Due to sensational events that seem to happen almost daily these days, we tend to forget legendary personalities. One of them was Nani Palkhivala, whose 100th birthday was on Thursday, January 16.

Palkhivala was born in Bombay (now Mumbai), came from a Parsi working class family and became a household name in India. His father was in the palkhi (Litter) business and hence the family name Palkhivala.

Palkhivala’s schooling took place in the city’s high school tutorial. As a brilliant student he attended St. Xavier’s College after enrolling and did his master’s degree in English literature. Palkhivala applied for a position as a lecturer at Bombay University, but a Parsi lady was appointed for this position. He then enrolled at Government Law College. If Palkhivala had been a lecturer, Bombay University would have received a brilliant lecturer, but the world of law would have been a loser.

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Palkhivala was lucky enough to join the chambers of the great Jamshedji Kanga in Bombay. He had no godparents in his job. Its ascent was meteoric. Within a few years, he was briefed on all important matters of the Bombay High Court. Palkhivala also taught at Government Law College in Bombay. He made himself popular among the students with his clear presentation of the subject, the law of evidence, with a dash of humor and wit. His class consisted only of students who had no bunk. In fact, they all wanted his talk to continue beyond the scheduled time.

Palkhivala was an unmatched lawyer. Clarity of thought, precision and elegance of expression, passionate pleading for what he stood for, excellent farm work and exceptional ability to think on his feet made him an irresistible force. He was also briefed on virtually all matters of constitutional importance to the Supreme Court (SC). His forensic achievements in the areas of bank nationalization and secret money were remarkable.

However, the high point of his fame was his advocacy and statements in the Keshavanand Bharti case, in which he convinced the SC that the power to amend the constitution was not unlimited and could not be exercised to damage its basic structure. That was Palkhivala’s great contribution to constitutional jurisprudence. I was lucky and privileged to be his junior in this case and have vivid memories of the preparations that went into the case. Palkhivala was at the best forensic level in his submissions to the bank to rethink Keshavan and Bharti’s decision. One of the judges on the bank said: Supreme Court rarely reached and never exceeded. “

His actions were not limited to courts in our country. He represented India in three cases in international forums. The first was before the United Nations special court in Geneva, which ruled on Pakistan’s right to enclaves in Kutch. Another was before the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal and later on an appeal before the World Court in The Hague.

Palkhivala was known for his famous annual household speeches, which began in 1958 in a small hall in an old hotel in Bombay. He spoke for almost an hour without notes and without facts and figures from his mind and kept his audience in suspense. There were said to be two budget speeches, one by the Minister of Finance and the other by Nani Palkhivala, and Nani’s speech was undoubtedly the most popular and popular.

Palikhivala was not drawn to the rituals and ceremonies of religion. He believed in and practiced the essence of the Zoroastrian religion in which he was born:Humata, Hukhata, Huvarashta”- good words, good thoughts, good deeds. Sri Aurobindo was his favorite writer and thinker, whose writings attracted him very much. The fearlessness with which he spoke regardless of the party in power made him the voice of conscience of the nation.

The most outstanding quality of Palkhivala was his helpfulness and his humility and modesty. Fame and fortune have not increased the hat size of the legendary Palkhivala. There was no sign of arrogance and imagination. He was tender to the shy, gentle to the distant, and merciful to the absurd.

Literature was another connection between Palkhivala and me besides law. We enjoyed Shakespeare’s sonnets and the Victorian poets. Chesterton, Lucas and AG Gardiner were our favorite essayists. Palkhivala was almost depressed by the catastrophic deterioration in moral and spiritual values ​​in our public life. His desire was to create a movement to revive values ​​and to maintain and revive idealism among young people.

Palkhivala was struggling for a while in the last lap. It was painful to see that such an eloquent and articulated person was unable to speak or recognize people, except occasionally for a moment. He died on December 11, 2002. Born out of the sun, he traveled towards the sun for a while, leaving the living air with his honor.

Soli Sorabjee is a former Attorney General of India

The views expressed are personal

Rock band Queen’s performance at Live Aid in 1985 has often been hailed as one of the greatest gigs seen at Wembley Stadium.

Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has heaped praise on Queen’s late lead vocalist Freddie Mercury for winning over the crowd at Live Aid with a simple “trick”.

Rock band Queen’s performance at Live Aid in 1985 has often been hailed as one of the greatest gigs seen at Wembley Stadium.

While the 2018 film “Bohemian Rhapsody” pointed at the band secretly turning up the volume levels before going on stage, what was done in reality has been hailed as “genius” by Grohl, reports mirror.co.uk.

Queen began with the legendary song “Bohemian Rhapsody” before turning to the crowd to bring them on board.

Speaking via FreddieMercuryClub, Grohl revealed the technique that Freddie used and explained how it ultimately helped him be “vocal ready” for the rest of their set.

Grohl said: “Every band should study Queen at Live Aid. If you really feel like that barrier is gone, you become Freddie Mercury.

“I consider him the greatest frontman of all time.”

“Like, it’s funny? You’d imagine that Freddie was more than human, but… you know how he controlled Wembley Stadium at Live Aid in 1985?”

Grohl continued: “He stood up there and did his vocal warm-ups with the audience. Something that intimate, where they realise, ‘Oh yeah, he’s just a f***ing dude’.”

The warm-up that Grohl was alluding to was the call-backs with the crowd between songs, which got them involved and gave Freddie the chance to get his voice fine-tuned.

Guitarist Brian May also paid tribute to his Queen bandmate, saying: “Freddie was our secret weapon. He was able to reach out to everybody in that stadium effortlessly, and I think it was really his night.”

Otago Museum is thrilled to host Areez Katki’s acclaimed textile-based art exhibition, Bildungsroman, at the H D Skinner Annex opening on Saturday 11 January.

The embroidered works explore Katki’s two, often conflicting, identities.

Katki is a Parsi, an ethnoreligious group originally from Iran who fled to India during the first Muslim invasion between the 8th and 10th century. The Parsis are an opaque and insular population, traditionally only marrying within their community and keeping centuries old customs. They follow Zoroastrianism, an ancient religion, mostly known in the West for the ‘towers of death’ where bodies of the dead are taken to be fed to vultures.

Katki was born into the sacred Osta clan, and as such is an ordained Zoroastrian priest. But alongside this identity is another; Katki is also an openly queer New Zealander, living as a fashion practitioner and artist in Auckland.

The push and pull of these two worlds, and an open celebration of Parsi culture and family are explored in the textile pieces.

Bursting with colour and playfulness, they weave the threads of his heritage together. The exhibition displays 29 new works by the artist, developed over the past eight months while he was living and working in India. Borrowing from his Mother’s 1970s stenography notebook, the works feature shorthand, along with patterns and images to tell his stories.

Alongside the works, the exhibition also contains a number of documentary elements from the artist’s travels – photographs, heirlooms, audio content, and journal entries – giving a dense and layered experience for viewers.

The exhibition was recently named by Art Collector magazine as one of the top 50 in Australasia, and is free to the public here in Dunedin.

Craig Scott, Head of Exhibitions and Creative, said, “We are just so pleased to have this amazing exhibition in our city. Areez is one of New Zealand’s best contemporary, craft-based artists, and these pieces carry an incredible depth, communicating so much”

Open for the next four weeks the exhibition is highly anticipated among Dunedin’s art community and offers a window into the veiled world of the Parsis.

About Areez

Areez Katki is a multidisciplinary artist & textile practitioner based in Auckland, New Zealand. Drawing from historic and social research, he addresses his value for craft sensibilities through a research driven contemporary practice. Over the duration of his career Katki has focused on the significance of materiality in the domestic realm through personal processes of fabricating textiles and an ongoing engagement with their narratives. With a background in Art History and an early childhood imbibed in the values of craft, Katki developed a practice based on instinctive responses to textile & fibre research. Often juxtaposing the ephemeral synaesthesic responses to his environment with a subjectivity around formal processes of fabrication that were matrilineally inherited.

Culminating in richly contextualised bodies of work since 2015, Katki raises questions around the political nature of craft; proclaiming his role as a craftsperson within the realm of contemporary art. The works have addressed social constructs of identity, spirituality and sexuality that have since been explored through various mediums including beaded tapestry weaving, embroidery, paint, sculpture and printmaking.

In 2019 after a ten month-long residency based in Mumbai, India, Katki exhibited his premiere solo body of work Bildungsroman. A narrative that surveys the depths of domestic materiality whilst investigating issues around identity, spirituality and sexuality. Traversing his genetic landscapes across Persia and his birthplace in India, the work was exhibited at Malcolm Smith Gallery in the Eastern region of Auckland where Katki was raised. Bildungsoman is currently touring to institutions across Aotearoa over 2019-2020.

Exhibition Info

Otago Museum

10am–4pm, 11 January to 9 February

419 Great King Street, Dunedin, New Zealand

Sujata Massey kicks off the decade with the first book in a fresh new crime series – the historical, award-winning whodunnit A Murder at Malabar Hill. She introduces Perveen Mistry, in 1921 Bombay’s only woman lawyer and an amateur sleuth. In the spirit of Alexander McCall Smith’s likable Precious Ramotswe from the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series set in Botswana, A Murder at Malabar Hill celebrates women solving crimes and getting shit done.

Article by Chris Cassford | The Spinoff

Perveen Mistry is a rule-breaking badass in a sari. She has emotional intelligence and a thirst for women’s rights. She can pick a lock with a hairclip and save the day with the sharpened nib of a fountain pen and a bottle of pungent rose oil. She is smart and determined, a good friend and a loving daughter.

And she’s not afraid to eat. A Murder at Malabar Hill made me hungry: “John had worked hard preparing lamb koftas, a tamarind chicken curry, a thick yellow dal with mustard greens, and caramelised rice. He’d also sent tangy vegetable pickles, fragrant wheat rotlis, and a tin of almond-honey brittle large enough to last a week.” And that’s just lunch.

The story takes us into the heart of Bombay under the rule of the British Raj 100 years ago with details of elaborate dinners, dazzling outfits, fancy tea parties and well-mannered society, alongside desperate poverty, racism and entrenched misogyny. We are served up a banquet of fraud, murder and kidnapping with a side of family violence, a smear of imperialism and a dipping sauce of illicit sex.

Tensions are high – the Indian independence movement wants the British out, but Perveen’s middle-class Parsi community is divided on the issue. The Parsi, who fled Persia in the 10^th century seeking freedom to practice their Zoroastrian religion, mostly do well under the British. In 1921 the Brits rule on with a masterly racist disregard for anyone who isn’t white or rich. At home in the UK, women are fighting for the vote and ripples from their campaign for equality make it across the water to India.

But women in India have a long haul to equality ahead of them. We meet Perveen as an Oxford-educated lawyer, single, and employed at her father’s firm. She’s working on the estate of Mr. Omar Farid who left behind three widows, all of whom live together as purdahnashins – women in strict seclusion from the outside world and having no contact with men. The agent who their husband left in charge of his estate is a dodgy dude called Mr. Mukri. (Massey has a gift for naming her characters.) Mr. Mukri has the power to rip off the widows and find new husbands for all of them – as well as for the 11-year-old daughter of the first wife. Perveen is on his case: “The widows had lived a life at the mercy of men who were supposed to serve them.”

Massey plays around with time. Flashback to 1916 and Perveen is the only women at the Government Law School, but she’s dropping out, unable to take the bullying and harassment from her fellow students. Into this drama struts the gorgeous, hazel-eyed and curly-haired Cyrus Sodawalla, king of the Calcutta fizzy drink industry and a hero for Perveen’s troubled times. She talks her reluctant parents into letting her get hitched, and soon Perveen is Mrs. Sodawalla. Cyrus is attentive, charming and excellent in the sack, but how he came to be such an expert has unhappy consequences for his loved-up wife.

Married life and menstruation prevent her from resuming her study. Her in-laws are old-school Parsi and when she’s not stuck in her mother-in-law’s kitchen sorting stones out of the dal, she’s trapped in a dark, stinking cell for eight days each month while she bleeds – kept away from her husband and his family who believe her period will not only bring disease, it will also attract the devil.

Massey builds plenty of mystery, hints at dark secrets, then throws in a murder and the threat of more grisly deaths. There are shades of Agatha Christie’s great crime investigations as Perveen figures things out, dissects the evidence and hounds the suspects. Miss Marple would be proud.

Perveen Mistry and the period charm of 20^th century Bombay sticks in the memory long after the story is told. More mystery for Miss. Mistry is promised in further books. Bring it on.

On Saturday January 25, 2020; the widely successful ZYNG: Zoroastrian Youth for the Next Generation is being resurrected in its 2.0 avatar. In a mega event planned for the relaunch of ZYNG, the organizers are leaving no stone unturned.

Rustom Baug will play host to a variety of events including a Flea Market having a variety of pop-up stalls that will include everything from fashion to food.

ZYNG has also ratcheted up the entertainment quotient for the event. Burzin Engineer and his dance company will perform; as will Shanaya Boyce, Hushad Khan , Khurshed Mogrelia and Sarosh Sidhwa.

Actor Jim Sarbh will be in conversation with VJ Benafsha Soonawala.

So mark your calendars and head to Rustom Baug this Saturday evening for a fantastic event !

When I was a little girl growing up in Bombay, June was the month I looked forward to the most. It was the month when the charred, inky monsoon clouds, clipped with streaks of lightning, brushed away the fetid summer heat. It was when I went back to school with my new books, wrapped carefully in crackling-new brown paper. Best of all, June was also the month for the Bombay duck to grace the kitchens of Parsi homes such as mine. This delicious monsoon specialty, which is most plentiful and easiest to catch during the rains, was how I marked the time. It pinned the season into place.

Article by Meher Mirza bbc.com

But who are the Parsis? And what is a Bombay duck?

View image of Bombay duck isn’t a duck at all and is eaten by Parsis and other groups across Mumbai (Credit: Credit: Meher Mirza)

Parsis are Zoroastrian immigrants from Iran who have called India home since the 8th Century AD, but it was under colonial rule in Bombay in the 19th Century that they truly flourished: Parsi entrepreneurs leveraged their aptitude for Western education and sensibilities, as influenced by the British, to obtain coveted positions in Indian industry and politics. They became titans of trade and commerce, and used their enormous influence to endow schools, colleges and hospitals for the poor.

Later, in the 19th Century, a second swell of Zoroastrians blew into Bombay. These canny entrepreneurs were the Iranis, who started the iconic Irani cafes that have traditionally served food to people of all castes, religions and genders.

Like India itself, Parsi cuisine has absorbed the influences of a host of cultures who have made their mark on the subcontinent – the plinth possibly lies in pre-Islamic Iran, but it also draws from the Indian regions of Gujarat, Goa and the Konkan Coast, as well as Britain and even the Netherlands. Geographies and histories peel away with every mouthful of food.

Britannia & Co Restaurant, with its Union Jack flag and image of Queen Elizabeth II, is one of Mumbai’s most famous Irani cafes (Credit: Credit: Indranil Mukherjee/Getty Images)

Thanks to Parsi settlements that rimmed the Indian coast, specifically in the state of Gujarat, fish became tightly yoked to Parsi culture. We eat chhamno (pomfret), boi (a sort of mullet), kolmi (prawn), levti (mud hopper), bhing (shad), rawas (a kind of Indian salmon) and bangra (mackerel), among others. And then there’s the Bombay duck.

Fiendishly ugly, it is gelatinous and pink-skinned with a gaping maw

The Bombay duck is actually a fish native to the waters in and around Mumbai. Fiendishly ugly, it is gelatinous and pink-skinned with a gaping maw. Moreover, the root of its curious name is a great mystery.

The word could have been a colonisation of the local Marathi name for the fish, bombil, used by the Maharashtrians that the British couldn’t twirl their tongues around. Or perhaps the name is an Anglicism born from the Marathi bazaar cry, “bomiltak” (loosely: “here is bombil”). But the most famous explanation is the one set out by Indian-born, British-Parsi writer, Farrukh Dhondy, in his book Bombay Duck. He believes that the name came from the British mail trains that huffed odoriferous orders of dried fish from the city to the interior of India. These wagonloads became known as “Bombay Dak”. (The word dak means “mail”.)

Love for this fish runs deep within the diverse cultures of the city. One of Mumbai’s earliest residents, Koli fishermen, have been salting and sun-scorching the fish by pegging them up on large racks fashioned from bamboo stilts called valandis for hundreds of years. The drying fish gave off a stench so strong that British colonisers believed that it was harmful to their health, although they later grew to love them. These wizened dried fish, eaten during the monsoon, offer bursts of concentrated, nearly raucous savouriness when rehydrated and cooked into curries or dry-fried as an accompaniment to dal and rice. Koli fishermen eat it fresh too, sheathed in fiery Koli masala, or semi-dried (bambooke bombil) and cooked into a spirited coconut gravy.

Most seafood-loving communities of India’s western Konkan Coast, such as the East Indians and Maharashtrians, also find Bombay duck intrinsic to their cuisine. The East Indians grind it into a vinegary chutney or roast and fry it, sometimes stuffing it with a bellyful of tiny prawns. Some Maharashtrian communities fry it into a bhaji (fritter) while others stir fresh greens into the dried version or cook it with an onion tamarind masala.

Clearly, Bombay duck doesn’t just belong to Parsis, but it does feel almost totemic to our community. It makes its way onto our plates and into our songs, our books and even our names: Boomla (the Parsi word for Bombay duck) is a fairly common Parsi surname.

View image of There are myriad ways to cook, prepare and season Mumbai’s pink-skinned fish (Credit: Meher Mirza)

My father’s memories of growing up in the small Gujarati town of Bilimora, about 215km north from Mumbai, are knotted to my grandmother smoking dried fingers of Bombay duck over a charcoal fire until crisp enough to crumble into shards. These are the roasted, dried Bombay duck of my dreams – sawed back and forth over kitchen flames, their smoky flavour can’t be recreated on my Mumbai kitchen stove.

Bombay duck doesn’t just belong to Parsis, but it does feel almost totemic to our community

Luckily, though, there are other ways to salve my craving for dried Bombay duck, such as Tarapori patio. Just a scallop’s worth of this spicy Bombay duck pickle enlivens a bland yellow dal and rice. Dried Bombay duck is also dunked into a stew called Tari ma Sukka Boomla that hums with the rasp of toddy (an alcoholic drink drawn from the sap of a palm tree), jaggery (a fudge-like unrefined sweetener), vinegar and dried red chillies.

Fresh Bombay duck is also made into a gravied patio (pickle), or sometimes eaten as salty khara boomla that’s served in a pale, creamy gravy pearled with onions and eaten with rice.

My favourite though? Craggy clouds of pan-fried fresh fish, fragrant with lime and turmeric, their surfaces lacquered with semolina flour that has been bronzed by the hot oil. The Bombay duck prepared this way is usually eaten as a breakfast dish, paired with stacks of chockha ni rotli (rice-flour rotis) and gor keri nu achaar (sweet-sour mango pickle). The more staunch of stomach might accompany it with mutton mince, akuri (a sort of Parsi version of scrambled egg) or levti (mud skippers) fried on a griddle.

Yet, to taste Bombay duck in this particular style, you would either need an invitation to a Parsi home or to an old-time club such as the Mumbai landmark PVM (Princess Victoria and Mary) that’s densely populated by Parsi aunties and uncles – or a trip to the iconic Irani cafe Britannia & Co Restaurant. Dating to 1923 and something of a crumbling time-capsule, with its framed picture of Queen Elizabeth II and Mahatma Gandhi in a grand, Renaissance-style dining room, this vintage slice of Mumbai is one of the only places in Mumbai – perhaps the only place – that doesn’t require an invitation to eat Parsi-style Bombay duck.

Mumbaikars’ love for Bombay duck stretches back centuries (Credit: Credit: Indranil Mukherjee/Getty Images)

Here, it is cloaked in semolina and fried to a crisp on the outside, while its belly stays soft, pliant and collapsing within. Elsewhere, in Mumbai’s myriad non-Parsi seafood eateries, it would be deboned and cudgelled to flatness for maximum crunch. For many decades, customers also had the added charm of engaging with the restaurant’s charismatic Parsi owner, Boman Kohinoor, the self-proclaimed “biggest fan of the Royal Family” in India. (A giant picture of William and Kate hangs in the restaurant.) Until his recent death at the age of 97, Kohinoor often told me that I resemble the Duchess of Cambridge. (I don’t.)

Parsis’ love for Bombay duck stretches back centuries. In 1795, a Parsi businessperson, Seth Cawasji, was recorded to have presented half a ton of dried Bombay duck and 30 dried pomfret fishes to the governor of Bombay. Later, in Navroji Framji’s 1883 recipe book, Indian Cookery for Young Housekeepers, she calls the fish “bombloes” and offers up two recipes: one, a dried fish stew with tamarind, ginger-garlic, chilli and fried onion; and the second, a chilli-fry of dried bombloes cooked with turmeric, coriander, pulped tamarind and green chillies.

Who names themselves after an ugly fish?

Much later, in 1975, Parsi musician-composer Mina Kava gave musical shape to the community’s love for the fish by writing a song called Bombay Duck, which begins: “Here’s a story simple / of a duck with a little dimple / he’s the strangest little duck / this little ducky never clucks.”

It’s often the kitchen that carries the weight of a culture on its shoulders; food can be the purest distillation of a people. If one had to bend the prism towards Parsi food, what might it reveal? Our roving tongues, teeter-tottering across countries? The fluidity of our taste buds? Our chameleon-like propensity to adapt and assimilate? Our eccentricity? After all, who names themselves after an ugly fish?

Or perhaps all that matters is that every year, when the city’s summer cedes to wind-whitened monsoon, my anxieties loosen and I remember when I was a girl in school, dawdling over a plate of bombil.

Culinary Roots is a series from BBC Travel connecting to the rare and local foods woven into a place’s heritage.

Our dear friend Shireen Mistree was recently featured on SHORTLIST. Read her interview below.

“Culture isn’t just one aspect of the game – it is the game. In the end, an organization is nothing more than the collective capacity of its people to create value.” 

Lou Gerstner Jr., IBM

Culture is a key aspect of any organization. It is especially true for startups who want to survive past their early days, grow and expand their businesses. Startup culture is molded by the founders and the people working there.

Shireen Mistree, third from left.

What are the key aspects of building a great culture, what role does leadership play in it, how do startups hire for culture fit – find the answers for these questions below. We spoke with Shireen Mistree, who leads and manages the hiring process for ICC (India Climate Collaborative) on her thoughts on building culture and how ICC is nurturing a high-performing culture.

How do you define the startup culture at your workplace?

Shireen: ICC, as a company, is literally being set-up as we speak. We have been mindful of who we take on in our team. Apart from (obviously) the skillset, we want “Team Uplifters” – people who understand what it is to work together and collectively as a team. Shloka (Executive Director) along with other members of the leadership team work hard to ensure that we keep creating opportunities and environment where everyone feels comfortable to share their opinions, thoughts and concerns openly. We place a lot of emphasis on these aspects as we build culture at ICC.

What is your approach towards hiring for culture fit?

Shireen: We are a young, vibrant and dynamic team. We try to gauge early in the hiring process if the candidate will fit in seamlessly in our culture. Will they be open to building an institution and not just their own profile and if they will be able to take instructions and directions from somebody younger to them. We are very open and honest with the candidates, making it clear that we operate as a startup. You will have to be a self-starter, someone who is not afraid to take the initiative and contribute to the organization’s vision and mission.

What are you doing to promote a high-performance culture?

Shireen: Shloka (Chief Executive Director) is continuously invested in the individual growth of team members. She has one-on-one chats with all team members helping them understand things they are doing well and creating plans to improve for areas of development. This way, the team is motivated to deliver because the top management invests in their growth and aspirations. We ensure that the team has all the creative space to complete the task with an expectation that they uphold quality standards and deliver within mutually agreed-upon timelines.

What advice would you like to share with other startups and companies on building culture?

Shireen: Constantly check-in on the aspirations of the individuals that you hire, make sure you are able to meet those aspirations and ensure you acknowledge the team’s efforts. While achieving every milestone that the organization initially set out to do, it is essential to be transparent, leaving nobody confused or ambiguous. The team should never be taken by surprise over the decisions.

What role does leadership play in nurturing and promoting the startup culture with the growth of the organization?

Shireen: Leadership should be invested in individual growth and aspirations of team members along with enhancing their skill sets which could be hugely beneficial to the organization. It has been our experience that when leadership is invested in the employee as an individual and not just as a person who has been brought on to do a job; growth of the organization is inevitable.

Thank you Shireen for your insightful answers, your responses will be super helpful for other startups to build their culture.

India’s pioneering Persian chef Afshin Kohinoor unlocks his culinary treasure chest for Krishnaraj Iyengar

Welcome my dear welcome,” he gushes over his galla counter as a mixed international crowd pours in on a Saturday afternoon. After selfie sessions with Julius, the handsome pet canine standing tall on the counter, they make themselves at home on old wooden chairs and sturdy tables with quaint checkered table cloth for some pure culinary magic.

Article by Krishnaraj Iyengar | Deccan Herald

In 1923, Aqa Rashid, an Iranian entrepreneur from the rugged province of Yazd in Iran’s hinterland established a restaurant in Mumbai’s port area, Ballard Pier. He gave it a British name as a gesture to the then British municipal saheb who favoured him with a license within just 24 hours. 97 years later, his grandson, India’s pioneering Persian chef Afshin Kohinoor, manages Britannia & Co, Mumbai’s heritage gourmet treasure which his late father, the legendary Boman Kohinoor elevated on par with some of the world’s finest culinary gateways.

The aromas and flavours of his hallmark innovations even penetrated the walls of Buckingham Palace.

Proudly displaying Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s letter of appreciation to his ardent patrons, the nonagenarian who recently passed away in Mumbai, personally table-hopped taking orders until his last days.

Draped in a traditional Zoroastrian skull cap and a black and white Iranian scarf, chef Afshin passionately unfolds the saga of his unique cuisine.

Breaking away from the typical chai, bun maska staple synonymous with Mumbai’s famed Irani cafes, Britannia offers the authentic cuisine of Iran along with traditional Parsi Zoroastrian delights that have drawn aficionados from the world over. “There is no love greater than the love of eating,” says the restaurant’s famous slogan.

Tell us about Britannia’s journey…

We began with colonial cuisine and a few Indian dishes. During the Second World War, the British had converted the restaurant into an administrative office from 1943-45 as their war ships were docked just a few metres away from here. 1947 onwards, the cuisine gradually changed to Mangalorean and Mughlai.

The Iranian and Parsi menu emerged only in 1982 after my mother, a Parsi lady felt the need to do justice to this ‘Irani restaurant’ and she introduced original Iranian dishes like Berry Pulao, Baghali Pulao, Shirin Pulao and the response was overwhelming.

Your Berry Pulao is world famous…

We pioneered it in India. Known as Zereshk Polo in Persian, its originally rice, saffron, leg piece of chicken with barberries. My mother realised that Indians would never touch rice sans gravy so she introduced, by trial and error, a perfect, tantalising onion and tomato-based masala gravy to compliment the rice and the barberries and it became a hit. We import barberries from Iran. They cut cholesterol and the starch in
the rice. Our Zereshk Polo is rice, saffron ( the leaves soaked in boiled water and mixed with rice), barberries, marble-shaped kebabs (chicken, mutton or potato depending on the choice of berry pulao), crispy fried onions, masala gravy made with a secret recipe, with boneless chicken, mutton, egg, paneer or vegetables.

What are Britannia’s other authentic Iranian delicacies?

Baaghlava, or Persian Baklava. It’s like the Indian halwa and eaten warm. Among the various varieties of the dessert, this version, unlike the fluffy Turkish one, is sans fresh cream and egg. The magic lies in shelled almonds, pistachios, rose water, sugar, cardamom, flour, coconut powder and saffron. We also offer Iran’s nougat after Gaz Shervin, a sweet made with sugar, rose water, egg white, honey and pistachios, the percentage of pistachio determining its price.

You popularised traditional Parsi cuisine internationally…

True. Our signature Dhansak is what Parsis eat for lunch after the fourth day’s Chaharom prayers following a funeral. It is caramelised rice served with kebabs (meat or vegetarian) and fried onions, paired with a dal prepared with a complex recipe served in a bowl along with the mutton, chicken, or vegetarian. The mouthwatering dal is then eaten mixed with the rice. Sali Boti, another exotic Parsi delight, is mutton with gravy and topped with finely cut potato wafers which are sprinkled over it. Sali Chicken and Sali Keema (minced meat) are equally popular. While a mixed vegetable stew is a vegetarian Parsi favourite with French beans, carrots, potatoes and green peas, Patra ni Machhi is preferred by health-conscious fish-lovers. The simplest dish, it’s just steamed silver pomfret with refreshing coriander, green chillies and coconut chutney. We cook it with a dash of vinegar.

Tell us about your legendary caramel custard…

The passion for our custard binds people of diverse nationalities. The recipe is my mother’s, her version of crème burlee, high-fat cow’s milk, cream, sugar and eggs. The ratio of the egg white and the yellow is the key. We receive orders for our custard from Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong, Thailand and Europe.

Meet Ayesha Billimoria, a three time 200-metre national champion, Olympic aspirant, sports trainer, model, TedX speaker, and now the author of Run! She is the ultimate Fit Girl India. Catch her talking about perseverance, self-love, and of course, fitness.

Parsi Khabar has featured Shanaya Patel before, and today we are happy to share the launch of her new single ALONE.

You can stream Shanaya’s single: https://lnkfi.re/ShanayaPatel

About Shanaya

As someone who has been singing from the time she could talk, rising singer/songwriter, Shanaya Patel, from Toronto, is on a path of bringing her music mainstream.

Shanaya wrote her first song at 11 years old, where she really began her musical journey.  She performs professionally across Toronto and has performed at venues such as Danforth Music Hall, the Opera House, Living Arts Centre, Burlington Centre for the Performing Arts and Yonge and Dundas Square. Shanaya has had appearances on CHCH Morning Live Show for Live Music Fridays, the Burlington RibFest and TD Toronto Jazz Festival for many years.

​She has traveled around North America to perform at many venues including The People’s Health Jazz Market in New Orleans. Shanaya’s YouTube cover of “Issues” by American singer/songwriter Julia Michaels was nominated for MTV’s Cover of the Month in March of 2017 and reached over 4.1 million votes.

With various influences of pop, R&B and jazz, many artists have influenced Shanaya such as Ariana Grande, Alicia Keys, Adele, Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran, Drake, Justin Beiber, H.E.R. but also Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James and Frank Sinatra.

The backdrop of the city of Toronto is and has always been a huge inspiration to Shanaya.  “I love how creative this city is – there is music, art and diversity everywhere. I am lucky to know and collaborate with so many artists and great figures in the industry that have made me open my mind and hone my skills as a musician.

“Bringing my emotions and vulnerability into my songs is hard – for anyone, but it makes for more powerful song writing.”

What’s next for Shanaya?  “I am excited to share a lot more music in the coming months – I hope that my songs inspire other people, bring them something to be hopeful for, empower them and just celebrate life.”

A Parsi snack kiosk in Bandra is as much about a community’s culinary treats as the resilience of a woman fighting a turn of fate

An assortment of cutlets, kebabs and snacks. Pics/Anurag Ahire

It was a hopeful Christmas for Malad resident Kermin Sarosh Kakalia, 34. Having lost her husband to cancer in November, she was forced to think of ways to start earning money and provide for her kids — Eric, 11, and Riya, 7. And it was on Christmas Day that she decided to turn her passion for cooking into an avenue for business. She put up a kiosk across her mother’s house in Bandra West, selling traditi­onal Parsi snacks and taking up orders for main course dishes.

Article by Karishma Kuenzang | Mid-Day

Her husband, Sarosh, a Merchant Navy officer, was diagnosed with fourth-stage cancer in October 2018. After a year-long battle, he succumbed to it at the age of 42. “All our savings were spent on treatment. I can’t take up a full-time job but I had to start earning,” Kakalia tells us, when we meet her. “We put up the stall everyday during the holidays, but now are there only on the weekends,” she adds.

Mutton dhansak

Kakalia and her mother, Goolestan, prepare the goodies at her Bandra home every day. For the lack of manpower, they don’t deliver yet but you can pick up your order. These are family recipes from Kakalia’s grandmother. “She used to treat us to this fare, and I picked up the recipes for dhansak, salli murghi, khajoor ghari and dalpori. The savouries — lacy cutlets, in which the chicken is dipped in egg and deep-fried, and farcha are dishes I often make at home,” she says. “I was quite young when I started helping out in the kitchen. I liked cooking and wanted to open a restaurant,” she tells us.

We try the mutton cutlet (’50) and its chicken counterpart (’45) — the former is low on salt, but the chicken one is juicy and non-greasy, making it an ideal snack-on-the-go. The cheese and chicken roll (’45) is best consumed hot, when the gooey cheese balances out the spice of the mince coating. The chicken kebab (’35) has the spice balanced out by potato bits. The size of the chicken farcha (’60) is generous, and could make for a meal by itself, paired with one of the sandwiches; the creamy egg mayo (’50) is our pick. For the mains we try the mutton dhansak (‘300), salli murgi (‘350) and prawn patio (‘300). The dhansak is the clear winner. The meat melts off the bone and the light curry hits the right spots. The prawn patio is tomato-heavy, and tastes sweet with a punch of spice that lingers. The salli murghi is tangy and has a crunch, just the way we like it. We end the meal with bhakra (‘120 for 12), but it’s a tad too tough and chunky for us.

Salli murgi

On Fridays to Sundays, 6 pm to 8 pm

At Outside Studio Sinera, Chimbai Road, Bandra West.

Call 9892435228, 9820831118

Kermin (centre) with her mother, Goolestan, and daughter, Riya

She has spent a lifetime listening to people’s stories with empathy, compassion and respect. In a career spanning over 50 years, Melbourne-based psychotherapist Dr. Sabar Rustomjee has helped people navigate some of the most challenging times in their lives. Dedicated to redefining possibilities and improving lives, she is a proud recipient of the AM honour this Australia Day.

Article by Simmi Singh | Indian Link

Speaking with Indian Link Sabar detailed her life story. “I was born in Sri Lanka in a Parsi family of doctors. Even as a young child I knew I wanted to be a medical practitioner; I would wear my father’s stethoscope and parade around the house pretending to be a doctor. My father’s untimely illness caused the family to move to Mumbai, India for his treatment. I was only six years old when we lost him to cancer. My Indian mother raised my sister and I in Mumbai providing us the best education and upbringing despite struggling on a paltry pension.”

Sabar qualified, by scholarship, to enter the prestigious Grant Medical College graduated with honours in 1959 and became a medical practitioner. Soon after her internship she migrated to Sri Lanka to marry Dr. Piloo Rustomjee, a trainee surgeon. After a decade of working in Sri Lanka, followed by a stint in studying Pediatrics in Liverpool UK, Sabar moved to Shepparton in Victoria in 1969 with her family. She started working with the Mental Health Authority, Victoria, in March 1969. It was during that time that she was introduced to Individual and Group Psychotherapy by her ‘brilliant’ supervisor Dr. Tom Murray.

Profoundly influenced by Sigmund Freud and his theories Sabar continued to grow the breadth and depth of her knowledge by obtaining a Diploma of Psychological Medicine and Membership of the Royal Australian And New Zealand College of Psychiatry.

In 1986 she joined the Monash Medical Centre as Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy. Her work there included Liaison Psychiatry in the Renal Unit and in the Breast Cancer Group of Patients.

Her interest in Group Psychotherapy grew and in 1996, she was elected President of the Australian Association of Group Psychotherapy. In 2000, Sabar was elected President of the International Association of Group Psychotherapy, having already served as Treasurer. She held this post till 2003, and has been on the Board of Directors till today.

Recalling a career highlight, Sabar recounted her work with psychosis. “As part of my research I carried out a unique 22-month experiment in the treatment of first and second episode psychosis with 35 patients. The results were dramatic, curing all but one patient.”

Delighted to have received the Australia Day recognition Sabar shared with Indian Link her interpretations of Freudian concepts with stories of dream symbolism, the unconscious, fixations and defense mechanisms. She also dwelt on the highlights of her long and distinguished career. 

Communicating hope and optimism formed a major part of Sabar’s professional life. She recalled a patient who was admitted to the Casualty Department at Monash wanting to commit suicide and jump to death along with her young son. With warmth and compassion Sabar was able to convince her patient that taking her own life was not the solution. Her creative approach to problem solving helped improve many lives.

Sabar has travelled the world extensively giving lectures on Group and Individual Psychotherapy, particularly in Japan, UK, USA, Italy, Greece, India and Spain. Her published works on subjects like Containment and Failures of Containment, Creativity of Social Dreaming, Solitude and Agony of Unbearable Shame, and working between Eastern and Western cultures have been well-received in professional circles.

Sabar has now retired but continues to contribute to her field in various ways. She is currently in the process of publishing her book on Analytic Psychotherapy titled From Contempt To Dignity.

Our dearest friend, mentor and legendary theater artist Yazdi Naoshirwan Karanjia has been conferred the Padma Shri Award in the list of names that were announced on the eve of Republic Day 2020 in India.

Yazdi Uncle as he is widely known is a legendary theater artist. In his 80’s, he continues to regale crowds with his brand of Parsi Natak perfected over decades. Just recently he and his group performed at the Iranshah Udvada Utsav in December 2019.

Binaifer his daughter writes a glowing tribute to him on Facebook

It is with immense pride, joy, and gratitude to celebrate my dad Yazdi for his selection to receive the Padma Shri Award, for his exceptional and distinguished service in the field of Performing Arts. A true testament of his dedication and philanthropy, building a legacy in celebrating live theater. More importantly a big shout out to my mom, Vira, whose infinite strength, grace, influence, love, and support in all our lives will continue to be the driving force, the greatest gift, and a true blessing.

Yazdi uncle is a true jewel in the crown of the Parsi community and along with Vera Aunty and his whole family we wish them good health and many many more years of laughter and merriment for all of us to enjoy.

A leftover of time but living testament to the Parsis in Kolkata.

“Manackjee Rustomjee Dharmashala for Parsi travellers” — the inscription in an old-fashioned font on the doorway transports one to the days when accommodation wasn’t pre-booked online and travel itself was fraught with uncertainties.

Article by Bishwanath Ghosh | The Hindu

The building itself, with slatted windows, belongs to that era, and so does the neighbourhood where it stands — Kolkata’s famous Bow Barracks, located off the busy Central Avenue. The dharmashala is one of those leftovers of time that still remains in business — a living testament to the Parsi community in the city — though there aren’t too many Parsis in the country today, leave alone travellers, to avail themselves of the facility.

“Once upon a time tourists came to Kolkata, spent a couple of days here and went on to Darjeeling and the northeast. But now many cities are directly connected to Bagdogra (gateway to the northeast), so people hardly come to Kolkata,” says Dara Hansotia, who hails from Ahmedabad and has been the manager of the dharmashala since 2014.

“Also, now when people come to the city on work, they are put up in hotels by their companies,” he says. Even then, according to Mr. Hansotia, the facility, with 13 operational rooms, hosts about 30 people every month. A double room costs ₹1,150 and single ₹950, inclusive of breakfast.

Though the rooms are available only to the Parsis, the dining hall is open to all: just about anyone can walk in to get a flavour of Parsi cuisine, provided they have placed their order well in advance with Mr. Hansotia, who loves cooking and briefly looked after catering at the dharmashala before being appointed its manager.

Does he remember this place being ever packed to capacity? “On two occasions,” Mr. Hansotia’s wife Meher replies. “Once in 2014, when three Parsi weddings were held simultaneously in the city, and again in 2017, when a tournament of five Parsi cricket teams was held in Kolkata. One was the local team, and of the remaining four, one stayed at the fire temple and three with us.”

The dharmashala was originally built in 1909 in the memory of Manackjee Rustomjee by his friends living in Bombay, Calcutta and China. The rent was eight annas a day. In 1936, that building was demolished and the present structure constructed by architect and civil engineer Ardeshir Dinshaw Vehvalvala, and the rent hiked to 12 annas. Today it is run by a trust called the Calcutta Zoroastrian Community’s Religious and Charity Fund.

According to Mr. Hansotia, there were about 3,000 Parsis in Kolkata until a few decades ago, and now the number stands at around 400, almost half of it consisting of the elderly. As one of the nodal persons of the community, he is also expected to conduct funerals. At the Tower of Silence, he says, solar panels are used these days to disintegrate a body because vultures have almost disappeared.

Mrs. Hansotia believes that focus on career is partially responsible for the dwindling population. “Youngsters these days don’t want to marry early because they want to build a career, and by the time they are ready to marry there is no suitable candidate within the community. We are quite horrified about the future,” she says.

The ‘Global Iranshah Initiative’ is a worldwide endeavor of love and devotion to our holiest of holy, Pak Iranshah, in Udvada gaam (Gujarat), with an aim to support and perpetuate its legacy and our priceless and timeless heritage. The global initiative was officially first launched on 24th December, 2017 at the second Iranshah Udvada Ustav (IUU), and its dynamic, interactive website was launched at IUU’s third chapter on 27^th December, 2019.

Published in the Parsi Times

The Iranshah Initiative strives to ensure that our Udvada gaam is given its respectful place on the global map of renowned religious, historical and cultural sites, equipped with improved infrastructure, enhanced facilities and better security. This would be in keeping with its now officially recognized status of a Global Heritage Village, by the Indian Govt.

The Udvada Atash Behram is the oldest consecrated fire temple of the highest grade in India; and represents the historical, cultural, spiritual and religious bond with our Motherland Iran. The divine flame is revered by Zartoshtis across the globe since over a millennium. It is hoped that this global Zarthushti convergence will assist in keeping the holy flame alive, for the benefit of our future generations through Education, Inspiration and Donation, by providing a continuous stream of global financial support to perpetuate the legacy of Iranshah Udvada.

The brainchild of Meher Amalsad – respected and cherished by the worldwide Zoroastrian community for his selfless, hands-on community involvement, spanning over forty-five years, especially for his Youth Leadership empowering efforts in North America and Pakistan. Residing in in California (USA) with wife, Katayoon and daughter, Anahita, Meher Amalsad is an Engineer, Educator, Professional Speaker and published Author (Bread For the Head). He has been the founding Chair of the North American and World Zoroastrian Youth Congresses and is currently working with the organizers of the 8^th World Zoroastrian Youth Congress in 2023, in the UK.

His dedication takes the form of innumerable endeavours which are committed to the fostering of our community’s youth and in celebrating and spreading awareness of our glorious religion, including a Prayer Cassette program; Zoroastrian Youth Super Star program, Transformational Series (Building Vision 2020 With Clarity And Dignity Of Humanity), a Facebook page (BabaMeher’s Sensations), and lots more. His life’s work, focused on ‘Building Unity Within Diversity In Humanity’, has been showcased to millions of people across the globe via his appearances on radio, TV, Cable and Satellite talk shows. (www.Bread4TheHead.com)

How did the Global Initiative To Support Iranshah Udvada come about? Speaking to Parsi Times, Meher Amalsad says, “At a ZAC presentation hosted by Shihan Mobed Zarrir Bhandara in California in September, 2017, I was inspired by Dasturji Khurshed’s talks and wished to start a global initiative to support our priceless heritage – IranShah. After much meditation and reflection, it came to me thus, ‘Together let us create inner desire, to support our Sacred Fire’.”

He connected with BPP Trustee and scholar in Zoroastrian religion -Noshir Dadrawalla who spontaneously agreed to support the endeavor. He next called FEZANA President, Homi Gandhi, who also got on board enthusiastically. Then he called Vada Dasturji Khurshed Dastoor, who gracefully lent his support to the venture.

“Together, we drafted a 5-Star Vision to support our IranShah on globally. Noshir helped enhance the integrity of the content while Homi and Dasturji helped finalize this document, thus:

The 5-Star Vision:
To PRESERVE the sanctity of IranShah by supporting the care takers.
To CREATE a monetary incentive for the present Mobed Sahebs.
To INSPIRE future Mobeds to pursue Mobedi as a Bonafide Career.
To KEEP the flame alive by providing a continuous stream of Kathi (Firewood)
To PROVIDE round the clock security services for the premises of IranShah.

Once this document was finalized, I called various Global Zartoshti leaders in Iran, India, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia,  New Zealand and United Arab Emirates to muster their support, and within three weeks we had an outpour of unconditional global support from all including The Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe, Tehran Zartoshti Anjoman, The Incorporated Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hong Kong, Canton and Macao, The Parsi Zoroastrian Association of South East Asia in Singapore, Zarathushtrian Association Of New Zealand, Karachi Parsi Anjuman Trust Funds in Pakistan and The Zoroastrian Association of United Arab Emirates in Dubai.

At this junction I asked my trusted friend and dedicated FEZANA VP, Arzan Wadia, to help create an online donation portal for this project on behalf of FEZANA. Having received unanimous support from the Global Leaders of our Senior Generation, we thought of involving the global leaders of our future generation. We approached our dynamic youth leader, Tinaz Karbhari, from Hong Kong, as she had done a fabulous job as the Chair of the 2015 6th World Zoroastrian Youth Congress in New Zealand.

Under the guidance of Arzan Wadia, an interactive website has been created by our very own Iranshah Initiative Ambassador, Tinaz Karbhari from Hong Kong, for our future generations to get involved through Education, Inspiration and Donation. With Tinaz as the Ambassador, for the first time we were able to mobilize our Zoroastrian youth leaders globally to become official Iranshah Initiative Representatives from their respective countries.

The Iranshah Initiative website was formally launched on December 27, 2019 at the 3rd IUU in India, by FEZANA President Homi Gandhi. Its highlight is a special Icon titled, ‘ASK NOSHIR’ for all, especially the youth, to connect directly with him for any specific queries pertaining to Iranshah. Our immense gratitude to Noshir Dadrawalla, for his scholastic guidance and kind support towards this first step on promoting global education about Iranshah. Visit it at IranshahInitiative.com.

During the past two years FEZANA and other global Zoroastrian associations successfully raised funds for Iranshah. We are grateful to all those for joining us in this very special global initiative to support the legacy of Iranshah Udvada!” shares Amalsad.

The website also provides special meditational video clip of the Atash Niyesh recited by Vada Dasturji Khurshed Dastoor, High Priest Of Iranshah Udvada; it showcases a brief history highlighting the bounty of Pak IranShah, alongside other details outlining the purpose, vision, mission and goals of the IranShah Initiative Project. It also offers a table of approximate expenditure to maintain and sustain IranShah. And it provides a unique donation portal through which allows people from across the globe to donate.

What’s in store for the future? “For the first time in the history of Pak Iranshah, we are also planning on a Global Birth Anniversary Celebration honoring Iranshah, on April 21, 2020. We wish to get all our Zarthostis involved as an integral part of this unifying global initiative in honor of our Sacred Iranshah. We also plan to have a special get together for the Iranshah Initiative project at the 2nd World Zoroastrian Youth Leaders Forum in United Kingdom at the ASHA Center on May 21, 2020. We will keep you apprised of further progress as it unfolds,” concludes Meher Amalsad.

ONCE UPON A TIME book launch on Saturday February 8, 2020 at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival

Four years after Meher Marfatia started an essay series in this paper that explored the forgotten bylanes and people of Bombay, a book will preserve these stories for posterity.

Mumbai, as a city, can surprise you. The more you search, the more there is to find. But, it’s also quickly altering. City chronicler, author and Sunday mid-day columnist, Meher Marfatia was aware of the transience of the Bombay she was born into—one that she felt she was losing “unimaginably fast”. It was, in a way, the genesis for the idea of a fortnightly column with this paper. “Luckily, when I shared the thought of an in-depth column with [the editor] Tinaz [Nooshian], she was super receptive,” she says. That’s how Once Upon A City launched in mid-2016.

The column couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. “When I researched three Catholic villages of Dhobi Talao and came to Cavel [in Chira Bazaar], the women in its fish market told me it was a timely visit, the market was shutting down forever in another two months. It was in fact, gone in two weeks,” says Marfatia, author and publisher of Laughter in the House! 20th-century Parsi Theatre and Little Mumbai: All The City’s A Playground.

Three years on, Once Upon A City has taken a life of its own, with a selected set of 50 alphabetically arranged columns, which she has expanded on, into a book, published by 49/50 Books. The 276-pager, priced at Rs 1,000, will be available at bookstores and online starting February 8, when it launches at the Kala Ghoda Festival. “The attempt is to feature suburbs and midtown localities with the same depth [as the Island City]. Rich in details to be discovered, these are more challenging as there is some amount of ignorance regarding how they formed and flourished as pivotal hubs contributing to the city’s growth and well-being. In today’s troubled times, let’s not entirely lose sight of the legacy of philanthropy and social welfare we’ve been bequeathed. There will still be a generation carrying this forward,” says Marfatia.

Edited excerpts from the interview.

Once Upon A City is a series that is evolving and growing with every column. Why and when did you decide to publish the essays into a book?

It was waiting to happen. Even before Sunday mid-day readers began mailing to ask if this could not become a book someday, I realised within a year of the column printing, that I just had so much still not shared. There was material of two kinds with potential for a book. Firstly, all the research and interview notes that couldn’t fit into the paper, despite an already generous word count allotted. I create shadow files storing extra nuggets.

Then there are the mails that followers of Once Upon A City send soon after a piece appears. Each generously offers more information, personal memories of growing up in that neighbourhood, even photographs. How could all these inputs—theirs and my own unpublished notes—not find their way into a compilation of expanded essays? Incidentally, the book has some outstanding photographs by Foy Nissen and Sooni Taraporevala, which have not been seen in the columns. Plus, we’ve added 50 maps.

You’ve expanded on the original essays published in this paper. Did that require additional research?

Oh yes. In fact, it felt great reconnecting with the people featured earlier, updating myself with their lives in the places we had originally met (in not a few cases the physical landscape changed within a year or two, for a variety of reasons: redevelopment, accommodating the Metro, vacating dangerous buildings). There were fresh interviewees, as well, whom I was vaguely aware of while doing that beat, but could not get to in time to make it to the paper—the tyranny of deadlines!

The book also holds fresh goodies, such as first-person accounts. There’s veteran journalist Kalpana Sharma on growing up in Model House in a multicultural area like Kennedy Bridge, touching Procter Road. Actor Keith Stevenson describes how his parents’ salon Raechelle, yet under the Kemp’s Corner flyover, was a warmly welcoming spot that nurtured lifelong relationships, besides contented clients.

So many readers associate the column with nostalgia. But in the introduction, you’ve written of how your essays are also “impressions of Bombay’s people and precincts very much rooted in the here and now as well”. Do you feel that essays like yours, tend to get pigeon-holed as nostalgic accounts?

Sure, Once Upon A City rides on nostalgia. Its mandate is recreating and documenting life as it unfolded in Bombay’s bylanes dating back up to a couple of centuries. But it has never resorted to relying on pure nostalgic accounts alone. That’s repetitive and pointless after a while. Not to mention dangerous—giving yourself up to the past might mean an inability to face living in the present. Preferable to walk the path of more immediate oral history, linked to current scenarios. Bombay is a beautifully working-class city. Hearing its wonderful diverse voices, giving shape to their thoughts and aspirations is essential to any worthwhile narrative.

Waxing eloquent about a majestic British-era monument means nothing without complementing the dry details— that several readers are already aware of anyway—with conversations with ordinary people who live in its shadow, wake up around it to a certain lively routine, want to engage with their environment by learning more about it themselves. I tell them, “Let’s find out together. Will you take me to someone who may know more?”

They’re enthused, it becomes a kind of community project. I head to many vicinities with no more than a smidgeon of knowledge. Which is okay. The adventure lies in finding out. As the Kannada fiction writer Yashwant Chittal put it: “I don’t write what I know. I write to know.” Finally, it’s about “making the little stories of Mumbai matter”, as the subtitle of Once Upon A City says. Unearthing them leaves me happy and humbled.

These essays were produced every two weeks. It’s not easy, considering the research and legwork involved. Which, according to you, was your toughest find? And why?

It isn’t a bit easy but extremely gratifying to meet people on different kinds of home turf. The line to toe is being persistent without being prying. This is a blessed column, and now, book. Both generate plenty of goodwill all around. I now have readers invite me over, asking when I’m visiting their gully, promising to put me in touch with those who could help.

I remember a tough time in Wadala. Its oldest residents voted it ho-hum and when I got there, kept questioning, “Why Wadala? It only has some good schools.” Well, it might appear a bit barren initially. Winding gradually eastward up Antop Hill, you will stumble on a landscape leavening to a charismatic cemetery and tomb acres suffused with love and light.

Bombay bursts with hidden treasures, not obvious gems strewn around like Delhi. Look closer, with care, it’s all there…in the middle of madly dug roads, squalid surroundings heave with vital, living history if we choose to so see the scene.

A story, which is your favourite, or that has stayed with you?

Next to impossible isolating a favourite. There is untold charm and serendipity to encounter at several junctures. Tony SoBo is all very well, but the inner city pulls me in, fascinated by its buzz and vibrancy and surprises. There is unimaginably much—complex histories of socio-politics, textile mills, cinema entrepreneurship—that makes Mahim, Matunga, Dadar, Parel, Shivaji Park, Bombay Central, Byculla, Dongri and Dhobi Talao exceptional. And Bandra, of course, where I was privileged to grow up.

In the middle of research on the road, I’m often caught by moments that make me smile, if not laugh out loud. While walking round and about admiring the Khodadad Circle quadrant of Indo Saracenic-styled buildings, I chanced on a pavement florist. He seemed tired at the start of the morning, sweating as he explained to an angry customer how trains running late delayed him. Finally, he pointed to what his young daughter had painted on his T-shirt, for a lighter view of nearly daily stress: “Haar ke aage jeet hai, Dadar ke aage seat hai (There’s victory after defeat, there’s a seat after Dadar)!”

Out of curiosity, why did you opt for self-publishing? How tough, from your own experience, is it to self-publish, especially you are very much involved in the design process?

That the amazing creative freedom of self-publishing offsets the crazy slog of the whole process is something my friend and collaborator [on two editions of Parsi Bol] Sooni Taraporevala pushed me to understand. I acted on her advice, which I’m real grateful for. You bet it’s tough—from the gigantic task of financing it (Once Upon A City has the good fortune of being backed by six gracious sponsors), to the logistics of production entailing designing and printing, to dealing with booksellers and the press. You need to identify a truly dedicated team to shoulder the work a whole publishing firm would. I’ve struck gold with a crackerjack bunch, my Fab Four: Kermin Colaco, Praveen Bhandary, Ferriel Palkhivala and Payal Joshi. I’m hugely thankful to them. And, as always, to Bombay herself.

Bawas Got Talent is a chance for the Parsi community to showcase their skills in the performing arts

The Parsi community may be small and dwindling in number but that hasn’t proved to be a deterrent while they try to make a mark in the performing arts. From theatre to music and dance, they have been making their presence felt in the cultural landscape of Mumbai for a long time now.

Article by Sanskrita Bhardwaj | Hindustan Times

Keeping this in mind, a group of people from the community have come together to look for talents within their fraternity. Titled Bawas Got Talent, the show will give Parsis an opportunity to showcase their talents. The last time the group got together for something similar was four years ago, during Drame Bawas, which was an attempt to bring out fresh talent in the field of acting. “The result of Drame Bawas was, a lot of new people came in. For instance, normally, on a Parsi New Year day, there are three or four plays, but last year, there were around seven plays. So, the talent show helped, new groups came up because of it. But that was only for theatre, now we are extending it to group dance, singing, standup, etc. The idea is to unearth new Parsi talent, who, at the moment, perhaps, do not have the platform to perform,” says Burjor Patel, who was a pioneer and visionary of the Parsi-Gujarati and English stage.

Actor and producer Shernaz Patel, who is part of the organising committee, says it’s not like competitions like this don’t happen but they happen in “smaller pockets”. “So, organising something like this at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) raises the bar for everybody. If you’re talented, your opportunities may be furthered by something like this — by us celebrating your talent, by nurturing it — because between the elimination round and the final round, we are also hoping to provide some mentorship. We are hoping that the finals will be an entertaining evening but it’s also going to be hardcore. It’s not just fun and games, you come up on stage and really show off your talents,” she shares.

Due to migration and intermarriages, there are very few Parsis left in India. A 2016 statistics showed that their numbers are down to 61,000, and dwindling by the day. “Maybe that’s why it’s easier for us to organise events like this. When the community is large with lakhs of people, getting the message out is difficult. Because we’re small in number, it is much easier. A lot of people will know every third Parsi. We are also proud of our talents, so we want to showcase it,” says Hoshang Gotla, another member of the organising committee.

Call for entries for Bawas Got Talent is on till February 1. The elimination rounds will take place in mid-February and the final is scheduled for April. The finalists will be mentored by professionals from the industry. “We want to bring in popular and talented people as judges. We are hoping that the participants will get an opportunity to learn from them,” says Shernaz, adding “I also feel that even though we are such a small community, we are very artistically inclined. We love entertainment and we don’t mind giving it a shot.”

Celebrating the 134th birth anniversary of Jamshed Nusserwanjee (1886-1952), a philanthropist and the first elected mayor of Karachi, speakers at a gathering on Sunday stressed the dire need to understand and acknowledge the contributions of various non-Muslim communities, especially Parsis.

The Karachi Theosophical Society, a forum founded in 1896, organised the gathering at the auditorium of the Jamshed Memorial Hall to pay tributes to Nusserwanjee and discuss his work as the city’s first elected mayor, a philanthropist and an architect whose developmental contributions earned him the title of ‘Maker of Modern Karachi’.

Article by Zia Ur Rehman | The News Pakistan

In addition to students of schools run by the Theosophical Society and civil society activists, a large number of members of the Parsi community — who are not often seen at public events — also attended the gathering to pay homage to Nusserwanjee.

During Nusserwanjee’s tenure as the president of the Parsi community in the Karachi municipality and then the first elected mayor, Karachi turned into a well-planned and developed city, said the speakers.

Hamid Mayet, the Theosophical Society’s honorary general secretary, said that during his tenure, Karachi was known as the cleanest city, with the streets being washed twice a day. “The new generation should know about the founders of the modern city and their contributions.”

Architect and heritage consultant Marvi Mazhar said she felt an immense pride to work on the historic building of the Jamshed Memorial Hall, which played an important part in creating Karachi’s history.

“As a heritage consultant and activist, I have been rethinking the idea of preserving and curating culturally significant spaces; a centre like the Theosophical Society which is frozen in past with its in-house artefacts, furniture pieces and archives — this building may play an important role for a small-scale museum — which defines its own history and timeline.”

She also said: “We in South Asia need to layout our own history timeline on site-specific projects and develop our own small-scale museums detached from nationalistic narrative, which serve the community on relatable scale.”

Researcher and academic Akhtar Balouch said that in the inauguration ceremonies of important government buildings of the Karachi Municipal Corporation and Karachi Local Board in the 1930s, texts from the Quran, the Bible, the Gita and the Avesta were read out, showing religious harmony in the pre-Partition era.

Unfortunately, however, after Partition, most of the roads and landmarks named after the people who contributed to the city’s development but belonged to various non-Muslim faiths have been renamed, he added.

Prof Dr Riaz Ahmed Shaikh, dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences & Education Department at the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science & Technology, said Nusserwanjee played a major role in developmental and political movements not only in Karachi but also in rural Sindh.

“Nusserwanjee’s role in organising the peasant movement that later transformed into the Sindh Hari Committee was remarkable. Also, his role in the building of the Sukkur Barrage was a significant contribution to rural Sindh.”

There could not have been a better time than now for celebrating Nusserwanjee’s contributions to the city because today the sprawling metropolis has been facing the issue of ownership, he added. He also stressed that there should be a campaign to revive the pluralistic and secular colour of Karachi.

Shahid Abdulla, one of the founders of the Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture, discussed the relocation of the 100-year-old Nusserwanjee building from Kharadar to its Clifton campus in 1991, a unique move in the architectural history of the Subcontinent. “Only 50 stones were broken or damaged out of the 26,000 that were retrieved.”

Pakistan Institute of International Affairs chairperson Dr Masuma Hasan said that after retiring from politics in 1940, he devoted his remaining life to social work, and the extent of his involvement could be judged from the fact that he was active in around 77 institutions, mostly welfare-oriented.

Hydration is important, especially in hotter regions where people lose more water from sweating and exhalation. There are plenty of clear associations between hydration and metabolism, skin health, and general fitness.  But too much of anything isn’t good. Even water. So, how much is the right amount of water you should drink?

A couple of human studies have suggested that individuals who drink very, very small amounts of fluid, significantly less than 800-900 mL/day, may be at higher risk for some cardiovascular diseases, perhaps bladder cancer, and strokes.  On the other hand, there is no evidence that people who consume normal amounts of water and have urine outputs of over 1 L/day are healthier when their outputs are 2-3 L/day. The most recent epidemiologic studies[4] that have been conducted have suggested that increased water intake is not associated with better cardiovascular outcomes or improved mortality.

Lay press has promoted the “urban myth” that not only should you drink 6-8 glasses of water a day as a typical intake, but in addition you should drink another 6 or 8 glasses a day in order to have some sort of improvement in your health. For that, there is virtually no basis at all. There’s no actual science behind the claim that six to eight glasses of water per day is necessary for good health, but nevertheless, the claim gets tossed around by the government, WhatsApp, the media, and just about anyone who fancies him/herself as a nutrition expert. 

The original “eight glasses” claim purportedly comes from a recommendation by the 1945 U.S. Food & nutrition Board, which stated that we should drink 2.5 liters of water every day for good health. The recommendation wasn’t based on any actual research. Unfortunately, in lieu of more concrete directions, this recommendation took hold in our culture. Add in the fact that nutrition science is complicated and poorly understood (even by experts!), and it’s clear why we can’t seem to shake the idea that more water equals better health.
   
For calculating the minimum amount of fluid per day, a formula based on body weight is recommended: 1500 ml is the minimum water intake with 15ml fluid per kg to be added for the actual weight minus 20 kg. This formula can be used for older adults who are normal weight, underweight, or overweight.
Some sources suggest taking half your body weight and aiming for that total in ounces; for example, a 200-pound person would need 100 ounces of water each day. However, this is just a rule of thumb—there’s no specific formula that works for every person. There are just too many variables that go into the equation, especially when you start adding water intake from solid foods. Your needs will depend on your body weight, local climate and activity level.

Every person’s water needs are unique, and as such, we need to rely on our own unique signals when deciding whether we’re properly hydrated. According to Mayo Clinic, there are a few easy ways to stay hydrated, no matter how much water your body needs:

• Drink water or other liquids regularly, including with meals
• Drink any time you feel thirsty (or hungry!)
• If you’re exercising, drink extra before and after a workout
• It should be easy enough to tell whether you’re hydrated.  Thirst, fatigue, and overtly yellow urine are signs of dehydration. Aim for a routine of daily water intake that matches the energy you expend.

Note that your daily “water intake” encompasses more than just the liquid you drink. Nearly every food we eat has water in it, and some (like fruits and vegetables are extremely water rich. Many of us end up getting much of our recommended liquid intake just from the meals we eat.  In short, you might be more hydrated than you think you are — even without downing a tall glass of water at every meal. It’s not important that you force yourself to chug water each day in hopes of meeting an arbitrary goal. What is important is that you listen to your body’s signals and adjust your intake until it matches your lifestyle.

About Vispi Kanga

Vispi Kanga was the principal scientist in global technology at Unilever and has more than 35 years experience in product development in dermatology and skin care formulations, working for multi-national companies in health and personal care industry. He has followed the evolution of the Health & Personal Care industry since the 70’s to it’s current stature as a $146 billion business in the United States.

His expertise has resulted in several patents in the development of new innovative products. He received his BS in Pharmacy from Ahmedabad India and did his postgraduation from Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences (formerly known as Brooklyn College of Pharmacy).

Vispi has given numerous presentations in the area of skin care delivery systems and use of natural ingredients to the Personal Care Ingredients & Technology division of Health & Beauty America as well as other scientific organizations including Panacea, natural products expo India. He was the contributing editor of HAPPI magazine and also contributed articles and editorials in SpecialChem-The material selection platform. He was also an adjunct professor in the Graduate School of Natural Sciences at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

You can find all articles by Vispi Kanga on Parsi Khabar at this link: Vispi Speaks

The British Library is fortunate in having an unparalled collection of over 100 Zoroastrian works ranging from the oldest, the ninth century Ashem Vohu prayer written in Sogdian script discovered by Aurel Stein in Central Asia in 1907, to, most recently, manuscripts collected especially for the Royal Society in London during the late-nineteenth century. Although Zoroastrianism is Iranian in origin, most of our manuscripts in fact come from India. They are written in Avestan (Old Iranian), Middle Persian, New Persian, and also in the Indian languages Sanskrit and Gujarati.

Article by Ursula Sims-Williams | British Library

In the past few years several of our manuscripts have become familiar through exhibitions such as Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination held at SOAS (2013) and New Delhi (2016) and also through the Zoroastrian articles and collection items included in our recent website Discovering Sacred Texts. Building on this and thanks to the philanthropic support of Mrs Purviz Rusy Shroff, we have now been able to complete digitisation of the whole collection. This introductory post outlines the history of the collection and is intended as the first in a series highlighting the collection as the manuscripts go live during the next few months.

One of the holiest Zoroastrian prayers, the Ashem vohu, discovered at Dunhuang by Aurel Stein in 1907. Transcribed into Sogdian (a medieval Iranian language) script, this fragment dates from around the ninth century AD, about four centuries earlier than any other surviving Zoroastrian text (BL Or.8212/84). Public domain

The collection is made up of three main collections described below, dating from the seventeenth, the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, in addition to individual items acquired by British travellers to India and employees of the East India Company. I’ll be writing more about these individual collections in future posts.

Thomas Hyde (1636–1703)

Our oldest collection, and the earliest to reach the West, was acquired for the seventeenth century polymath Thomas Hyde. Hyde became Laudian Professor of Arabic at the University of Oxford in 1691 and Regius Professor of Hebrew in 1697 and also served as Royal Secretary and Translator of Oriental Languages for three successive monarchs: Charles II, James II and William III. While he had never travelled in the East himself, he built up a network of travellers and East India Company officials whom he asked to purchase books and manuscripts on his behalf. Several of these were chaplains whom Hyde had personally recommended to the Levant and the East India trading companies. After his death in 1703 part of his collection was purchased by Queen Anne for the Royal Library. It was subsequently given to the British Museum by King George III in 1757.

A copy of the Khordah Avesta (‘Little Avesta’) which contains prayers, hymns and invocations. This manuscript begins with the Ashem vohu (featured also in Sogdian script above) and is dated 30 Ardibihisht 1042 in the era of Yazdagird (1673). It was copied at the request of the English Agent Kunvarji Nanabhai Modi probably on commission for Hyde. Hyde could read though never wholly understood Avestan, but he used this particular manuscript as a model for the special Avestan type he created for his well-known History of the Persian Religion published in 1700 (BL Royal Ms 16.B.vi, f. 1r). Public domain

Samuel Guise (1751-1811)

Samuel Guise began his career as a Surgeon on the Bombay Establishment of the East-India Company in 1775 and from 1788 until the end of 1795, he was Head Surgeon at the East-India Company’s Factory in Surat where his work brought him into close contact with the Parsi community. An avid collector, he acquired altogether more than 400 manuscripts while in India. At some point he was fortunate enough to be able to purchase from his widow, the collection of the famous Dastur Darab who had taught the first translator of the Avesta, Anquetil du Perron, between 1758 and 1760 (Guise, Catalogue, 1800, pp. 3-4):

This Collection was made at Surat, from the year 1788 till the End of 1795, with great Trouble and Expence. … Of this Collection, however rich in Arabick and Persian works of Merit, the chief Value consists in the numerous Zend and Pehlavi MSS treating of the antient Religion and History of the Parsees, or Disciples of the celebrated Zoroaster, many of which were purchased, at a very considerable Expence, from the Widow of Darab, who had been, in the Study of those Languages, the Preceptor of M. Anquetil du Perron; and some of the Manuscripts are such as this inquisitive Frenchman found it impossible to procure

In 1796 he retired to Montrose, Angus, where he lived until his death in 1811. The story of his collection and what subsequently happened to it is told in my article “The strange story of Samuel Guise: an 18th-century collection of Zorostrian manuscripts,” but eventually in 1812, 26 Zoroastrian manuscripts were acquired at auction by the East India Company Library. They include one of the oldest surviving Avestan manuscripts, the Pahlavi Videvdad (‘Law to drive away the demons’), a legal work concerned with ritual and purity which was copied in 1323 AD (Mss Avestan 4). Other important manuscripts are a copy of the liturgical text, the Videvdad sādah (Mss Avestan 1), attributed to the fifteenth century, and one of the oldest copies of the Yasna sādah – the simple text of the Yasna ritual without any commentary– (Mss Avestan 17).

Verses 6-7
 of Yasna 43 on the creation of the universe. The red floral decorations are verse dividers and are a feature of this manuscript. This copy was completed in India in 1556 (BL Mss Avestan 17, f. 128r). Public domain

Burjorji Sorabji Ashburner

Burjorji Ashburner was a successful Bombay merchant, a Freemason, and a member of the Bombay Asiatic Society. He was also a member of the Committee of Management for one of the most important Zoroastrian libraries in Bombay, the Mulla Firuz Library and made a special point of having copies made of some of the rarer items. In April 1864 Burjurji wrote offering some 70 to 80 volumes as a gift to the Royal Society, London, promising to add additional ones:

In the course of antiquarian researches…with special reference to the Parsee religion, I have had the good fortune to obtain some valuable ancient manuscripts in Zend, Pehlui, and Persian. I do not wish to keep to myself what may be useful in the literary world. [1]

His collection consisted of standard Arabic and Persian works in addition to nineteen specifically Zoroastrian manuscripts in Persian, Avestan and Pahlavi. A number of Bujorji’s manuscripts came originally from Iran. The oldest is an illustrated copy of the Videvdad sādah (RSPA 230) which was copied in Yazd, Iran, in 1647. Whereas Zoroastrian manuscripts are generally unillustrated except for small devices such as verse dividers and occasional diagrams, this one, exceptionally, contains seven coloured drawings of trees, used as chapter headings not unlike Islamic manuscripts of the same period.

The beginning of chapter 19 of the Videvdad sadah in which Zoroaster repels an attempt on his life by the demon Buiti, sent by the evil spirit Angra Mainyu. Note the elongated calligraphic script which is typical of the older manuscripts from Iran (BL RSPA 230, f. 227r). Public domain

Several of Bujorji’s manuscripts were copied or written by Siyavakhsh Urmazdyar an Iranian poet and writer living in Bombay in the mid-nineteenth century. His poetical name was Azari, but he was otherwise known as Sarfahkar Kirmani or Irani. These include works in Persian on the calendar (the subject of a major controversy at the time), a dictionary, treatises on divination and the interaction between Zoroastrians and Muslims, in addition to copies of Avestan texts.

Other sources

The remaining manuscripts were acquired in India, mostly by East India Company servants Jonathan Duncan Governor of Bombay (1756–1811), Sir John Malcolm (1769–1833), and the Scottish linguist and poet John Leyden (1775-1811). They range from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.

The beginning of the Qissah-i Sanjan, the traditional story in Persian verse of the settlement of the Parsis in India composed by Bahman ibn Kayqubād at Nausari in AD 1600. This copy is undated but was written, most probably for John Leyden, on paper watermarked 1799 (BL IO Islamic 2572, f. 1v). Public domain

Further reading

Samuel Guise, A Catalogue and Detailed Account of a Very Valuable and Curious Collection of Manuscripts, Collected in Hindostan. London, 1800.
Almut Hintze, An introduction to Zoroastrianism, in Discovering Sacred Texts, British Library 2019.
Jenny Rose, Zoroastrianism from the early modern period, in Discovering Sacred Texts, British Library 2019.
Ursula Sims-Williams, Zoroastrianism in late antiquity, in Discovering Sacred Texts, British Library 2019.
—————-, “The strange story of Samuel Guise: an 18th-century collection of Zorostrian manuscripts,” Bulletin of the Asia Institute 19, 2005 (2009), pp. 199-209.
—————-, “Zoroastrian Manuscripts in the British Library, London,” in The Transmission of the Avesta, ed. A. Cantera. Wiesbaden, 2012, pp. 173-94.

We are grateful to Mrs Purviz Rusy Shroff, Mr Neville Shroff and Mr Zarir Cama for their generous support towards this project.

Ursula Sims-Williams, Lead Curator Persian, British Library
© CCBY

[1] Royal Society Archives MC.7.53: Ashburner to the Foreign Secretary, 13 April 1864