The event acknowledged and celebrated the substantial contributions the Zoroastrian community has made to the British...
Blog Articles
Parsis Oppose Sale Of Sanjan Sanatorium Near Historic Zoroastrian Monument, Trust Cites Heavy
Mumbai: The trust that runs a sanatorium in Sanjan, Gujarat, near the monument commemorating the Parsi community's...
The Typology of A Parsi Fire Temple
The following is compiled from various sources for The Informal Adult Classes on Zoroastrian Religion & History, by Keki B. Shroff, Toronto, Canada DADGAH, AGIARY & DAR-E-MEHR TERMS...
Zubin Mehta performs in Abu Dhabi
Ahead of his Abu Dhabi Classics concerts, the conductor Zubin Mehta speaks to Philippa Kennedy about his work with some of the world’s most renowned orchestras and his efforts to recreate the Vienna...
Cambridge Univ to observe 1,000 years of Shahnamah
Cambridge University will observe 1,000 years of the Shahnama or book of kings by the Persian poet Firdausi in 2010. This epic verse was compiled in 1,010 AD which narrates the history of the...
An Open Letter to Jame-Jamshed by Arzan Ghadially
This is an open letter sent to the Jame Jamshed by Arzan J. Ghadially. It is reproduced here with permission from the author. Week after week Jame has once again started dishing out weekly soap’s in...
Shiamak Davar: The Guru Of Contemporary Bollywood Dance
By Yogita Grover Ace choreographer Shiamak Davar was recently in town to enjoy a break from his busy schedule in B-town. The man who has been credited with the title of being “the guru” of modern...
Sooni Taraporewala draws ire of conservative group
In spite of a frown from the conservatives, Sooni Taraporewala has gone ahead and done something that no other director would dare to do. The director has replicated a Parsi fire temple onscreen...
Sooni Taraporewala: A Parsi state of mind
Naomi Canton, Hindustan Times Mumbai, March 04, 2009 Her first film Little Zizou will be released on March 13. Fifty-two-year-old writerphotographer Sooni Taraporevala speaks to Naomi Canton about...
The Other Mumbai
An Acclaimed Screenwriter's Latest Film Takes on Indian Zoroastrianism In the film "Little Zizou," 10-year-old Liana asks her friend Xerxes if he knows where their people, known as Parsis,...
All in the family
Celebrating the world she knows best, Sooni Taraporevala brings all our favourite Parsis together Parizaad Khan But the cast member doing the kissing is her fox terrier Toots who, along with various...
Parsi family of three tries to commit suicide
In a case of what can be described as arm twisting by creditors, a family of three, tried to commit suicide in Ahmedabad. They had consumed heavy dose of sedative and they were found unconscious in...
BPP trustee supports needy Parsis
After years of fighting for a home under the Bombay Parsi Punchayet's (BPP) homes-for-the-needy scheme, needy Parsis found support from an unexpected quarter. A trustee of BPP, Noshir Dadrawala, on...
Rahul connects with his paternal roots
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi connected with his paternal roots and met up with his Parsi relatives at the wedding of his distant cousin Tanaz Patel at a gala traditional function at the Jeejeebhoy...
Bombay Parsi Punchayat May be Dissolved
The newly-elected Bombay Parsi Punchayet faces dissolution. The over 350-year-old trust, among the oldest in the city, had for the first time conducted a universal adult franchise to elect trustees...
Banaji Limjee Agiary Repair Fund
Below is an appeal sent to us by the trustees of the Banaji Limjee Agiary. This is Bombay's and perhaps India's oldest agiary. BANAJI LIMJEE AGIARY Appeal for contribution to Repair Fund Dear...
Nari Contractor: ‘I don’t mind living it all over again’
Nari Contractor is enjoying one of the greatest comebacks. The former India captain, who was hit on the head by a Charlie Griffith bouncer 47 years ago (March 22, 1962), turns 75 today. The crushing...
Action Plan for Udvada proposed by Dr. Meher-Homji
Dr V M Meher-Homji outlines a proposed action plan for the small fishing town of Udvada on the west coast of India. BEACH EROSION which has ravaged Kerala and other parts of the west coast of India...
Sohrab Wadia: Jihad The Musical
Sorab Wadia sings the part of Hussein Al Mansour in the Edinburgh Fringe Production of JIHAD THE MUSICAL. Costumes by Deb O. Choreography by Bethany Samuelson. See...
Nari Contractor to visit the Caribbean
Four decades after suffering a near-fatal skull injury while ducking into a bouncer in a tour game, former India captain Nari Contractor will visit the Caribbean later this month as a special...
Business big shot: Ratan Tata of the Tata Group
When big decisions have to be made, Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group, walks his dogs along the Mumbai foreshore by his beachfront home. The animals are likely to be in for a lot of exercise...
Green Rich List: Anu Aga of Thermax
Anu Aga (India) Anu Aga was born into an upper middle-class Parsi family in Mumbai. She graduated in economics and later did postgraduate studies in medical and psychiatric social work at the...
A tribute to Rustom Tirandaz
The email below was circulated on a email list. From: Mr. Jimmy and Mrs. Pervin Mistry Tribute to our friend Rustom Sheriyar Tirandaz: The sudden demise of Rustom Sheriyar Tirandaz (January 27th)...
Warnings From Vanishing Vultures
KARACHI, Feb 25 (IPS/IFEJ) - "The thought of my carcass being pecked at by vultures isn’t at all pleasant," said Bapsi Sidhwa, a leading Pakistani diasporic writer now living in the United States....
Prof. Jamshedji Chinoy: First Among Equals
IRST AMONGST EQUALS By Dina Bilimoria Our Zoroastrian Community is rather famous for firsts in many fields. Our men and women have excelled in whatever they do and this quality prevails even today....
Parsis Reminisce about Karachi of yore
Karachi’s finest mayor: it’s not who you think By Sabeen Jamil If there is anyone who can comment on the administration of Karachi in its early days, it is the elderly members of the Zoroastrian, or...
Zidane and Little Zizou: A close miss
French soccer legend Zidedine Zidane might have had a Parsi connection. Had things gone according to plan, the soccer star would have done a cameo in Sooni Taraporewala's award winning film Little...
A Thousand and Counting
Over the weekend, Parsi Khabar crossed a small milestone. We had our 1000th post up on the website. The website began as a labour of love way back in August 2005 and still remains one. On August 19,...
Ancient Zoroastrian Valentine’s Day Custom Remains Alive
Love conquers all but tradition Maryam Sinaiee, Foreign Correspondent Young people shop for Valentine’s gifts in a mall outside Tehran on Valentine’s Day. Newsha Tavakolian / The National TEHRAN //...
Gustadji Ghode Chadhya
Surprise is the spice of drama. "Don't think Gustadji is going to ride a horse in the play as a groom," director of Gustadji Ghode Chadhya' Yazdi Karanjia tells the audience, "one rides different...
A towering icon of India stumbles, raising alarms
In this Nov. 29, 2008 file photo, people sit next to the waterfront in the backdrop of the Taj Mahal hotel, owned by the Tata group, after the completion of an operation against terrorists in...
The permanence of Persia
The remarkable perseverance of Iran's cultural identity By David Morgan Iran is now widely spoken of as a “regional superpower”. That status owes a good deal to the operation of a law that Michael...
Norouz 2009 event at Philadelphia Museum of Art
Norouz 2009 event at Philadelphia Museum of Art on March 8th Silk Road Dance Company - click here for high resolution image The fourth annual Norouz (Persian New Year) event will be held at the...
Kushti Prayers: The Correct Protocol
Prescribed Method of doing Paadyaab-Kushti Originally featured in Dini Avaz, Mar.-Apr. 1999 PAADYAAB The Paadyaab is an important step while performing the Kushti. The Kushti is incomplete without...
Firdaus Shroff to offer Sports Consultancy Services
Firdaus Shroff, father of teenage Indian tennis star Kyra & under-13 national football player Porus has launched his own Sports Consultancy service to guide parents on how to convert a sporting...
Persia: The Lost World
Eric Lurio writes a wonderful three part travelogue on modern day Iran. Titled Notes on the Iran/Persia Conflict: A Travelogue it runs on the famous Huffington Post website. Below is an excerpt from...
Daddy’s Deli: Parsi Cuisine in Bangalore
Daddy A combination of Persian and Gujarati food, Parsi cuisine is interesting and flavourful Zarine and Nozer Daroga are both passionately fond of food, so they decided to open a restaurant...
Matters of Heart and Faith Guide a Zoroastrian Matchmaker
When Pouroo Dorabshaw flew to Los Angeles four years ago on a business trip, her mother urged her to visit a family friend just outside the city. The friend, it just so happened, was having a party...
Zoroastrians Observe Sadeh Festival in Iran
Iran's Zoroastrian community held the Jashn-e-Sadeh Festival for celebrating the discovery of fire on the 10th of the Iranian month of Bahman (which coincided this year with Jan. 29). Considered one...
Vadodara Parsis break path, allow all to have a glimpse of Agiyari from inside
In A path-breaking development, the Parsi community in Gujarat will open the Agiyari to people from other communities. This is for the first time in the state that the Parsis have shed their...
Porus Shroff: Football Wonderkid
As an youngster — he’s still only 12 — Campion School student Porus Shroff had told his father Firdaus that since the Sr Shroff had played club cricket in England, he should end up playing his...
Ratan Tata Industrial (RTI) Institute
The below is an article by Kayezad Adajania on his blog slashfundas. Where is my Ratan Tata Industrial (RTI) institute? If you are a Parsi, then the words RTI shouldn't be Greek and Latin to...
In conversation with Nargish Rabadi a.k.a Shammi
From Screen India All of eighty years, Shammi Aunty as she is lovingly called, has lost count of the films in which she has acted. Starting off playing heroine in her earlier films, Shammi switched...
TOI Obituary of Tirandaz
Former Congress corporator and sitting trustee of the Bombay Parsi Panchayat (BPP), Rustom Tirandaz, died of a heart attack on Tuesday morning. He was 68. Tirandaz was declared dead on admission to...
Controversial Renovations at Iranshah in Udvada
We have received a note from Geve Eruch Narielwalla regarding the recent renovations at the Iranshah Atashbehram in Udvada. Geve has put up a website about the same issue The most sacred Zoroastrian...
Parsis and Vintage Cars
This is a lovely video clip about Parsis and our love for vintage cars. Are you a vintage car/bike owner. Would love to hear your sentiments and stories.
Rustom Tirandaz Passes Away
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 The following is a post by Shernaaz Engineer. The late Rustom Tirandaz, on the day he won the BPP election (October 2008), elated and determined to forge ahead... On...
NZ Parsis : Battle to beat obesity
Members of the Indian community are fighting obesity and have the second highest rate of diabetes after Pacific Islanders. JACKIE RUSSELL reports. THE obesity rate for South Asians living in...
Inside the young Parsi mind
Cosmopolitan or confused? Liberal or conservative? For almost every term that can describe the Parsi youth, the opposite also holds true. To understand the mindset of the young Parsi, Lata Narayan,...
Iran Re-opens Restored Bam Barracks
Iran is set to reopen the restored structure of the country's historical city of Bam, which was devastated by an earthquake in 2003. According to the cultural heritage office of Kerman Province, the...
Parsi Contribution to Academics in Western India
Did you know that Bai Avabai Petit Girls' School, an elite Bandra institution, was once an orphanage for destitute Parsi children? Or that JB Petit High School for Girls was not a Parsi institution...
A secret Painting of J R D Tata
Location: Tata Museum , Jamshedpur. In the first pic, you can see a painting. This was a gift to JRD Tata on his Birthday by a street artist. Nobody was able to understand his art. Unfortunately,...