Our annual pilgrimage to the Navsari and Udvada atash behrams made us pensive. Although it was not one of the "big days” of the Parsi calendar, there was no sitting space at Iranshah. Occupancy at the hotels and the recently spruced up sanatorium is high. Sales of mawa cakes at the local Irani Bakery are… Continue reading Udvada and Navsari Atashbehrams: A Report by Berjis Desai
Category: Current Affairs
Death and bawdiness from the Parsi tongue
Parsis don’t have the reverence for the dead that other Indians do and their irreverence is extreme, as shown by numerous Parsi sayings By Aakar Patel | Livemint The Parsis are my favourite Indian community, followed by the Christians. Both give and have given many times more to this country than they take. And both… Continue reading Death and bawdiness from the Parsi tongue
No dignity for some even in death
The death of an 86-year old woman living in a trust-run housing colony in Colaba recently made news in the Parsi newspapers – not because she was a notable member of the community, but because after she died a lonely death in a hospital, the trust that manages the housing colony refused to accept claims… Continue reading No dignity for some even in death
Forgotten by Sanjay Dutt,Kersi Adajania faces year in jail for helping him
Some flowers strewn outside his room and a few dim candles were the only trappings of an otherwise muted birthday for an ailing Kersi Bapuji Adajania, who turned 83 by the Parsi calender on Tuesday. In the two decades since he helped actor Sanjay Dutt dispose of an AK-56 rifle at his foundry, Adajania has… Continue reading Forgotten by Sanjay Dutt,Kersi Adajania faces year in jail for helping him
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 Commission in Mumbai, Nazneen (our press officer) and Burzin ( a member of the UKBA team), were getting married, and they had been kind enough to invite my wife and me to… Continue reading British Consul General on Parsi Weddings, Global Businesses and the Influence on Mumbai
Growing up Parsi and gay in Bombay
Ten years of a Parsi Purgatory. But that still did not prepare me for the American ‘Paradise’. In 1958, in the proverbial sexual encounters of Bombay’s fast trains, I came to know about sex. We lived in Bandra, school was in Churchgate. By Hoshang Merchant | DNA So every morning, I had undiluted fun for… Continue reading Growing up Parsi and gay in Bombay
BBC Report on Prince Philip’s visit to ZTFE 150 Years Celebration
Below is a BBC video segment on the recent visit of Prince Philip to the ZTFE’s 150th year celebrations in London.
Falling Indian minority hopes romance can stop decline
India’s ancient minority Parsi community are pinning their hopes on modern methods such as speed-dating, social networking and IVF to stop their numbers vanishing, finds the BBC. By Sanjoy Majumder / BBC Inside a small classroom, a group of young boys sways back and forth, reading aloud from the ancient scriptures of the Zoroastrian faith… Continue reading Falling Indian minority hopes romance can stop decline
Much noise over names at Towers of Silence
Bombay Parsi Panchayet declares that funerals of woman married outside community will not be allowed at towers. After refusing permission to an inter-caste married Parsi woman to let her body be consigned to the Towers of Silence after her death because she had assumed a ‘Hindu’ name, the Bombay Parsi Panchayet (BPP) has declared that… Continue reading Much noise over names at Towers of Silence
