Mumbai police have filed an FIR against three individuals accused of forging a Parsi priest’s signature to transfer...
Blog Articles
Why the Parsi community is fading away| From the India Today archives
This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated September 27, 2004The wooden steps leading to the...
Khushru Poacha: Founder of Indianblooddonors.com
This man saves lives, one click at a time Abhishek Mande / Rediff For over ten years now, Khushroo Poacha has stood by the sole belief that to do good work you don't need money. Poacha runs...
Parsi body plans vulture breeding to help death rites
The Parsi community of the city -- who leave their dead out in the open to be consumed by vultures and were facing problems with disposing their dead with the dwindling number of vultures in the...
Bombay Parsi Punchayet goes for a new logo
Singed by accusations of corruption, BPP replaces trusts fire logo, which they felt was symbolic of the 'trial by fire they recently faced from community groups By Manoj Nair / Mumbai Mirror...
Punchayet Meet at Dadar Parsi Gym Goes Silent
The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) meet, which was called at Dadar Parsi Gymkhana last evening to mark one year of existence, was left without a voice, literally. The loudspeakers were switched off...
Khorshed Maneck Bharucha: Tribute to a Teacher
The junction of Mancherji Joshi Road and Lady Jehangir Road near Five Gardens in Dadar was formally named "Principal Khorshed Maneck Bharucha Chowk" on August 14, 2009. Social worker...
Back To The Vulture
The population of vultures in the subcontinent has been decimated over the last two decades, but it may yet rise from the ashes with support from human hands. At end-September, bird watchers from...
Paris Bakery
The opening line from an old and much loved nursery rhyme buzzed around my ears, as I walked to the romantically named Paris Bakery recently. The origin of the name of this perennially crowded shop,...
Rehan Pocha: In Conversations
It was in the winter of 2004 when Rehan Poncha had decided to quit what he did best. At 18, with four junior national titles and a handful of international medals at the Asian Age Group meets and...
The Zorastrian Journey
The below video is a presentation by ZAGNY and IZA New York.
Punchayet can sell Panthaki flats at market rates: Court
The Bombay high court on Thursday set aside the joint charity commissioner's (CC) order preventing the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) from selling the flats it has built in Panthaki Baug in Andheri....
Prayers Offered at ancient Azargoshasb Fire Temple
From Amordad News. The sound of Avesta, on 27 Shahrivar (18 September) once again filled Azargoshasb Fire Temple. In Azargoshasb Fire Temple Zoroastrians recited the Avesta and prayed for a...
Zarine Kharas Chief Executive of Justgiving
By Andrew Davidson Take two women: one a City lawyer turned banker, the other a multilingual journalist turned charity boss. Shake gently. And out pops Justgiving, the charity fundraising dotcom...
Supreme Court dismisses plea against Calcutta Parsi trusts
Parsis in Kolkata have cause for cheer. The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a special leave petition (SLP) moved by The Assam Company Ltd against two charitable trusts run by the community....
India’s Parsis use new technology to keep ancient religion alive
India's Parsis, the modern-day descendants of migrants who fled persecution in Iran more than 1,000 years ago, are turning to new technology to keep their ancient Zoroastrian religion...
Charity Commissioner can’t deny info in age of RTI
By Nauzer Bharucha, TNN In the age of the Right to Information Act, the charity commissioner could not refuse to furnish documents under the cover of the Official Secrets Act, said the Bombay Parsi...
Dr. Keki Gharda: In Conversation with Shernaaz Engineer
Noted journalist Shernaaz Engineer recently interviewed Dr. Keki Gharda. A small snippet of the interview is below In recent months, the papers have been buzzing with the news that Gharda Chemicals,...
India’s Parsis use technology to keep religion alive
Phil Hazlewood at AFP recently interviewed our own editor Arzan Sam Wadia for an article about Parsis' use technology to keep religion alive By Phil Hazlewood (AFP) MUMBAI — India's Parsis, the...
Ratan Tata bags award from The Economist
UK-based news magazine, The Economist, today named Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata as the winner of the eighth edition of its annual ‘Business Process Innovation Award’ for the successful development...
Cyrus It Is: Cyrus has the crowds rolling with laughter
Cyrus Broacha, by himself, is a laugh riot. Put him on stage with his best buddy, the hilarious Kunal Vijaykar, and you get twice the fun. Or in this case, one-and-a-half times the fun! Raell...
Kobad Ghandy: Conversation with a Naxalite
Kobad Ghandy’s recent arrest has made waves. After all, it’s not every day that one encounters a Naxal leader who hails from an affluent Parsi family, has studied in some of India’s best educational...
BPP no to charity chief’s demand of Rs 1.2 crore fee
By Nauzar Bharucha / TNN Charity Commissioner (CC) M K Choure, who invoked the Official Secrets Act to deny information to the Bombay Parsi Punchayat (BPP), on Tuesday agreed to give a hearing to...
Kobad Gandhi: Maoist Leader Sent to 14 Days Judicial Custody
Kobad Gandhi, a top leader of CPI (Maoist), who is in charge of spreading the organisation's influence in urban areas, was today sent to 14 days judicial custody by a Delhi Court. Gandhi, arrested...
Parsi Cyclists to celebrate centenary in unique way
By Pradeep Vijayakar, TNN One of the glamorous teams of Mumbai's maidan cricket, Parsi Cyclists plan to celebrate their centenary in a unique way on October 10. There will be a ˜jashan” a prayer...
For Helping the BPP, Minister accused of code violation
The article below is a little disturbing. It clearly brings out the motives of Percy Patel who has a vendetta and is going to all lengths to get his pound of flesh. It is such people that will bring...
Shiamak Davar: The world at his feet
Widely acknowledged as the guru of contemporary Indian dance, and proud founder of the largest chain of dance schools in the country, Shiamak Davar appears to have it all, on the surface. But dig...
Parsi Author Murzban Shroff uses word “Ghati” and lands in court
Use of the word ‘ghati’ in his book Breathless in Bombay has landed first-time author Murzban Shroff in trouble, with an activist claiming that it “lowers the reputation and image of Maharashtrians...
Nazneen Sabawala: Landscape Designer
Nazneen Sabavala, director of landscape design for Dubai’s 3 Square was born in India, raised in Dubai and educated in the Middle East and the USA. Equipped with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture,...
Life in a Parsi Baug
SHERNAAZ ENGINEER peers into the minutiae of life in the Parsi colonies (or our baugs bustling with busybodies) and dishes up some delightfully saucy details. Forget 'Life in a Metro'. 'Life in a...
Nari Contractor on the Decline of Parsi Cricket
Parsi Cyclists, one of Mumbai's oldest clubs, will complete its centenary in early October. The club which has produced some fine cricketers in Nari Contractor, Polly Umirgar, Rusi Surti, Farokh...
Report of FPZAI meeting of Sept. 2009
The below is a Report of FPZAI meeting of Sept. 2009 sent via email by Mr. Marzban Giara. A meeting of the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India was held after a lapse of three years at...
Farrokh “Frank” Yazdani Behind the Counter in San Diego
There's So Much More to 'Frank' Behind the Counter By KELLY BENNETT for Voice of San Diego At mid-morning on a hot summer day, the customers filing into a convenience store on the edge of downtown...
On the road in rural Iran
Rural Iran has startlingly beautiful landscapes that are largely unexplored by outsiders By Jini Reddy The Guardian, Saturday 12 September 2009 [Hat Tip: Jim Engineer via NextGenNow@Linkedin] I...
Law Department seeks details of notice to Parsi Punchayet
By Naresh Kamath / HT MUMBAI: On the heels of the Charily Commissioner issuing n show-cause notice to the trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) the stale's law department has intervened and...
Tributes paid to Firoz Gandhi on his 49th death anniversary
Glowing tributes were paid by Congress leaders to veteran freedom fighter late Firoz Gandhi on his 49th death anniversary on Tuesday by lighting candles and placing wreaths on his grave in Parsi...
Parsi Punchayet faces the axe over audit row
By Ashutosh Shukla/DNA Barely six months after the charity commissioner (CC) warned the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) of dismissal, a similar show-cause notice has been served on its trustees. The...
Voter I-card demand lands Jeejeebhoy’s great grandson in a spot
Vijay V Singh | TNN Mumbai: His great grandfather, Jamshetji Jeejeebhoy, is mentioned in history books as one of Mumbai’s biggest philanthropists but businessman and real estate tycoon Byram...
Govt control over Parsi Punchayet?
TRUST with properties worth Rs 5.000 cr in city laces funds misuse charge. By Naresh Kamath for the Hindustan Times. MUMBAI: The Charity Commissioner has issued a show-cause notice to all...
The Role of the High Priests of Parsis in India
This article is written by Kersee Kabraji of Pune, India and published with his permission. At the outset, I like to make it clear that I am neither a priest nor a scholar of our religion. With some...
Hawkers Evicted from around Bhikhabehram Well
After 30 years, 100 hawkers evicted from Cross Maidan It was jubilation on Saturday for local residents, who finally succeeded in ridding the southern tip of Cross Maidan of a major nuisance By...
Parsis push on with sops to boost birth rate
By Rathin Das | Surat At a time when most countries are engaged in controlling the population explosion, the miniscule Parsi community here is busy taking steps to increase its fast-dwindling...
Parsis moot Waqf-like body to protect land
By Nauzer Bharucha, TNN 7 September 2009, 12:47am IST Large-scale encroachments on properties belonging to Parsi trusts across the country led to suggestions during a two-day meet over the weekend...
Parsis fight to keep Sanjan coastline clean
Over a thousand years ago, Parsis landed on the shores of Sanjan on the Gujarat coast, seeking shelter and were welcomed by the local raja who allowed them to settle on his land. The descendants of...
Zoroastrians: Mapping Our Future: A Survey
Sam Balsara of Madison Advertising is putting together a presentation for the World Zoroastrian Congress in Dubai at the end of this year. As part of that he would like as many Zoroastrians to fill...
Authentic Irani Food in Bombay: Cafe Universal
It's funny that the only Irani features in an Irani cafe are black tea and its owner. The menu usually has Parsi food, which has more in common with Lucknow than Tehran. It's ironic that the city's...
Go forth and multiply in Punchayet flats
By: Alisha Coelho for Mid_Day Bombay Parsi Punchayet hopes its new scheme to give priority in housing allocation to engaged couples with a wedding date will bear fruit In a desperate attempt...
Religious Adultery and Parsis
Ervad Marzban J. Hathiram, a good old friend, editor of Frashogard.com and the Panthaki at the Jogeshwari Daremehr has written a hard hitting post on religious adultery. Marzban writes My...
The Parsis in Colonies
This is a hilarious forward sent to us by dear family friend and regular Parsi Khabar reader Bakhtavar Mistry. BE PROUD as After the the British colonies there is only the parsi colonies on which...
Zoroastrians hope ‘Facebook for Parsees’ will revive religion
By Rhys Blakely in Mumbai for the Times UK. During their brief history, social networking websites have united millions of long-lost school friends and diverted millions of office workers from,...
Parsis refuse to do the poll dance
See corporator's attempt to include representatives of the community in the upcoming Assembly elections as a gimmick A proposal from a Malabar Hill corporator to include representatives from the...
Parsis call for revival of business skills
Concerned over the community losing its entrepreneurial knack over the years, a group of Parsis has decided to inject the much-needed impetus. The World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce (WZCC), a...