The final edition of Parsiana has rolled off the presses.Established in 1964, the semi-monthly magazine was a vital...
Blog Articles
Rayomand J. Patell Launches New Venture — Firestarter
Rayomand J. Patell, a senior creative professional with a career spanning three decades across advertising and...
Centre will help Parsis to boost count
By Vineeta Pandey / DNA Concerned about the dwindling Parsi population in the country, the ministry of minority affairs is trying to come up with a concoction to reverse the trend. Minister Salman...
Report: 9th World Zoroastrian Congress
The following is a report filed by Marzban Giara on the occassion of 9th World Zoroastrian Congress held in Dubai in December 2009. The 9th World Zoroastrian Congress was held at Dubai from 28th to...
Ratan Tata: Global visionary rooted to reality
Assume you are the head of a multinational group some of whose leading businesses are weakened by a troubled market and lack of refinance in overleveraged balance sheets. What’s the likelihood that...
Activist Nergis Irani Takes On Reliance in Dahanu
Activist Nergis Irani speaks with local Dahanu fisherwomen in the shadow of the power plant. by Sara Sidner / CNN Dahanu, India Nergis Irani is like a pit bull; once she sinks her teeth into...
Jokhi Agiary in Godrej Baug Celebrates Anniversary
More than 2,000 Parsis flocked to celebrate the anniversary of the city's youngest fire temple last week. Posted in DNA India The Shapurji Fakirji Jokhi Agiary in Godrej Baug, Malabar Hill,...
Boman Irani: In Conversation
There is something very, very real about Boman Irani. It can be felt in the way he gets into the skin of the character — being innocent enough to endear like Oscar Fernandes in Honeymoon Travels Pvt...
HC refuses to stay ban on 2 Parsi priests
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet got a shot in the arm on Thursday with the Bombay high court declining to stay its ban on two priests from performing religious Zoroastrian ceremonies at Doongerwadi and...
For Homi Ghadiyali Every Day is Uttarayan
For almost the past eighty years he has been flying kites every day. There are very few people who manage to live their passions. By Yogesh Chawda / TNN Dada, happens to be one of them. Since he was...
Jimmy Engineer: Man With A Mission
Jimmy Engineer is a man with a cause. He stands tall, somber and deep in a thought. His passion to make a difference comes with a style of his own. Posted in the Khaleej Times His courage and...
Dinaz Vervatwala Enters Guinness Book of Records
“I finally made it and can’t believe it’s over,” beamed a visibly exhausted fitness trainer, Dinaz Vervatwala, after claiming the Guinness Book of World Record for completing 26-hour-long aerobics...
Parsis hear chants of holy change
Farhad Bhesania, 31, a Godrej Baug resident, has never regretted the decision he took nearly 17 years ago. Belonging to a family of Parsi priests, Bhesania chose a different path for himself. By...
The Exodus
She calls it the U-Trip. Setting out from Karachi, 15-year-old Rosheen Birdie plans on visiting every major hub of Zoroastrians in the world, just so she can find one to marry. It’s not so easy to...
Can Zoroastrians save their faith?
By Deena Guzder / The Washington Post Many of us recently finished celebrating Christmas, Eid, and Hanukkah; however, few of us have heard of the religion that deeply influenced those traditions of...
Mumbai Parsis divided on intermarriage
With numbers dwindling, young Parsis turn to organized social events to meet, and hopefully marry, others of their cultural group. By Hanna Ingber Win — GlobalPost A group of about a dozen young...
9th World Zoroastrian Congress 2009 Opens in Dubai
World Zoroastrian Congress Opens in Dubai Today 28 December 2009 DUBAI - The global Zoroastrian diaspora will converge in Dubai for a four-day congress, starting today. The 9th World Zoroastrian...
Godrej Baug Agary Celebrates 10 years
More than 2,000 Parsis flocked to celebrate the anniversary of the city's youngest fire temple last week. The Shapurji Fakirji Jokhi Agiary in Godrej Baug, Malabar Hill, completed 10 years on...
Dadar Parsi Colony to stay ‘ exclusive’
Residents of the landmark Dadar Parsi Colony, the largest Zoroastrian enclave in the world, have won a six-year-long legal battle to allow only members of this tiny community to live in this...
Mani Cooper: Faberge Eggstraordinary
An ‘eggsceptionally’ talented lady, handcrafts and decorates Faberge-style eggs By Indira Rodericks / Upper Crust Magazine. There’s never a dull moment in Mani Cooper’s life. A lady of rare and...
Baug flats won’t be a burden on Parsis
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) and the Alert Zoroastrian Association (AZA) on Friday resolved the flat allotment issue for poor Parsis at Panthaky Baug, Andheri (East). The AZA had challenged the...
Sir JJ’s heir held for fake voter ID
Malabar Hill police are investigating how Byram Jeejeebhoy, who holds a US citizenship, obtained an Indian voter identity card By Abhijit Sathe & Manoj R Nair / Mumbai Mirror Byram Jeejeebhoy,...
Parsi children return to their roots
A decade ago, karate champion Vispi Kapadia (52) lost his five-and-a-half-year-old daughter Fareena. Seven years ago, she appeared in his dreams and asked him to do "something for...
Parsis have civilization; other Indians don’t
Culture is our attitude to beauty and ugliness, to power, to religion, and to family. It shows in our music, in what makes us laugh. Civilization is our attitude to mankind By Aakar Patel / Mint...
India’s New Drone plane named after Dr. Rustom Damania
The Indian Air Force announced its latest project: a remote drone plane that is named after its chief designer Dr. Rustom B. Damania. Here is a link to more information about the drone. And below is...
Alice in Bhuleshwar: Kaiwan Mehta
A book review of Alice in Bhuleshwar: Navigating A Mumbai Neighbourhood by Kaiwan Mehta While wandering through the streets of Mumbai's old town, Kaiwan Mehta comes across a Venetian-style bust of a...
Think value, think vintage
Luxury is now about a different idea, an out-of-the-world experience, not just products and names… This week I am in Bombay where, between interviewing the Chief Minister and an encounter specialist...
Of An Edwardian India
When life in a Parsi household was lived at a leisurely pace... By Silloo Mehta Indian cities were beautiful a century ago. Bungalows had gardens, leafy parks were well maintained and flowering...
Ratan Tata addresses Taj employees on Nov 26 2009
In an internal meeting this evening, Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata will address staff of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel and say a short prayer in memory of the guests and employees slain in...
Dorabjee & Sons: Flavours of the Past
Going to Dorabjee’s is like stepping into the pages of a Farrukh Dhondy short story (many of which were set here, in the gullies of Sarbatwala Chowk). In fact, looking around, we could swear we...
Freddie Mercury memorial a beacon for British Asians
By Robin Millard / AFP LONDON — Eighteen years since he died, an unglamorous London suburb has unveiled Britain's first memorial to Freddie Mercury, hoping it will inspire other local British Asians...
Lone family left to guard Parsi legacy in Kozhikode
This ancient commercial city on the coast of Kerala once played host to a flourishing Parsi community, but all that is now left is a lone family struggling to keep the community's legacy alive....
Parsis Seek Seat in Maharashtra Assembly
The Parsis have decided to ensure that, like other communities, they too have a representative in the Maharashtra assembly. Members of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) and BJP legislator Mangal...
Free flats for Parsis on the anvil
By Nauzer Bharucha, / TNN In a city where a decent two-BHK apartment within 30 km of the business district is the exclusive domain of crorepatis, the Bombay Parsi Punchayat (BPP) will sell almost 75...
All Parsi Quiz Results Announced
Team Flashy consisting of Homiar Hathiram, Farhad Choksi and Eric Mehta won the Annual All - Parsi Quiz contest took place on Sunday Novermber 22, 2009 at the Rustom Baug Pavilion. There were twenty...
Freddie Mercury to be honoured with London memorial
Late rock legend Freddie Mercury is set to be honoured in his hometown with his own Hollywood Walk of Fame-style star. The British musician, best known as the frontman of the rock band Queen, fled...
Arzan Khambatta: A home sculpted to perfection
Sculptor Arzan and wife Khushnuma Khambatta along with their two kids Pezanne (14) and Tianna (11) occupy an 850 sq ft apartment with a small garden. “Our home seems small now that the kids are...
Tata Chairman Doesn’t Sweat the Timing on Global Expansion
By PAUL BECKETT / WSJ MUMBAI—During his 18-year tenure as chairman of India's venerable Tata Group, 71-year-old Ratan Tata has led a drive to expand internationally, a strategy India's other...
The Lost Persian Army: Compelling Evidence in the Sahara
The remains of a legendary 50,000-strong army which was swallowed up in a cataclysmic sandstorm in the Sahara Desert 2,500 years ago are believed to have been found. Italian archaeologists Angelo...
Neville Wadia: World’s Oldest T20 Centurion
He is a grandfather and yet Neville Wadia's passion for cricket at the age of 63 is never-ending. He has been playing cricket for over 40 years now. Some six months ago, he achieved something...
A Vegetarian Parsi
By Rakshande Italia / Inside TORONTO DESI DIALOGUES: Turning vegetarian leaves a pleasant taste on the palate The past 15 days have been one of my most testing times. That's because I decided to...
“Parsis exude no sense of victimisation”
By Farrukh Dhondy / DNA India Sitting next to the grandson of a late great English writer, himself a writer, at a dinner party in Exmoor, I am asked if I am a practising Zoroastrian. I say 'not...
Murree Brewery Still brewing in a dry land: Pakistan’s Parsi Brewery
Still brewing in a dry land: Pakistan's only beer and whisky firm After 150 years, business is booming at Pakistan's only beer and whisky firm. Andrew Buncombe finds out why On the walls of...
Stop taking painkillers if you want to breed vultures
BNHS says Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s plans to breed vultures at Towers of Silence will not work, as the birds will die from feeding on bodies of those who have consumed diclofenac. By Manoj R Nair /...
Parsi athletes shine at World Masters Games
The rough football ground of Dadar Parsi Gymkhana is cultivating rare laurels. Two middle-aged neighbours have won India a gold and a silver medal at the prestigious World Masters Games held in...
Charity Commissioner Clears BPP of any wrongdoing
In a reprieve for Bombay Parsi Punchayat chairman Dinshaw Mehta, the charity commissioner's office recently dismissed a complaint seeking his removal for alleged irregularities and nepotism in...
Akuri: Eggsciting recipes
One of my favourite breakfast preparations is scrambled eggs, even higher on the scale of delicacy, is the akuri, a much underrated dish. Akuri means egg curry in its most basic sense.It is like...
Indian filmmaker unveils her own minuscule Parsi Minority
Men in PLO T-shirts march through noisy, chaotic streets; their leader, all in white, stands before the wrought iron gate of a Zoroastrian fire temple urging followers to pledge purity and denounce...
Parsi Memories: Ideal Restaurant
By Rusi Sorabjee IDEAL RESTAURANT ….a gastronomic heaven (Still there in 2009,But shifted about 100 mtrs away and inside from main road.) (The IRANI Restaurant… quintessentially Zarathushti...
Parsi Memories: Chom-e-shvaa
By Rusi Sorabjee In our scriptures there is a mention that 'it was obligatory, as thanks-giving' to save a bit of the meal at the end for the dog - during Sassanian times, it was called the...
Parsi Memories : Daily Loban Ritual
By Rusi Sorabjee One of the daily ritual in a Parsi/Irani homes in India of the early 20th Century, that brings back happy memories of our childhood, of a bygone era, when the days had morehours,...
Religious Education and the Future of Young Mobeds in North America and Beyond
In early summer 2009, Jim Engineer, one of the founders of NextGenNow got in touch with me to see if I would like to write an article for the Fall 2009 FEZANA Journal. NextGenNow as an organisation...