Know Mumbai through Zervaan Bunshah’s quick, grounded guide as he revisits Dadar Parsi Gymkhana, Five Gardens and...
arZan Articles
Bachi Karkaria: Gutted Ezra Street agiary was our personal hotline to Ahura Mazda
My growing-up years were inextricably linked to the Banaji agiary — physically, too, because our rambling 120-year-old...
Pandit Jal K Balaporia Passes Away
Pt. Jal Balaporia, senior exponent of the Gwalior gharana passed away in Bombay at the age of 86. He was admitted to the Parsee General Hospital over a month ago.Jalsaheb, as he was popularly known...
Patuck College: Mumbai's innovative school for the poor
From Newsx.com In our Good News section, we have a heartwarming story that makes schools a welcome prospect instead of a scary one. Even as the youth of the nation engages in heated debates about...
Amitav Ghosh on Navsari
Amitav Ghosh the famous Indian writer was recently in Navsari for the Conference organized to celebrate the 140th Anniversary of The First Meherjirana Library in Navsari. He has some interesting...
Legend of gorgeous garas
Think of family heirlooms, and usually the first thing that comes to mind is a priceless necklace or some antique timepiece. By Shazman Shariff | Deccan Herald But surprisingly, in some cases, rare...
Two Parsis Amongst Gallantry Awards 2013 Winners
On the occassion of the 64th Republic Day of India, celebrated on January 26, 2013; the President of India announced the names of 359 military personnel for the various Gallantry Awards given out to...
Zubin Mehta Talks About Ratan Tata
It is a month today since Ratan Tata retired as chairman of Tata Sons. Mr Tata tweeted last week that he is enjoying his retirement and the time he spends with his beloved dogs. Legendary maestro...
An Appeal for Medical Costs for a Young Parsi Priest
Dear Fellow Zoroastrians I am writing this email to you all as a plea for financial help l help for a young. parsi boy in coma in hospital in Mumbai. Cherag Soli Desai is my moms cousin Soli...
Chaiye Hame Zarathoshti Mimics Nazi Era Anthem ?
UPDATE: On further research… The original tune is the Blue Bell March by Theodore F. Morse and Edward Mullen composed in 1904. Kavi Firoz Rustomji Batliwala composed Chaiye Hame Zarthosti. More on...
Adi Burjor Godrej Awarded Padma Bhushan 2013
Adi Burjor Godrej is the Chairman, The Godrej Group, Godrej Industries, India He got a Master's in Management, from MIT, US. Formerly, served as Chairman and President of industry associations and...
Mahrukh Tarapore Awarded Padma Shri 2013
“Mahrukh Tarapor is one of the most widely respected museum professionals in the world,” said former Metropolitan Museum of Art director Philippe de Montebello, noting her “diplomatic skills,...
Deena Mistri Campus: A Film by Jamsheed Mistri
Jamsheed Mistri, a sixth grader from Covington Elementary School in the Los Altos School District submitted the film below as part of a submission to the LASD Film Festival 2013 Deena Mistri Campus...
The Chikoo Festival of Dahanu
Percy Jamshedwala writes: We used to have Discover Dahanu Festival since last two years, usually the source of the funds being individual participation fee & canadian pharmacy funds from INTACH,...
Zubin Bhathena Rocks With Spud In The Box
A new Indian alternate rock group has been doing the rounds of Indian cities the past few weeks. Spud in the Box is a six piece Alternative Pop-Rock band formed in March 2011 in Mumbai. It involves...
Zubin Mehta: Music master digs Freddie Mercury
Zubin Mehta chats about passionate Israelis, frustrating politics, his Israeli son and his love for Queen’s lead singer Maestro Zubin Mehta is a known entity in these parts, jetting in and out for...
Lessons to be learned at a Parsi wedding
A Parsi wedding is cause for celebration. To start with, it suggests that the community’s population may increase, and given their diminishing numbers, any Parsi nuptials call for applause. Then,...
Cyrus and Lyla Guzder: A Parsi Couple's Healing Touch to Vidarbha's Farmers
As debt-ridden farmers continue to kill themselves in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region due to "government apathy", a Parsi couple from Mumbai has provided a healing touch to around 25 widows...
Young Professionals Norouz Retreat
Zoroastrian Youth of North America (ZYNA) will be kicking off the NEW YEAR 2013! Join us, in the BIG APPLE, for a celebration filled with festivities, friendship and fellowship. This will be a...
Excellence of Parsis as the First Indians To….
Below are some of India’s first’s that Parsis achieved, Sent to us via email. No record of illustrious Parsis would be complete without the name of Rustomji Dorabji, whose unsurpassable contribution...
Former India allrounder Rusi Surti dies at 76
Former India allrounder Rusi Surti, 76, died this morning in Mumbai. The Queensland, Australia-based Surti had been put on life support in hospital after scans revealed he had suffered a massive...
Seeking Godrej Mugaseth and Maneck Dadabhoy
Raghu Karnad, a journalist and editor based between Delhi and Bangalore, is writing a non-fiction book about Indian servicemen in the Second World War. The narrative follows three young men, two of...
Ervad Soli Dastur Performs Hamaa Zor Greeting with Archbishop of Mumbai
Ervad Soli P. Dastur, of Sarasota, Florida, USA, was invited by Mumbai Archbishop His Eminence Ostwald Cardinal Gracias to represent the Zoroastrian Religion at a Multi-Faith Talk Show on 23rd...
Allahabad Parsis struggle to keep Atash burning
Even as the population of the Parsi community is diminishing, in the Sangam city as well as across the country, the community of Tata's, Godrej's, Wadia's, Bhabha's, Maneckshaw's, is struggling with...
Surat Parsis concerned over Dokhma's existence
Concerns are being raised over the continuing existence of 500-year-old 'Tower of Silence' or Dokhma at Umarwada, which is not only being used by people of Surat, but also Parsis from distant places...
Why Parsis are India’s finest citizens: Aakar Patel
I’m delighted a Parsi has taken over this week from Ratan Tata as head of Asia’s greatest corporation. I have strong feelings in this matter but I don’t think they come from prejudice. That would...
In Search of Godrej Khodadad Mugaseth
Raghu Karnad has written an excellent essay on his experience recovering memories of WWII in Manipur, all while trying to trace any remaining information about his Parsi great-uncle, killed in...
Brigadier Cyrus Adi Pithawala: Highest gallantry award winner breaches rank ceiling
Most winners of India's highest gallantry award — Param Vir Chakra in war and its peacetime equivalent Ashoka Chakra - have received it posthumously, laying down their lives while displaying ``most...
A Day of Shame for India: Opinion
Ervad Marzban Hathiram makes some very valid points and raises questions about the state of society in India today. This is in the aftermath of the shocking series of events that started with the...
Yuhan Vevaina: Khorshed Jungalwala Memorial Lecture at the XVI NAZC 2012
Yuhan Vevaina Delivers the Khorshed Jungalwala Memorial Lecture: XVI NAZC 2012 from ZAGNY on Vimeo. Thinking with Zoroastrianism in the 21st Century As a 3,500 year-old religious tradition, the...
Polson Butter and the Bihar Connection
All those cheap generic viagra Biharis in a position to remember the smells and flavours of their breakfasts from the 1950s-60s, may jump at the mention of Polson butter. It may please them to know...
Ratan Tata's farewell letter to all Tata employees
Ratan Tata, who stepped down as the chairman of the Tata group today as he turned 75, has written a warm viagra com farewell letter to his employees saying, “we have every reason to feel proud and...
Dorabjee’s of Poona: Sali Boti Recipe
Dorabjee and Sons of Poona is a buy cialis online 140 year old restaurant famous for its fantastic Parsi cuisine. It would not be wrong to say that it’s worth a drive from Mumbai to Poona just to...
New Singing Sensation: Shanaya Z Patel
Check out Shanaya Z Patel’s video below. She is one of the youngest Zarathusti singers in North America ! Shanaya lives in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, Canada. “Like” her Facebook page:...
Zubin Mehta re-creates a night 50 years ago
A special anniversary concert with the L.A. Philharmonic revisits his first night as its music director in Nov. 15, 1962. It's a serious event — in good ways. By Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times Music...
Jokhi Agiary at Godrej Baug Celebrates 10 years
The Shapurji Fakirji Jokhi Agiary in Godrej Baug, Malabar Hill, completed 10 years on December 18. The priest performed prayer ceremonies in the afternoon. Youth leaders also spoke to the people...
Priest killed, friend hurt in mishap
A young Parsi priest was killed and his friend seriously injured while riding a bike on the Palm Beach Road early on Sunday. The deceased, Kaiwan M Dastoor (22), resided in Dadar's Parsi Colony...
Ratan Tata: Exit Stage Right
With just a fortnight to go for his retirement on December 28, Ratan Tata is getting ready for a new life. His multi-storey, sea-facing house opposite Mumbai’s Colaba Post Office is being...
Dr. Yuhan Vevaina: Khorshed Jungalwala Memorial Lecture at the XVI NAZC 2012
Dr. Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina delivered the Khorshed Jungalwala Memorial Lecture at the 16th North American Zarathushti Congress 2012 held in New York in August 2012. Below is the video recording...
Parsis may have to stop using certain painkillers
Parsis in the city, particularly those who offer their dead to the vultures, may be asked to do away with some popular painkillers like Voveran, if their vulture breeding program is successful. By...
‘The biggest test for Cyrus is to stay true to the Tata code of ethics’
Having steered over hundred companies of the Tata group for more than two decades,Ratan Tata, who retires on December 28 as the group's chairman, says he has always tried to do the "right thing" but...
Oklahoma University Professor Travels to India to Research Zoroastrianism
Afshin Marashi, OU professor of International and Area Studies, will travel across the globe to further his research on Iranian nationalism and Zoroastrianism, the religion of most Iranians before...
Celebrating a Treasure: 140 Years at the First Dastoor Meherjirana Library, Navsari
This is the title of an international conference being organized by the Meherjirana Library and PARZOR. The conference is being held from January 12 to 15, 2013. The conference has a power-packed...
Irani Restaurants: Bye-bye to Brun maska?
A little of Iran blossomed on the streets of South Bombay in the form of restaurants and bakeries in the late 19th century. A few have closed down owing to various pressures. What about those that...
Parsi Money, Not Bodies, Key to Vulture Survival, Expert Says
Ask the director of the Bombay Natural History Society about vultures, and he will discuss the issue endlessly. Ask him about Parsis and their corpse disposal practices, and he will roll his eyes....
The Cyrus Cylinder travels to the US
‘First declaration of human rights’ to tour five cities in the United States The British Museum today announces that one of its most iconic objects, the Cyrus Cylinder, will tour to five major...
10th World Zoroastrian Congress 2013
Mumbai will be host to the 10th World Zoroastrian Congress is to be held in December 2013. Hosted by The Bombay Parsi Punchayat; it will be held from December 27 to 31st 2013. The website for the...
Giving New Life to Vultures to Restore a Human Ritual of Death
Fifteen years after vultures disappeared from Mumbai’s skies, the Parsi community here intends to build two aviaries at one of its most sacred sites so that the giant scavengers can once again...
Ancient Persian religion on the decline in Pakistan
The Parsis, who fled Iran in the face of the country's Muslim conversation centuries ago, settled across India and Pakistan. But in recent years, the prominent Karachi religious minority is...
Eat Live Pray: A Celebration of Zarathushti Culture and Cuisine
FEZANA the umbrella Zoroastrian organization in North America celebrates it’s 25th year in 2012. On this occassion they have come out with a wonderful e-book titled “Eat Live Pray: A...
Emirates Parsees Gahambar 2012
Come Festive Season and we have reason to celebrate. Every year in December, United Arab Emirates Parsees organise a Get Together Lunch, a Typical Parsi Gahambar. This event is sponsored by...
Ardeshir Cowasjee RIP: Mourning a man who mourned for Pakistan
A year ago, an obituary appeared on the pages of Dawn of someone called A. Cowasjee. Many well-meaning fans and friends of famous columnist and social activist Ardeshir Cowasjee, rushed to non...