Indian writer and photographer Sooni Taraporevala, best known as the screenwriter of The Namesake and Oscar-nominated...
Month: June 2016 Articles
Lord Karan Bilmoria’s Speech in the aftermath of BREXIT
The 23rd of June was not Independence Day for Britain; it was the day the UK shot itself in the foot. The UK economy...
Xerxes Desai, founder of Titan, dies
Desai played a key role in introducing India to its first quartz watch in the late 80s when he set up Titan Xerxes Sapur Desai, the man who founded Titan Co. Ltd and made it an internationally...
Noshir Dadrawala Responds to Times Of India’s Report on House Allotment to Dr. Farokh Master
Recently The Times of India published an entire article based on an anonmyous Whatsapp message. The journalist Bella Jaisinghani took this Whatsapp message and spun an entire conspiracy theory...
Maja Daruwala Reminisces about her father Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw
The video jerked into play… realised I wasn’t looking for the Great Man: Sam Manekshaw’s daughter Maja Daruwala Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw died this day in 2008. A daughter remembers. ...
Vada Dasturji Dr Peshotan Mirza Passes Away
We are extremely saddened to hear about the passing away of Vada Dasturji Dr Peshotan Mirza, who was one one of the two Vada Dasturjis of the Pak Iranshah Atashbehram. We were informed of this by...
Pune Zarthosti Seva Mandal Celebrates 75 years
The Poona Zarthosti Seva Mandal celebrated its 75th anniversary on Friday at Pudumjee Hall in Camp. The guest speaker for the event was Supreme Court judge Rohinton Nariman. Nariman said: "The idea...
Once an important centre of Parsis, Agra has now just 6 of them
From a time when all the prominent institutions in Agra were run by Parsis in the early 20th century -- right from manning the Central Bank to starting city's iconic hotel Cecil Mansion and entirely...
Rustom M. Ghadiali Elected President of Inter-Religious Organisation Singapore
UPDATE: An earlier version of this article indicated that Russi was the current President of PZAS. Russi informed us that he had stepped down earlier this year. We have made the appropriate...
The Eternal Flame of the Zoroastrians is Dying Out in Pakistan
KARACHI - With the emigration of its youth to safer and more prosperous countries, and a low birth rate, the eternal flame of the Zoroastrians, or Parsis as they are better known, is dying out after...
Amor Mehta Named Physician of the Year at NJBIZ’s Healthcare Hero Awards
Amor Mehta, MD, medical director of the Level 3 Epilepsy Center at the Jay and Linda Grunin Neuroscience Institute at Community Medical Center, has been named Physician of the Year at NJBIZ’s 10th...
Parsi School Buildings to Get an Architectural Facelift
When the Bharda High School building was established in the 19th century, its neo-classical facade looked out on the vast expanse of the Bombay esplanade. Sea breeze streamed through the louvered...
Kolkatta Parsis To Discuss Survival Issues at Sunday workshop
Come Sunday and the 500-odd Parsis in Kolkata will get together for a special workshop on problems faced by the community, one of the smallest in the country. This is an initiative by Jiyo Parsi, an...
WZCC NY Lecture Series: Investments In India and Tax Impacts in the USA
WZCC NY CHAPTER LECTURE SERIES INVESTMENTS IN INDIA AND THE TAX IMPACTS BY VIKRAM VENKATARAMANI VVV CPA PC At the New York Dar-E-Mehr On SUNDAY JUNE 5, 2016 @ 1:30 PM WZCC NY Presents: INVESTMENTS...
Of affaires d’amour and princely intrigues
Firmly intertwining the personal with political history, this brilliant novel’s strength lies in Keki Nusserwanji Daruwalla’s trademark wit and underscored humour, effortlessly flowing prose, and a...
Help Restore the 173 year old S R Patel Agiary of Pune
The SR Patel Agiary is a 173 year old agiary serving the Parsi community in Pune. The agiary is in teh midst of a massive restoration project, to bring the building back to its former glory. Dear...
Everlasting Flame: A News Report
NDTV Primetime did a TV segment about the Parsis, including an interview with Dr. Shernaz Cama, the Director of the PARZOR Foundation, and the Co-Chair of the Zoroastrian Return To Roots Program....
Ghee Khichdi Ritual in Navsari: A News Report
Navsari often referred to as the "Dharam Ni Tekdi" Parsis has many of the traditional customs and practices that have over time been forgotten in other cities and town. The Ghee Khichri ritual on...
When Little Zizou Gets to Meet Zinedine Zidane
Sooni Taraporevala's debut film saw her son idolising Zinedine Zidane. Now, almost a decade later, he meets the footballer. An elated mother recalls. Article by Sooni Taraporevala | Mumbai Mirror In...
Tiraz Balaporia Joins JWT as VP & Executive Business Director
J Walter Thompson has hired Tiraz Balaporia as vice president and executive business director. Balaporia joins from Havas Worldwide, where he was the senior vice president. At JWT, he will be based...
Mr. Alpaiwalla’s Legacy: India’s Parsi Museum
Housed in a quiet corner of the Kharegat Parsi Colony, the Alpaiwalla Museum of Mumbai opens its doors willingly to all curious visitors. And there can be no better guide than Ms. Nivedita Mehta,...
Jal Edulji Amrolia’s gift to the Ancient India & Iran Trust Library
We were sad to hear last week of the death on 12 May of Jal Amrolia, a long-standing friend of the Ancient India and Iran Trust. Jal Edulji Amrolia was born in Zanzibar on 22nd August 1929 to...
Homi K. Bhabha awarded Humboldt prize
Literary and cultural theorist Homi K. Bhabha, Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of English and American Literature and Language and director of the Mahindra Humanities Center, has won a Humboldt...
Santhome: The Parsi locality in Chennai where you are welcomed with hugs
For about a century, since dropping anchor in Chennai, the Clubwala family has been credited with founding several institutions in the city. "Hugging," says 87-year-old Mani Clubwalla, is one she...
Farrokh Khambata To launch restaurant called Jaan in Dubai
Farrokh Khambata is getting ready to test international waters with an Indian progressive restaurant called Jaan, housed in a 31st floor penthouse By Phorum Dalal |Mid-Day When we met Farrokh...
Sophocles and sizzlers at Scandal Point
Colonial class to Boutique Boulevard, the seaside strip of Breach Candy still spells midtown magic Speak of symmetry and serendipity. After 26 years of growing up on Hill Road, Bandra, I've spent a...
ABC For Zarathushtis
Anaheet Gazder is the author and illustrator behind this new beautiful book ABC For Zarathushtis. This is a self-published book put together painstakingly over 6 years. In an email Anaheet informs...
The Parsi demi-god of Israel: Zubin Mehta
Biographies written about artist-celebrities by Indian writers often read like extended Wikipedia pages. Or like a résumé running into hundreds of pages. Most of the information is either known, or...
This Duo is Documenting Mumbai’s Fast Disappearing Irani Cafes
The culturescape of Mumbai is one that is vast and diverse and there are many elements – old and new, that make the city as you know it today. Some of these aspects are such that add...
Murree: The legendary Pakistani beer that wants to come to India
Murree, which sells around 90,000 hectolitres annually, has been looking beyond Pakistan. “Murree Beer is made from high quality Australian barley/malt and European hops. In my humble opinion, it...
Art in the British Parliament: Dadabhai Naoroji
Artwork of the Month: On 30 June 1917, Dadabhai Naoroji, the first Asian Member of Parliament died. Dadabhai Naoroji Dadabhai Naoroji was the first Asian Member of Parliament elected to the House of...
Becoming my mother’s priest: keeping Zoroastrianism alive in Canada
At the young age of eight, did you know what you wanted to do with the rest of your life? Well, Hormuz Javat knew what he wanted to be. He made a choice, and he's sticking with it: Hormuz decided to...
Neville Bharucha: Parsi piano man to bring Western Classical notes to Bengaluru
A Steinway pianist at 23, Neville Z Bharucha has spent considerable time in the West – earning his chops at the Trinity College in London and performing across the United States, for starters....
Kawas M Nanavati Case: How An Affair Turned Friends Into Foes
This is a story involving an extra-marital affair that resulted in a murder. The trial of the murderer generated unprecedented media coverage and the circumstances in which the murder took place...
Ancient links, modern lessons
The recently concluded exhibitions in New Delhi on Zoroastrianism and the story of the Parsis in India were eye openers on many fronts. Sadly, these excellent collections of what can be called...
A box of tissues for Mr. Jehangir Patel please!
Yesterday we published an editorial by Jehangir Patel titled "A Parsi Trupti Please". Below is a rebuttal to the same by Ervad Marzban J. Hathiram, Editor of Frashogard The ubiquity of Whats-app...
A Parsi Trupti, please
Parsi women have tolerated discrimination for over a century, and there's no-one to fight for them. Trupti Desai's efforts to seek equality between the sexes in matters of worship have been on the...
Prof. Almut Hintze of SOAS awarded European Research Council grant of €2.5 million to study core ritual of Zoroastrianism
Professor Almut Hintze FBA, Zartoshty Brothers Professor of Zoroastrianism at SOAS University of London, has been awarded a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigator Grant of just under...
Cyrus Todiwala embraces the spice of life
HE'S the Indian chef who takes the guesswork out of cooking with spices, but Cyrus Todiwala is at home in Wales as he is in his native India. For now, at least… WHEN it comes to familiar faces at...
Jehangir Art Gallery set to gift more room to artists
When the beloved Café Samovar shut shop in the March of 2015, the city's cognoscenti mourned. The Jehangir Art Gallery's (JAG) chairperson Adi Jehangir, however, was determined to make something...
Dasturji Kotwal In Conversation with Shernaz Cama
Here is a 2007 interview where Dastur Dr. Kotwal is in conversation Dr. Shernaz Cama; Chair of the UNESCO PARZOR Project. This interview originally appears on the PARZOR website Dastur Dr. Firoze...
Dates Announced for 11th World Zoroastrian Congress 2018 in Perth Australia
Chalo Perth !! The 11th edition of the World Zoroastrian Congress will be held from June 1 to June 4th 2018 in Perth, Australia Firoz K Pestonji who heads the organizing team of the 11th World...
Remembering Nari K Rustomji
May 16 was Meghalaya’s first chief secretary Nari K Rustomji’s birth anniversary. Glenn C Kharkongor recalls his contribution to the Northeast NARI K Rustomji studied classical Latin and Greek, was...