Preserving Chadva Rakhal: Meet The Man Saving Kutch’s 150-Year-Old Thorn ForestIn Bhuj, a rare patch of tropical thorn...
arZan Articles
The Bhuj House: Living legacy, one room at a time
Living legacy, one room at a timeAnil Mulchandani | New Indian ExpressStanding discreetly in Gujarat’s historic town...
Zubin Mehta receives star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
Zubin Mehta received the 2,434th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today, coinciding with his 50th anniversary as a conductor. Actor Kirk Douglas joined Mehta at the ceremony near the northeast...
Trying to keep the faith alive
Zoroastrians face the challenge of religion becoming extinct, as only a handful choose to become priests By Sudeshna Chowdhury | Mid-Day The list of woes for the Parsi community is long winding. In...
Parzor’s Parsi Panorama Opens in New Delhi
The Parzor organization is holding an exhibit on Parsi crafts and traditions, along with workshops on Parsi embroidery, next week in Delhi. A brief schedule is copied below. “PARSI PANORAMA” 12th to...
Out of India: The Tata Group and Ratan Tata
Under Ratan Tata, the business group that bears his name has transformed itself from an Indian giant into a global powerhouse Published in The Economist [print edition] March 03, 2011 RATAN TATA is...
38% Parsi marriages in city were interfaith in 2010
One of the biggest worries of the Parsi community has now been spelt out in numbers. In 2010, 38% of Parsi marriages registered in the city were interfaith marriages, a figure that has shot up by...
Bejan Daruwala Moves to Ahmedabad
This Wednesday, Mumbai’s popular and most flamboyant astrologer- numerologist, the Ganesha-loving, Christ-believing, Allah-revereing Parsi Zoroastrian Bejan Daruwala relocates to...
Peenaz Masani: The Ghazal Queen
It is refreshing to speak to ghazal exponent Penaz Masani who is steeped in tradition, says Monarose Sheila Pereira Padmashree recipient Penaz Masani is a ghazal singer who has carved a niche for...
Actress debarred from agiary revives gender bias debate
An incident last week at an agiary (Parsi fire temple) in Andheri has restarted a debate in the community about bias against women who marry non-Zoroastrians. By Manoj Nair | DNA India While there...
Sorabji’s book gives in-depth account of aunt’s struggle
In the early 1880s, Cornelia Sorabji became the first woman to be ever granted admission into the University of Bombay. Defying expectations, she scored a first class in her exams, and when the...
Arzan Khambatta’s art exhibition
Metal magic and colourful characters were what it was as Tarana Khubchandani presented Arzan Khambatta's creations at this art do. It was a sunny and breezy Sunday soiree with guests admiring what...
Majestic Bakery: A slice of heaven
This humble bakery is also home to such delights like the charming little glass cakes. As I cruised down the busy MG Road, Pune, a tantalising smell tempted me to slow down. By Lakshmi Nair | Deccan...
Kersi Dubash attire attracts customers
A weeklong dazzling variety of Indian saris, shalwar kameez, jewellery and bags in an exhibition by Kersi Dubash of Nazakat Collection at Jacaranda Guest House, continued to attract a large number...
What next, Karan?
The founder of Cobra beer has become a minority partner in UK, exited USA and downsized in India The Karan Bilimoria sitting across the table at House of Ming in Delhi’s Taj Mahal Hotel is not the...
Of Zubin Mehta, Berlin Musicians and Nature Conservation
Zubin Mehta, a renowned Indian conductor of western classical music -- who commutes between the major music centres in Europe, the United States and Israel -- remains emotionally attached to the...
Genome decoded, now Parsi ills can be tackled
Parsis are known to be prone to cancer. Soon, we may know what causes it. For the first time, scientists have sequenced the entire genome of a Parsi woman (74) suffering from an heritable form of...
Poona Parsee panchayat allowing encroachments
Members of the Parsi community in the city are a worried lot. Many fear properties worth Rs 1,500 crore belonging to the community might be acquired by the government or taken over by land grabbers....
High rate of cancer puts Parsis under microscope
Neville Wadia was only a child when his parents sat him down and told about the deadly disease that plagued his community. By Andrew Buncombe | The Independant “I was seven years old and my father’s...
Parsi Cricketer at the World Cup: Zubin Surkari
Zubin Surkari is only the second Parsi cricketer to represent his country in a World Cup. Farokh Engineer the flamboyant wicketkeeper of the Indian cricket team was the first one, during the...
No more an option to stay quiet: An Interview with Dastur Khurshed of Udvada
No more an option to stay quiet says Dastur Khurshed Kaikobad Dastoor. High Priest of Iranshah The below is an interview by Teenaz Javat who interviewed Dastur Khurshed, the Vada Dasturji of Udvada....
Viraf Daruwala (Nalladaru) Vies for Guinness Book of Records
He is faster than a calculator. Give him two 500-digit numbers in two rows and he can subtract the second from the first in 200 seconds flat. Meet 50-year-old Viraf Daruwala (Nalladaru), Surat's...
Update on the Udvada Land Issue
The below is a communique by The Udvada Samast Anjuman. Udvada Samast Anjuman has earlier on October 21, 2010 and November 02, 2011 released updates to the media on the threat faced to Shreeji Pak...
Parsi Boy Among Three Dead in Bombay House Fire.
On Tuesday, an excited Farhad Wadia, 26, had rushed to his mother’s office at Grant Road to tell her that he had been promoted at work. Within two months of joining Bombay House as a canteen boy,...
Jamshed Bharucha Named President of Cooper Union in New York
Cooper Union, the highly selective Manhattan college known for its free tuition, plans to announce on Monday that it has chosen the provost and senior vice president of Tufts University to be its...
The ZYNG 2011 Calendar
The Zoroastrian Youth for the Next Generation has come out with a calendar for 2011. This calendar has 12 Parsi models posing exclusively for the camera. This calendar has caused an unnecessary...
Pune Parsee panchayat in Rent War
Tenants of a Lullanagar society are accusing the Poona Parsee Panchayat of charging rent exceeding original terms. PPP refutes charges saying they charge according to the income of the tenant and...
Update on the Udvada Land Issue: Dinyar Patel
Below is an update on the Udvada Land Issue by Dinyar Patel. Dinyar is a doctoral student at Harvard University. He is currently in India doing research for his thesis Dear all, I know that there...
Deena Mistri, former principal of BVS Parsi High School, dies
Deena Mistri, the great-granddaughter of the founder of Bai Virbaijee Soparivala (BVS) Parsi High School, and its former principal, passed away on Thursday at the age of 85. She had taught there for...
Vahbbiz Dorabjee: Movie Actress
Seems like Shakespeare's famous quote was meant for Vahbbiz Dorabjee who essays the role of Panchi in Ekta Kapoor's Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani. She is one of the few Parsi actors on television, besides...
Businesses held by diminishing races in a crisis to stay afloat
Ratan Tata is used to being feted. So when shareholders showered effusive eulogies in the mid-August annual general meeting, the managing director of the country’s largest conglomerate hardly batted...
India’s Zoroastrians dying out for lack of Parsi clergy
In the cramped heart of the suburb called Andheri, the MF Cama Athornan Institute was strangely quiet. The institute, founded in 1923 to train Zoroastrian priests, is a large, M-shaped edifice with...
Dadar Parsi Zoroastrian Sports Club Turns 85
Dadar Parsi Zoroastrian Sports Club (DPZSC) is one of the well known maidan clubs in the city. It may not be on par with the traditional Dadar Union Sporting, Parsee Cyclist, Shivaji Park Gymkhana...
Noshir Gowadia gets 32 yrs for selling US secrets
Indian-American Noshir Gowadia, a former B-2 stealth bomber engineer, was on Monday sentenced by a US court to 32 years in jail for selling American military secrets to China. Gowadia, 66, has spent...
Three Eminent Parsis Bestowed Padma Awards 2011 by Indian Government
Homai Vyarawalla, Late Dr. Keki Byramjee Grant and Dadi Dorab Pudumjee were amongst the 128 Indians bestowed with the Padma Awards. More about Homai Vyarawalla here. Legendary photographer Homai...
ZYNG Parsi Calendar Makes A Date With Controversey
By giving more than just the important dates concerning the Zoroastrian religion, a Parsi calendar released by the Zoroastrian Youth for the Next Generation (ZYNG), youth wing of the Bombay Parsi...
Dr. Ratan Marshall Passes Away
Eminent Parsi scholar Dr Ratan Marshal, who turned 100 in October last year, passed away on Sunday morning. He was not keeping well for the past three days. Marshal was the first to chronicle the...
15th North American Zarathushti Congress Houston: A Report
Houston: It was a spectacle of light, colour and movement that unfolded onstage as the fifty actors walked through their steps and captivated an engrossed audience in the huge ball room of the...
The Pioneering Parsis of Karachi
UPDATE: It has been brought to our attention that the article below was originally authored by Farishta Dinshaw and published on Vohuman.org. The original article is now available here. We regret...
Afshin Irani: How a Young Irani Girl Stumped Obama
Afsheen Irani, a Mumbai college student, asked the one question everyone wanted to ask the most powerful man in the world. 'Why is Pakistan so important an ally to America so far as America has...
Tuition class teacher held for sexually abusing students in Mumbai
Eight students of the class eight and nine have approached the Shivaji Park police station against their coaching class owner, Feroze Katrak, 49, who had reportedly sexually abused them. By Manish K...
Avesthagen Completes the First Whole Genome Sequence of a Parsi Breast Cancer Patient
Avesthagen Limited has yet again established its position as a leader in the successful application of next gen technologies as it announces the completion of the first Parsi breast cancer whole...
Dr. K B Grant Passes Away
Dr K B Grant, founder and chairman of the Grant Medical Foundation that runs Ruby Hall Clinic in the city, passed away here on Monday. He was 91. Credited as being the man who brought in some of the...
Poor Parsis can look forward to new homes
The New Year is bound to be good for some Parsis as they could get their much-awaited homes. By Ashutosh Shukla | DNA The poor Parsi housing issue was entangled in court cases, with the result that...
10 Predictions for Parsis for 2011
Taking a leaf out of Bejan Daruwalla, the renowned astrologer, Bombay Samachar takes a shot at predictions for Parsis in 2011 A BPP trustee will resign and elections will be held. Efforts to find a...
BMC Wants to demolish contested toilet block near Bhikha Behram Well
The much-contested toilet block, built almost 15 years ago near the Bhikha Behram well at Churchgate, will be demolished so that the facility does not block views of the newly restored garden at...
The Magi: Where did the Three Wise Men come from
Where did the Three Wise Men come from, and how did they know the importance of that Child? The Three Wise Men, who came from the East, to find the newborn Jesus Christ are only described in...
Planning Commission says No to boosting Parsi numbers
The government's plan to boost the dwindling population of Parsi community received a severe jolt with the Planning Commission rejecting a scheme proposed by the minority affairs ministry to improve...
Playwright Nozer Buchia: Vari Baanna Paachhal Thi
Nozer Buchia has been writing, directing and acting in plays for over 25 years under the banner of Nozer Buchia Productions. The latest play to release on stage is “Vari Baanna Paachhal Thi”...
Parsi Punchayat gets SC nod to build on Panthaki Baug Plot
After almost three decades of litigation, the Bombay Parsi Punchayat is free to construct at least a hundred flats at Punthaky Baug in Andheri. Last Friday, the Supreme Court cleared the decks for...
Neville Wadia: Bicycle Ride from Bangalore to Bombay to Raise Cancer Awareness
28-year-old Mumbai born and bread Neville Wadia looks to raise awareness and funds for a cancer awareness centre in Mumbai by riding his bicycle solo from Bangalore to Bombay a distance of 1000 kms....
Villie M. Appoo Makes Her Mark as CEO of Illinois Girl Scouts
Villie M. Appoo, the current CEO of Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois assumed her postion in 2009 and later formed a Senior Leadership Team that successfully led the merger of two legacy...