Some flowers strewn outside his room and a few dim candles were the only trappings of an otherwise muted birthday for...
Current Affairs Articles
British Consul General on Parsi Weddings, Global Businesses and the Influence on Mumbai
I was fortunate recently to attend my first ever Parsi wedding. Two of the 40 or so Parsi staff in the Deputy High...
Dead as a dodo? Why scientists fear for the future of of the Asian vulture
You have to feel sorry for vultures. For animal campaigners they are a difficult case. Other, more photogenic, slightly less sinister creatures may gain the world's sympathy at the drop of a hat,...
Fire temple enters its 300th year
24 Apr 2008, 0434 hrs IST,Nauzer Bharucha,TNN MUMBAI: For the past few centuries, they have been one of Mumbai's most important religious and architectural landmarks. On Thursday, the city's oldest...
Thana Parsee Zoroastrian Anjuman Wins Court Battle
Received via an email comminique From: pervezbhesania Subject: Another victory to savour: The mail: To, All Zoroastrians of Thana, We have a phenomenal piece of news to share with you once again. As...
Marry, live in joint families: Minority panel to Parsis
The clock is ticking away fast and furious for India’s Parsi community. Alarmed by their dwindling numbers - as per the last census the Parsi population was less than 70,000 - the National...
Kolkata: Parsis delighted with the vultures’ return
The return of vultures to the Kolkata sky after a three-year gap has delighted the Parsi community in Kolkata despairing of the loss of their traditional way of disposing the deceased. The vultures'...
Zoroastrian helps keep the traditions of ancient religion alive
An interview with Dr. Farzana Irani. Irani was born and raised in India, where she graduated from medical school. She immigrated in 1978 to Albany, where she is an obstetrician and gynecologist in...
Global warming may douse Iranshah fire at Udvada
UDWADA (VALSAD): If there is one place the Parsi community considers holiest of holy in India, it is the small town of Udwada on the Gujarat coast. For two-and-a-half centuries, it has been home to...
Avesthagen to Use Affymetrix Microarrays in Parsi Study
Affymetrix signed an agreement with Avesthagen for the use of its microarray technology in The AvestaGenome Project™, a genetic study of over 60,000 Parsi individuals. Based in India, the project...
Who are they talking to?
Dr. Kersey Antia was in the Zoroastrian news recently, for better or for worse. In fact, the officers at the Colaba Police Station will also tell you who he is. Dr. Antia came to Mumbai to...
Orthodox Parsis heckle liberal’s talk
This article appeared in the TOI. The controversy over acceptance of Parsis from mixed marriages into the Zoroastrian fold blew up on Saturday as the orthodox sections of the community disrupted and...
Parsi community caught in contradiction
Paris community is caught in a contradiction, a community whose numbers are fast dwindling but is adamant on shutting its doors on the children of mixed marriages. It is an old debate that has...
Liberal Parsis take on the orthodox
The Parsi community is set for a showdown with liberals taking on the orthodox, demanding that non-Parsis who have married into the community — and their children — be allowed to convert to the...
The great Parsi population plan
By Farrukh Dhondy Finally the Indian National Council for Minorities (NCM) has got around to what should be one of the central problems facing the country. A member of the Commission, one Mehroo...
UP Parsis Have only One Mobed
The Parsi community is facing a unique problem. With only one Parsi priest left in the state, the community is facing difficulties in performing religious rituals. Such is the situation that now...
4th WZYC: Small in number but big in spirit, Zoroastrians lay claim as the original greens
IT IS one of the world's oldest major religions, and certainly the smallest, but according to its followers its impeccable "green" credentials make it the ideal religion for the 21st century. About...
Indian Parsis seek NCM’s help to dispose of dead
NEW DELHI: India's official National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has come to the rescue of the tiny Parsi community, which is worried over the disposal of their dead because of the dwindling...
We Are Getting Wiped Out
[Note: The following article expresses the views of Dr Fredie Mehta, the well known executive in the Tata house Are we imparting any religions knowledge to our children? Dr Fredie asks. Every other...
Dwindling numbers: Parsis at the fire temple in Secunderabad.
HYDERABAD: In a bid to understand the genetic factors, which are apparently leading to high incidence of various kinds of ailments among members of the Parsi community, a project named...
With courage let us all combine
Friyana Billimoria - Friyana Billimoria, in year 11 at Kingswood College, Box Hill, is Youth Ambassador for the Metropolis Migration works if everyone embraces it wholeheartedly. MANY centuries ago,...
Pakistan Will Break Up: Ardeshir Cowasjee
Pakistan Will Break Up, Get Out When You Can: Columnist Cowasjee Saturday 21st of July 2007 Pakistan 'is going to break up in the years to come and everyone who can, should pack up their bags and...
How safe is Bombay, really?
By Shernaaz Engineer | Thursday, July 26, 2007 11:21:37 IST Most women have developed a defence mechanism by which they know how to deal with this... Certainly, by most accounts, Bombay is a safe...
Save the Tehmulji Nursing Home
In the recent weeks, there has been news about the selling off of a very important Parsi heritage building. The Temulji Lying In hospice has for generations been the first point of entry into the...
Numbers down, but not their spirit
Numbers down, but not their spirit Family planning, migration, restrictions on conversion are reasons behind decline in Parsi population. Kolkata, June 21: Some thirty years ago, they were 4,000....
Scholarship scheme for minorities
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday approved a centrally-sponsored scheme of merit-cum-means based scholarship for students from minority communities. It will be launched in the...
Protests against hoarding at Tower of Silence
Parsis are protesting against a hoarding that has come up on the premises of the sacred Tower of Silence at Doongerwadi--declared a green belt and a heritage site by the Supreme Court. Accusing the...
Funeral billboards raise cash, ire in India
Some might see the towering billboards that rise out of a centuries-old Bombay funeral ground as a message from beyond the grave. But the signs -- which exhort motorists to "Rev up your night life"...
WAPIZ celebrates Second Anniversary
When 2,500 Parsis gathered at the Mahalaxmi racecourse on Saturday evening, the main topic of discussion was the birth and death rates of the Message To Get My Ex Girl Back community, whose...
Vulture breeding plan shelved
The world's first vulture breeding programme for a socio-religious purpose has been shelved. Parsis are traditionally laid to rest in Mumbai's Tower of Silence where vultures (now endangered) devour...
Concern Over Delhi’s Dwindling Parsi Population
Delhi Minorities Panel plans to meet Parsi families New Delhi, May. 17 (PTI): Concerned over the declining population of Parsi community in the Capital, Delhi Minorities Commission is planning to...
Lose the vultures, and lose the soul
By Bachi Karkaria As an Indian Parsi Zoroastrian, I'm proud to belong to a tiny minority widely admired for its material success and its philanthropy. But I feel a closing sense of siege. The...
Bringing up the mediums: Parsi Mobeds
Parents make the heartbreaking decision to send their children to residential schools for various material reasons. It's seldom for a cause. But last year, parents of 30 Parsi children decided that...
Separate religion from politics, pleads Pakistan lawmaker
A Parsi lawmaker in Pakistan pleaded that religion be kept away from politics, creating an uproar in the country's National Assembly and forcing the speaker to switch off his microphone. M.P....
Perin Ferrao: Activist refused to accept a woman’s lot in India
Even as a youngster Perin Ferrao never accepted the conventional view in her native India that women were subordinate to men. Committed all her life to the emancipation of women, the Montreal...
Parsis in world can become members of Bombay Parsi Punchayet
In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court cleared the decks for over 1.25 Parsis in the world to gather under one roof. Justice AM Khanwilkar ruled on Thursday that any Parsi in any corner of...
Avesthagen launches AVESTAGENOME
Avestha Gengraine Technologies Pvt. Ltd., (Avesthagen) a leading biotechnology company today announced the launch of the AVESTAGENOME TM project, a unique project to build a complete genetic,...
A Small but Mighty Religion; What we Believe: Zoroastrianism
Mehlli Bhagalia and his wife, Perin, tend a small flame in their home in Carlsbad. Bhagalia said the flame, safe in the fireplace, has been consecrated by the couple's prayers and is only...
Avesthagen initiates Parsi genome project
Avestha Gengraine Technologies (Avesthagen), a Bangalore-based integrated biotech company, has launched 'Avestagenome', a project to build a complete genetic, genealogical and medical database of...
The Persian king who is remembered every year
He was one of the most illustrious kings of ancient Iran (then called Persia) On 21st March, Parsis and Iranis the world over celebrate Jamshedi Navroze named after the Persian king Jamsheed of the...
Jamshedi Navroze Mubarak
On the occasion of Navroze, we wish all our readers worldwide, a very happy, healthy and prosperous Jamshedi Navroze. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our readers for their loyal...
Iran readying for New Year
From Tehran to Isfahan to Mashad to Shiraz, businesses, shops and government offices are getting ready to close as Iran sets out to celebrate the country's New Year, called Nowruz. Iranians are...
Bandra residents want BMC chief’s written promise
The Bandra Hill Road Citizen's Committee movement to save old heritage structures, including the Tata Parsi Agiary, St Peter's Church, St Stanislaus' High School and St Andrew's Church, from being...
It’s a small but powerful community and Parsis…
It's a small but powerful community and Parsis in Mumbai are joining hands to protect a 123-year-old community temple. Built by the Tatas, the agiary on Bandra's Hill Road is under threat from the...
1400 people turn up to save Bandra Agiary
Parsis from Mumbai gather at agiary gates after SMS campaign Never underestimate the power of people. That's what the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) discovered on Saturday morning. About 1,400...
Bandra Agiary Wall Demolition Stopped
BMC defers demolition at Bandra agiary As anger built up among residents and activists of Bandra (W) against the proposed widening of Hill Road, the civic administration on Friday called off its...
Parsi reformists to send legal notice to BMC
Dhun Baria and a group of Parsi reformists supporting her would soon send a legal notice to the BMC's health department for carrying out shoddy inspection of the Tower of Silence in Malabar Hill and...
Zubin, Freddie, Ratan: The Parsi conquests
When Ratan Tata made that big Diwali-eve announcement to pitch for India's biggest overseas acquisition yet, he sent a unique cultural message with a trait so typical of his Parsi community. He...
Biologists to help breed vultures
The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology aims to rescue the ancient Zoroastrian practice of corpse disposal (writes Ashling O'Connor). Biologists are to inseminate artificially the Oriental...
Surat Residences get a new face
SURAT: The babbling and wails of infants from apartments in Bai Bamasipore Memorial Zarthosthi building in Saiyedpura in Surat have begun to raise the hopes of the local Parsi community, dogged by a...
ZTFE Jashan/Reception to honour Lord Karan F. Bilimoria of Chelsea
The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (Inc) invites you to join in a Jashan and reception to honour Lord Karan F. Bilimoria CBE of Chelsea at the Zartoshty Brothers Hall, on Sunday 15th October 2006...
Blog World Responds to NYT Article
Sepia Mutiny the power house Indian group blog points out to a response by a blogger to the NYTimes article. Amardeep at Sepia Mutiny writes Perhaps the reluctance by more conservative Parsis to...