“Self-censorship has become the norm”, Senior Advocate Navroz Seervai on the modern-day threats to Freedom of Speech and Expression

From where lies the threat to the Constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech and expression under Article 19 (1)(a) of the Indian Constitution?

Whereas in earlier times, even the Constitutional framers were aware that the greatest threat to such freedoms may come from the State, “Today, the answer is not so easy”, commented Senior Advocate Navroz Seervai.

Article by Meena Emmanuel | Bar And Bench

He further explained,

“Today, and for the past 5-6 years, there is, I regret to say, another more insidious threat: a threat from the metaphorical Trojan horse. It is a threat from within. And the government may have something to do with this, but the threat comes from self-censorship and self-imposed prior restraint – by the press and more so by the electronic media.”

Navroz Seervai

Seervai made the observation while speaking on the Right to Freedom of Expression during a webinar conducted on Saturday.

He broke down the issue into three thematic questions:

1. What does Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution of India recognise as being a fundamental right?

2. From where lies the threat to Article 19(1))a) of the Constitution?

3. Given recent disturbing trends, should India have an absolute, unrestricted right to freedom of speech and expression?

Dangerous to assume that rights are “State-given”

During his talk, Seervai referred to the philosophical doctrine championed by thinkers like Jean Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire, which recognises that there are natural rights which “inhere in a human being because s/he is human”.

He went on to opine that a similar position is reflected in the Constitution of India in its Preamble, which acknowledges that the source of the right to free speech and expression is not the Constitution itself. Seervai pointed out,

“Our Constitution does not grant or give or confer this natural or human right. It merely recognises it as fundamental in all its manifestations. I think it is extremely significant that the Preamble uses the phrase ‘to secure to all its citizens liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship.’”

Equally, he added, the Preamble does not mention the State or the Government as the source of human rights. “It says ‘we the people.’”

On the other hand lies the positivist theories of “State-given rights.” A proponent of this theory, Thomas Hobbes, proposed that the individual would have to enter into a social contract to give up “some dangerous freedoms” before a powerful person/institution in charge, so as to avoid a ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short’ life outside society.

Seervai opined that the significance and terrible danger in accepting this theory was that the State can then restrict all rights, including free speech and the right to life.

To explain, Seervai recounted an episode from the Emergency era in India when then Attorney General Niren De was called upon by the Supreme Court to answer whether a man could be deprived of his rights, including the right to life and liberty. Seervai pointed out that AG De solemnly answered yes and that, “shamefully, four out of the five judges accepted this.“

In view of the same, Seervai opined that there is a great threat to freedom in accepting this attractive theory. He added that on the ground level, “It could lead to an authoritarian government at the least in the guise of a democracy”, he said, adding, “or worse, to Hitler, Mussolini and Franco on the one side or Mao, Stalin … on the other.”

To sum up, Seervai opined that a combined reading of the Preamble and Article 19 (1)(a) of the Constitution would show that the Constitution framers had recognised that the freedom of speech and expression were basic human rights that “all human beings were born with.”

He added,

“So the next time – I would request all lawyers – you refer to this right, be careful how you describe it. It is not given by the Constitution, let alone any government in power or charismatic leader. You have always had this right, and the Constitution merely recognises it and secures it to you as a citizen.”

Navroz Seervai

The Legal Paradox of Free Speech

Seervai went on to comment that the right to free speech would be reduced to a right writ in water, if it did not include the right to say things that people may not want to hear.

“Freedom of speech must not mean freedom of that which people only want to hear or like to hear. And that is the legal paradox of free speech, for it entails, as it must, my freedom to speak what you do not like…Without this, I do believe freedom of speech is meaningless.”

Navroz Seervai

He pointed out this was reflected in Voltaire’s view, encapsulated in his statement that, “I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it.”

He pointed out that Article 19(1)(a) is antithetical to intolerance. All the same, he noted that there may be valid restraints to free speech. In this regard, Seervai cited the example of a law in Germany.

“The law in Germany today which prohibits holocaust denial and makes it a crime is clearly a valid restraint on the principle of tolerance given Germany’s history from 1933 to 1947.”

The modern-day threat to Free Speech: Self-Censorship

“Self-censorship has become the norm”, Seervai said while summing up the modern day threat to the freedom of speech and expression. He went on to remark that one of greatest threats in the modern era is a corrupt, pliant press.

He recounted that when the Constitution was framed, the framers entrusted the judiciary to guard against attacks to fundamental rights by the State.

“They created what they believed would be an incorruptible hierarchy of judges. And they made these judges the trustees of our Constitution, its guardians and its final arbiter between the State and its citizens.”

As evident from cases such as Romesh Thapar, the three Indian Express Newspaper cases, Brij Bhushan, Bennett Coleman and the Sakal Newspapers cases, it was in fact from the State that attacks were made against the freedom of speech.

In response, Seervai recounted that High Court and Supreme Court judges often vigorously upheld free speech rights in the past, the one aberration being the ADM Jabalpur case.

However, in the recent years, Seervai opined that a third disturbing threat is reflected in certain Court judgments. He opined that,

“… Some of the judgments and orders of the Supreme Court on article 19(1)(a) in the past 5-6 years leave much to be desired.”

Navroz Seervai

He went on to take critical note of a recent episode before the Supreme Court “…where the Centre actually bared its teeth, having the temerity to ask that the Court pass an order directing that all news regarding COVID-19 be first approved by the government before it is published.”

“Mercifully the Court refused to go that far”, Seervai said. However, he added a query why the Court unnecessarily went on berate the media for fake news.

“Surely the Supreme Court judges who passed this order knew that the single greatest bearer of fake news (globally) is the Government itself and not the press?”

Navroz Seervai

Another judgment Seervai highlighted concerned the plea to restore internet services in Jammu and Kashmir, where he noted that while the Supreme Court wrote long, learned expositions on the freedom of speech, “no relief was granted to the petitioners, though the matter cried out for relief under 19(1)(a).”

“This is a trend, to put it mildly, which is disturbing”, Seervai said.

Should India have an absolute right to free speech?

Seervai was emphatic in his opinion that Indian citizens should also have an absolute right to free speech, save for defined, minimal restrictions.

“I am against censorship in all its forms, I detest the nanny state of which Singapore is a prime example”, he opined. He went on to elaborate further,

“In a democracy, the State must trust the better judgment of its vast majority of its society, knowing that the minority may abuse (this freedom).”

Navroz Seervai

He went on to note that even in the USA, there is no absolute right to free speech. There are minimal restraints, judicially crafted, such as the case with child pornography where even the Supreme Court has drawn the line.

“Outright incitement to cessation or revolt or violence leading to criminal activity” is another, he said.

Taking a cue from the US, and from Germany (where holocaust denial is barred), Seervai proposed,

“A country can either by judicial precedent (US) or legislation (Germany) exclude, in a very limited way, a subject from the otherwise absolute and unrestrained Freedom of Speech.”

Navroz Seervai

On a concluding note, Seervai recalled a historical anecdote when Benjamin Franklin, a US founding father, was asked following a Constitutional Convention by a lady,

“Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?”

Seervai recounted that Franklin replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.’”

He added,

“It is a quote with suitable variations of which it is well worth reminding the judges of the present Supreme Court.”

The lecture was jointly hosted by Dhruve Liladhar & Co., Rashminkant and Partners, Hariani & Co., Universal Legal and ALMT Legal in association with the Bombay Incorporated Law Society.

This post is dedicated to Flight Lieutenant Parvez Rustom Jamasji, Vir Chakra, for his services in the Bangladesh Liberation war—the man carrying the Phantoms of Chittagong into hell and back!

The Glorious Special Frontier Force, or the commonly named ‘22 Establishment’, for being commanded by Inspector General -Major General Sujan Singh Uban—and it was called into action to fight for the liberation of Bangladesh and fight off the Pakistani occupation. Mostly composed of Tibetan Mustang rebels and guerillas who were turned into one of the best soldiers with Indian army training and American and Bulgarian weapons—these boys were led by Inspector General Sujan Singh Uban himself and Dapon Ratuk Ngawang into action—a man equivalent to the rank of a Brigadier in the SSF, and off went these boys to fight in a war that wasn’t theirs.

A strong Task Force of 3000 SSF troops were created and were planned to deploy them by November, 1971, into the Chittagong Hill Tracts. For this plan—from the state of Mizoram, Inspector General Uban decided to march in a column of SSF troops into Bangladeshi territory, while a few heavy equipments and troops were planned to be taken inside the territory by airlifts!

The problem was—at that time, the SFF had only one helicopter at their disposal, just one single Soviet Mi-4 helicopter, which was manned by this brave man, Flight Lieutenant Parvez Rustom Jamasji.

One of the youngest pilots seeing action—he was commissioned in the Indian Airforce on 16th October, 1965 after completing the 94 Course in the Academy. Being the only pilot, flying the only helicopter for such a glorious band of operatives, Flight Lieutenant Jamasji’s Mi-4 helicopter was turned into a gunship. At first, sandbags were attached to the back of the chopper, along with fixing a belt fed light machine gun, and seeing the chopper being turned literally into a battleship, the Air Chief himself had said these words—

“My God! A nice aircraft has been wasted so mercilessly!”

And now, the same aircraft that had been wasted so mercilessly, is serving as a memory of glory, as a war memorial museum!

Anyways, as the SSF operations began from November, raging havoc in the Chittagong Hill tracts against the Pakistani fortified bunkers and gun positions—marauding the 97 independent Brigade and 2 Commando Battalion of the Pakistani army, Flight Lieutenant Jamasji flew numerous sorties to fly in men and equipment into the hot zones, flying out back with wounded lads of the SSF and bringing them back safely into forward hospitals into Indian territory! He was the only link between the swift airlift and evacuation of the wounded, along with quick delivery of heavy weapons and kit.

And so did the Light machine gun on the chopper provide a strong fire support for the boys, whenever needed!

The SFF was always suffering from a shortage of heavy weapons, and after a considerable amount of successful operations—the SFF was granted the use of 81mm heavy mortars along with a few RCL guns—and all of these were loaded into the overworking chopper of Flight Lieutenant Jamasji, with a stressed pilot Jamasji himself flying into the thick of the action with them, regardless of his safety as he landed his chopper for the boys to get their weapons for the fight!

Flight Lieutenant Jamasji even flew into action carrying the Inspector General himself on board! In the thick of the hills around Chittagong—while on a mission to take the General to the hot zone, he noticed through the radio that his aircraft was at times being detected by enemy aircrafts around, but he evaded them and successfully landed Major General Uban in place and flew back again!

For his dedication in the flying operations—he earned respect and love right from the SSF boys up to Major General Sujan Singh Uban himself! At times, the Major General would even sit and eat together with this young Flight Lieutenant!

And not every time did Flight Lieutenant Jamasji’s chopper come back untouched. The Pakistani ground troops were so frustrated at this gunship that when they used to spot this flying machine—they would open up everything at it, from machine gun fire to mortars!

And at times, Flight Lieutenant Jamasji would return back with his chopper with bullet holes and shrapnel, which were seen to be struck deep into the hull of the Mi-4 gunship! So did once, his chopper had developed a tremendous engine failure right into the heart of the hot zone, loaded with Pakistani troops—but he managed to pull out in time and land back at base!

These gallant actions didn’t escape the notice of Major General Uban himself, so, he decided to recommend this young Flight Lieutenant for a Vir Chakra!

And so did when his recommendation had come forward, the sole pressure on Flight Lieutenant Jamasji for the air operations was relieved as the Special Frontier Force received another Mi-4 helicopter.

The SFF had created history in Bangladesh, almost capturing the city of Chittagong and blocking the route of the Pakistani Army to escape to Burma.

But for this success of the SFF—Flight Lieutenant Parvez Jamasji’s actions had played a vital role as well! So, on the 26th of January, 1972, Flight Lieutenant Parvez Jamasji was awarded the Vir Chakra.

He dedicated a sum total of 20 years to the Indian Airforce, rising up to the rank of Squadron Leader. He retired on the same date he was commissioned on—16th October, 1985, marking exactly 20 years of service.

My salutes to Flight Lieutenant Jamasji for his services for this country!

Jai Hind!

Source- Phantoms of Chittagong by Major General Sujan Singh Uban and Bharat Rakshak

We had recently featured Aviva Damania on Parsi Khabar. Below is an interview she did with Mumbai’s top radio host Hrishi K.

A Report on Interfaith Iftar Celebrations over Zoom

Peace and Unity event organized by the American Muslims Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council over the Zoom on Sunday, April 26, 2020.

The speakers for this unique interfaith event were: Congresswoman Judy Chu, Congresswoman Katie Porter, FBI Assistant Director Paul D Delacourt, Sheriff Don Barnes, Pakistani Hollywood actor Iqbal Theta, Afghan American actress Sitara Attaie, Pakistani actress Maria Wasti, Singer Jason Feddy,Talk show host Leslie Marshall, Sikh actor Charanjeet Singh, Imam Quazwini, Anila Ali, Rabbi Gersh, Pastor Ken Wyant, Rabbi Marcia Tilchin, Ahsan Khan and Zoroastrianism was represented by our Zarrir Bhandara.

The evening started with the AMMWEC President Anila Ali welcoming the distinguished guests. Everyone spoke for about 3 minutes about the importance of Unity and Peace in the present time. The following speech was delivered by Bhandara representing our religion:

Salamvalekum, Sholom, I bring you the greetings of peace and unity from the oldest revealed religion of the world- Zoroastrianism.

I thank the organizers the American Muslims, Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council, and Temple Bat Yahm for this iftar, interfaith meeting.

I’d like to begin with a few glimpses from our history. In 936 AD, when Zoroastrians fled their homeland- Persia- to seek asylum in India, the Indian king sent a bowl full of milk, indicating that his kingdom was full, and there was no place to accommodate the Zoroastrians. The Zoroastrian high priest poured sugar in the bowl of milk, and sent it back to the king, indicating that we will merge in your country maintaining our individuality -sweetness, and spread the same in your country, which the Zoroastrians did, and continue to do so.

Well-known Zoroastrians mentioned in the holy Quran and holy Bible are Dastur Diniyar, – Salman-e-Fars, as the most revered companion of prophet Mohammad – may be peace upon him (holy Quran chapter 16- paragraph 105).

The messiah or the Savior mentioned in the old testament- Zoroastrian king Cyrus- who helped our Jewish community to rebuild their temples, in Jerusalem 538 B.C.  He also gave them the freedom to practice their own religion.

As many of our forefathers have demonstrated, peace begins with a loving understanding of ourselves and other human beings, human doings, all living beings including plants, animals, and all-natural resources.

Energy flows, where the attention goes. So, it is important to be conscious about what we think, speak, and do. Our individual actions affect us and affects the whole universe. That is why one of the main tenants of our religion includes Good thoughts, words, and deeds.

God can be seen and revealed in many different ways, which is why we have different religions. We believe that the religion we have taken birth in, is THE path, God has prescribed for us to attain our purest light and progress physically and spiritually.

We have different religions/different paths, but one goal. We are diverse, yet we need to be united. Just like in nature, everything is diverse yet works in synchronization.

Even within our religion, we have different beliefs, but we do not allow our differences to divide us, but to unify and strengthen us.  Live and let live. Thereby, we will bring more peace, unity, harmony, love, and healing in the world. Just like the story of milk and sugar, we can spread the sweetness of peace, maintaining our own individuality in the ocean of humanity.

Not so Parsi love

Some stories are so ordinary that the fact that most anyone can relate to them makes them extraordinary.

One such story is that of my late parents. A story of love, sacrifice, and struggle. It’s a story that both my pre-teens can narrate to you verbatim. One that I wouldn’t mind narrating right now, amid all the chanting while being clad in nothing but a flimsy white cotton shirt and pajamas.

Article posted on Hyper Ranchi

But first, I’d like you to know what I see at the moment. Because this moment is precisely the lost jigsaw piece in my life that I have long searched for. I am watching from up here my beloved wife Delnaz Kohla Mandvivala hugging the kids with tears in her eyes. We’re all in a room filled with everyone who cares about me and everyone who makes this “home”. They are all gathered here in my honor. My paternal grandmother, who we recently found out went to school with Delu’s grandmother is seated in the third row, catching up with her childhood companion. Her denture stuffed wrinkling lips are often curling into a smile. Although I can’t hear her, I’m sure she’s on about something witty and intelligent. Qualities that Aai always told me, I inherited from her. Call it coincidence or just a friend paying respect to her childhood pal, Delu is her namesake. Perhaps, the latter being the case.

There’s a bittersweet serene peace that washes over me, despite the burning fire and the crowd watching me. I’ve always been the shy kind you see. Not a fan of larger than life ceremonies. Even my wedding was a small ceremony with under 15 guests on both sides. Oh, now my wedding to Delu is another story that I keep dearly close to my heart and even closer to my kid’s ears. It’s not often that a second-generation NRI Parsi nerd like myself is lucky enough to have a beautiful, charming Parsi woman in class at The University of Sheffield. Let alone succeeding at wooing and eventually marrying her. But that tale is for another day.

Coming back to Aai and Dad. Dad or Jehangir Rustomji Mandvivala, the then 22-year-old son of Mobed Ervad Saheb Rustomji Mandvivala had returned to Bombay from England. Jehangir or Jehan as grandma called him had become a chemical engineer with top honors. “Mumma, you should have been there. I said thanks to you and pappa in my speech.” dad had said. “This is for you.” he had laid the gold medal at grandpa’s feet. “Hmmph….That’s great. I’m very proud. You can finally start work at the shop. I would like to retire now.” Grandpa had said. I remember grandma telling me “Jehan was always made for greater deeds. He was never interested in the priesthood or the shop. Neither would he settle for it like his father.” “Mumma, I want to start off on my own. Industry in the outskirts. I want to make PVC pipes. Talk to pappa please.” He had said when grandpa was out working, which he was a lot those days. The grocery store that great-grandpa had set up in Manekshaw Baug had caught a higher momentum than ever before and the number of priests had seen a steep decline which meant longer hours of work and very little rest.

“Jehan, you know pappa. He’d rather kill flies at the store than take any risks. Just start at the store. Win his heart and then we’ll talk to him.” Grandma had suggested. And so dad had commenced his apprenticeship with grandad at the store. His tasks for each day included waking up at sunrise and taking the bus to the baug. He would pick a copy of the daily newspaper on his short stroll from the bus stop to the store. “Motabhai, kem cho? Ane? Su che?” He would strike up a little conversation with the newspaper stall owner as he lit his first cigarette for the day while Motabhai gave him a gist of the news for that day and spoke about the rumors around town. Motabhai by virtue of his profession and sheer curiosity seemed to have all the updates about everything under the sun.

Dad would then open the accordion door and set up 3 boards outside the store. One of which had a caricature of a little girl with “utterly butterly delicious” in a thought bubble. The other two read “milk available” and the price of rice and wheat for that particular day. He then was to clean the front porch of the store and the glass containers that held condiments and peppermint candies. The first half of the day was usually spent without grandpa around. Dad’s hands were always working, either counting cash or keeping a tab of the goods sold. At midday, grandpa would take over and give dad the much-needed nourishment break. The second cigarette of the day would then be burnt out post-lunch. Another half of the day would follow doing the same set of mundane tasks. This went on for over a week. And then it all changed one rainy afternoon.

Julys in Bombay were and still are unforgiving. But the city just does not give up. It has always chosen to function despite the assaults of the rains. July of 1974 was no different. Dad leaned against the stall smoking his second for the day looking down at his white shirt drenched part from sweat and part from the rain. He lowered his gaze to the sleeves of his flared pants. The seams were dripping onto his custom made leather oxfords. “Leather! Paausaat? Chaan!” a distinct young female voice sniggered almost mocking his stupidity. Dad looked up. She quickly jolted her umbrella open over her head and walked across the street. A silhouette, clad in a traditional nine-yard saree, her bare feet created tiny ripples in the water on the ground. The veil that covered her head followed after her creating a visual symphony along with the raindrops and her feet.

Dad peeked forward yet failed to give a face to this beautiful scene that had just played out in front of him. He looked down at his oxfords again and a smile briefly danced on his lips. They say that love is sometimes found in the most unusual places. But perhaps it is mostly found in the most usual places. So the next day dad waited patiently, staring at his fresh pair of sandals repelling the drops. “Shikla!” she sniggered again. “Becoming Bambaiya?” she surprised him a second time with her near-perfect English accent. Her eyes shone through as she flashed him a smile. Her toned, caramel calfs glistened in the rain. Day after day, dad would wait for her beautiful smile, barefoot stride, and one-liners.

“Sunanda! Damodar ni Dikri.” Motabhai had said. Dad soon learned that she was back to Bombay after the sudden demise of Mr. and Mrs. Damodar Deshpande in a train accident. A student of English literature at Allahabad University, she was left with no choice but to drop out and watch over the school that the Deshpandes had set up. Dressed in the sarees that her mother had left behind, she had found in them her mother’s hug that she craved so much.

“Chaha! Better than Cigarette, any day.” She said. Dad quickly stomped on his cigarette and walked next to her. “So? Chaha? When? ” He asked. “When you’re ready to make it.” She giggled and waltzed away. A few days later dad found himself fixing her tea in her ancestral home – an art he had mastered during his university days. Soon dad’s lunch break regime changed and the two found themselves more and more in each other’s company. “No way! I don’t care who she is. Only over my dead body will the son of Ervad Rustomji marry a non- Parsi. People will talk. Outcaste! That’s what you’ll be.” grandad had yelled when dad told them about mom. “But mumma. She’s bright yet compassionate. Just like you! And we are ….in love” dad had begged. “So you do what you must.” She had handed him her heirloom Gara.

With a few friends and relatives who agreed to bear witness and the blessings of his mother, Jehangir saw Sunanda for the first time in the Gara that his mother had given him. He gasped in awe. They exchanged garlands, signed on the register and fled to Sheffield where he would set up a factory of his own and make PVC pipes like he once dreamt. Mom continued to teach, this time tutoring kids of Asian parents in the locality. They made the perfect couple and even better parents to me, their only child. Mom and dad though far far away from India, made home look exactly like a slice out of the baug. The food, the smell, the language, the songs, they floated around me like I’ve always lived in Bombay.

When I did decide finally to return 10 years after Aai breathed her last and almost 12 years since dad, little did I expect that grandma would make sure that I feel at home. It’s overwhelming almost to digest the turn out of people here today. The stage, the decor, white orchids are hanging down from the golden arches. I’m sure one could probably mistake it for a lavish funeral. Gosh! Whatever made you think that? Because, this, my dead friends is not a funeral. This is the beginning of another story. The story of a 40-year-old reinitiated into being a Parsi. Of a middle-aged man having his Navjote in the presence of his wife and kids. The two Delus are now smiling at me as Ervad saheb wraps the Khusti. I smile back at grandma and my nauvari clad wife with tears in my eyes. I look up at the sky hoping that mom-dad are happy about restored pride and proud of their son.

I wonder if maybe, just maybe, theirs wasn’t that ordinary a story after all.

From roaring engines, cheering spectators to online racing and limiting crowds at actual racing events, motorsports is in for some changes post the COV-ID-19 lockdown as the fraternity is eagerly waiting for the next racing season to begin.

The lockdown which is currently on across the globe has had an impact on various sports. And, motor-sports is no different.

Sakal Times caught up with Rayomand Banajee, himself an eight-time national karting champion and now team principal of Rayo Racing, who spoke about how the motorsports fraternity has been affected and how they are gearing up for a change post lockdown.

“All over the world, all sports and also motorsports have taken a bad hit. It’s no different for us in India. It has certainly impacted us very badly. However it is al o an opportunity to innovate. Many racers are now racing online” Rayomand informed.

When asked about the changes that would be seen in motorsports post the corona era. Rayomand aid, “The biggest change will be the acceptance of online racing. Our company IR eSports has recently started an online racing league – Indian Sim Racing League in association with Volkswagen Motorsport. This has brought Indian racers from over 14 cities to race together. Moreover, others can also view the races live, on various social media stream. “

What ” goes down, will come up. So things will improve. For racers this is the right time to look within and see how one can improve themselves. Work on fitness and also aspects like :speaking in front of the camera, media interactions, sponsorship profiles, contact building, social media, etc.
– Rayomand Banajee

Rayomand Banajee said that organizers might have to move things like entry formalities online and minimize the use of cash exchanges.

Speaking about precautions organizers should take when they plan for an event after the lockdown. Rayomand said. ”Social distancing is the very obvious and most important precaution that organizers will have to take. In events like our IndiKarting series, which see a huge number of participants we will have to  stagger the different categories so that only a few competitors come to the venue at the same time. Briefings will have to be done such that there is a substantial distance between individuals.”

“Initially spectators would probably be barred from the event. Organizers will have to frequently sanitize common areas and probably move things like entry formalities online and minimize the use of cash exchanges. Online payments and eWallets will be the right way fonvard” Rayomand added.

Recession combined with lockdown has affected us badly. There is no easy solution for it. It is definitely going to take time to recover. It’s a time that we will have to just survive and use the time to improve various aspects of what we do. We had spread ourselves over different activities, but this i the first time that everything has ground to a complete halt at the same time. We will definitely have to find new ways to cut costs, improve efficiency and try out different avenues for income,” Rayomand informed. “Even once the lockdown is over, catching the virus is going to be a very realistic situation. Staying fit will help improving immunity,” Rayomand concluded.

Negin Forouzesh, a doctoral candidate in the computer science department in the College of Engineering, has been honored as a 2020 Graduate Student of the Year for her excellence in research, teaching, and service.

After finishing her master’s degree in her native country of Iran, Forouzesh decided to pursue her post-graduate studies at Virginia Tech. Drawn to the university’s R1 distinction category (engagement in the highest levels of research activity), Forouzesh said her first and foremost priority was to become a better researcher.

It was her five semesters serving as a graduate teaching assistant that proved to be a pivotal moment for Forouzesh. “That exposure to teaching was a turning point that inspired me to choose my next career as a professor,” said Forouzesh.

This fall, Forouzesh will join the faculty at California State University, Los Angeles as a tenure-track assistant professor of computer science. Forouzesh looks forward to applying her computational biology and bioinformatics research in this new role. There are vast improvements she hopes to contribute to the modern drug design workflow, especially in a society currently stricken by COVID-19.

“To me, teaching is the best way to give knowledge and skills back to the community,” Forouzesh said. “Successful people often have at least one memorable teacher who has inspired them to push through and stand on the summit of their field of expertise. I will be delighted to play a similar role in the future and keep this chain of mentorship unbroken.”

She found a perfect fit with her current advisor, Alexey Onufriev, and his research in computer science with applications for drug discovery in the Laboratory for Theoretical and Computational Molecular Biophysics.

“Mutually, my advisor found my background and enthusiasm matched what he was looking for in a new Ph.D. student,” Forouzesh said.

Admittedly, Forouzesh said she knew the interdisciplinary nature of her research in computational molecular biophysics would not be an easy endeavor.

“Negin joined my group around four years ago, where she made the decision to switch to this unfamiliar field, which would immediately be more challenging for her,” said Onufriev. “Negin has grown professionally from somebody who was trying to orient herself in the new field to a young researcher who understands key aspects of the scientific enterprise in the U.S.”

“Computational biology and bioinformatics address critical challenges related to the life sciences, and those posed to human health, habitat, and well-being,” said Forouzesh. “Research effort in this field is mainly focused on refining computational methods for diagnosis and treatment of human diseases. The target is closely aligned with my personal goals, and I am honored to be a member of this community.

“What makes drug discovery a slow process is mainly due to the required clinical examinations on patient cohorts,” Forouzesh said. “Now, assume that we had a super accurate and fast computational model that simulates all the important biological factors. Given that, we could shortcut current clinical trials and deliver the final drug much faster. This is certainly essential when it comes to dealing with pandemics such as the COVID-19 outbreak.”

While interning at the Stanford Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine in summer 2018, Forouzesh developed a cloud-based database of genetic variant annotations. During the Association for Computing Machinery Student Research Competition at the Grace Hopper Celebration, she took third place for one of her research projects, “Finding Optimal Dielectric Boundary for Practical Continuum Solvent Calculations.”

Forouzesh attended the 2018 Grace Hopper Celebration, the world’s largest gathering of women in computing. The three-day celebration is inspired by the legacy of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, an influential tech pioneer who helped to create the first compiler for computer languages.

Forouzesh has been an active member of the computer science department since her arrival in 2015. She has served as treasurer of the Iranian Society at Virginia Tech and the Computer Science Graduate Council. She also assists in the planning of the Department’s Graduate Recruitment Weekend each year and edits “A Compact between Computer Science Graduate Students and their Advisors,” a document that helps students to understand their responsibilities and rights, as well as resources at the department and university levels to help students in distress.

The extraordinary extent of her leadership and service earned Forouzesh the Graduate Student Service Award in spring 2019 and the Computer Science Scholars and Pratt Fellowships in 2017 and 2019.

Her excellence in student teaching also earned her the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award in spring 2018, conferred by the Department of Computer Science.

“Overall, Negin is one of the best graduate teaching assistants that I have ever had,” said Cliff Shaffer, professor and associate department head for graduate studies. “She clearly cares about her teaching, and will become a great teacher on her own in her future career.”

“I clearly remember my first day of my orientation at Virginia Tech,” Forouzesh said. “I saw Ut Prosim on the orange and maroon flags, wondering what that sentence meant. It was inspiring when I realized it translated to ‘That I May Serve.’”

She noted that the university’s firm commitment to serve the community was her biggest takeaway from her time at the school. “During the past five years at Virginia Tech, I found that my core beliefs strongly aligned with the Hokie spirit,” said Forouzesh.

– Written by Taylor Casarotti, a senior intern in the Department of Computer Science

A CRUMBLING TEMPLE for an ancient religion lies hidden from the street, just beyond the fields of Mnazi Moja. All but forgotten, its doors are rarely opened; the once prominent Zoroastrians have all but disappeared from Zanzibar. Their fire temple, now falling to ruin, was once a place where worshippers gathered to celebrate their god, Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord), and where weddings were held and people buried.

Article by Vanessa Beddoe | Swahili Coast

Movie reels now lie scattered throughout the buildings, from the days when Zanzibar had an operating cinema run by a Zoroastrian family. Prayer books, coated in dust and debris from the falling ceiling, are littered about the temple. Photographs and paintings of prominent Zoroastrian families from the past 100 or so years are stacked against the walls, still in their elaborate frames.

This is the Zanzibar that you dream about. Mysterious and charming, crumbling and beautiful…and all but forgotten.

Zoroastrianism is the oldest recorded religion in the world and its ancient scriptures, known as Avesta, have had a profound influence on mankind, both directly and indirectly. The Avesta speaks of individual judgement, Heaven and Hell, the future resurrection of the body, and life everlasting for the soul and body– doctrines that were to influence the teachings of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The dominant world religion during the Persian empires (559 BC to 651 AD), Zoroastrianism was the most powerful world religion at the time of Jesus, and the Magi who brought gifts to Christ were Zoroastrian.

The Zoroastrian religion was founded by Zarathushtra, more than 3000 years ago. Zarathushtra lived and preached in the Inner Asian steppes and Zoroastrians believe that he received his revelations directly from Ahura Mazda and his Archangels (Amesha Spentas). Two sacred garments, the shirt (sudreh) and the cord (kusti) are the emblems of the reli- gion and devout Zoroastrians perform a short cleansing ritual and retie the cord several times a day as a sign of their faith. Other prayers are recited daily from the Avesta, with prayers spoken in the Avestan language. The faithful also participate in seasonal communal festivals during the year.

So what do the estimated 140,000 remaining Zoroastrians worldwide believe? Their god, Ahura Mazda, is considered ‘all good’, and

created the world and all good things, including people; he is opposed by Anghra Mainyu (Destructive Spirit), the embodiment of evil and creator of all evil things. A cosmic battle between good and evil will ultimately lead to the destruction of all evil. Fire, the ‘original light of God’, holds a special place of esteem in the religion. Prayer often takes place in front of a fire, and consecrated fires are kept perpetually burning in the major temples.

Zoroastrianism is often referred to as the ‘Parsi’ faith. Parsi are a remnant of the great Persian Empire, which was toppled by invading Muslims around 1400 years ago. Some, known as Irani, took refuge in the desert, while others, later joined by the Irani, fled to Gujarat in northern India. It is these Indian Zoroastrians who are termed Parsi.

The Parsis erected Zoroastrian fire temples, where a flame is kept burning as a symbol of the life cycle and eternal recurrence. Their ‘Towers of Silence’ – the tall buildings in which they leave their dead – have the ancient religious purpose of affirming the equality of all men in death. Vultures remove the flesh from the bodies, and the bones turn to dust

The religion may have first swept into Zanzibar with monsoon dhows from India and

Arabia, over two thousand years ago. More recently, during the 1940s, many Parsis moved to Zanzibar from India, to work as civil servants for the British colonial government. This is what brought the parents of Farokh Bulsara (more commonly known as Freddie Mercury) to Zanzibar’s shores.

Today, most of the Zoroastrian tradition in Zanzibar has been lost after a millennium of Islam, the one exception being the annual Mwaka Kogwa festival ‘Year of the Washed’, which is a traditional Zoroastrian New Year celebration. The festival has been somewhat reinterpreted by Zanzibaris, who celebrate Mwaka Kogwa with the building of huge bon- fires, the staging of mock fights, men dressed as women, and a high consumption of alcohol. Zanzibar is the only place in the world where the festival is officially observed and celebrated by most of the population.

The future of Zanzibar’s fire temple is unknown: it’s rumoured to have been sold, but restoration is urgently needed to stop it falling to the ground. A short stroll from Stone Town along Nyerere Road, the temple is closed to visitors, although it’s possible to catch a glimpse through the wrought iron gates and over the fence. If you’re passing by, it’s worth pausing outside this hidden relic of Zanzibar’s past, if only to contemplate an all but forgotten religion that has quietly influenced so many.

A member of the British House of Commons at a time when Indians in India couldn’t vote, he argued that the empire was impoverishing his homeland.

By Tunku Varadarajan | Wall Street Journal

When the British government announced in 2014 that it would install a statue of Mohandas Gandhi in London’s Parliament Square, there were complaints in certain quarters that the wrong anticolonial Indian was being honored in the heart of an erstwhile empire. The statue, some said, should be not of the Mahatma—however great his status as tormentor-in-chief of the British Raj—but of Dadabhai Naoroji.

If there were many befuddled people who said “Dadabhai who?” at the time, there will be far fewer who will say so now, given the publication of “Naoroji,” by Dinyar Patel, an absorbing biography of the first Indian ever to be elected to the House of Commons. Naoroji won election as a candidate for William Gladstone’s Liberal Party in 1892. He represented Englishmen in a London borough at a time when Indians in India had no right to vote and no parliament of their own.

As struck as we may be today by the irony that the House of Commons was the only legislature for which Naoroji—a man with few rights in his own land—was entitled to run, we would also do well to note the unseemly fact that this “pioneer of Indian nationalism” is almost entirely forgotten in India.

There are many reasons for Naoroji’s absence from contemporary India’s nationalist memory bank. One is an intellectual failing to which Mr. Patel draws apt attention: Historians of South Asia, he writes, “have almost reflexively shunned political elites” who do not “mesh well with the Marxist and postcolonial traditions that still dominate” the Indian academy. Naoroji was a textbook man of the elite. He was an anglicized, highly educated Parsi (or Zoroastrian), a member of a tiny ethno-religious minority that fled to India from a recently Islamized Persia in the eighth century. The Parsis prospered greatly in their new Indian homeland, especially under the British, who favored them for their lighter skin and warmed to their embrace of Western ways, even as they remained faithful to their own tenacious religion.

The dogmatic anti-elitism of Indian historians is matched, says Mr. Patel, by their unwillingness “to accept biography as a legitimate form of scholarship.” Naoroji’s isn’t the only story to have gone largely untold by scholars, and there can be few major countries with a history as rich as India’s that have been as biographically neglectful of their prominent men and women. Luckily, Naoroji’s personal papers survive, although “forbiddingly vast,” damaged and disorganized. Mr. Patel—a Parsi himself, and now an assistant professor of history at the University of South Carolina—spent two years poring over Naoroji’s private correspondence, some 15,000 documents in all. His book grew out of eight years of study at Harvard, principally for his doctoral thesis. But the erudition of his enterprise, while everywhere evident, is never daunting.

Naoroji, born in 1825, deserves a sage biography. He was a scholar himself, becoming, at the age of 29, the first Indian to secure a full professorship at a British government university. He taught mathematics and natural philosophy at a college in Bombay, yet did so for only a year before setting sail for England in 1855 to partner in a business venture with wealthy Parsi confreres. In Europe, Mr. Patel tells us, Naoroji awakened to the gulf in prosperity between colonized India and the imperial West. He was, for instance, “simply stunned by the prosperity of the French countryside” and in London “felt the stark distance between mother country and colony.”

Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism

By Dinyar Patel
Harvard, 352 pages, $35

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India now seemed, to the sensitive young Parsi, to be “the very byword for poverty and powerlessness,” and his appetite for commerce was soon dwarfed by a passion for nationalist politics. He embarked on what was to be a lifelong campaign to convince the British that they were “draining” India of its wealth. This “drain theory,” as it became known, disconcerted the British, and Naoroji developed it, Mr. Patel writes, “in an era when many Britons took it for granted that imperialism was a beneficent force and a stimulus for growth and prosperity in their colonies.” Through a “colossal assemblage of facts and figures”—mined from data made available to him by the British authorities themselves—Naoroji sought to demonstrate that imperialism was making Indians poorer by the year.

Paradoxically, it is this enterprise that may explain why Naoroji is an eclipsed figure in India today. Since Independence, most Indians have taken utterly for granted his once-radical view that the British Raj paupered India. Also working against any postcolonial celebration of Naoroji is the fact that he sought to persuade the British that their impoverishing of India was unacceptable, precisely because it fell short of Britain’s own moral values. He titled his own magnum opus on the subject, published in 1901, “Poverty and Un-British Rule in India,” again making the point that true “Britishness” was fairness.

Although he was a founding member of the Indian National Congress political party in December 1885, his calls for India to be “a self-governing and prosperous nation” were tempered by concessions that Indians would still be “loyal to the British throne.” For all his many ties to progressive individuals and movements in India, Britain and elsewhere—and these included women suffragists, Irish nationalists (for whom he had a particular fondness), black Americans like Ida B. Wells and W.E.B. Du Bois, and workers’ unions—he was a gradualist. He preferred suasion, not boycotts, debate not defiance. He held to these views to the end of his life—he died in Bombay in 1917, at the age of 91—even as the independence movement in India became fiercely (if nonviolently) radical.

For all his fidelity to the core ideas of Indian nationalism, it is perhaps fitting that Naoroji’s election to the House of Commons—in an age when such a thing was seen as outlandish—is regarded as his most enduring political contribution. No less a personage than Lord Salisbury, the British prime minister, exclaimed at a political rally in 1888 (four years before Naoroji’s victory at the polls) that no British borough would ever elect “a black man” to Parliament. Salisbury was widely pilloried in Britain for his coarseness, which had the effect of raising Naoroji’s profile and contributing to his victory. Today around 10% of the House of Commons traces its descent to Britain’s former colonies, and the house would appear to be more welcoming of candidates from outside the age-old Britannic mainstream than India’s own parliament is of religious minorities. One has to think that Naoroji, today, would be more at home in cosmopolitan Britain than he would be in his independent—but increasingly intolerant—India.

Today, a very dear friend, philosopher, guide and mentor Zerbanoo Gifford turns 70. In a small intimate gathering at the beautiful ASHA Center in the Forest of Dean, Zerbanoo’s life was celebrated at a beautiful lunch event.

Like most people I had heard of Zerbanoo, but had never met her in person till that day in December 2015 when she and her biographer; and dear friend Farida Master spoke at the Ripon Club. Needless to say she left a huge impression on me, more so after reading the book “An Uncensored Life” that Farida had written.

In 2017, Zerbanoo and Farida visited the United States on an extended book tour and I had the opportunity to interact with her during her stay in NYC.

Zerbanoo is legendary in her accomplishments. There are too many to list here. My dear friend Jim Engineer from Chicago USA sums it up beautifully in an article he wrote titled: “A Stream Runs Through It”

The harmonious sound of the stream, the purity of the water, and the relentless zeal of the stream to never stop running for thousands of years is a reflection of the spirit and courage of Zerbanoo Gifford. Zerbanoo has been a progressive, forward-thinking champion of social justice, women’s rights, racial equality, interfaith tolerance and environmental sustainability for decades. Faced with death threats when she ran for elected office in early 1980s London. She went on to serve as a Councillor for Harrow and chaired the Race Relations Forum set up by the Home Secretary leading to a storied career championing human rights causes. Her example of courage and depth of historical context provided rare color to our efforts, as we sat in awe of Zerbanoo’s trailblazing example. Our goal was to celebrate our interconnectedness as a group, to trust each other, to respect each other’s views, and to form a vision for future Zoroastrian generations living in harmony and thriving as a united community.

Zerbanoo at the outset spotlighted the contributions of legendary Iranian and Parsi Zoroastrians who went beyond the Zoroastrian community to lead the world. She described her admiration for her heroes: from the iconic Dadabhai Noaroji, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy and Jamsetjee Tata, to well-known modern-day Zoroastrians including Ratan Tata, Zubin Mehta, Freddie Mercury, and authors Bapsi Sidhwa and Rohinton Mistry. Zerbanoo’s example is tied to going beyond one’s traditional comfort zone, to affect change in the world, and to pursue our dreams and endeavors without fear or favor.

Every big endeavor, from grassroots movements to a sea change in thinking, is ultimately challenged by naysayers and doubters; by a small few who aim to polarize and marginalize a more silent majority, instead of uniting and coming together in spite of our differences.

It is through this thread of common decency and mutual respect for one another that we were able to maintain a focus on our shared obligations: to form the fabric for an interconnected working group inspired to turn ideas into action and fostering dialogue focused on our commonality and shared beliefs.

The above passage was part of a longform article that spoke about the first ever World Zoroastrian Youth Leaders Forum. The WZYLF was the brainchild of Zerbanoo, and like most things that she thinks of, she pulled out all the stops and made it happen. It brought 20 Zoroastrian youth leaders from all over the world for a magical 10 days at the ASHA Center, the beautiful estate that Zerbanoo conceptualized and built exactly 10 years ago, and it opened today in 2010.

The ASHA Center was conceptualized as

A Space for all Cultures and Religions

At ASHA people from around the world come to experience the richness of each other’s cultures and to practice living together in a spirit of human unity; this often includes young people coming from places torn apart by conflict and war. The ASHA Centre is a place of safety and beauty, where all faiths are honoured and where people of different nationalities and religions live and work side by side. On many of our courses we explore the spiritual and philosophical wisdom of the world’s cultures, and look at what they offer today to young adults facing their own unique challenges.

To celebrate Zerbanoo’s 70th, many of the WZYLF alumni including myself, were to return to the ASHA Center in a few days. However COVID-19 put a spanner in the works, and we hope to now do that later this year once things get back a “new” normal.

It goes without saying that I’ve personally learnt a lot from just knowing Zerbanoo. Her spirit of giving, of achieving, of standing up for what is right and fair and of thinking for the betterment of all mankind and nature are some of her most amazing qualities. It is no coincidence that these stem from her Zarathushti roots, something she is very proud of and an area that she has always devoted time, effort and money towards, her entire life. By simply living her life the way she has, she embodies a Zarathushti ideal that we all could look up to and emulate in our own small and big ways.

As one of her biggest fans I cannot wait to see what Zerbanoo does in the next decade and more.

Here is a video montage put together by Sanaya Master who put together the World Zoroastrian Youth Leaders Forum during her 9 month stint at the ASHA Center.

Zerbanoo celebrates her 70^th birthday under lockdown

Like everyone, Zerbanoo Gifford has been in lockdown due to the global coronavirus epidemic. Finally, she has been given time to reflect on her life, and especially the last ten years, since the ASHA Centre, which she founded, was officially opened on 11^th May 2010 with a grand celebration of her 60^th birthday. This was attended by many distinguished guests from around the world, including leaders of the major faith communities and guest of honour, the colourful Marquess of Bath, who has sadly recently died with coronavirus.

Celebrations for Zerbanoo’s 70^th birthday on 11^th May have sadly been called off due to the pandemic. The only presents she wanted were the presence of the young Zoroastrian leaders who were due to return two years after their first global meeting at the ASHA Centre to join the celebrations. Although heart broken, Zerbanoo takes comfort in the thought that she can at least focus on her other wish to plant an enchanted forest in ASHA’s nearby newly acquired 54-acre estate for future generations to enjoy and be inspired by. She also plans to take up tango dancing, a long-held ambition of hers, before it’s too late!

Since its opening, the ASHA Centre has enjoyed ten years of creative activities at its beautiful house and gardens in Gloucestershire, England. These include courses, volunteering programmes and special events, which many Zoroastrians have participated in and enjoyed. There has been a wedding of a Parsi and Persian Zoroastrian, Pree and Shah Irani, who first met on a summer retreat at the ASHA Centre and are now living in Hong Kong, an annual youth camp for young Zoroastrians from Europe and the first global forum of young Zoroastrian leaders.  ‘It has been ten years of rewarding work, for which I am deeply grateful’, says Zerbanoo, quoting the Dalai Lama, who she met many years ago: ‘Happiness is not something ready-made, it comes from your own actions’.

For many, Zerbanoo is seen as the epitome of a true Zoroastrian. Her actions have impacted not just on her own community, but throughout the world. From her social justice campaigns to stop modern slavery, especially child labour, to organising housing for the homeless and also opening her own home to those that need temporary accommodation. She was also involved with the Anti-Apartheid movement, being chosen to present the People’s Petition to Mrs Thatcher at 10 Downing Street, calling for full mandatory sanctions against the racist regime in South Africa and the release of Nelson Mandela. Her work in the interfaith movement has led her to interact with many religious leaders, including being blessed by Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and launching a global appeal for equal education in South Africa at Lambeth Palace with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Her seven books have highlighted  the noble campaigns of outstanding individuals, including her hero our Zoroastrian Dadabhai Naoroji, the first Asian to become a Member of Parliament in Britain in 1892, in whose footsteps she followed by being elected as a political Councillor in Harrow with a historic landslide victory in 1982. Like Dadabhai, Zerbanoo has turned down honours offered as not appropriate by a British Government that still glorifies Empire. Also, like Dadabhai, Zerbanoo is known for fighting for other’s rights and always promoting their needs and welfare, especially those of the young.

In 2004 Zerbanoo was awarded a NESTA Fellowship (Britain’s National Endowment of Science, Technology and Art) for which she interviewed and wrote about 300 women from 60 countries, whose inspirational lives have changed our world. Many of those women were Zoroastrians, whose unique contribution she brought to the attention of a world audience.

Zerbanoo is also recognised as an inspirational speaker. During her tour of America with editor Farida Master form New Zealand, who wrote her biography ‘An Uncensored Life’, Zerbanoo was given a standing ovation after her rousing talk at NASA. But Zerbanoo has no wish to lift off into outer space, as she says: ‘We have too much work to do on the ground!’.

Undoubtedly, Zerbanoo’s greatest achievement on the ground has been the founding of the ASHA Centre, which works for the empowerment of young people and has come to be regarded as a dynamic form of modern Zoroastrianism in action.

Zerbanoo loves and follows the prophet Zoroaster’s life-affirming message and is devoted to her community worldwide. She believes access to beauty and being cherished should be the birth right of everyone. She insists it is our duty to nurture and empower the young to unlock their potential and fulfil their unique destiny. She always wanted to create a place, such as the ASHA Centre, where people from all backgrounds and cultures are respected and could connect to Nature and each other.

The coronavirus pandemic has brought these goals very much to the fore.  As Zerbanoo says: ‘Who would have thought that mother Nature would have grounded the whole world and insisted we have forced time to reconsider our behaviour both towards our planet and other people. It’s given us all an opportunity to collectively awaken to our responsibilities to protect and beautify our world and ensure that future generations will always have places like the ASHA Centre to enjoy and inspire them’.

Over the years, the ASHA charity has established an outstanding track record in delivering transformative education in the fields of sustainable development, interfaith and intercultural understanding and the performing arts. It has built up an extensive network of partner organisations throughout Britain, Europe, the Caucasus, the Middle East, South Africa and India. Over 5,000 young people, and many from our Zoroastrian community, have had life-transforming experiences through taking part in residential training courses, gardening apprenticeships and volunteering placements.

‘We have forgotten the sacredness of life’, says Zerbanoo. ‘The young are angry with the older generations for the state of the world we have left them. After decades of consumerism, pollution and social injustice, we need to rediscover the power of kindness, solidarity and generosity’.

Looking back over the last ten years, Zerbanoo is reminded of a quote by the poet Goethe:

Destiny grants us our wishes – but in its own way, in order to give us something beyond our wishes!

Ruby Patel was a name to reckon with on the Parsi-Gujarati stage. Ruby along with her husband Burjor Patel worked in several Gujarati comedies till the 1960s.

Article in the Indian Express

Eminent theatre personality Ruby Patel has passed away in Mumbai. She was 86.

Actor-filmmaker Vivek Vaswani tweeted the news on Tuesday morning.

“And it goes on, just after the news of Bomi’s sad demise, another theatre stalwart! Ruby & Hosi were like the Dharmendra and Hema of the English theatre. 15 consecutive hits together. Ruby’s daughter Shernaz Patel worked opposite me in Khandaan, we’ve been colleagues since 1987 Rose,” Vivek Vaswani’s tweet read.

Ruby Patel was a name to reckon with on the Parsi-Gujarati stage. Ruby along with her husband Burjor Patel worked in several Gujarati comedies till the 1960s. They then joined the Parsi wing of the Indian National Theatre (INT) where for the next decade, they worked in popular plays like Gher Ghungro Ne Ghotalo, Tirangi Tehmul, Hello Inspector and Oogi Dahpun Ni Dadh.

Ruby and Burjor Patel formed Burjor Patel Productions in the late 1970s. After a stint of over 20 years in Dubai, the duo returned to Mumbai in 2009.

Ruby Patel is survived by her husband Burjor Patel and three children. Their daughter Shernaz Patel is also a popular name in the theatre circuit. Shernaz has also acted in films like Black, Guzaarish, I Am, Rockstar, Talaash, Roy and more.

Bolting from their village homes to build better lives, plucky young boys landed in Bombay with no more than a coin rattling in ragged pockets. Years of slog later, they contributed considerably as entrepreneurs, entertainers and educationists. Track

Stage comedian Jangoo Irani (extreme right) with Burjor Patel, Dinshah Daji, and Ruby Patel in the Adi Marzban caper, Ari Bethela Erachshah. Pic courtesy/ Meher Marfatia: Laughter in the house: 20-th century Parsi theatre

Article by Meher Marfatia | Mid-Day

IT was a camel, a mule and a Karachi-Bombay train that he jumped on. Nothing could stop the 13-year-old peasant boy from Yazd travelling 2,500 kilometres to the city of his dreams in 1929. Khodamurad Meherwan realised his prospects were dim in sleepy Mazrekalantary, where men slaved on dry fruit farms and women stoked kitchen fires in long-sleeved, handwoven dresses worn with white jute slippers called maliki.

“He was running away from no real future in Iran,” says Khodamurad’s daughter Banoo Kalantary, retracing her feisty father’s flight. Stopped at the Afghanistan border on a donkey, Khodamurad was asked his surname. “I don’t have one,” he replied. That’s why he became Khodamurad Meherwan Afkham.
He started sweeping the floor of 1860-established New Majestic Restaurant & Stores below Capitol Cinema at VT for five rupees a day. “My father had no home, only hope, but an attitude of gratitude in his heart,” Banoo says. He slept on the footpath outside, with a thin gunny sack lining the cold ground. Slogging for years, he got a modest partner share in Majestic at the age of 20. With his wife Vahbiz, from Alliabadi village, he raised five children in a flat on Gunbow Street, Fort, accommodating an aunt with her five kids too.

Khodamurad’s first son Jehanbux was born in a goat stable in Iran, the rest here. In a city of military marchpasts on streets that were washed daily, the Afkhams’ front door was always wide open. On Fridays, sigri-simmered fish curry was ladled to anyone dropping in. Between chores, the lady of the house somehow caught shows of her adored Raj Kapoor-Nargis starrers at Capitol.

Kapurchand Mehta with Prithviraj Kapoor in 1960. With his brothers Zaverchand and Kevalchand, Kapurchand helmed wide-ranging businesses interests in textiles, real estate and films

Not far from the Afkhams, an iconic cinema and trio of Marine Drive buildings stand centrestage in the story of Nemchand K Mehta’s sons. Their grocery-to-glory saga is threaded together by generations after, in Zaver Mahal, Kapur Mahal and Keval Mahal. Nemchand sweated, struggling with meagre earnings from his vegetable shop in Vadal, Saurashtra, to provide for 11 children. Kapurchand, Zaverchand and Kevalchand were born two years apart from 1900 and 1904.

At under 12, Kapurchand boldly left home, walking impossible distances, hopping on to a buffalo buggy and finally steam train. His granddaughter Uma shares an account narrated by her father. “Exhausted and famished, Kapurchand met a woman who gave him one of her two rotlas.” He saved a scrap—which, incredibly, Uma has preserved in a casket. “Anything from the hands of a kumarika, an unmarried virgin, was an auspicious shagun offering.”

At Bombay Central he was spotted by a Marwari seth and employed in his cloth shop. Buying a lottery ticket, Kapurchand was stunned to find a jingling cascade of coins suddenly his. “Back to work,” Nemchand urged his son who returned to Vadal with the surprise treasure. He headed to 1920s Bangalore, opening Kapurchand & Co. in Chickpet. Stocking blankets of the Lal Imli Mills, Kanpur, he invited Zaverchand and Kevalchand to join him.

Filmmaker Vikas Desai at his Rajkamal Studio office stands below the hanging cap of his great-grandfather, Anant Shivaji Desai Topiwala (portrait, right), pre-Independence Bombay’s leading hat maker and pioneer industrialist-philanthropist. Pic/ Bipin Kokate

Bombay beckoning soon, they settled in Prarthna Samaj. Kapurchand shouldered the overall responsibility of their ventures, focusing on finance. With the Lal Imli agency for South India under their belt, Zaverchand managed the Chira Bazaar shop and midtown estates. Kevalchand assumed charge of a film exhibition operation, centred at Roxy on Charni Road, where screen history was rewritten in 1943 with Kismet totting up 192 weeks. Aspiring to a beautiful property each, the brothers commissioned PC Dastoor to create the three buildings.

Another boy bolting from Saurashtra was Shyamdas Govindji Jhaveri, of Kundal in Barwala taluka. A few years after he was orphaned at the age of five, with barely a couple of rupees clinking in his torn pocket, he clocked in unimaginably stretched hours at a Crawford Market stall set up around 1914. Shifting to Metro House, the cinema building, Jhaveri Bros continues to display trophies, silver items and commemorative coins crafted at that counter.

Gradually flourishing, the Jhaveris introduced India to a luxury legend—their door handles are still in the shape of Mont Blanc pens. Adopting the motto, “Customer is master”, Shyamdas trained staffers to adhere to ethical standards, meticulously maintaining a file labelled “Thoughts on progressive business”. Jhaveri Bros. has witnessed World Wars, civic crises, economic depressions and today’s pandemic. Shyamdas’ granddaughter Seyjhal says, “We enjoy tremendous trust from local and international clients forever loyal to us.”
A humble chana-kurmuri shack he helped his father serve Walawal villagers from, in Sawantwadi, lies at the core of compelling circumstances that brought 10-year-old Anant Shivaji Desai to Bombay. On his father’s death, the boy was forced to leave the village with nothing more than a rupee pressed into his hand by a relative. Of which eight annas, or 50 paise, paid for the 13-day boat trip ticket. Two months later, finishing the chinchuk tamarind seeds and kilo of rice his worried mother had packed, he fainted at Grant Road station.

New Majestic Restaurant partner Khodamurad Afkham and his wife Vahbiz with their eldest boy Jehanbux, now a cardiologist in Germany. Jehanbux’s sons are music virtuosos —David Afkham is chief conductor and artistic director of the Spanish National Orchestra and Chorus, while Micha Afkham plays the viola with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Pic courtesy/ Kalantary Family

Employed as a railway labourer there, he learnt tailoring at a mill during his lunch break. This skill won a series of orders and, by 1872, catapulted him to the status of Bombay’s best hat maker with a growing appreciative clientele of Parsis, Muslims and Gujarati seths. They paid well for quality caps fashioned with flair by Anant Shivaji Desai. Titled Rao Bahadur Topiwala by the British, he rose to rank among the richest landlords, whose descendants gifted Bombay the Topiwala Medical College at Bombay Central and Topiwala Theatre in Goregaon.

Anant Shivaji Desai also positioned himself as sole agent for Raja Ravi Varma lithographs, acquiring rights to the Baroda and Mysore collections after the painter’s death in 1906. Prise open the frame of a Ravi Varma print and you will most probably read: “Anant Shivaji Desai Topiwala, Ravi Varma Press”.

A stitch in time similarly saved Camilo Xavier Pereira from life consigned to the islet of Sao Mathias in Divar. Hugging a “passport” granted by Portuguese authorities then ruling Goa, he bunched meagre savings for steamer fare. In this case, the earnings were from his stint as an eight-year-old muncar (tenant) working for a well-inclined lady badcar (landowning employer). Docking in Bombay harbour, he joined hundreds of other young men from his community, living crammed yet in camaraderie, out of a trunkful of belongings in dormitory quarters called coors—waiting to seize the chance to become seamen, chefs, musicians or Konkani tiatr artistes.

Camilo had figured his forte was sewing. In Dhobi Talao’s Sonapur Lane, Tony Pereira points to St Mathias Tailors, where his father’s scissors snipped classic 1970s three-pieces for Johnny Walker and Mehmood. And bespoke safari suits for tycoon Pranlal Bhogilal who smiled when Savile Row-accoutred tycoons in London asked with admiring looks, “Who cuts your clothes?”

Shyamdas Jhaveri  was the first to import this luxury brand in the country and the shop still has its door handles shaped like Mont Blanc nibbed pens. Pic courtesy/Seyjhal Jhaveri

Equally motivated exits drove starry-eyed boys from small towns to the city they dreamed would never let them down. The success of a pioneer educationist is rooted in kindness—that of institutional legend GD Agrawal of Harganga Mahal at Khodadad Circle, Dadar. He left from Ajmer in his teens, carefully clutching R29 from selling his bicycle. Touched by hungry-to-learn Mazagaon mazdoors’ children he saw all over at the height of the city’s vibrant textile mills era, he tutored them for free in math and science. Going professional on marrying, Agrawal rented a Matunga room his growing family had to step out from during coaching hours. Agrawal Classes shifted to Harganga Mahal from 1955, their students including Nadir Godrej, Mukesh Ambani and Mahendra Choksi of Asian Paints.

A stowaway from Karachi proving Parsi theatre’s extraordinary gain was Jehangir (Jangoo) Irani. The comedian brought the house down as the eccentric domestic help Aspandyar. The third actor essaying this role (predecessor greats were half-French Jean Bhownagary and Pheroze Antia), Jangoo added sparkling touches under Adi Marzban’s direction. With a dirty, gingham-check duster slopped across the shoulder and striped shorts ballooning clumsily, he begged a stingy employer for wages.
Hearing excuses like “I pay on the 30th of each month and last month was February”, Irani muttered a sulky threat, “Chaal Iran jaaych—I’m off to Iran!”

Fascinated by dramatic showmanship, Jangoo had earlier given Pipsy, his pet squirrel, to visiting Russian circus artistes who taught him stunt cycling and air-gun tricks. His craze to perform made his principal gift him an English bicycle. Scraping through middle school years, he preferred to sit on this cycle perched atop two tables to target-shoot, with candle flames casting flickering shadows around.

An early view of the Jhaveri Bros & Co. corner store at Metro House, with the Mont Blanc van parked in the foreground

Deciding that entertainment-friendly Bombay would be best receptive to his talents, with no money whatsoever, he hushed a chattering black mynah smuggled under his shirt and traded the talking bird for the ship trip. Mechanical-minded, he interviewed with a Godrej firm. At a subsequent job in Central Bank, his acting at annual day skits hooked playwright Pheroze Antia’s attention.

The star was the biggest hero to his sons. Shapur Irani recalls he and his brother crept into halls on Sunday evenings to watch their father fire away in the Dari dialect. As he stomped off, mock-huffing, amid loud audience applause, two little lads whispered from the seats, “Chaal Iran jaaych.”

Author-publisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay. Reach her at meher.marfatia@mid-day.com/www.mehermarfatia.com

Our dear friend Rusi Dalal writes in about the new Freddie Mercury Museum that was recently opened in Zanzibar.

Rusi writes in that the Freddie Mercury Museum that has been opened in November 2019 in Zanzibar at the Talati’s house. The organisers were dealing with the support from the Mercury Trust and they have thanked al the individuals and institutions for their cooperation.  The museum organizers are hoping that the Museum will soon become a regular must-see feature on the Zanzibar tourist scene.

The Freddie Mercury Museum is located at

Address: Mercury House, Zanzibar, Tanzania 

Phone: +255 777 304 477

More about the opening:

The Freddie Mercury Museum – Zanzibar

The first-ever museum dedicated to the world legend Freddie Mercury, located in Shangani, in the heart of Zanzibar Stone Town, officially inaugurated on Sunday the 24th of November 2019, in order to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the passing of the beloved rock music legend Freddie Mercury.

The Freddie Mercury Museum is officially partnered with Queen Productions Ltd. in the United Kingdom, who have loaned us exclusive pictures of Freddie Mercury throughout different stages in his life. This project aims to showcase a detailed accord of the birth town of Farrokh Bulsara, his roots with the Zoroastrian religion, his childhood and upbringing in Zanzibar, followed by his schooling in Panchgani, India, and then the rest of his journey to becoming one of the greatest stars of all time.

Founders Andrea Boero and Javed Jafferji pay tribute with the Freddie Mercury Museum to this Zanzibar born legend who has touched the hearts of millions around the world.

Javed Jafferji:  “In 2002, being a Queen fan, I came back from the United Kingdom and named this building in Shangani ‘Mercury House’. I always had this vision, it took me 15 years to make this dream a reality, but it was totally worth it. This is my tribute to the legend who we’ve known and admired all our lives. Being a Zanzibari, I am very happy to be involved in a landmark project, which will cement the history of Freddie for many years to come.”                  

Andrea Boero: “This concept which we have had for many years has finally become a reality. A project that we and our future generations can cherish. We have been dedicated to this museum, trying to accumulate a lot of material, witnesses from people who were a part of his life in order to make this a solid tribute.”

We encourage fans from all around the world to come to Zanzibar, to take part in this pilgrimage for Freddie Mercury.

The Freddie Mercury Museum is open daily from 10 am to 6 pm.

Ticket price:

£7.80 / $10 for Adults

£4.70 / $5 for Children (below the age of 12y.o.)

For more information contact us at

info@freddiemercurymuseum.com

www.freddiemercurymuseum.com

Wadia Movietone introduced 12 year old boy Firoze as new child prodigy and a singing sensetion in their 1933 venture Laal-E-Yaman.. The mythological was a big hit for it music and made Firoz an overnight star with him earning more than many contemporary stars. Wadia even planned a sequel with the success of the film.. Firoz enjoyed acting till his boyhood, but after 7-8 films he realized Acting is his not forte and he left films and focused leaning music. He became a disciple of Sawai Gandharva and continued to serve Indian Classical Music for next Six Decades and became an ambassador singer for Kirana Gharana… May 12th was the death anniversary of Pt. Firoze

Our dear friend and aviation industry legend Pervez Damania speaks to CNBC on the state of the aviation industry today and in the future, post COVID-19

Ad man and playwright Rahul da Cunha pays tribute to actor Bomi Kapadia, who died on Monday.

“When beggars die, there are no comets seen; The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.” – Julius Caesar

I deeply regret not having worked enough with Bomi Kapadia. In my view, Bomi was perhaps the most gifted actor of his generation in the Mumbai English theatre. Early in my career, I cast Bomi in my first three plays — I was in my early 20s, he in his early 60s, this was the mid- to-late ’80s — there were nights I’d watch him perform, add little unobtrusive touches to stuff we’d worked on, and make those moments his own, in ways I’d never conceived of.

For some reason, Bomi seemed to play comedic parts more than tragic or serious roles. I was never sure if that was by choice or he’d been typecast as a funny man.

It was sometime in 1990, I remember telling him: “Boms, one day I’d like to direct you in Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming — Max, is you”. (Max is the 70 year old patriach of a dysfunctional, North London family, in perhaps Pinter’s greatest play).

Bomi thought about it, and asked rhetorically, with his famous drawl, “Raoool, it’s a tough part, bit sinister yes?”

“Yup, but you’re the only guy in the city who can pull it off”, I answered.

“You don’t have to sell it to me, let’s do it”, he said humbly.

Sadly, that day never came — partly because life got in the way, and partly because of my inability to fully understand the Master of Menace.

Every time we’d meet, he’d always remind me, “Raool, I’m waiting”, and he’d let out that laugh that became his trademark, on stage and off.

It was a play of mine that was being performed at the Prithvi — it just hadn’t gone according to plan, bad shows can go either way, actors can be off target for a night, conversely, audiences can be off mood for that performance — as the show ended, I had my face in my hands, the six actors trooped off stage, their bodies drooped, their heads bowed. Bomi brought up the rear, as he passed me, he said, “Raool! What to do, you win a few, you lose a few”, then threw his head back and let out that huge laugh, which I couldn’t help but appreciate. Two lessons learnt, you just cannot take every show personally, and always keep the humour going in the process of constructing a play.

Comedy is truly the most difficult genre — to write comedy, for sure, is tough — but to to be a comic actor, is the hardest job in the world.

Slapstick comedy is perhaps easier, you slip on a banana peel, the world will laugh; you make a funny face, people are amused. But to take a comedic line, that is lying idle on a page, and then play with it, use it, mould it, make it your own, so you can with pinpoint accuracy, deliver it night after night, so the audience feels like you’re saying it for the first time — that was Bomi’s gift.

Like red wine, he’d roll the gag around in his mouth for a bit, while he considered how he wanted to deliver it so it would have the maximum impact — to bring on the maximum laughs.

Should he take the comic pause, should he bang it out, Bomi made humour into an art form — he knew instinctively when to hold back, when to play with an audience.

Bomi had that quality, where you felt he could deliver a line in a 100 different ways — pull it back, punch it, perform it, pause it, play it up.

So yes, that was the actor that was Bomi Kapadia.

Sorry my friend, maybe we will do Pinter’s The Homecoming one day, and we’ll explore his pauses and silences in a unique way, in a quintessentual Bomi Kapadia way.

Apologies that life got in the way for us to work together. In the meantime, rest well, my friend. And let out that huge laugh, so we may hear it from time to time.

Adieu.

Kainaz Messman is the founder of Theobroma, once a family-run café and bakery, now an empire with 50 outlets. Sharanya Deepak talks to Kainaz about her journey as an entrepreneur, and her new book, Baking a Dream.

Kainaz Messman has had a difficult two months. But she remains calm as she describes the mayhem that has followed her business due to restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic. “The lockdown has really turned the business on its head. I’ve started referring to what is happening as the ‘new normal’, so that I could deal with it better. It helps me not panic.”

She speaks slowly, as if to restore order in chaos, but also, to build confidence, her voice showing only minor signs of distress. After the kitchens were managed, she had to decide which of her bakeries would open, and which ones wouldn’t. In the past weeks, Kainaz has been shuttling, re-organising, cleaning, and programming new sets of rules, reassuring staff and team members that they were going to be okay. “It took us three to four weeks to get everything running. That’s the hardest part of being a business owner: putting on a brave face. I am responsible for hundreds of people.”

Theobroma started as a small, Parsi family-run bakery and cafe in 2003, and has since expanded into an beloved bakery chain across India. Today, the intimate establishment has come to represent the quintessential bakery for middle-class Indians — jam-laden biscuits, cushy croissants, dense brownies, rows of cupcakes. At airports and busy markets, the colourful Theobroma boxes come stamped with the bakery’s signature logo, and have both regulars and newcomers marvelling over the diverse range of desserts and snacks on offer. The company has grown to 50 stores with 1,000 employees across Mumbai, Delhi and Pune, selling over 200 products to a customer base of 500,000 customers.

Kainaz is patient, precise, and detailed over the phone; considerate of the person on the other end, much like the tone of her recent book, Baking a Dream, published by HarperCollins in March. The book includes a detailed account of how she set up her business, Theobroma; how travels, family, friends, and a plethora of errors and ramifications, led her to where she is. The book, written in collaboration with her sister Tina M Wykes, captures in all its guts and glory, the ins and outs of running a large and successful business. The writing is candid and approachable, chronicling every story that helped build Theobroma into the beloved brand it is today. In one instance, Kainaz writes about Anita, a customer who, on a difficult day, helped clean and run the café. In another, she remembers a French couple, Joelle and Alain Deramat, guests she met at the café, that then went on to become close friends, who taught her much of what she knows about pastry today. While the book is about a business venture, Kainaz writes without loftiness, or intimidating clues to achieve specific milestones; instead she writes about her own mistakes, comforts, and tips to keep going — which, as she puts it, has to be ‘head on.’

When I ask her about herself, how has she keeps sane during the pandemic, she dodges the question; not because she doesn’t have an answer, but because the health and safety of her team are more pressing on her mind. “Me? I’m fine,” she says, and hesitantly offers anecdotes to prove her point, her tone lightening to delight when she speaks of her family cooking biryani, or her daughter helping her bake in these days. “I gave my mother an ice-cream maker, and we have been experimenting with it.” But the conversation quickly goes back to Theobroma; her worries about the team, and their customers, since the lockdown began. “It is most crucial to me that my team remains safe.”

Kainaz with her sister, Tina

Kainaz was born in Mumbai to a Parsi family, for whom food was a primal bonding activity. Eating with her family was what Kainaz calls ‘elementary training;’ where she realised her love for food, before she went on to become a professional chef. “I am told that our forefathers, several generations ago, ran the canteen on a ship (which is called a mess) and that is how we got our family name – Messman.”

Her stories of the Messman family are lively and joyful: of Kainaz and her sister, Tina, eating at cafes, and watching people enjoy desserts, as they made notes for ‘research’; of ice cream sundae dinners with her father, generous scoops piled high. In many of these memories, Kainaz’s mother, Kamal, is credited as her primary inspiration for baking. Kainaz recounts her mother stewing chicken and prawns for jambalaya, making milk chocolates with rum for her homespun chocolate business, and selling them around Mumbai. In the chapter Mumbai’s Brownie Queen, Kainaz writes about Theobroma’s star product – the dense, sugary brownie that became synonymous with the bakery. ‘My brownie history is as much Mum’s story as it is mine,’ she writes, recounting the story of how her mother once baked a brownie for a pregnant friend, then ended up supplying to restaurants and cafes outside Mumbai. Her mother installed trays in a car, as she drove around delivering brownies, appointing Kainaz as informal assistant. Kainaz remembers waking up in a house that smelled of dense, chocolate-filled desserts. “Mum is the adventurous one,” she says, over the phone. “She was always experimenting and trying new things. She was beloved for all the things she cooked.” Kamal mother loved being the proprietor of her own dishes, kept her recipes close, and remained an independent supplier of the sweets to cafes and restaurants around Mumbai. “This spirit somewhere trickled down to me too.”

Chocolate Pastry

Walnut Brownie and Millionaire Brownie

If her family gave her a window into food, she learned grit and perseverance in culinary school, and travel filled in the gaps. In a particularly luminous section of the book, she describes her travels to France as a young woman, where she learned ‘the art of simple and unpretentious cooking.’ Those friendships continue to seep into Theobroma, and her memories spent drinking wine and eating roasted meat present themselves in the company’s menu. “It was love at first taste when I tried the strawberry tart and I have loved it ever since. Made with fresh fruit, vanilla custard, almond frangipane and a crisp butter pastry tart, it was the most attractive and delicious thing I had ever eaten.”

Baking a Dream is filled with many such stories — of spontaneity, intimate meals with friends, and experiences that spurred her inherent curiosity. These personal anecdotes sit alongside recipes that have been an important part of the Theobroma story, and a little bit of commentary on contemporary food culture, that provides insight into her personality and outlook. ‘I take much joy in listening to people talk about food in ordinary conversations, where there are no filters. I am listening with rapt attention when people say they want to eat something — in particular when they are unwell, tired or stressed.’ Among the bakery’s best selling goods are dark, heavy, comforting desserts; nurturing sandwiches, biscuits dotted with jam — simple foods that go well with tea or coffee, snacks that fit snugly into boxes as presents for friends.

“I put in there what felt right to me,” she says. “But it is also about listening to my guests, making sure that their desires are represented too.” Parsi aunties would wander into the cafe during lunch hour, and ask Kainaz why she didn’t bake the ‘classics’ like black forest cake and chicken patties. And that’s how the menu came to include some of the beloved retro snacks and pastries. “As a small, family-run business, with mum and I always hovering around, it was an intimate affair. I learned what my guests like, and who they are,” she says. When the café expanded into a business, Theobroma did not lose its essence, but a whole new array of challenges arrived.

In 2010, the cafe opened their second branch, and began to grow into the brand they are today. Kainaz was hesitant to expand — the small scale made it possible to personally oversee everything. “People had started demanding our products, and Tina and Dad wanted to expand,” she says. “It took me six years, but I gave in. We took small steps, opening one bakery at a time but they were giant leaps for the company.” Of the expansion, Kainaz remembers complete chaos, of how the family-dependent structure they had been running on stopped working for them. ‘Theobroma’s infrastructure had not been created with rapid growth in mind,’ she writes. ‘On the surface, things seemed under control but behind the scenes, we were barely able to breathe. Our kitchen and equipment had outlived its usefulness. We recruited anyone who walked through our doors, so our staff was unqualified and untrained.’

“Of course,” she agrees now, when asked if they were big changes. “I didn’t entirely know what we were getting into. I was okay with what we had.” She also admits that her drive for perfectionism, and the level of personal involvement in each guest’s experience, was not sustainable in the new model. There was going to be a lot of shape-shifting involved. “We are all different and strong-willed personalities, so we had trouble. I had differences with my father — he is from a different generation, he has never worked in a corporate structure, he doesn’t believe in mechanical protocols — which of course works for the café. The business had to be more streamlined,’ she says. “We needed to change our mindset and evolve from being people-dependent to process-dependent.”

Cyrus Shroff, the company’s CEO, who came on board in 2013, has a large section of the book dedicated to him. Kainaz attributes his skills to helping them find a ‘method to their madness.’ Cyrus set up processes, and showed the teams what could be gained with streamlining, and dedicating themselves to a process. “He was from a corporate background, for him too, it was different to enter our small family-run affair.” Cyrus himself writes in the book, amusedly recalling the disarray and the charm of the venture he had decided to join. “At the most basic level, even recipes were not documented, they were found in drawers and on pieces of paper, some were typed and filed, mostly they were in everyone’s heads.” Cyrus’s words in the book provide valuable insight into why the Messman family’s business is so unique — Kainaz’s artistry and ambition for her pastries, the deep enthusiasm from their guests, and the intimacy that the company’s ethos held, made it unlike any other.

One of the keys to Theobroma’s success has been the streamlining of management, and how the bakery functions across cities and states, meeting diverse customer demands and fulfilling them. When Kainaz recalls those early years, she is clear-eyed. “I have run Theobroma so long, that with it, I have grown too — we are both adults now,” she laughs. “I was much more egocentric before, I wanted to bake what I wanted, I was pigheadedly adamant,” she says. “When the bakery grew into a business, I had to listen to others, and I am glad I did.”

In January this year, Theobroma, under Kainaz’s leadership, landed an investment of 20 million USD, from private equity firm ICICI Venture Funds. The investment lets Theobroma further increase its customer base, and fulfil their plans to expand, which includes a doubling of their footprint — 90-100 new stores in the next four years; 20-25 of these will be in Bangalore and Hyderabad, as well as other smaller cities.

“But we will ensure the same quality; no compromise,” Kainaz is quick to add. Even with expansion, she is clear that it is ultimately the quality of products that linger with customers. The company expects to grow to 2 million customers in the next four years. “Any kind of growth is daunting,” says Kainaz, but she is confident that lessons are learned on the way. “You can’t really know what’s exactly in store.”

There are many reasons why Theobroma is successful, but Kainaz’s connection with her customers is an important one. For her, the small milestones she celebrates with her customers matter. ‘Babies-in-arms that were brought to the Colaba outlet are now teenagers. We have made birthday cakes down the years for so many children, that we feel like we have been part of their growing up,’ she writes.

That a young Parsi woman runs the company is an important feat. “The business world is disproportionately male, and it can be intimidating and overwhelming to women,” says Kainaz. “It is certainly harder for a woman, as in everything, everywhere,” she adds. “But things are improving, and we have to make ourselves heard. But for me, I don’t want to be on top, it is not about one person. These things are not done alone. It is important for me to work together with others. Listening to one another is underrated, but for me, it is the most important thing.”

Sharanya Deepak is a writer from and currently in New Delhi. You can read more of her work on her website.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif thanked the Parsis of India for offering COVID-19 aid to his country in a tweet on Friday. The Parsis, as their name implies, migrated to India from Persia centuries ago. They are in actuality Zoroastrians, one of the oldest religions in the world which pre-dates Islam and Christianity.  

Article in Jerusalem Post

The Parsis of India—Zoroastrians whose ancestors long ago emigrated to India—have remained ever faithful in their love for Iran. Grateful for their #Covid19 package for Iranians.

We also sent 40,000 advanced Iran-made test kits to #Germany, #Turkey and others.#InThisTogether

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) May 8, 2020

Despite their powerful history in Iran and actually being the majority religion before the arrival of Islam, the Islamic Republic forbids Zoroastrians from holding public office beyond that allocated to official minorities in the Iranian constitution. It is not allowed for people of mixed families to practice the faith if their father is a Muslim. Khomeini thought of them as “dishonorable, fire-worshiping knaves”.  

In India, the Parsis are famous for refusing to bury their dead in the ground or to burn them, as they view both earth and fire as sacred, instead, bodies are kept in towers for vultures to consume.

Due to pollution, the numbers of vultures in India are going down and the integrity of this unique form of burial is under threat. 

Live History India present a great visual treat about Navsari. Archeologist Kurush Dalal and historian and author Pheroza Godrej are featured on the video and explain some of the history of the town.

A quaint town on the way to Surat became the launch pad for one of the most enterprising communities in India. In this episode, we head to Navsari and trace the story of the Parsis.

Chemould Prescott Road is doing a wonderful series on The Collectors. Here are some of the Parsi collectors it has featured

Homi Bhabha

Jehangir K. S. Nicholson

Kavas Bharucha