At the outset we would like to wish you our readers a very happy, healthy, peaceful and prosperous New Year. Navu Saal Mubarak.
The last year has been an eventful year for the Parsi community in the Indian sub-continent and all over the diaspora. And we tried our small bit in bringing it to all of you as it happens.
The year saw many highs and lows for the community. While the Mother Ship community in India and specially Mumbai slipped into rudderless mode on the leadership front, the diaspora continued its trend of becoming the mainstay of the community in the years to come. Be it Enterprise Dubai in UAE or the spectacularly successful fully-volunteer driven XVII North American Zoroastrian Congress in Los Angeles, Zoroastrians the world over thrived and celebrated their existence. The community at large in Mumbai did well despite the lack of leadership at the Bombay Parsi Punchayet.
In a 12 month period starting December 2014, the Zoroastrian youth in the diaspora and back in India have showed the hope that the Zarathushti spirit will live on. Be it the Pre-Congress Youth Events in Los Angeles, or the path breaking Zoroastrian Return To Roots which brought diasporic youth back to their roots in India, to the various activities by ZYNG and XYZ in Mumbai and the much awaited and upcoming World Youth Congress in New Zealand, the future of the community is on a great trajectory.
Zarathushtis all over await the upcoming elections of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet with the fervent hope that the newly elected leaders will clear the logjam and pave the way for a super-efficient governing body.
The PARZOR Foundation scored a major touch down with the Jiyo Parsi Campaign and in getting the Indian Government to put money to address the issues of its favorite minority :)
Parsi food has become the buzzword all over the world, and new homegrown chefs are using the power of social media and the internet to give the establishment a run for their money :) More power to them and to all our collective tummies.
The Parsi Press has once again kept up its high standards. The newest of the lot Parsi Times is rightfully taking its place and forming the triumvirate of Parsi journalism with the heavyweights Parsiana and Jame Jamshed. Hopefully in this year all three of them master their digital delivery channels to broaden their audiences. In the diaspora the FEZANA Journal continues to maintain its dominant position as the voice of the North American Zarathushti. As does Hamazor representing the overall world view of Zoroastrians. The coincidence is not lost that 4 of the 5 have women at the helm and even the fifth….Parsiana has a managing editor who is a woman !!! And more power to all of them.
The coming months promise to be equally exciting.
FEZANA will be in full force at the 15th World Parliament of Religions in Salt Lake City, USA in October 2015.
The community will greet the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and arguably one of the greatest living Zarathushtis Ratan Tata in Udvada at the end of the year.
In March 2016 New Delhi will become Ground Zero for World Zoroastrianism with three pathbreaking exhibitions all happening in one city at the same time, probably a once in a generation event. And only PARZOR can pull off such a feat.
As Agiaries in India suffer from dwindling populations, Dar-E-Mehrs are opening in the “New” world. Washington D.C. opened theirs last year and New York is about to open theirs in the coming year.
On August 19, 2005 Parsi Khabar started with one post and a fledgling idea. This has metamorphosed into 3200 daily email subscribers and over 9 million page views as we enter our 11th year. As the pioneering news aggregator website for the Parsi community, we could not have done without all our readers and supporters. We strive to maintain our standard of bringing you pertinent, accurate and insightful news and opinion. Your comments….all 12105 of them over the past decade years are highly appreciated and we look to many more in the years to come. Our Facebook page is inching towards its forty thousandth follower and our Parsi Khabar group on Facebook continues to be the place for animated and civil discussions. Twitter and Instagram help complete our social media presence.
We take this opportunity to wish you and all your loved ones a happy new year.
From our family to yours may this be the year of happiness and pride in all things Parsi.