Zubin Mehta, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s conductor emeritus and (without exaggeration) a living L.A. icon, returned...
arZan Articles
The Parsi Legacy of Jamshedpur
The Parsi community’s connection with the steel city dates back to its earliest days. Following the establishment of...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Vahbiz Dorabjee: Playing a Parsi
Vahbiz Dorabjee was last seen in Saraswatichandara and now she will be seen in an episode of Code Red. She talks about her cameo, playing a Parsi and Nach Baliye. What is special about the episode...
Ruttie Petit and Bella Captain: The Tale of Two Parsi Women
Mitra Sharafi, the amazing author at South Asian Legal History Resources writes: I was recently struck by the strangely inverted but parallel lives of two young women, both tragic figures in early...
Banaji Limji Agiary, Mumbai’s oldest fire temple, turns 306
Parsis-Zoroastrians will celebrate The Feast of Fire, held on the ninth day of the ninth month (roz adar, mah adar) of the Shenshai or Shahenshahi calendar. It is an important day for the community...
BPP trustees at loggerheads over allowing Film shootings in Parsi baugs
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustees are sparring over allowing film shootings in the city’s Parsi baugs. While a majority of the seven BPP trust ees are against allowing film and...
Tales of the haft seen table
It’s been a while since Navroze has passed us by. The more-than-usual excitement over Parsi food is over, the pantry re-filled and the fridge is no longer bursting at its seams with endless packs of...
Rustomji H. Vania Builds Supercomputing "Ferrari" Machine at Southern Illinois University,
In the age of information, data rules. A new supercomputer has been installed in the basement of the Wham Education Building to keep SIU on the cutting edge of technology. SIU is the second Illinois...
Café Mondegar, others won’t vacate Colaba’s Metro House building
Despite an eviction notice from the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), the tenants of Metro House in Colaba, which houses iconic establishments such as the famed Café Mondegar, have refused to vacate the...
Longing and Loss at Dadar Parsi Colony
The heritage precinct is both, a tree spangled island and the last bastion of a threatened community. To its residents, the BMC’s move to fill its streets with hawkers has become a metaphor of...
Dadar Parsi colony residents fight for hawker-free zone
One of the oldest area in Mumbai, the Dadar Parsi colony area’s residents came out, on Sunday in large numbers for anti-hawkers protest march. The protest which began from Five Gardens had...
Eating in Thousands: The Parsi Gahambars
It’s a fight for a seat, and sometimes, a chicken leg, at the Parsi gahambar that celebrates an age-old tradition of praying and feasting. Article By Meher Mirza | Mumbai Mirror At 8 pm on...
Persian Parade 2015 in New York City
Here are some pictures from the Persian Day Parade that went down Madison Avenue, in Manhattan; New York City today. See the full set of images on Parsi Khabar’s Facebook Page
Bawi Bride Brings Parsi food at your doorstep
Catering service the Bawi Bride Kitchen, which serves Parsi food, will launch its delivery services next month. sunday mid-day samples a meal, which comprises old Parsi favourites including Sali per...
Bordi: In Search of Serenity
‘Chikoos’, ‘aamras’, Parsi food and empty beaches—Bordi offers a restful break from the city rush When you’re driving in Mumbai, you never get to speed, or even feel the wind in your hair. Road...
Cafe Mondegar faces eviction after Bombay Port Trust terminates building lease
The Mumbai Port Trust has served an eviction notice for all tenants of Metro House building in Colaba including the iconic Cafe Mondegar for criminal violations of the lease agreement. The 7-page...
The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism
Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina, eminent Zoroastrian scholar at Stanford University and a good personal friend of Parsi Khabar brings out the much-awaited Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism...
The World Zoroastrian Symphony Orchestra at XVII NAZC 2014
The World Zoroastrian Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Adil Mehta performed at the XVII North American Zoroastrian Congress in Los Angeles. Below is the video recording of the event that way...
Parsi Mumbai: The Legacy of Zoroastrianism in India’s Urban Fabric
An Iranian visitor can’t help but notice the Zoroastrian symbols that dominate old Mumbai. In the historic Fort District toward the southern end of this metropolis of twenty million souls,...