The musical director of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra from 1981 until his retirement in 2019, the maestro said he...
Blog Articles
A century in the capital: How Delhi’s Parsis mark 100 years of community, faith and philanthropy
The Parsi community shares a deep-rooted relationship with Mumbai (then Bombay), where much of its history unfolded....
Italian photojournalist Majlend Bramo tells the story of Mumbai’s Parsis
Why did a photojournalist from Florence choose to repeatedly return to Mumbai to document a community of 40,000? Article by Kusumita Das | Mid-Day After the Navjote ceremony of Sara and Azita. This...
Parsi priests take cue from Christian pastors
The Zoroastrian initiative ‘Jiyo Parsi’ has taken a leaf out of Christianity’s book with its new ‘Jiyo Mobed’ programme that aims to make priests into community...
Ajmalgadh Witnesses A Seminal Samast Anjuman Jashan
The caves at Ajmalgadh a small mountain in Vansda, Gujarat, India. For over 14 years this place provided a safe refuge for The Iranshah, the holiest of our holy fires, 700 years ago. Today it was...
Akuri & A Pinch Of Hope
Akuri & A Pinch Of Hope: A Feel Good Short Film That’ll Leave You With A Lingering Smile Two men stumble upon each other at an Irani Cafe and what happens next will leave you with a warm,...
Calcutta HC division bench requests single judge to consider application of Parsi bodies
A division bench of the Calcutta high court requested a single judge bench to consider an application by The Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India (FPZAI) to be included as a party or...
Bombay Parsi Punchayet scraps plan of using plot near Tower of Silence to segregate waste
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s (BPP) plan to set up a waste segregation and composting unit at a plot near the Tower of Silence has been scrapped after community members opposed it. Article by Yesha...
Prohibition of liquor is hypocrisy says Lord Bilimoria
It was an ambition and with humbleness Cobra beer could still sting the beer market with its entry. According to the founder and chairman of Cobra beer, Lord Karan Bilimoria, the combination of the...
Shapurji Saklatvala: Labour Against Empire
In 1922 card-carrying communist Shapurji Saklatvala was elected on a Labour Party ticket, becoming the first MP of color in the party’s history. Article by Matt Myers | Jacobimag Shapurji...
Fali Mistry, the Cinematographer Who Taught Bollywood the Importance of Cameramen
Fali Mistry was known for the imaginative imagery he created out of a dramatic interplay between light and shade. Even the hard to please Baburao Patel, in his Filmindia review of the Nargis-Dilip...
Why is India’s Parsi community going extinct?
It is a welcome decision of the Indian government to fund new fertility clinics to help save its dwindling Parsi population which is now under threat of extinction. The Parsis should be grateful...
New Publication on Dinshah P. Ghadiali & his Spectro-Chrome therapy
Contemporary science is validating light and color as a beneficial therapeutic tool. It has been generally accepted that light and color affect the mind and body. Violent juveniles placed in a pink...
Dadar Parsi Colony: A Photo Tour
My first encounter with Dadar was back in 2004 when I used to travel from Churchgate to Dadar during the evening rush hour. Most of my journey would go in planning my exit strategy from the crowded...
Like Sugar in Milk By Majlend Bramo: Pre-Order Now
We are happy to inform our readers about a new book on Parsis, “Like Sugar in Milk” is now available for pre-order. The book by Majlend Bramo shall be launched around Jamshedi Navroze 2018. WHAT:...
Behroz Sam Wadia: In Memoriam
Two weeks ago on the 1st of February my mother Behroz Sam Wadia passed away after a brief illness, in a mind numbing suddenness that is difficult to comprehend. Mummy was 70, having been born in the...
Daily Prayers of The Zoroastrian: A Prayer Book
Jiloo Billimoria writes in informing us about a book that she has reprinted. I have recently reprinted the prayer book shown in the picture above. It is a wonderful translation &...
Tehmi Bhandari: The Grand Lady of Amritsar
UPDATE: Shirin Bhandari the author of the piece below reminds us “This was originally published in 2004, my grandmother died in 2007 at the age of a 101.” “It is all like a dream now…” I...
For 31 years after his death, Homi Bhabha’s office room was unoccupied
The secular condolence ceremony for Homi Bhabha of which no photographs were found has remained firmly etched in the scientists’ memory, and the religious one was forgotten. On 24 January 1966, Homi...
Amyra dastur’s Telugu Film debut
“On one fine morning, Manjula madam called me and narrated the story. She asked me if I was interested in working for a role which is now played by Tridha. She somehow thought that I would fit in...
Jal Nariman Bharucha: Obituary
Jal Bharucha died peacefully in Middletown, Connecticut, at age 92, having lived a good and full life. He was born in Bombay, India, in 1925 to Nariman Bharucha and Aloo Bharucha (née Patel)....
Undocumented Parsi Ph.D. Student Meets Congress to Advocate for DREAM Act
Indian American Boe (Benaz) Mendewala, an undocumented Ph.D. student studying physics at the University of California-Merced, travelled to Washington, DC Jan. 19 to urge members of Congress to pass...
Clouds By Chandrahas Choudhary: Book Excerpt
Two Parsis walk into a bar. And that is (almost) the beginning of a remarkable new novel In Chandrahas Choudhury’s ‘Clouds’, the newly single Mumbai psychotherapist Farhad Billimoria meets Zahra, a...
The Vultures of the Parsi Cemetery
‘The vultures of the Parsi Cemetery’ is from a collection of stories called The Greatest Urdu Stories Ever Told. The stories are translated by Muhammad Umar Memon. The story has an interesting...
Half Parsi. Half Muslim. Full woman.
‘Name?’ I say my name, in full. ‘Date of birth?’ I say my date of birth, in full. ‘Religion?’ ‘Half Parsi, half Muslim,’ I say. In full. Article by Shaista Tayabali |Sister-hood She looks up at me....
Dr. Mickey Mehta Conferred Icon of Health and Wellness in India Award
We are glad to share that our dear friend and global health guru Dr. Mickey Mehta has been awarded the honour The Icon of Health and Wellness in India conferred by The Economic Times last Saturday...
RJ Rohini of 91.1 FM Radio Nasha Speaks with Arzan Sam Wadia of Zoroastrian Return To Roots
Parsi Khabar founder Arzan Sam Wadia is also intimately involved with the Zoroastrian Return To Roots Program that just concluded the 4th trip in India. Arzan was invited by RJ Rohini Ramanathan of...
Dorabjee & Sons: Oldest Parsi restaurant in Pune
Before Ambedkar Bose and Nehru were born; when India was under the British rule, Sorabjee Dorabjee started the Dorabjee & Sons. The restaurant was established in the year 1878. Sorabjee Dorabjee...
Homai Vyarawalla: The trailblazer who became India’s first woman photojournalist
Homai Vyarawalla, India’s first woman photojournalist, is best known for documenting the country’s transition from a British colony to a newly independent nation. The BBC chronicles her...
The Life and Death of Bombay’s Irani Chai
In the streets of South Bombay (I still refer to the city as Bombay, as the name didn’t change to Mumbai until after I left the country), hidden from plain sight by a thick veil of traffic and...
What Connects Jamsetji Tata and Vivekananda ? A Sea Voyage That Changed India!
The year was 1893. On May 31, aboard a steamer that sailed from Yokohama to Vancouver, two great Indians met for the first time. One was an industrialist who would go on to become one of India’s...
Food Paves a Parsi-Jewish Passage to India
Food’s power to educate people about cultures united Parsi chef Meherwan Irani (owner of Chai Pani), Jewish chefs Todd Ginsberg (The General Muir) and Eli Kirshtein (formerly The Luminary), and...
Delhi Parsi Anjuman’s President Yezad Kapadia Steps Down
Yezad Kapadia, who presided over the Delhi Parsi Anjuman for the last few years has retired from his position, per an email communique below. Yezad Kapadia writes… Dear Fellow Members of The Delhi...
The Delhi Parsi Aramgah
Walking through any cemetery is bound to stir feelings. And perhaps even more so in this secluded graveyard in central Delhi that belongs to the rapidly dwindling Parsi community, descendants of a...
Shelley Subawalla: Founder Of Zarin’s Secrets In Conversation
Tell us about yourself and your background It is always so difficult to talk about oneself. I am a 40-year-old Parsi (Zoroastrian) lady residing in New Delhi, India. A married mother-of-two, I...
‘Widows of Malabar Hill’ kicks off former Minnesotan’s new mystery series set in India
It is 1921 in Bombay, India, and three widows who live in purdah — secluded in women’s quarters where men cannot see them — have signed away their inheritances to a charity. Perveen Mistry, the...
Frene Ginwala, the Lenin supplement, and the storm drains of history
THE LENIN SUPPLEMENT In his book The Press of Africa – Persecution and Perseverance (Macmillan, London 1979) the Commonwealth media specialist Frank Barton said that if an identi-kit picture had to...
Zoroastrains in India to explore cultural boundaries
An annual tour is bringing together young Zoroastrians from across the world to explore their culture in India and even find a partner Return To Roots fellows on a BEST, Mumbai. Photo: Aniruddha...
Eyes on Mumbai: Sooni Taraporevala’s photo exhibition reveals a heartwarming visual sojourn of the city across four decades
In Tardeo, Mumbai, Cozy Building stands as tall as it did back in 1921—the year it was built. One of four buildings in the lane that are agreeably “Parsi,” it hosts conversations over newspapers and...
A return to Zoroastrian roots: The ancient religion you should know more about
The 4th Zoroastrian Return to Roots tour commenced in Mumbai this December. Twenty-five Zoroastrian youngsters from across the world, spanning USA, Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan, and UAE are on a...
Valiant Parsis in War and Peace By Marzban Giara
VALIANT PARSIS IN WAR AND PEACE 320 pages, hard bound, illustrated, printed on art paper Foreword by Air Chief Marshal Fali Major (Retired) An index of names – surnamewise of 550 Parsi officers and...
India Trip Helps 25 Zoroastrian Youngsters Get Closer to Their Identity
The trip through Udvada, Navsari, Surat and Bharuch in Gujarat has helped the Zoroastrian youth from across the world get some answers about their religious identity. By Asmita Sarkar | Little India...
Parsis May Want to Look to the New Pune Fire Temple to Keep the Flame Burning
A ‘half-Parsi’ explains why Parsis must end their insistence on only marrying within the community and open the doors of their religion to the rest of the world. Born a little over a hundred years...
Bombay Parsi Punchayet okays Parsi General Hospital deal that kicked up row
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) has endorsed the tie-up between B D Petit Parsee General hospital and Gurgaon-based Medanta chain of hospitals. As reported by TOI last November, a Hong Kong-based...
Ex-communicated Parsis Get their own Fire Temple
The Rs 2.5-crore shrine was funded by donors like top lawyer Fali Nariman, corporate head honcho Cyrus Guzdar, ex-advocate general Darius Khambhata, industrialist Anu Aga and Pirojshah Godrej...
Temple hosts first navjote of kids with non-Parsi father
Zoroastrian centre in Pune allows entry to people of all religions and gender The newly opened fire temple in Kondhwa in Pune, which welcomes people of all religions and gender, hosted a navjote...
Not Just Milk and Sugar
Not Just Milk and Sugar is a beautiful film written and directed by good friend and brilliant young director Divya Cowasji. Not Just Milk & Sugar is an accessible inquiry into the Zoroastrian...
Streets of Udvada to get CCTV cameras, free Wi-Fi zones
The Union textiles and information and broadcasting minister Smriti Irani dedicated an entrance gate which depicts Parsi culture at Udvada in Valsad district to the people of the village on Sunday....
Cyrus Broacha: In Conversation with Arzan Sam Wadia
On this episode of Cyrus Says, architect and urban designer Farzan Wadia, talks to Cyrus about: The unique smells that set Mumbai apart. Why he got thrown off a train in Austria. How many Parisis...
Iranshah Udvada Utsav 2017 A Resounding Success
The second edition of the Iranshah Udvada Utsav was a resounding succes, bringing 2000 Zarathushtis from near and far together for a 3 day celebration. Zarathushtis from Udvada were joined by those...
Youth of Parsi diaspora arrive in India to explore roots
Members of the Parsi diaspora have joined community members in India to devise a guided tour for youngsters who wish to explore their roots in this country. Article by Bella Jaisinghani | TNN The...
Some members of Parsi community protest the Udvada Utsav,
Some members of Parsi community protest the Udvada Utsav, as it ‘violates the sanctity of the place’ The festival, sponsored by the Gujarat government, is held in Udvava, which has long been...