On a rainy afternoon in Mumbai, inside the executive dining room at Godrej Industries Group’s sprawling Vikhroli...
Blog Articles
Nilufer Shroff Honored by ACUA with the Outstanding Professional Contributions Award
Congratulations to our dear friend, Nilufer Shroff, on her Outstanding Professional Contributions Award! Parsi Khabar...
Farida Khambata Appointed as Tata & Sons’ first ever woman director
Tata Sons, promoter of the major operating Tata companies, appointed top-ranked investment strategist Farida Khambata as the first woman independent director in the company’s 103-year history....
An Interview With The Field Marshal
The below interview was carried by the August 10, 1974 issue of Swarajya In the course of a 45-minute interview the author had with him in a Calcutta hotel on July 5, the retired Field Marshal H. F....
The Phoenix of Persia: A Book Review
The following book review was recently published in the FEZANA Journal. The FEZANA Journal is the leading publication of FEZANA and over the last two decades and more has become the leading...
Parsis prepare list of defunct Anjumans, other properties
Mumbai: Soon after the demand for a “waqf-like” board by Parsis to manage their properties, members of the community have begun to prepare a list of properties that they want to be...
Collector forbids Mhow Parsi community from selling property
Based on a letter from the under secretary of the Minority Department of Government of India regarding a complain filled by Parveen Jahangir, collector Akash Tripathi found mismanagement, after...
Can marriage deprive women of their religion? Parsi woman asks Supreme Court of India
Can a woman be prohibited from practising her religion if she marries a man from a different religion? Is she bound to follow her husband’s religion? Can her religious places bar her from...
Yazdi Karanjia Felicitated in Baroda
This year, the World Theater Day was celebrated at Vadodara by Triveni in a unique way, as they invited Yazdi Karanjia, the doyen of Parsi Theater, who delivered a humorous talk about his theater...
Remembering Sam Manekshaw, India’s greatest general, on his 101st birth centenary
Valsad Nagarpalika has decided to honour Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, architect of the country’s victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan, by naming a road after him in the town on his 100th...
Adi Jehangir on the Closing of Café Samovar
As Mumbai bids goodbye to Cafe Samovar this week, Adi Jehangir says he is simply making room for artists. It’s a busy Thursday afternoon at Kala Ghoda’s Jehangir Art Gallery. A queue...
Shroff’s of Hong Kong Donate New Facility to Parsee General Hospital
A Parsi couple from Hong Kong has donated Rs 135 crore to south Mumbai’s Bomanjee Dinshaw Petit Parsee General Hospital, hoping to halt its decline. The endowment has been made with the...
Emperor Akbar’s Parsi counsel: The First Dastur Meherji Rana
Established in 1874, the first Dastoor Meherjirana Library in Navsari is named after the first Parsi high priest of India. The most priceless manuscript at the library is a framed original document...
Thrity Umrigar on her latest novel, and living in chilly Ohio
Who is Cleveland’s most prominent writer? Kevin Keating seems like a rising star. Paula McLain found success with The Paris Wife. Mystery writers would likely mention Les Roberts. Science...
Bawas and Babies
Coming from an ancient movie projector, the image is shaky and scratchy. Kajol and Anil Kapoor’s marriage seems beset with problems. But, that does not stop the usual Bollywood song and dance...
Navroz The New Day at the United Nations
This film from India was screened at the United Nations last month as part of the celebrations of the International Day of Navroze – Preserving an Intangible Heritage of Humanity. The film was...
Navroz in New Delhi: Shernaz Italia
While a dwindling community struggles to survive, filmmaker Shernaz Italia documents the little-known lives of the Delhi Parsis who moved to the capital at the turn of the 19th century “Aavoji,...
Parsis Want Courses in Zoroastrianism at University of Bombay
The Parsi community wants the government to encourage universities to start courses on Zoroastrian studies. At a recent meeting with the National Minority Commission, the Parsis put forward their...
The French In My Food: Niloufer Mavalvala
Good friend of Parsi Khabar and amazing chef and author Niloufer Mavalvala is now on Huffington Post. Check out her latest column. Growing up in a generous family in Karachi, our dining table was an...
A judge who knows God
Your faith in the judiciary may notch up if we tell you that justice Rohintan Fali Nariman, one of Supreme Court’s judges is an ardent man of God once his judicial duties have been meted. And...
Parsi sisters move SC seeking freedom to enter religious places
Kindling hope for a large number of Parsi women who marry outside their religion, the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition challenging a decision by its religious council banning their entry...
Meet the Scientist: Dr. Adi Bulsara
Adi Bulsara, scientist, holds a 3-axis coupled-core magnetometer originally developed for C-IED applications at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific. (Photo by Alan Antczak Released)...
Beloved But Left Behind
There was a royal feast at Aunty Villy Engineer 96th birthday. There was cake, and there was suuji ka halwa too. Everybody inside the Parsi General Hospital came to the party; Aunty Nargis Gyara,...
Operation Theater at the Parsee General Hospital
What would you make of “Manchu Macbeth” and “Hamlet no Omelette”? Shakespeare with a delicious twist, yes. But dramatically different too was the fact that these Gujarati spoofs were stirred up in...
Orange County Temple at heart of Zoroastrian Community in Los Angeles
The three sheets of papers taped to a window, spelling ZAC, give little indication of the growing temple housed in a former church on Walnut Avenue. The Zoroastrian Association of California Center,...
The NavroZYNG Boat Party Ran Foul of the Cops
The Mumbai police brought an illegal boat party spread across three boats near Gateway of India to a screeching halt around midnight on Friday. By Vijay Kumar Yadav, Hindustan Times Colaba police...
When Astad Deboo Made A Fort Dance
The celebrated contemporary dancer’s performance was part of the One World Retreat, a three-day event to promote the cause of the Indian Head Injury Foundation. Astad Deboo, the celebrated...
The Original Shippers: Cowasjee’s of Karachi
There is an old sign from the Colonial era that reads ‘Cowasji’ outside the brick structure of the Cowasjee building in Karachi’s port area, Keamari. Inside, 86-years-old Cyrus Cowasjee’s office...
Jamsetji Tata’s residence wins UNESCO honour
“A good conservation job is like a root canal,“ says architect Vikas Dilawari.“It does not happen quickly and requires many sittings.“Recently , one such root canal took Dilawari 10 years. His hair...
What goes into authentic Parsi cuisine ?
Last month, London’s Bombay-styled cafe Dishoom beat top restaurants such as Michelin-starred Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Spanish tapas bar Barrafina and other highbrow eateries to became...
Jamshedi Navroze Mubarak 2015
On behalf of the entire team at Parsi Khabar we wish you all, our dear readers; and your families, loved ones and friends a Happy Jamshedi Navroze 2015. We thank you for your readership and support...
Young Zoroastrians to foster community links
At a time when population of Zoroastrians or Parsis in India has declined, an effort is being made at the global level to foster new links between community members and strengthen their identity....
Iranshah Udvada: Bachi Karkaria
BACHI KARKARIA relives her visit to the oldest Fire Temple, the Iranshah, in Gujarat on the eve of Jamshedi Navroz Iam in Zoroastrianism’s holiest place, the Iranshah at Udvada in Gujarat. The...
Chalo Jamye: A Food Tour of Udvada
Instead of booking a table at a city Bawa eatery on Parsi new year, drive to Udwada for boi, dal-chawal and patio It’s the oldest story of amalgamation, and if Zoroastrian history in India has...
Navroze: Yesterday and today
I remember celebrating Navroze since I was in Mama Parsi Girls’ Secondary School. All the Zarthosti children and teachers would put up the Navroze table on the eve of the New Year. Every girl would...
Pakistan’s Parsi Parliamentarian fights for minority rights
Isphanyar Bhandara Demands 5% Job Quota In Private Sector The 1857 Revolt had big and small consequences for the sub continent. One of the largest was the British Crown formally extending its...
The 2015 Zoroastrian Return To Roots Tour Kicks Off
The 2015 Zoroastrian Return To Roots kicked off today in New Delhi, India. This is the second tour after the widely acclaimed first one in December 2013. The program organized under the aegis of...
Anahita Dhondy: Chef at SodaBottleOpenerWala in New Delhi
Anahita Dhondy is a Chef Manager at the very famous SodaBottleOpenerWala . Being a Parsi herself, she brings in the trademark flavours of Parsi food at two restaurants of SodaBottleOpenerWala in...
Tehnaz Bahadurji: What’s it Like to be a Parsi ?
Just as the matriarch of the Tamil household in Chennai dots her porch with a kolam at the crack of dawn every day, women of the Parsi community pretty up theirs with what they call a...
Elderly Parsi killed by ex-help in Bandra
A 78-year-old retired principal secretary to a former Chief Justice of the Bombay high court was murdered at his residence at Tata Blocks, Bandra (West), early on Sunday. His wife was bound,...
J. N. Tata: A man who made a lot of wealth, and a lot more goodwill
‘Wealth came to him in full measure, but he remained to the last what he was in nature, a simple modest gentleman, seeking neither title nor place, and loving with love that knew no bounds the...
Rustom’s Parsi Bhonu in New Delhi
Lace curtains, antique cabinets, wooden chairs, glass ceiling lanterns and family photographs stud the little room, as Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da plays over the speakers. The space is a replica of her own...
Must a Zoroastrian Date only Zoroastrians?
After we linked to the article you will read below, we received emails from Karishma Patel, who is one of the subjects of the article below; and Homi D. Gandhi; Vice-President FEZANA. Their emails...
Scouter Khurshed D. Hathiram Awarded the Silver Elephant
Scouter Khurshed Dadiba Hathiram was awarded India’s highest Scouting honour, The Silver Elephant by the President of India. At a glittering ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on February 16, 2015;...
Cyrus My Nasty Neighbor: Parody Song
Parsi Punchayet calls truce on priests issue
The Parsi Punchayet and two prominent Parsis Jamshed Kanga and Homi Khusrokhan reached a settlement on February 19 to put an end to a legal dispute that had been on since 2009 over the ban of two...
The changing face of the legal profession
In an article Mitra Sharafi who is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School; discusses how even as falling law school enrollment leads to a merger, among Middle Eastern and...
Knot so classified
Though matrimonial ads have changed substantially, the emphasis on looks, caste and income persist, mirroring the complexities and paradoxical nature of Indian society, says Roshni Nair as she...
Sanaya Ardeshir: Syncing With Sound Designer Sandunes
One of the hottest acts to emerge over the last couple of years, Sandunes needs no introduction to lovers of electronic, garage and dub step. The young Mumbai based music producer, composer and...
Parsi Priests’ Court Battle with BPP Likely To End Amicably
Two priests were banned from fire temples after they were found to have performed ceremonies for Parsis who chose to be cremated and children of non-Parsi fathers The Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s (BPP)...
Parsis consider surrogacy to boost population
Ultra orthodox in the community are debating if scriptures allow renting of a non-Parsi womb. Article by Jyoti Shelar | Mumbai Mirror Parsis are considering the option of surrogacy under the...
Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2014: Dr. Cyrus S. Poonawalla
Dr. Cyrus S. Poonawalla, Chairman and Managing Director, Serum Institute Of India, who pioneered the development of affordable life-saving vaccines and is counted among the largest vaccine...