In a leafy neighborhood of central Mumbai, classic “Parsi-style” bungalows with their deep porches and balconies adorn...
Opinion Articles
Nawaz Merchant: Removing racial biases necessary for harmony in society
Our dear friend and award-winning author Nawaz Merchant writes…Until 1968 black families were systematically...
Celebrating Parsi New Year
BY Rakshande Italia If I cherished one special day during the year, besides my birthday, it was the New Year - not Jan. 1, but a day in August when members of my tiny Zoroastrian community in...
Rolling in gold but still poverty-stricken
IN 1865, Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata - a one-time opium trader and scion of a sparkling line of Parsee priests, Zoroastrians who had fled to western India from persecution in Iran - attended a lecture...
LAHORE LAHORE AYE: The Parsis of Lahore
As the sun is about to set, a group of pale tall men in spotless white can be found on the beach, the sacred Zorastrian belt knotted around their waists. They stand at the edge, bend down and...
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...
Zoroastrianism dying out in modern times
Many young boys being trained as priests will instead follow other careers Like most 12-year-old boys, Rayan Dastoor watches movies, goes to school and surfs the Internet for the latest tunes by...
A war is but a loser’s game
by Farrukh Dhondy I can't remember which teacher it was who ventured to tell us about the Battle of Thermopylae all those years ago. Three hundred Spartans held the pass at the aforesaid place...
Microphones, Planes, and Stereotypes: Those behind the Making of 300
Microphones, Planes, and Stereotypes: Those behind the Making of '300' By Touraj Daryaee and Warren Soward, California State University, Fullerton I have been following reactions to the movie '300'...
The Islamization of Europe
Excerpt from a longer article here Mary Boyce, Emeritus Professor of Iranian Studies at the University of London, has confirmed the external validity of Bat Ye'or's analytical approach in her...
Apropos of absolutely nothing at all
Apropos of absolutely nothing at all, I would like to say that whereas the Parsis laid the foundation of Mumbai and gave it some of its most beautiful buildings and colonies, the Gujaratis gave us...
300 Evil-Doers
It's been said that the movie "300" draws certain analogies about the US and its fight for freedom. People say that the Spartan's fight with the Persian armies is a lot like the American struggle...
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...
Ancient religion may face extinction
This article appeared in the Boston Globe. I cannot seem to find the online direct link. However, read on... As screaming children raced around the hall in joyous play, adult workers readied food in...
Parsis love their bikes more than their wives!
Parsis have a certain love affair with their two wheelers, which only they can fathom. They'll proudly spend hours lovingly washing and polishing their prized possessions and God help you if you...
Some Christmas”magic” may have done a disappearing act
The below posted article is something that we completely detest. People with no intellectual prowess to actually research and educate the readers are now columnists in newspapers. The only reason we...
Parsees protest redevelopment on Tardeo agiary land
Members of Parsi community fear that the sanctity and ambience of the Kappawala agiary in Tardeo may soon be lost. Reason: An age-old structure in its compound that is the house to the priest of the...
A Few Stray Thoughts by Farzana Contractor
Sweet Dadi, younger brother of Behram is here, all the way from the South of France, St Rapheal, where he now lives It's not often that I have house guests. And rarely if ever as welcome as the one...
Parsi apex body seeks universal franchise
By Nauzer Bharucha MUMBAI: Parsis may be one of the most literate and progressive communities in the country. But for the past 350 years, a vast majority of them in Mumbai had no stake in appointing...
The Fun of Being a Parsee
[received via email. Author Unknown] It lies in many things .... It's like belonging to an exclusive Club worldwide. Birth, the only credential and consideration; nothing, but nothing else works, no...
Ancient religions clash in modern Iran
It's one of the world's oldest religions, but Zoroastrianism is treated with suspicion by Iran's Islamic state, writes Robert Tait The village of Chak Chak consists of a shrine perched beneath a...
Religion and Materiality
Isn't it strange how Rs.200/= seems like such a large amount when you donate it to a fire-temple, but such a small amount when you go shopping? Isn't it strange how 2 hours seem so long when you're...
Parsi Anthem
We received this via an email tip. It makes interesting reading. Author Unknown When my time has come, when my race is run I want to go that very way of my Fathers and their Sons. When my breath has...
Muktaad
Ruby Lilaowala remembers Muktaad, in the Afternoon D.C. Muktaad are the ten days preceding the Parsi new year which are devoted to intense prayers and elaborate rituals for the departed souls...
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...
Bury funeral ritual: Parsi woman
A centuries old custom has triggered off a bitter debate within Mumbai's influential Parsi community. The Parsi community is now divided over how to dispose off their dead. The bodies are kept in a...
Zoroastrians Keep the Faith, and Keep Dwindling
In his day job, Kersey H. Antia is a psychologist who specializes in panic disorders. In his private life, Mr. Antia dons a long white robe, slips a veil over his face and goes to work as a...
Bachi Karkaria : Navroze Mubarak everyone!
An article by Bachi karkaria....at her hilarious best .. Parsi to Past-si ... By Bachi Karkaria Soli Solicitor shuddered at the Census sentence, knowing there was no reprieve. Nusli had an asli...
The burden of a song
By Farrokh Dhondy The Archbishop of Canterbury wants to kill the tradition of singing hymns in colonial places. I can’t imagine Bishops School, Pune, without the hymns, alien songs to the alien...
Resignation of Four Trustees of the BPP
The Remedy Is Worse Than the Malady By Noshir H. Dadrawala Ever since news regarding 4 out the present 6 trustees of the BPP resigning leaked out, my phone has not stopped ringing. I have been...
To House or Not to House ???
Open land in Mumbai's Parsi fire temples are the latest targets for re-development. How is the community reacting? It may be all quiet at Kappawalla Agiary, in Mumbai's Tardeo, but all's certainly...
Where have all the John Crows gone?
An item in my local morning paper this week grabbed my interest because it graphically evoked something I noticed in the island a few years back. The news story was about the rapid dying off of the...
Shrinking flocks of vultures spoil ancient culture’s funeral rituals
Destruction of birds by a cattle drug presents the Parsis of India with a dilemma MUMBAI -- Smack in the middle of the thicket of ultramodern high-rises that make up Malabar Hill, one of Mumbai's...
Run Lola
Of all her celebrity guests so far, she's loved chatting with the Parsis--Boman Irani, Homi Adajania and Perizaad Zorabian. "It's probably because Bawas and Malayalees are both a mad bunch of...
Some thoughts, some reservations
A case of great constitutional significance is being argued before a bench of five justices of the Supreme Court, presided over by the chief justice of India. A few years ago both houses of...
Parsi debate: panchayat vs federation
Don't force radical changes on us: Ahmedabad panchayat to governing body Express News Service Ahmedabad, April 30: Accusing it of forcing its radical propaganda upon Parsis, the Ahmedabad Parsi...
The Dilemma of Iran and US relations
Historically, a mass exodus of Iranians from the greater Persian plateau has occurred presumably for fear of religious persecution, by people of the Zoroastrian faith emigrating to Gujarat and...
Anglicisation Of The Parsis
by Polly Noshir Chenoy My mother's contention is: "British gayan ne' opre vadhare British thai gayan" (We have become more British after the British have left). This, she attributes mostly to the...
Vultures That Vanish
Spare a thought for the scrawny vultures -- those once-familiar birds of prey that used to circle lazily high in the air, scanning for anything to scavenge. In my youth, they even perched on tall...
Australian sculptor scraps Zarathushtra’s name
Move comes after protests by Parsi community against a nude scultpure named after the Prophet Mumbai Mirror Bureau The Australian Consul General in Mumbai has informed Mumbai's Parsi-Zoroastrians...
India will be indebted to the parsi community
Ashish, a blogger from Pune, writes about the Parsis The community though very calm,composed & peace-loving, have succeeded in very walk of life, business in particular. Their business acumen is...
Holy cow! Rajnath remembers Hindutva
CNN-IBN - New Delhi,India ... "India has a Muslim President, a Sikh Prime Minister and a Christian heading the ruling coalition, a Parsi Field Marshal and a Sikh Army Chief because of its ...
Offending nude ‘Zarathushtra’:.Parsis get their way, but quietly
By Bachi Karkaria/TNN Mumbal: The culture-vulture Parsis would be mighty pleased over a prestigious Australian sculpture symbolizing their ancient religion commissioned by Dame Elisabeth Murdoch,...
DOKHMENASHINI CONTROVERSY
by Mr. Noshir H. Dadrawala Thanks for provoking me to respond on the latest controversy surrounding 'Dokhmenashini. I believe this controversy has a time cycle of its own for the past century or...
Flowering The Youth Of The Community
by Eruch B. Desai Our illustrious ancestors with dedication and concern for the community did yeoman service to the succeeding generations by their various acts replete with sane advice, wisdom,...
Historic Association of Zarathushti Mobeds
by Roxan Aspi Driver in the Jam-e-Jamshed Jimmy Mistry has shown that he can accomplish what he sets out to. A man of action, and not just intention, barely a couple of months after the launch of...
Why Is The Truth About Conversion Not Told?
by Jamsheed Kanga in The Jam-e-Jamshed In a recent book, "Breaking the spell: Religion as a national phenomenon" the author Daniel C Dennett explains by an interesting analogy how religion can...
“Zarathustra” the Sculpture
Post UPDATED since original posting. Read ahead. Today morning I received a forwarded email from Adil Nariman, from Sydney Australia. It brought to my attention, the events that will lead to the...
Life without Parsis would be like bun without maska
And for the last Saturday before Parsi New Year, the fifth without Busybee, a few stray thoughts. by Farzana Contractor | Saturday, March 18, 2006 11:11:0 IST Without doubt, life without Parsis...
The Truth About Secret Societies
Parsi (Persian Zoroastrianism) influence is also seen in the Kusti ritual where each day they would tie a sacred cord around their waist. The fact that the Templars were accused of holding a ritual...
Parsi Boy In A Red T-Shirt
So they were not Muslims. That little boy who loved cricket and who vanished in that post-Godhra carnage, belonging to a perfectly hardworking, reasonably honest middle class locality, was not a...
Ex-CU Prof. Takes Lit Hum to Harvard
Columbia Daily Spectator - New York City,NY,USA ... Aristophanes' Lysistrata has been replaced with The Frogs, and the Bhagavad-Gita and The Gathas of Zarathustra appear halfway through the course,...