Our dear friend Dr. Rashna Writer, well known to the global Zoroastrian community as a scholar, teacher, and...
arZan Articles
Parsi Community Leaders File Caveat To Prevent Sale Of Sanjan Sanatorium Without Prior Notice
The application was filed to ensure that the World Zoroastrian Organisation Trust, the body looking after the...
Pirojsha Godrej – Name build on his billionaire’s family
Pirojsha Godrej the scion of the Godrej Properties is the genius behind the Godrej Properties outstanding reputation for quality and innovation. Having degrees from Wharton and Columbia University...
Ban on Priests: An Open Letter By Dinshaw Tamboly
Published herewith is a letter received from good friend of Parsi Khabar; and ex-BPP Trustee Mr. Dinshaw Tamboly. July 14, 2014 Trustees, Bombay Parsi Punchayet, Mumbai. Ladies &...
PARZOR Exhibition in Chennai
Preserving the grand ethnic culture Parzor Foundation, a non-governmental organisation that works towards preserving the Parsi culture, will be organising a crafts exhibition for the first time in...
Bhabha museum was planned near Gateway of India: Gerson da Cunha
Reacting to demands for Homi Bhabha’s bungalow to be converted into a museum, author and social worker Gerson da Cunha says it was already planned at Old Yacht Club, Anushakti Bhawan Article by...
This monsoon, make bombils “boomla” Parsi-style!
The way Parsis enjoy Bombay Duck is distinct from other communities. Article by Ismat Tahseen, TNN Says Pervin Marzban Bilimoria who loves to cook the fish, “Vinegar is the trick here. It...
An Open Letter to BPP Sr Executive Mr Pheroze Patel
From time to time, Parsi Khabar will publish letters it receives from readers on community matters. Below is one such letter sent to us by a regular Parsi Khabar reader Arzan J. Ghadially. ...
Cyrus Mistry’s New Short Stories Reveal the Cruelty of Ordinary People
Best known for his book about the marginalized community that deals with the dead, award-winning author Cyrus Mistry released his long-awaited collection of short stories this week. Article by...
Found & lost: Tata villa in Shanghai
A hundred and ten years ago, Parsi businessman Bejan Dadabhoy Tata, a distant relative of the founder of one of India’s oldest corporate houses, sailed from Mumbai to Shanghai to further his...
Judges should not shirk cases, says Fali Nariman
Coming down on judges who excuse themselves from hearing certain cases, senior Supreme Court advocate Fali S Nariman said on Sunday that judges should not ‘shirk’ cases. “When they recuse themselves...
Homi Dastoor: Musical Journeys
“Beethoven’s was a tempestuous, interesting life” By Fiona Fernandez |Mid Day Age is just a number for Bandra resident, nonagenarian Homi Dastoor who has just released his labour...
‘Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw: The Man and His Times’
The army headquarters had recommended that the Republic Day parade in 1972 be cancelled but the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi wanted the pageant to take place to celebrate the Indian...
Udvada and Navsari Atashbehrams: A Report by Berjis Desai
Our annual pilgrimage to the Navsari and Udvada atash behrams made us pensive. Although it was not one of the "big days” of the Parsi calendar, there was no sitting space at Iranshah. Occupancy...
Khada Parsi stands tall again, but do his values still hold?
It may have taken close to a decade to accomplish it, but the BMC needs to be complimented for restoring the Khada Parsi statue at Byculla: at the very least, the BMC cannot be accused of being...
What would you prefer: a museum or a thriving art centre?
In the news entirely for the wrong reasons is the Bhabha bungalow. (A little aside here: is anyone or anything ever in the news for the right reason?). The newspapers are full of it, and TV channels...
Mumbai Samachar: Going strong at 192
On July 1, Mumbai Samachar, the city’s second most circulated Gujarati paper, will reaffirm its position as the oldest surviving newspaper in Asia. When copies of the Mumbai Samachar (MS) hit...
After restoration, Khada Parsi stands tall
After over two years of tedious restoration work, the iconic 150-year-old “Khada Parsi” statue, a Grade I heritage monument in Mumbai, was unveiled on Friday in the presence of Shiv Sena chief...
Parsis to meet Heptullah in July over reservations
The trustees of the Bombay Parsee Punchayet (BPP) will meet minority affairs minister Najma Heptullah in the first week of July to discuss reservations for the community in medical and engineering...
Hafeez Contractor: The Slumdog Millionaire Architect
The offices of Hafeez Contractor, India’s most commercially successful architect, are on Bank Street, just around the corner from the Mumbai Stock Exchange. By Daniel Brook | New York Times The...
Billionaire NRI Dadi Balsara found dead in his Taj room
One of the richest NRIs from Singapore, 71-year-old Dadi Balsara, who had been living in a suite of Taj Mansingh Hotel, died late Wednesday. Prima facie, it appears that he had suffered cardiac...
Jamshed Nasarwanjee Rustamjee Mehta: The Real Father of Karachi
‘Ownership’, as defined by Oxford English Dictionary is ‘the act, state or right of possessing something’. In Urdu, it translates into Milkiyyat , while in Sindhi the alternative is...
Smita Crishna-Godrej buys historic Bhabha bungalow for Rs. 372 cr
Smita has assured friends that the iconic home where brothers Homi and Jamshed grew up will not be torn down to make way for a highrise and will only be used as a family home. Dr Jamshed...
Law and Identity in Colonial South Asia
The Parsis, or Zoroastrians, are an ethnoreligious community unusually invested in the colonial legal system of British India and Burma. In this interactive slideshow, Mitra Sharafi, the author of...
Dr. Keiki Mehta Honored at American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Congress 2014
Two Luminaries in the Field of Ophthalmology Named Honored Guests at the 2014 Annual ASCRS-ASOA Symposium and Congress in Boston Two physicians who have made significant contributions to the field...
Homi Bhabha’s iconic home on the block today
Mehrangir on Malabar Hill, the bungalow where the father of India’s atomic energy programme, Homi Bhabha, once lived, will go under the hammer on Wednesday afternoon. Article by Nergish...
For Parsi population, eight small beginnings: Jiyo Parsi
Less than a year after the government launched “Jiyo Parsi”, a scheme to check the alarming decline in the country’s Parsi population, the stork is set to visit eight couples from the community who...
Hvovi Minocherhomji: Chennai halts traffic to save life
When a human heart was being loaded into an ambulance at the General Hospital around 6.40pm on Monday, 6km away, at Light House, traffic inspector Uday Kumar’s walkietalkie crackled to life....
Spenta Kandawalla Remembers Wellesley classmate Hillary Clinton
Spenta Captain Kandawalla, who was the only Pakistani student in Hillary Rodham’s class at Wellesley College in 1969, talks about her longtime friend with "Sunday Morning"...
Iran’s Zoroastrians celebrate Persian roots
In this Saturday, June 14, 2014 photo, a Zoroastrian man prays in Setipir Shrine in Yazd about 405 miles (675 kilometers) southeast of the capital Tehran, Iran. Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic...
Mumbai’s famous Parsi chefs to cook for Delhi
Celebrities such as John Abraham and Bomani Irani (as well as several non-Parsi personages) swear by their patra ni machchi, their dhansak is considered among the best in Mumbai and, for the past...
Ardeshir’s raspberry soda: Taking a sip of Pune’s very own cold drink
Taking a sip of Pune’s very own cold drink : Ardeshir’s raspberry soda By Sameer Khan | DNA India Today, 130 years later, Murzban Irani, his great grandson continues the legacy with...
A Book on The Irani Cafes of Bombay
One of Mumbai’s most endearing albeit fast fading icons — the Irani cafés — will be chronicled in a coffee table book that is set for a late 2015 release It was in January 2014, when the news...
When the heart skipped a beat
Musician Homi Mullan maps the journey of percussion in Hindi film music Most music lovers can be pardoned when captivated by the sensuous charm of Roop tera mastana from Aradhana (1969) if they...
Tata Hall at Harvard: A new jewel along the river
Harvard Business School dedicates Tata Hall, which will support executive education program Harvard Business School (HBS) officials marked the completion of the campus’ executive education quad with...
XVII North American Zoroastrian Congress 2014: Registration Opens
The seventeenth edition of the North Ameican Zoroastrian Congress is scheduled to be held from December 29 – 31, 2014. This is a bi-annual event of Federation of the Zoroastrian Associations of...
The Tradition of Indo-Persian Literature
The recent removal of Persian, Arabic and Pali from the list of subjects in UPSC exams has given rise to the question of the validity of these languages. Article by Rana Safvi | DNA India The reason...
Lord Bilimoria: Beer emperor’s plan to boost small firms
Lord Bilimoria, founder of the Cobra Beer company, has an innovative idea of how to create jobs and he should know: his firm is growing Article by Andrew Cave | Telegraph UK Help for small...
Vintage Tune: Homi Dastoor
Author at 91, Homi Dastoor wants you to get to know Chopin’s mistress to truly appreciate his nocturnes On the Friday evening we meet him at his Pali Naka apartment, Homi Dastoor, 91, has a...
Dear Najmaji, I have a plan to save Parsis
The below is an article written by Farrukh Dhondy. Unlike the Dodo, we are not being killed and eaten. Parsis are probably the only species on Earth who are doomed to extinction through our own...
Time to Call him Aapro Modi
Our regular reader Rusi Sorabji sends us the note below. This is on the occassion of Narendra Modi taking the oath of office as the Prime Minister of India on Monday May 26, 2014. Rusi writes:...
When Russi Mody made for a three-credit course
Very rarely does one person offer such instructional and inspirational value to a bunch of students It is not very often in the life of management students that by virtue of where you study, what...
Mehli Mehta Music Foundation
At the forefront of music education in the city, the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation (MMMF) invites you to join its Adult Choristers group for an exciting new year of music, commencing June 19, 2014...
Dr. Mehroo Bengalee Mumbai University’s first lady VC, dies at 84
TNN reports: As sunlight would stream in through the rose window, it would illuminate the face of a prominent figure seated in the first row of the Neo-Gothic convocation hall of Mumbai University....
Keki N. Daruwalla: Setting the Record Straight
Celebrated poet Keki N. Daruwalla talks about his newest collection “Fire Altar” and his interest in history and myth Article by B. Bhattacharya | The Hindu Not all historians are trustworthy....
The Parsi and Eggs !!
If there could be one single item that is a staple of every Parsi meal….it has to be the EEDU….eggs. We make eggs or rather “put” eggs on anything and everything. From the usual “papeta par eedu” to...
Kainaz Amaria Accepts Innovation Award from White House NPA
Good friend of Parsi Khabar, Kainaz Amaria recently received an award at the the hands of President Obama on behalf of her team. Earlier this year Kainaz Amaria, supervising editor for the NPR...
Ex-CJI backs out of case against ‘rebel’ Parsi priests
Rejection of request to mediate is a blow to the community which has already spent over Rs 3 crore in litigation Former chief justice of India, Sarosh Kapadia, has rejected a request to mediate in...
Govt must not interfere & allow free market forces to play in media: Sam Balsara
Sam Balsara, Chairman and Managing Director, Madison World in a freewheeling chat talks about offering a prize to anyone who can accurately state the actual budget spent on mass media for the BJP...
Wadias want back Parsi colonies their ancestors developed
The Wadias have taken exception to the BPP using the rent from these properties to pay the salaries of Parsi priests Industrialist Nusli Wadia, whose family developed five housing colonies for the...
Frazan Kotwal at the Godrej India Culture Lab
A few months ago we had brought you an article on Frazan Adil Kotwal, a young 20 year old dastoorji who is also an accomplished singer. `Performing solo at the Russian centre of science and...
Madison World: The PR Firm Behind the BJP Win in Indian Elections
Sam Balsara, CMD, Madison World spoke to ET about the ‘toughest campaign of his career’. Edited excerpts: How did the BJP mandate come to Madison? We were first contacted by Prashant...