Some of the most enduring ancient myths in the Persian world were centred around gardens of almost unimaginable beauty...
Blog Articles
Alarm after FBI arrests US army veteran Bajun Mavalwalla II for ‘conspiracy’ over protest against Ice
Alarm after FBI arrests US army veteran for ‘conspiracy’ over protest against IceArticle by Aaron Glantz | The...
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...
Parsi Lagan Nu Bhonu: In Pictures
Lagan Nu Bhonu at a Parsi wedding or navjote is something that one and all look forward to. Here are some pictures of the entire lagan nu bhonu at one such wedding at Jeejebhoy Dadabhoy Agiary in...
The Navroze table
Parsis have a reputation for being major food lovers, as anyone attending a Parsi celebration will confirm. And that’s a reputation likely to be upheld on March 21, when Parsis the world over mark...
Bollywood’s Best Bawas
Perhaps one of the most tolerant and accommodating communities in India, Parsis have often been at the receiving end of humour. And if there’s someone who has cashed in maximum moolah by adding a...
Dr. J.J. Bunshah on Total Knee Replacement Surgeries in India
Arthritis is a disease that affects millions around the world. There is little we can do to prevent it, besides maintain a healthy lifestyle and control our weight. It is very painful and most...
PM greets Parsis on occasion of Navroz
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today greeted the nation, especially the Parsi community, on the occasion of Navroz, the New Year Day of the Zoroastrians. In his message, Dr. Singh said that the...
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...
Katayun Saklat: Parsee artist from Calcutta
Katayun Saklat, the septuagenarian Parsee artist from Calcutta, was here as an organiser of Art in Industry painting workshop held at the Centre for Excellence. The co-owner of art gallery in...
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...
Indian Business Empire Eyes Global Role
A dozen years ago, many believed that India's Tata Group - the country's oldest and largest conglomerate - was a bloated behemoth that would eventually go under. Instead, it has become a powerhouse...
How our own Nadia whipped Bollywood
FORGET about GI Jane, Xena: Warrior Princess and Wonder Woman. Cinema's first ass-kicking chick was a blonde-haired, blue-eyed Australian who spoke Hindi as she tussled with lions and performed live...
Decoding the longevity DNA of Parsis
The Avestagenome project, that seeks to plot the genetic and medical database of the Parsi community, expects to start its Mumbai-leg of the study this April. The project would open a base in...
Parsi fascination
I first went to Bombay when I was 14 or 15. An uncle worked for an antique store inside the Taj, then the grandest hotel in India, and lived in a rented flat in Bandra. The journalistic offerings of...
Vultures on the brink
The Indian government has a big job on its hands. It is accused today of ‘overseeing’ the decline of tigers. Another iconic creature, the vulture, is also on the brink of extinction and the...
Sooni Taraporevala to direct Little Zizou
John Abraham has added another feather to his hat with his presence in the directorial debut of the internationally acclaimed photographer and screenplay writer, Sooni Taraporevala. The film titled...
Adaptable cooks
Indian Parsis, originally from Persia, absorbed various cultures' cuisines and made them their own On a cool, gray San Francisco morning, Niloufer Ichaporia King, the author of My Bombay Kitchen:...
Jeroo Mulla: Change Through Films
Interview by Mahafreed Irani for DNA India. Jeroo Mulla is the head of department of Social Communications Media at Sophia Polytechnic. She has taught film appreciation for the last 24 years. She...
Jeroo Mulla: Change Through Films
Interview by Mahafreed Irani for DNA India. Jeroo Mulla is the head of department of Social Communications Media at Sophia Polytechnic. She has taught film appreciation for the last 24 years. She...
The battle of Mumbai
Original article by Deepak Lokhande in the Mid-Day Should I be wasting another 400 words on what went on in our city during the last week? I should. For over two weeks, the city remained hostage to...
Nauheed Cyrusi Actor
My taste buds are truly blessed for having inherited both, Iranian and Parsi blood. I get to eat the usual Parsi fare every day, and also get the opportunity to devour the not-so-common Iranian...
Narrow escape for Parsi priests, their families
It was sheer luck that saved three Parsi priests and their family members when the earth caved in the adjoining land where construction work was in progress on Thursday killing a labourer. The roof...
Migrants, your grunts, everyone’s stunts
by Bachi Karkaria in the Times of India I cannot promise to raise a statue of Shivaji in Dadar Parsi Colony. But, in the ultimate cultural surrender, I hereby change my surname to Karkare. Many...
Bombay central
by Haseena Jethmalani in the Indian Express. Come December and I await invitations from our Parsi friends with bated breath. For me, it’s more about the food, though the bhonu is to die for and the...
Boeing partners with Tata for plane parts
Airplane maker creates partnership with India's Tata to make more than $500 million in aerospace components. Boeing and Tata have formed a joint venture for $500 million in aerospace components....
No identity crisis
There was a time when Parsi businessmen and industrialists from Mumbai preferred to employ the ‘Marathi manoos’ in their offices, for he was hard-working, sincere and honest. He had respect for...
Open up to world, Zoroastrians told
Original article published in the TOI He is a man of peace. But whenever he dwells upon the crisis that has begun to loom large over the Zoroastrian community in terms of their dwindling numbers,...
Karanjia and his Blitz
by Vir Sanghvi in the Hindustan Times When my mother phoned on Friday to tell me that Russy Karanjia had died, I was both sad and worried. I was saddened by his passing: I had, after all, grown up...
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...
Report: 4th World Zoroastrian Youth Congress
Back to the future? this oxymoron was the tag line, the usp for the 4th World Zoroastrian Congress at Ballarat this Australian summer. I was there. And I went back to the future. When I heard the...
Remembering Russy Karanjia
Remembering Russy Karanjia, who died yesterday, exactly 67 years after he founded Blitz, India’s greatest tabloid weekly The story of the life of Russy Karanjia is intimately tied up with the story...
Veteran journalist Russy Karanjia passes away
Veteran journalist Russy Karanjia, the powerful and dynamic editor of the fearless tabloid Blitz, passed away in Mumbai today. He was father of Rita Mehta, editor of Cine Blitz, and brother of noted...
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...
Why Blame Ratan Tata for the Nano?
That is the title of a wonderful article by Govindraj Ethiraj. It is the only sensible arguement I have read amongst all the people who are gunning for Ratan Tata for creating more traffic and chaos...
Sadeh Celebrations in Iran
Iran's Zoroastrian minorities gathered at their temples across Iran on Wednesday to mark Sadeh _ an ancient feast celebrating the creation of fire that has been observed since the days when their...
Dr. Keiki R Mehta Awarded the Padma Shri
A regular reader Minoo Naval Unwalla tipped us off to the news that Dr. Keiki R Mehta, one of India's leading opthalmologists was awarded the Padma Shri this month. From Dr. Mehta's website... Dr....
Ratam Tata Awarded the Padma Vibhushan
Ratan Tata was one of the 13 people who have been conferred with the nation's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan. It is a testament to the Tata House of Industry that successive...
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...
How to turn a Nani into a Nano
By Bachi Karkaria Apro Ratan has allowed the masses to have an 'apri gaadi'. So we don't need Meddling Mamata's permission to continue the rah-rah, and explain why it caught everyone's imagination...
Crisis in Faith: Zoroastrians Today
This is the title of a film by Tenaz Dubash. Tenaz is a film maker based in New York City. The premiere of this movie is scheduled for Saturday, February 2, 2008 at the Y. B. Chavan Center...
Join Our Facebook Group
Parsi Khabar is now on Facebook. Facebook is probably the fastest growing social networking site. If you havent checked it out, now is the time to do so. And while you are at it, please join the...
New class at Stanford explores Zoroastrianism
New class explores ancient religion Popular faiths rooted in Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism, the world’s oldest revealed religion, is the focus of an introductory course this quarter taught by...
Mehernosh Mody: La Porte des Indes
The Legacy of France in Indian Regional Cuisine The creation of the famous La Porte des Indes restaurants that sprinkle Europe is as much a love story as it is anything else. In 1986, Mehernosh Mody...
Godrej hosts Salman Rushdie, angers Muslims
An Islamic group in India is asking Muslims to boycott products of a top Indian business group if its owner does not apologise for hosting author Salman Rushdie on a brief holiday this week. Rushdie...
Sugar in Milk : Lives of Eminent Parsis by Bakhtiar K. Dadabhoy
Authoritative, fascinating and insightful, Sugar in Milk is a collection of twelve in-depth profiles of some of the greatest Parsis India has produced. Ranging from the nineteenth century to the...
Parsi Food in Delhi
Parsi food in Delhi? Well, you need not go to Mumbai or some place in Gujarat where a majority of the Parsis stay, but here is a place where you get to relish authentic Parsi food, known for its...
Tata Pulls Ford Units Into Its Orbit
LONDON — When Ratan Tata visited the home of the designer Ralph Lauren last autumn, the two auto enthusiasts spent much of the time in the garage, admiring Mr. Lauren’s car collection, including the...
Bid to exploit Kappawala agiary land thwarted
An attempt to commercially exploit a portion of Tardeo’s Kappawala agiary (fire temple) land by one of the trustees has been scuttled after the charity commissioner rejected an application seeking...
Iran Plans on Destroying Tomb of King Cyrus, Friend of the Jews
Iran is planning on submerging the tomb of King Cyrus (Coresh), the Persian King known for authorizing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Holy Temple. According to a report by...
Zoroastrians to convene AGM with a difference
Pune’s Zoroastrian entrepreneurs will have a reason to celebrate this weekend as the city gears up to play host to over 200 Zoroastrian businesspersons and professionals across the country and the...