintenance and...
Khada Parsi Statue to Get a Protective Barrier and CCTV
Protection Against Beggars, Drug Addicts et al for Iconic Statue Article by Chaitanya Marpakwar | Times Of India Almost a year after it was restored at a cost of nearly Rs 1 crore, the BMC has decid...
XYZ Xtremely Young Zoroastrians Summer Camp in Mumbai
The Xtremely Young Zoroastrians (XYZ) a Parsi non-government organisation (NGO), has organised a week-long educational summer camp for Parsi children. The camp started on Monday, May 18 and will go...
Around the world: Diary of a prodigious woman traveller
I know someone who has had 18 passports. Who has travelled 180 countries. Solo. As a woman. Over five decades. I am talking about one of our country’s most prodigious and brave travelers, a woman...
Mumbai’s Oldest Cricket Clubs
In 19th-century Mumbai, the gentleman's game was often used to show that one's community was superior to another's Article by Dustin Silgardo | Mint On Sunday “The Parsee owes his cricket prosperity...
Mumbai’s vulture breeding programme has fizzled out: BNHS
After managing to have a successful programme elsewhere in India, BNHS's Dr Vibhu Prakash, head of the BNHS Vulture Conservation Breeding Programme spoke to dna's Tanea Bandopadhyay on the status of...
SodaBottleOpenerWala: Irani Cafe Opens in Hyderabad
For those who have grown sipping Irani Chai but are worried about the shutting down of the famous cafes serving them, there is good news. AD Singh and his wife Sabina, promoters of Olive Bar &...
Dorab Mistry Elected to the European Council of Religious Leaders
In an email communiqué from ZTFE: Dear ZTFE Members & Well-wishers Members of the European Council of Religious Leaders ECRL met in Frankfurt, Germany between 11th and 13th May 2015, to debate...
How did Meher Heroyce Moos get her 18 passports?
Meet the solo woman traveller from Mumbai who has stomped across 180 countries over half a century The sharks were swarming in the Polynesian waters below. A goat was flung overboard. They darted...
Parsigutta A cluster of basthis in Hyderabad
Parsigutta is one of the popular suburban areas in the city. It comes under Boudhanagar Municipal Division. Parsigutta is surrounded by Ram Nagar, Padma Rao Nagar, Musheerabad, Warasiguda and...
Tribute to Irani Cafes
With nankatais and other bakery items being sold in barni over the counter in the courtyard and interiors marked with wooden chairs, red and white checkered and crochet table clothes, framed...
Adil F. Dalal Presented American Society of Quality’s Crosby Medal
Adil F. Dalal was presented with The Crosby Medal by American Society of Quality on May 3rd, 2015 for his book ‘The 12 Pillars of Project of Excellence: A Lean Approach to Improving Project...
An Introduction to the Avestan Language by Prof. Almut Hintze
UNESCO Parzor is happy to announce the first of the Educational Outreach programmes in collaboration with SOAS, University of London. Professor Almut Hintze, Zarthoshty Brothers Professor of...
Oh Khodai: Parsis in Ahmedabad
A bawa wearing a white bandhgala coat with cylindrical black hat driving a gorgeous vintage car overloaded with a garadraped wife and squabbling kids: that's how films in the early '80s portrayed...
Homa Dashtaki: White Moustache Yoghurt
How One Woman Survived A Bad Career Break, Then Launched A Life-Changing Business The inspiring, never-say-die story of Homa Dashtaki and White Moustache yogurt. On a quiet commercial street in Red...
A House for Mr Tata – An Old Shanghai Tale tells us something new about China and India
In 1904, Bejan Dadabhoy Tata, a distant cousin of the founders of the House of Tata, left India’s shores for Shanghai. He set himself up in the textile trade and displayed the legendary business...
Sohrab Homi Fracis: An Interview with the Author
What better metaphor for disorientation than an acid trip? Viraf has been in America for two months, and the differences from his home in Bombay might best be described by how he feels about Ali,...
In Udvada: The Maha Kumbh of the Parsis
The anniversary of the Atash Behram, the most sacred fire, at the sleepy town of Udvada, is when the community opens up to all comers, and with free delicious food for everyone. Article by Madhulika...
In New Zealand Zoroastrians try to beat extinction
World youth congress in Auckland in December is a bid to get followers to marry within the faith, writes Lincoln Tan. One of the world's oldest religions is facing extinction, and will be fighting...
Parsi punchayet cracks down on bribing of voters
For the first time in a century, BPP introduces voluntary code of conduct for aspiring trustees, restricts candidates to spending no more than Rs 3 lakh for campaigning The upcoming Bombay Parsi...
Parsi Punchayet Trustees Nearly Come To Blows
With weeks to go for elections, chairman and trustee trade allegations, and one nearly hurls a chair. The hallowed board room of the 300-year-old Bombay Parsi Punchayet witnessed acrimony on Tuesday...
Bapsy Sidhwa In Conversation with BBC
Leading Pakistani novelist Bapsi Sidhwa reflects on growing up during Partition and how it fed into her comedy novel The Crow Eaters. We examine the complicated relationship between Pakistan, its...
India’s Nuclear Scientists Are Dying Mysteriously And Nobody Seems To Be Worried
Have you ever watched a movie depicting an invisible hand attempting to tilt the power equation in its favour, trying to subvert the nuclear operations of a country? Well, we can't be sure whether...
Parsis: Keeping the Flame Alive
The world’s longest continually-burning flame, found in Udvada, a town in Gujarat, is the most important pilgrimage site for the Parsis of India. Parsis have lived in the country for 1,200 years...
Tenaz Dubash: A Film Maker in Conversation
Keeping the Flame Alive A filmmaker takes us inside her ancient faith, where a fierce struggle rages between tradition and the forces of change. Article published on Belief.Net You describe your new...
The Charm of Bombay: An anthology of writings in praise of the first city of India.
This chromolithograph is taken from plate 4 of William Simpson's 'India: Ancient and Modern'. The artist depicts the teeming street of the bustling city of Bombay (Mumbai), a hub of India trade. A...
If boys will be boys, girls will be girls: Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal
In a year when our collective consciousness has been shocked by the horrific treatment of women across the country, Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal - one of the India’s best-known feminists and playwrights -...
Nagpur Parsi youths collecting relief for Nepal victims
Lending a helping hand to the Nepalese population in this hour of crisis, a group of city youngsters from the Nagpur Parsi Gymkhana are collecting relief material for those affected by the...
Farokh Engineer: Still Firmly On The Front foot
One may quit cricket, but apparently it cannot be the other way round. This was was well illustrated by Farokh Engineer, a trained pilot, who chose cricket as a career, to represent India in 46 Test...
Code of Conduct to govern BPP Elections
Dinshaw Tamboly writes in regarding the Code of Conduct for the Bombay Parsi Punchayet Elections. Trustees, Bombay Parsi Punchayet, Mumbai. Ladies & Gentlemen, Some of us (former trustees...
Mehallasha E Pavri : The First Great Indian Cricketer
In his late 19th-century book A Chronicle of Cricket, writer Shapoorjee Sorabjee vividly described how the Parsis began playing cricket: ‘Some enthusiastic boys at first only gleefully watched from...
The artist and more: Jimmy Engineer
At a Harvard talk, Jimmy Engineer talks about the various aspects of his life, as an artist, social worker, human rights and peace activist Article by Beena Sarwar | The News On Sunday “There is a...
Tehmulji Parsi Lying-In hospital may see development soon
The hospital at Fort has not been functioning for over two decades now. For the past three years, the BPP trustees and the hospital committee have been locked in a legal tussle over the...
Kim Canteenwalla: When the Cake Boss came calling
Immigrants often compose a large portion of a country’s struggling population. But for Karachi-born and Montreal-raised chef Kim Canteenwalla, success literally came knocking on his door when Buddy...
Bawas and Their Bhonu
Ask any stranger about Parsis and the first thing that will come to mind is the Tata family. The second? ‘Dhansak’ – a Sunday favourite in Parsi households and the dish that has made Parsis famous....
Six Parsi Aunties You’ll Want For Company !
Brownpaperbag knocks on doors from Cusrow to Behram Baug to scout six Parsi ladies with hobbies and businesses that you should know about. 30.04.2015 Ranging from suspicious and wary to chatty and...
Without vultures, fate of Parsi ‘sky burials’ uncertain
It is a thorny issue that beleaguers this fast diminishing community daily – how to preserve a 3,000-year-old ritual of giving “sky burials” to the Parsi dead amid a nearly extinct vulture...
Flyways of fortune
The Zoroastrian diaspora as we know it today is spread across the globe. As a mercantile community the Parsis have been traders and no place was considered too far or too dangerous to venture, if it...
Manekshaw for Bharat Ratna: Will you undo this wrong, Mr Modi?
Dear Prime Minister Allow me as a citizen of the Republic which has the good fortune of having you at the helm of affairs, to thank you for the bold decision to create a memorial for the...
Clarifications in The Banning of Priests Case
Clarification issued jointly by Jamsheed Kanga & Homi Khusrokhan There appear to be several misunderstandings concerning the Settlement entered into on 17.02.’15 in the matter of the Notice...
Activist’s Idea of Composting Bodies as an Alternative to Dokhmenashini
With vultures fighting for their survival, the Zoroastrian community finds itself at a crossroad. A Parsi community activist has triggered a debate by suggesting an alternative method to dispose off...
Tinaz Pavri: Author of Bombay in the Age of Disco
An interview highlighting our newest author, Tinaz Pavri and her book Bombay in the Age of Disco. Keep an eye out for its release this spring! 1. In a brief summary describe your transition from...
Vulture culture atop coconut palms sends bird numbers soaring
Conservation Centre At Raigad Gets Encouraging Results In Three Years A flock of vultures swoops down on a quiet open plot, flapping their wings with gay abandon while another flock takes sudden...