Jini Dinshaw, violin virtuoso and founder of the Bombay Chamber Orchestra (BCO)—India’s oldest indigenous Western...
arZan Articles
Jini Dinshaw: A one-woman institution for whom music was life itself
Jini Dinshaw (1930-2025), the founder of the Bombay Chamber Orchestra – India’s oldest active Western classical...
Parsis: A diminishing race
A Houston-based research student has written a paper discussing the causes for, and a solution to, the dwindling numbers of the Parsi community around the world By Priyal Dave | Afternoon DC “To all...
Intermarriage row must be resolved soon
It's not so much the elephant in the room, no one wants to acknowledge, but rather the unicorn they all imagine-that the global Parsi population isn't so desperately in decline, but that it has...
The Parsi Punchayet case: The imperative of inclusiveness
The judgement of the Bombay High Court in Jamsheed Kanga versus Parsi Punchayet Funds and Properties, has raised a big controversy within the Parsi community. Much of the controversy is due to...
Parsis get new community newspaper
The Parsi-Zoroastrians, who have a vibrant community press, have got their latest newspaper. On Saturday, free copies of the first issue of the weekly, Parsi Times, reached many homes. By Manoj R...
Lecture: Understanding Parsi Population Decline in India: A Historical Perspective
Friend of Parsi Khabar , Dinyar Patel shall be giving a talk titled “Understanding Parsi Population Decline in India: A Historical Perspective”. If you are in Mumbai this Saturday evening, this is a...
Insider trading
It had been a long day. Nina Godiwalla had stumbled home from a bar after work, and collapsed in bed. But she was wide awake in a few hours. She needed to talk to someone, be with someone. Her...
The First Vendidad Sade and Baj in North America
The First Vendidad Sade and Baj in NA at a Dar-e-Meher Inauguration, and Enthronement of Dadgah in the ZANT Brand New Built From Scratch ZCNT (Zoroastrian Center of North Texas) April 29-30 2011! By...
Speak Your Mind: Open Thread
This is the very first time we are trying this idea. This is an open thread for discussion. Speak your mind. Anything and everything, topical or off-topic can be discussed in the comments. No...
The Art of Longevity
My father is 89 and he's in reasonably good health," says Dr Villoo Morawala Patell, founder and chairperson of the biotechnology company, Avesthagen, in Bangalore. Her father is among an...
Godrej & Boyce shuts world’s last typewriter facility
More than 140 years after the first typewriter was sold commercially in Europe, the epitaph for the writing machine is finally being digitally recorded on millions of PCs across the world. To...
One of Ratan’s biggest achievements is the way he has unified the Tata Group
JRD Tata announced the appointment of Ratan Tata as the Chairman of Tata Sons on 25 March 1991. Two weeks later, on 5 April, I met JRD just as he was going to Europe for his angioplasty procedure...
The Parsi Connection to the Royal Family Spans Generations
Royal connection to Zorosatrians dates back generations As the world waits to see the royal wedding, I cannot but think of the profound influence the Queen of England and her family has had on my...
City’s first garden for special children at Parsi colony
Before December 2010, Nasha Khan could only watch other children of Byculla’s Rustom Baug play in the Parsi colony’s garden. Now, the garden is the high point of Khan’s life as she plays with her...
Udvada, Sanjan to be world heritage centres for religious harmony: Narendra Modi
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi today announced that the famous pilgrimage places of Parsi community, Udvada and Sanjan in Valsad, would be developed as 'World Heritage Centres for Religious...
Parsi Punchayet Looks For Trustee
Parsi-Zoroastrians are preparing to elect a new member to the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), the community’s main representative body, to replace the trustee who resigned last month. But many members...
The consecration of a new Afarganyu for a Daremeher
Dear friend and Panthaki Saheb of the Behram Baug Daremeher, Ervad Marzban J. Hathiram has a very nice article about the consecration of a new Afarganyu for the Ustad Saheb Behramshah Nowroji Shroff...
The Bombay Artists from the Jehangir Nicholson Collection
Last Wednesday, art collectors in Mumbai responded favourably to an auction of paintings from the collection of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA). By Anupa Mehta | DNA And while a...
Senior citizens have a hard time in Udvada
Tight police bandobast during chief minister Narendra Modi's visit to Udvada on Sunday was a nightmarish experience for a large number of Parsis. However, police defended the arrangement saying it...
Dwindling numbers a big concern for Parsis
Dwindling numbers is a big concern among Parsis, but you would not have felt it at Udvada on Sunday as the community came out to take part in the 1290th anniversary celebration of the most important...
Fire temple at Udvada is central to Parsi religion
Fire holds a central position in the Zoroastrian religion. Fire is seen as a living, breathing embodiment of the supreme divinity and hence not only a worthy representative of God but also a...
Narendra Modi attends 1290th birthday celebration of Iranshah at Udvada
UPDATE We would like to clarify that at no point did CM Narendra Modi enter the Iranshah. The Hon. Chief Minister stopped by the gates, bowed and prayed, paid his respected to the Holy Fire, and...
What can FEZANA do to promote marriage ?
Below is the conclusion of a study done by Dinyar Patel titled “What can FEZANA do to promote marriage?”. The conclusions of this survey throw some interesting light on the state of affairs and what...
Hanging by a thread
Parsi embroidery is being kept alive by a few patrons in the Capital. At Navjote or during a Parsi wedding, the entire congregation of Parsi women is transformed into a sea of Gara saris, in shades...
Don’t Move SC Against Barred Priests, Say Some Parsis
1,150 join online petition saying Bombay Parsi Punchayet can use money to fund community activities instead of fighting another legal battle By Sunil Baghel | DNA An online petition gaining momentum...
Life and times of a Chennai Parsi
MARCH ended on a zealous note for the Parsi community in Chennai, as it celebrated the Navroz, or the New Year with ardour and joy. But then, high spirits aren’t exclusive to special days, for this...
Paranormal experience with Ragini MMS actress Kainaz Motivala
She has thrown the proverbial beautiful, sexy and sultry out of the window. So when I was told to meet her, I was a bit sceptical. Yes, I picked her for my next interview. Not that I knew that she...
The Journey of Rasna
In the 80s, anyone switching on to the national television channel Doordarshan for their daily dose of programmes — be it mythological, children's programme or even Chitrahaar — were greeted with a...
BMC show cause notice to unrecognised school in Dadar: Ranina Day Nursery
J.M. Ranina School, in Parsi Colony, Dadar which has more than 100 students received a show cause notice from the local civic authorities on April 11, for not getting the school approved by the...
Came close to getting married four times: Ratan Tata
Revealing one of the best kept secrets of his personal life, the bachelor industrialist Ratan Tata has said that he had fallen in love and had come seriously close to getting married as many as four...
Udvada Land Issue: Nucleus Developers Speak
Below is an email communique from Nucleus Developers who are at the centre of the “storm” over the 200 acres plot. Here is their side of the story. To, The Respected Parsi Community. Respected...
‘Priestly’ battle continues to rage
The dispute in the Parsi-Zoroastrian community over the bar on two priests accused of ‘irreligious’ activities has moved to the Supreme Court, which will hear an appeal later this month against the...
Zoroastrian Panorama: Exhibition
Regular reader and friend of Parsi Khabar, Dr. Annavaz Havewala informs us about the following event. Frohar Foundation and Frohar Films Invite you to “THE ZOROASTRIAN PANORAMA” An...
India’s Tata Succession Struggle
Ratan Tata: Can't anybody do this job? Indian way of succession leaves something to be desired India's largest conglomerate -- the US$71-billion salt-to-steel behemoth Tata Group, is struggling to...
Resolve issue through mediation, court tells Parsis
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Parsi community to resolve a dispute relating to performing prayers or religious ceremonies at Doongerwadi (the Towers of Silence) in Mumbai and at two...
Homai Vyarawalla to deposit Padma Vibhushan Award with Parsi Heritage Trust in New Delhi
Honoured recently with the prestigious Padma Vibhushan award by the President, India’s first woman photographer Homai Vyarawalla has decided to give the medal to New Delhi-based Parsi Heritage...
Parsi punchayet moves Supreme Court for ban on priests
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) has filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the high court’s quashing of its ban. The Punchayet had banned two priests from performing religious ceremonies in...
Tatas Set Up The Institute of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine (I-AIM)
A new institute, with help from the Tatas, will integrate ayurveda with modern medicine to take medical pluralism forward. Earlier this month, something unusual happened in India’s high-tech city of...
BPP trustee Noshir Dadrawala quits over ‘differences’
Over two years after the historic elections to the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, one of the trustees put in his papers on Thursday morning. "Serious differences'' with the other trustees was the...
Udvada residents oppose heritage notification
Residents of Udvada, a holy place for Parsis, met on Sunday to oppose a government notification which they say virtually seeks to freeze any development in the town to protect its heritage value. By...
Weaving a Kasti: Threads of Continuity
Ashdeen Z Lilaowala walks us through the creation of the hallowed Zoroastrian kusti or sacred thread that is an integral part of spiritual tradition among members of the Parsi community [ TOI...
Centenary Year Begins at B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital
March 27, 2011 marks the start of the 100th year of The B.D. Petit Parsee General Hospital in its service to the Community. The Hospital has a new and very informative website with some great...
Udvada Atash Behram : Fire temple will now warm up inter-faith love
For Parsis, all roads will soon lead to Udvada in Gujarat. Udvada, a small town in South Gujarat, where the Parsi community consecrated the first fire temple of Gujarat in 1742 after their arrival...
Karachi Nauroz celebrations: Haft Sheen tables groaning with goodies
In Karachi, we hardly recognise that spring has arrived, let alone the rest of the seasons. But when I entered Dilnaz’s home to cover Nauroz (or NovRuz as the Parsis spell it), I knew that spring...
Dr Keki Turel To Set Up Institute of Neurosciences in Surat
If all goes well, the diamond city will get a world-class international institute of neurosciences by 2013. Dr Keki Turel, head of department of neurosurgery at Bombay Hospital in Mumbai, has joined...
J N Tata Parsee Girls High School
In 1887 the Empress Mills started a Gujarati school for children of its employees with two Mehtajis and one master, N Madan. It was a primary school. Boys went for further studies to SFS School and...
Persecuted for bravery: Niloufar Abadan
Nine years and one month after her husband and former Balochistan minister Abadan Faridoun Abadan was kidnapped from his hometown Quetta, businesswoman Niloufar Abadan has met the same fate. By...
Surat Parsis celebrate Jamshedi Navroz
Dawn of their New Year and arrival of spring was celebrated with traditional fanfare by the 3,700-strong Parsi community of the city on Monday. Jamshedi Navroz is an age-old tradition followed by...
Navroze Mubarak: Make Good News
On the occasion of Jamshedi Navroze 2011 Parsi Khabar would like to wish all its readers and commenters a very Happy and Prosperous Jamshedi Navroze Mubarak 2011. We would like to leave you with a...
PM Manmohan Singh greets nation on Navroze 2011
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today greeted the nation on the occasion of Navorz, the Parsi New Year which falls tomorrow. "Navorz is the culmination of the celebration of seasons and is...
A celebration of Life
We do some Parsi-style gorging, even as it readies itself for the yummy Nowruz Festival The Iranians call it Nowruz. The Parsis, descendants of the ancient Zoroastrians in India, spell it as Nowroz....