Shelley Subawalla in Delhi is taking generations of Parsi family masalas and chutneys recipes to the world through ‘Zarin’s Secrets’ – named after her grandmother.

There remain few things that invoke the same sense of joy, nostalgia and unparalleled taste the way a grandmother’s cooking does. For me, it was my nani’s aloo parathe and pudina chutney, the taste of which I have spent years trying to find and recreate. For Shelley Subawalla, it was her grandmother’s Parsi-style kadhi-chawal and biryani that she remembers fondly.

Article by Divya Sethu | The Better India

“My grandmother, Zarin, was an excellent cook,” Subawalla, 45, a resident of New Delhi, tells The Better India. “She loved cooking, and nothing made her happier than trying out new recipes and feeding her grandchildren and relatives when they came to visit her.”

When Shelley first got married, she didn’t know how to cook. She’d call her grandmother every day to take instructions on the dish she was going to be making that day. Eventually, this led to Zarin sharing her own recipes of spice mixes with her granddaughter. “I started with just three to four spices, and would only make it for friends and family. Many of them advised that I should take it up professionally because Parsi cuisine is considered very niche. You do get Parsi food, but the spices to prepare the dishes aren’t too easily available,” she says, adding that she wanted to spread the word among non-Parsis that her cuisine was easy to cook.

Delhi resident Shelley Subawalla’s venture aims to integrate Parsi cuisine into the mainstream

Keeping family legacies alive

The Parsi community in India is shrinking, making the preservation of its cuisine even more important. According to the 2011 census, the number of Parsis in India stood at 57,264, and demographic trends projected that by 2020, their population would have fallen to a point where they would be known as a ‘tribe’ rather than a ‘community’.

In an attempt to preserve the community, Shelley launched Zarin’s Secrets, lovingly named after her grandmother, in 2015. She sells around 25 authentic Parsi spice mixes made from her grandmother’s repository of recipes along with contributions by other community members who wish to keep their family legacies alive.

Some of these include the dhansak masala (similar to garam masala, but the spices chosen tend to be more aromatic and sweet than pungent, and include cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, coriander, among others), Parsi khara masala, vasanu, and dhana jiru. “Many people think that the dhana jiru is just dhaniya and jeera powder, but the Parsi dhana jiru is made up of around 15-20 different spices, including elaichi, star anise, tezpatta, chillies, pepper balls, cloves…you name it, it’s got it. Dhansak and dhana jiru are a little similar, the former has maybe 3 to 4 less ingredients. The Parsi sambar mix has a mix of spices such as mustard and methi, and they’re mixed in mustard oil, so it’s a slightly wettish-powder. Another one is the curry masala, which has around 4 to 5 ingredients, including white sesame seeds, jeera, and khus khus,” says Shelley.

Of all the spices that Zarin’s Secrets sells, the ever-popular dhansak does the best. “Among the Parsis, the dhana jiru, sambar, pulao mixes all do well,” says Shelley.

With every product, Shelley provides a recipe that customers can use the masala in (Photo provided by Shelley Subawalla)

From grandma, with love

Around two years after Zarin’s Secrets was launched, other members of the community, and a few Parsi friends of Shelley’s, came forth to offer their own familial recipes. One such person was Indira, a resident of Gurugram, who had a repository of pickle recipes.

“Both my mother and grandmother used to live in a small town, so procuring even basic food items was hard sometimes. They made almost everything at home, from pickles to tomato ketchup,” Indira tells The Better India. She adds, “I watched them prepare these dishes as a child, but somehow never got into it myself. I took it for granted that they would be there to cook for me. My mother passed away very suddenly and left behind a bunch of recipes. When Shelley, who I have known for around 17 years, started selling her spice mixes, I shared my mom’s pickle recipes with her. She managed to emulate the same taste of my mother and grandmother’s cooking that I so loved.”

Indira’s mother and grandmother used to make excellent mutton pulao, she says, and mouthwatering pickles, including the nimbu-khajur. She has shared the recipes for this pickle, the marchu, and a green curry masala with Shelley’s venture. Indira was among those who pushed Shelley to start Zarin’s Secrets. “I can say that my mother and grandmother would be proud of Shelley for taking their recipes forward and helping integrate Parsi cuisine into the mainstream. It’s quite a lovely feeling for me as well, because it feels like these dishes have some essence of my mother and grandmother. Shelley’s business is highlighting how easy Parsi food is to make, almost as simple as cooking dal chawal,” she says.

All of the spice mixes in Zarin’s Secrets are almost 100 years old. Around five such families have shared their recipes with Zarin’s Secrets.

The venture is a unique family affair, and Shelley says she’s never given funding too much thought. Her son designed the first label for her company at its inception, and all the creative work is handled by her cousin, another one of Zarin’s granddaughters. Shelley has employed a part-time worker to help her out, but more or less heads the entire operation on her own. She refrains from making more than 5-6 kilos of masalas a day to ensure their freshness. Shelley’s spice mixes and pickles have travelled to various corners of the country, as well as the world. Within India, she has shipped to Assam, Leh, Jamshedpur, Kanpur, Kashmir and all the metro cities, among others. Outside the country, products have been sold to people living in the US, Canada, Australia, France, Ireland, the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Oman, and Bahrain, among others.

Most of her marketing and selling takes place through social media, mainly Facebook and Instagram, and word-of-mouth. Alongside Zarin’s Secrets, she also runs Frenny by Zarin’s Secrets, which she began during the COVID-19 lockdown. Under Frenny, named after her mother, she sells spices as well, but includes mixes from all over India. Some of them are the kolhapuri masala and the goda masala from Maharashtra, or the xacuti masala from Goa.

Shelley’s mother Frenny and grandmother Zarin, the two women behind both her ventures (Photo provided by Shelley Subawalla)

One woman’s mammoth mission

On her journey as a woman entrepreneur, she says, “When I had just started the venture, sourcing raw material was hard, because many vendors didn’t really know how to listen to a woman. I’d often have to make my husband speak to them instead. Of course, things have changed over the years, and now I can handle things on my own,” she says.

Another issue was juggling her responsibilities as a mother and her entrepreneurial venture. “I still had to make food for the house, and ensure the education of my children was on track, while handling my business,” Shelley adds.

At the onset of the pandemic, as courier and delivery services came to a halt, so did Shelley’s business. She could only restart once the services picked up. But when they did, her spices became even more in demand. People confined within their homes were looking to try out new dishes and upgrade their culinary skills, and that’s where Zarin’s Secrets helped.

Prices of the products have risen since the pandemic began, owing to the increase in the cost of raw material. The products are priced between Rs 300 and Rs 900 for pickle jars, depending on the sizes, and between Rs 250 and Rs 400 for the spices. “With food couriers, you anyway have to pay more than you would for normal products, because very few services allow you to ship food in the first place. So prices have remained slightly higher, but we’re doing well,” she adds.

Her yearly revenue reaches Rs 20 lakh per annum.

Roasted dhana jiru, ready to be ground (Photo provided by Shelley Subawalla)

“My biggest achievement has been repeat orders. With every packet of masala and pickles I hand out recipes on how customers can incorporate them in various dishes,” she says, adding, “All my non-Parsi customers are repeat customers. They’ve also grown up hearing about dishes like patrani macchi, so if they hear that I’m selling the chutney for the patrani macchi, they’re even more enthused to buy the mixes.”

Shelley says she acknowledges how her community has shrunk over the years, and that’s why keeping their culinary traditions alive is of utmost importance to her. She experiments with new recipes constantly and tests them on her family members, who she affectionately calls her ‘guinea pigs’.

From four products, Shelley now sells over 60 types of masalas and other food items in a mammoth mission to share her beloved heritage with people all over the world.

Zarin’s Secrets is available on Instagram and Facebook.

Edited by Yoshita Rao

CEO at Serum Institute said to have agreed to pay Polish billionaire record sums for 25,000 square foot London mansion

Article By Hayley Dixon | The Telegraph

Adar Poonawalla is a member of one of the world’s richest families, which has a $15 billion fortune

The head of the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer is said to have agreed to pay one of the highest rents in Britain at £50,000 a week for his Mayfair home.

Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer at the Serum Institute of India, is said to have agreed to pay the record sums to Polish billionaire Dominika Kulczyk for a 25,000 square foot mansion in one of the country’s most exclusive neighbourhoods.

The mansion is one of the largest residences in Mayfair, the equivalent size of around 24 average homes, and comes with an adjoining guest house.

A spokesperson for Mr Poonawalla, who lives in Pune city, near Mumbai, did not respond to questions on Wednesday night about whether the agreement meant he planned to spend more time in the UK.

The 40-year-old is a member of one of the world’s richest families, which has a $15 billion fortune, the bulk of it derived from the vaccine maker founded by his father Cyrus Poonawalla in 1996.

Billionaire Cyrus Poonawalla, chairman of Serum Institute of India Ltd Credit: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg Finance LP

Two people with knowledge of the transaction told Bloomberg that the rent had been agreed. Spokesmen for both Mr Poonawalla and Ms Kulczyk, who has lived in London for a number of years, declined to comment.

Ms Kulczyk, 43, the daughter of one of Poland’s richest ever men, last year paid £57 million for two stucco-fronted Georgian townhouses in Knightsbridge which was said to be proof of the revival of the capital’s property market.

The Serum Institute, the world’s largest maker of vaccines by dosage which is now producing the most Covid vaccines, is currently running full-tilt to produce 50 million doses per month of the AstraZeneca jab.

It hit the headlines in recent days after it was linked to the first stumbling block in the NHS vaccination programme after five million doses that it was meant to deliver in March faced delays.

Mr Poonawalla has a number of ties to Britain and aged nine was sent to board at St Edmund’s School in Canterbury before going on to study at the University of Westminster.

The businessman who has said that Britain is “definitely a place I would want a second home” previously failed in a bid to buy the Grosvenor Hotel in Mayfair in 2009 and turn part of it into a home. Fred Scarlett, a director at luxury homes developer Clivedale London, said that overseas buyers may be opting to rent rather than buy a house on a “a two- to 10-year play” because of the stamp duty sales tax, which is higher for overseas purchasers.

Join the Ava Project’s effort to revitalize water’s importance in Zoroastrianism through service to our Earth

Article By Kyra Singh | FEZANA

The FEZANA Ava Project is an effort to rally Zoroastrians across the globe to work together to care for the environment. To live, breathe, and embody the Zoroastrian spirit, it is our duty to protect the elements of the Earth which are considered sacred. As Zoroastrians, environmental consciousness is threaded throughout our prayers, rituals, and other aspects of our religion. As Yasna prayers begin with collecting water from the Agiary wells, this effort begins to preserve the environment by starting with a project that cares for water.

Although Zoroastrians are commonly associated with fire, water plays a key role in our religion as well. In ancient Iranian Zarathushti tradition, Sizdah-Bedar is the thirteenth and last day of Nowruz. The day is also known as Nature’s Day, as it is tradition for families to spend the day outside near a body of water to celebrate the renewal and rebirth of the Earth with friends and family. It falls on Tir in the Zoroastrian calendar, which is named for Pahlavi Tishtar and Avestan Tishtrya, the names of the star Sirius and the guardian angel of rain water, respectively. To wish for good luck and fortune at the end of the holiday, families release the sabzeh (sprouts) from the Nowruz Haft Sin table into the water.

The first goal of the project is to mobilize local communities to participate together in an activity relating to water along with a prayer for the creation of water on Saturday, June 5, 2021. This is also World Environment Day. As caring for water in the environment is not limited to a single day in a year, we intend to continue the efforts of the Ava Project for at least 10 years. In 10 years, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are also due. There are 17 sustainable development goals to transform the world, and the Ava Project hopes to share their progress and contributions to these goals between now and 2030 as FEZANA has NGO accreditation with the United Nations.

In the beginning of 2021, the Ava Project leads and volunteers met virtually to brainstorm projects. Many ideas sprouted from this meeting and some of the ideas are already being implemented. As you read through the current list of ideas the teams are working on, we implore you to consider the work the Ava Project is doing, reflect on your own responsibilities as Zoroastrians to preserve our Earth, and consider how you can contribute and join the effort to care for our environment.

The projects, in no specific order, are as follows:

1. Local water clean-up event: One of the most direct ways to help out is by organizing a local water clean-up event. This team is researching and planning community clean-ups by reaching out to parks and local governments.
2. Trout Unlimited Canada: This is a not for profit organization that is focused solely on water conservation, protection, and restoration in Canada. The team has reached out to this organization to determine ways they can work together using Trout’s influence and countless resources.
3. Drone technology and global cleanup companies: POD subgroup is taking a technology-first approach to the environment. This group is aiming to work with or support companies that specialize in drone aerial seeding technology that seeds trees around waterways to improve the ecosystem. They are also researching the possibility of partnering with other global companies that use innovative technologies to clean up river wastes and oil that pollute the oceans. As one might imagine, these technologies are expensive and the team may require fundraising.
4. Educating the children: As the young generation is the future of our world, this group will focus on creating resources about water and its importance for children in grade school (~18 years and younger). This team would create interactive presentations, games, and activities that FEZANA can send to the local associations to educate kids. Additionally, they will facilitate a Youngpreneur Program that will show kids how to start an entrepreneurial business relating to water-related UN Sustainable Development Goals 6 and 14.
5. Educating the community: This team aims to educate the Zoroastrian community through various formats. They plan to accomplish this through educational workshops, videos, pamphlets, quarterly articles, and providing tools to communities to host educational games shows such as Jeopardy, etc. A few topics they intend to cover include: water pollution (e.g. microplastics, medications, and hazardous chemical waste in waterways), the importance of water in Zoroastrianism, and how to make conscious decisions to support water conservation and prevent water pollution.
6. Bringing clean water to remote areas: An impactful project that hits close to home for many of us is an effort to bring clean water to remote areas like in Northern Ontario, rural areas in the USA, and India. One of the many ideas being looked at is Safe Water Network India. One of the team members has worked with this organization, which offers various solutions to bringing clean drinking water to India. The team may require fundraising.
7. Water and trees: Life on land directly impacts water resources. This group is working on multiple ideas that combine water and trees. They plan to plant trees through local organizations, school trips, and communities; they hope to build learning communities to educate individuals on the relationship between land, water and Zoroastrianism; and they are planning events to include art and music in promoting water and the environment.

The Ava Project is open globally to all who want to participate and volunteer. Consider your role as a world citizen to take care of the environment. We encourage you to join your fellow Zoroastrians within and across our worldwide communities in the Ava Project effort! Sign up as a volunteer here: https://bit.ly/2KMqrur

Sources

Eduljee, K.E. “Zoroastrian Heritage.” Norooz Nawruz Noruz No-Ruz Nowruz Page 3 – Zoroastrian New Year, 2005, www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/nowruz/nowruz3.htm.

Parzor Foundation. “Ava in Yasna – Parzor Foundation – Google Arts & Culture.” Ava in Yasna, Google Arts & Culture, 2005, artsandculture.google.com/asset/_/8wENHJ1bT6o8fw.

About the Author

Kyra Singh grew up in the Philadelphia area and is a member of the ZAPANJ community. Currently she works at Google as a statistician within the ads measurement group in New York, NY. She received her PhD in Statistics from the University of Rochester and her B.S. in Economics and Statistics with a minor in Psychology from Carnegie Mellon University. She has been so inspired to see FEZANA’s support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Kyra is passionate about environmental sustainability and is excited to get involved in the Ava Project.

The activist, whose book has just been released, criticises Indian Marxists for being terribly dogmatic, and says it’s the system that has failed, not the ideology

When he was arrested in 2009, headlines screamed ‘top Maoist nabbed’. Today, he’s juggling time between interviews and podcasts, after his book recounting his journey from London to Indian jails (Fractured Freedom: A Prison Memoir) has become a bestseller. In an interview, he talks about these experiences, the setbacks suffered by communism, and the need for socialists to build a system of values beyond economic issues.

Interview by Jyoti Punwani | The Hindu

So, are you a Naxalite?

What is a Naxalite? It’s a vague term. There are many parties and groups who are called Naxalite. Some participate in elections, others work underground. Among the protesting farmers’ groups too, a few are reported to be affiliated to Marxist-Leninist groups.

I am for radical change and a socialist economic system. Capitalism has not given anything to the masses, while socialism all over the world has given enormous economic benefits to the people. But communist systems too have suffered setbacks; their weaknesses need to be rectified.

In your book you write that ‘universal happiness’ must be the goal of any movement for change. What happened to the goal of reducing inequality?

Of course, no one can be happy without the necessities of life. But to talk only about the economic aspect of change isn’t enough. After some time, power and ego start affecting people in the movement. But if you have a value system integrated into your goal, you can counter these influences. For example, I find people praising Anuradha [his late wife, Anuradha Ghandy] for her organisational capacities, not her personal qualities of straightforwardness, honesty, etc. which were equally if not more valuable for a social activist and, in fact, for any human being.

It’s true Freud came after Marx, but still I feel Marxists have ignored the importance of psychology. Just mechanically saying ‘social being determines consciousness’ doesn’t take into account the reality that people don’t change merely with a new ideology; their subconscious thinking inculcated in childhood continues to influence them. Socialism doesn’t automatically bring forth a ‘socialist person’. You have to struggle to become one.

Have you seen this lack of a value system affect those in the struggle?

Yes, and my book talks about it. With caste superiority coming ‘naturally’ to Indians, this is all the more important. I also saw it in Jharkhand’s jails. When the Naxalite inmates belonging to the Marxist Coordination Committee heard I was being brought there, they came running. The media had projected me as a top Maoist leader, and they thought that, like other Naxal leaders they knew, I’d have pots of money. When they saw I didn’t, they slunk away, refusing to help. It was a don who helped me get warm clothes in the Jharkhand winter! Some of these Naxalites were part of the jail mafia, and ran most of the lucrative wards.

Jharkhand has such a heroic history of resistance to the British, starting from the 18th century. What are the Naxalites doing to their tradition? They seem totally different from the Bastar tribals who, I heard from Anuradha, have transformed themselves through the movement to become self-confident and creative, especially the women.

I wonder how your comrades will react to this!

Indian Marxists are terribly dogmatic. They are just not willing to discuss new concepts, nor are they willing to acknowledge that communism has suffered a severe setback worldwide. It should make them think. Economic and social conditions today are so atrocious, yet there is no alternative — unlike when we were young, when communism was the rage.

Has communism failed or the people who implemented it?

The system has failed, not the ideology. History shows us that the socialist system is the most viable for the oppressed masses, while the existing system is destroying the lives not only of the poorest but now also of the middle classes. And the environment too. Only the 3,500-odd billionaires of the world are thriving.

But how we go about achieving it needs to be discussed. We can no longer keep saying, ‘Revolution is inevitable’. In Andhra/ Telangana’s jails I saw that despite 40 years of the revolutionary movement there, the younger generation knew nothing about it. But all that senior leftists say is: ‘Revolution has its ups and downs, but finally it will come,’ without any analysis.

Can we still say ‘the working class is the vanguard’? Where is the working class in India? Since the 90s, there’s only contract labour and sub-contracted labour. The workers are not on the factory floor, they are fractured. I was shocked to learn in Jharkhand that even the Railways contracts out the smallest job — say, cleaning train toilets — to 10 different contractors. An inmate told me he earned ₹10,000 from his job as a driver, but ₹30,000 from illegally selling diesel. So this worker is basically self-employed. Would such workers have a proletarian mentality?

Where is the relationship between the proletariat and the capitalist? The workers are highly oppressed, but they have been socially de-proletarianised.

Your observations on Islamists may also make you unpopular among your comrades. Identity politics is the in thing now.

I’ve written what I saw. Afzal Guru introduced me to the progressive concepts of Islam, but the Islamists only wanted to convert me, talking about jannat etc! Some of them even advocated bomb blasts in public places as the solution against injustice. Muslims who may die in such blasts would be collateral damage, they said. Identity politics leads to vote bank politics and makes it easier for Hindutva parties to get the sympathy of even ‘lower-caste’ Hindus, and to target Muslims and Dalits.

You’ve described the Nirbhaya rapist as a “vile sort.” Can you elaborate?

He would lie at the drop of a hat. I never saw anyone as manipulative and hypocritical as him, with his pujas on the one hand and his vicious outbursts against Nirbhaya’s mother on the other. Whenever he heard about her interviews, he’d say she deserved to be raped.

Physically you were not touched by the police. What restrained them?

I think they soon realised I couldn’t give them much information. They knew more than I did! Basically, they also knew that more than them, jail life would break me. Most people end up disillusioned in jail. I also did break, now and then. It’s not just the indignity of jail life, it’s the legal system too. You don’t know when you will be free or in what condition. Fortunately, I could keep myself sane through yoga and exercise, reading and writing, and Mainstream Weekly published my articles. My first phase in Tihar was very tough. I was very lucky that Afzal befriended me and cushioned the impact. He was jovial, educated; we could discuss so many things.

The writer is a Mumbai-based freelance journalist.

No takers in first five days; Punchayet says 9 Parsis will get jabs on Friday; they are also offering free transport to vaccine-seekers

BD Petit Parsee General Hospital at Cumballa Hill. Pic/Bipin Kokate

Five days after the Bombay Parsi Punchayet and Irani Zoroastrian Anjuman appealed to eligible community members to get vaccinated at B.D. Petit Parsee General Hospital offering free pick-up and drop services, they are yet to open the account.

Article by Gaurav Sarkar | Mid-Day

BPP and Irani Anjuman announced their drive for Zoroastrians over the age of 60 years and those between 45 and 49 years with comorbidities on March 21. They asked COVID vaccine-seekers to call on one of their two helpline numbers for registration.

Apart from promising to book slots at the Parsee General hospital and provide transport to the members, BPP and Anjuman Irani also offered to bear the cost of vaccination and transport if senior citizens of the faith chose to get the shot at a private facility in their vicinity. However, none from the community had gone for the scheme as on Thursday.

BPP worker Jimmy Merchant, 37, said community members have begun showing interest in the drive. He said, “We have arranged for cars and buses according to the need of the hour, which will take the people to Parsee General Hospital to get them vaccinated. Around 50 people have called so far inquiring about the vaccination drive.”

Merchant added, “Our first group of 9 people, who are residents of Dadar, Tardeo, and Nana Chowk, will be taken to the Parsee General Hospital tomorrow [Friday]. On March 30, there is a group of 25 people scheduled to come in from Andheri’s Bharucha Baug, followed by another group of 11 the next day.”

‘Advertised the drive’
BPP trustee Viraf Mehta said, “We advertised our drive on Sunday which was the first day the news went out to the public. Hopefully, by next week we will have 50-60 people covered under this vaccination drive. Yes, the drive has got off to a slow start because most of the people who wanted to take the vaccine did so in the first week of it coming out…and now there is a huge section of people who are skeptical about taking it. It is almost like a walk-in situation now whereas previously there were long lines.”

He added, “If people who live in the suburbs don’t want to go to Parsee General Hospital then they can go to a local or private hospital and we [BPP and Anjuman] will organise transport and pay for the vaccine. When more and more people begin to see that transport is being provided and everything is running smoothly…they will automatically come forward to take the vaccine.”

The Supreme Court has set aside a Tribunal ruling that had reinstated Cyrus Mistry as Executive Chairman of Tata Sons. Tracing the history of the Tata, Wadia and Mistry families, leading to the ongoing conflict.

Written by Coomi Kapoor

Ratan Tata with Cyrus Mistry, whose removal as Tata Sons Exceutive Chairman has led to a long legal battle. (PTI File photo)

For fresh insight into the high-stakes billion-dollar Tata-Mistry corporate battle, which set off tremors in the Bombay Stock Exchange and sent shock waves in the entire business world, one needs to look to the past and, particularly, the history of three remarkable Parsi families Tata, Wadia and Mistry, whose heirs are now at war with one another. For instance, it was, ironically, industrialist Nusli Wadia, now firmly backing the Mistry family, who made it possible for Ratan Tata to retain his grip on, arguably, India’s most prestigious business house.

The charitable Sir Dorab Tata and the Sir Ratan Tata trusts own 66% of Tata Sons, which, in turn, oversees all the group companies. Until 1970, the companies were administered by a managing agency, which was controlled by Tata Sons. But with a change in company law, with the introduction of the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act of 1969, the managing agency system was abolished and the numerous Tata companies became legally independent of the parent board.

The unity of the group was in jeopardy. Tata Sons did not have a majority holding in most Tata companies, and it was only the high respect that JRD Tata commanded that held together a group which, in fact, had become a loose confederation of companies. The group was especially vulnerable to a hostile takeover since, according to government rules, charitable trusts could not vote directly in corporate matters but only through a neutral government nominee.

During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure as Prime Minister, Wadia, then a close friend and ally of Ratan Tata, was in a position to take advantage of his old and very close relationship with BJP leaders, especially Vajpayee and L K Advani. Section 153A of the Companies Act, 1963, had for long been a thorn in the side of the Tatas as it empowered the government to appoint a public trustee to act on behalf of private trusts.

Until this section was amended, the Tata Trusts, and Ratan Tata as the head, had technically no say over the running of Tata Sons. Wadia pleaded the Tata cause with the then powers that be. Ram Jethmalani, then minister for both Law and Company Affairs, and a personal friend of Wadia, passed an order that Ratan Tata would be a government nominee and remain a public trustee with voting rights for Tatas.

In 2002, the Companies Act was amended on several counts, but few seemed to have noticed that the change in Section 153A was Tata-specific. It allowed Tata Trusts to vote directly on the Tata Sons board and not through a government-nominated trustee. Fourteen years later, this amendment would come in handy for Tata to fire Cyrus Mistry.

Another tantalising question in the saga is just how the construction magnate Shapoorji Pallonji and his son Pallonji Mistry came to own a 18.37% stake in Tata Sons, a tightly held family concern. For years, the Tatas were not very transparent about the circumstances in which the shares were purchased. It was hinted that share transfers were made through the estate of F E Dinshaw, a major financial consultant to the Tatas and some maharajas back in the early 20th century.

Tata-Mistry feud |Five aspects on which SC overruled verdict of Company Law Tribunal

While the Mistrys denied the claim, it was repeated regularly in the pink papers as gospel truth. An affidavit submitted by Tata Trusts before the Company Law Board Tribunal exploded that myth and corroborated the Mistrys’ version.

The shares were bought on three separate occasions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. JRD Tata’s widowed sister, Rodabeh Sawhny, sold her stake of 5.9% in January 1965 with her brother’s blessings. In July 1969, the Sir Ratan Tata Trust, of which Naval Tata was then chairperson, raised funds by selling a 4.81% stake in Tata Sons to Shapoorji Pallonji Investment Advisors Pvt Ltd.

Why the Sir Ratan Tata Trust sold some of its shares in 1969 has not been explained. One theory is that Shapoorji had accumulated a large number of IOUs from Tata companies. Whether the outstanding debts were connected with construction works or to settle long-pending unpaid commissions owed to F E Dinshaw Limited, which Shapoorji had acquired from his estate, is a matter of speculation.

But the last Mistry purchase in 1974 was without JRD’s consent, and the Tata head had a shouting match with his younger brother, Dara, who never had much of a head for business. The reason this particular sale created such a scare in the group was the introduction of the MRTP Act. It was only as late as 1980 that JRD grudgingly agreed to make Pallonji Mistry a director on the Tata Sons board.

Incidentally, on several occasions in the 1980s, JRD invited Wadia to join the Tata board. According to Wadia, there was major opposition from Naval Tata, Ratan Tata’s father, who was aligned with Pallonji Mistry. In their efforts to block Wadia’s appointment to Tata Sons, Naval Tata and Pallonji Mistry even reportedly approached Indira Gandhi, who was wary of Wadia because of his old association with Nanaji Deshmukh and the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. JRD was willing to take the two of them on but Wadia hesitated. He knew he would face hostility on all fronts. Besides, he had his own group of companies to run.

When Ratan Tata took charge in 1991, he and Pallonji Mistry were united in a common goal to strengthen Tata Sons’ control over the diversified group’s individual companies and oust the satraps who were entrenched in various parts of the Tata empire. Within days of assuming office, Ratan penned a handwritten note to Pallonji stating that “our common agreement and mutual faith will foster a true and lasting relationship. Our standing together will be a matter of strength”. For the Mistrys, the most painful line of this letter of support is: “Let me reiterate that I will never do anything to hurt you or your family.’

Thanks to probing questions from the Mistry camp, Tata Trusts’ role in the running of the group is now in the spotlight. For their charitable activities, the trusts, formed in the early 20th century, were granted special dispensations by successive governments in terms of both income tax exemptions and the right to investments in corporate entities.

Now, Cyrus Mistry has raised uncomfortable questions about whether charitable trusts can be used to control a major business empire, rather than fulfil the philanthropic objectives for which they were originally set up. Just before he retired, Ratan Tata ensured that the trusts had tightened their grip over Tata Sons. The Articles of Association relating to the appointment and removal of future chairpersons were revised with Nusli Wadia’s guidance, so that all appointments and removals of directors had to be first cleared by the trusts.

When Cyrus took over, he was the first Tata Sons chairperson in the group’s history not to be made chairperson of the Sir Dorab Tata Trust. Ratan Tata retained his position as chairperson of the two major trusts, and thus sowed the seeds of potential discord. Mistry did not really have the powers a normal chairperson of the board would have had. Wadia recalled to this writer that when Tata asked him for his views on choosing Cyrus as chairperson, his cynical response was that Ratan had not really retired: “All you have done is move the power centre from the board to the trusts.’’

Coomi Kapoor, Contributing Editor, The Indian Express, is the author of the soon-to-be-released book The Tatas, Freddie Mercury and other Bawas

Girish Kuber’s book has many interesting anecdotes of stories, struggles, trials and tribulations, and many jubilations behind the family’s journey.

A lot is already known about the Tatas; one of India’s foremost business groups and family. Despite this, Girish Kuber’s account of the Tatas spanning 200 years is worth a mention because it condenses- and yet maintains enough drama and riveting details of- the story of how the Tatas built an empire. Girish Kuber, Editor of Loksatta (the Marathi daily from the Indian Express Group) originally wrote and published this book in Marathi in 2015. The book was translated into English by Vikrant Pande in 2019.

Article by Kayezad E Adajania | Moneycontrol

Kuber starts the story in Navsari, a town in southern Gujarat, where Nusserwanji Tata, father of Jamsetji Tata, was born in 1822. Although Jamsetji is widely regarded as the founder of the Tata group, the seeds were firmly sown by his father when he decided to not follow his family tradition of priesthood and instead headed off to Bombay with his wife Jeevanbai and their young son Jamsetji who was born by then. The book then follows, almost chronologically, the family’s journey of building a business empire.

Starting from Jamsetji’s earliest days as a trader of cotton and opium (which was legal back then), then later setting up cotton mills in Nagpur and Mumbai. From laying the foundation of building India’s first steel manufacturing company and the Taj Mahal hotel, both of which fructified after his death and were nurtured and brought up by his two sons, Sir Dorabji Tata and Sir Ratan Tata. Their legacy was continued by Jehangir Rantanji Dadabhoy (JRD) Tata who forayed the group into aviation by setting up India’s first airline, Tata Aviation Services (originally an air mail service) and later rechristened Air India as India’s first commercial airline. And the group’s foray into chemicals and salt business, to name just a few. Finally Ratan Naval Tata, who succeeded JRD as the group chairman, led the group’s entry into the information technology sector, apart from building passenger cars.

The book has many interesting anecdotes of stories, struggles, trials and tribulations, and many jubilations behind the family’s journey. By and large, three themes spring up.

Contributing to nation building

The first is how the Tatas contributed to nation building at a time when the British were very much ruling India. The first World War hadn’t even broken out, but that was a time when Nusserwanji and Jamsetji felt that India needed to be prepared for the future and be industrialised. Where to start?

Although India used to produce and export cotton, it never produced cloth. The Tatas set up cotton textile mills. A world-class hotel was needed in a growing city that had very few hotels and largely catered to Englishmen. That led to the birth of the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel. Inspired by a lecture that Jamsetji attended in London where it was said that a nation that understood the value of iron would reap its weight in gold, he, alongwith the help of his two sons and his brother-in-law’s son Ratanji Tata set up Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO; Tata Steel today). Jamsetji persevered to set up Indian Institute of Science, a world-class education institute, though sadly Jamsetji didn’t live long to see it being born. After India’s independence, JRD led the Tatas into aviation, automobiles and chemicals.

Not just plant and machinery

The second theme that comes out strongly is how the Tatas nurtured its employees. When Jamsetji set up Empress Mills in Nagpur, the city was laid back; absenteeism was common. Jamsetji devised a retirement fund and an insurance policy to cover medical costs for injuries incurred at work, among the earliest known examples of employee welfare schemes in India. When TISCO was being set up, Jamsetji didn’t conceive plant and machinery. A township with wide roads, trees “that would absorb the heat”, football grounds, temples, mosques and churches were part of the urban planning that went into setting up TISCO; the town today is called Jamshedpur. Post-World War I when TISCO ran into rough weather due to recession, there were concerns that the company might not be able to pay salaries. Sir Dorab Tata (Jamsetji’s elder son) sold his personal assets and even asked his wife to sell her jewels. He raised Rs 1 crore and another crore from Maharaja of Gwalior (a family friend and an investor in TISCO) to ensure salaries to all were paid in time.

Coming to terms with politics

The third is about the Tatas, especially JRD, struggled with India’s political heads, particularly in the first two decades after India’s independence. Aside from how JRD’s beloved Air India was nationalised- apart from Tata’s New India Assurance- despite his protests, Kuber gives us an inside account of how JRD battled top ministers’ whims at the time that threatened to, what JRD felt, slow India’s progress. JRD didn’t agree with Gandhi’s and Nehru’s socialism, especially the disdain with which some of Nehru’s ministers saw industrialists.

Kuber talks about a shocking incident. Two years after Air India was nationalised in 1953, Nehru was to attend the Afro-Asian conference in 1955. He was keen to fly Chinese premier Chou En-lai from Hong Kong to Indonesia. He sent an Air India plane to pick him up. The Chinese premier didn’t turn up at the airport. Some Chinese bureaucrats came and the plane flew away to Indonesia. However, a time bomb aboard exploded and the plane went down. JRD was devastated. There were only three survivors. Later, when a senior AI pilot, close to JRD, met with Chou En-lai, it transpired that the Chinese knew about the danger and instead wondered why India didn’t know about it. Despite this, Nehru sent another AI plane to get the Chinese premier to Indonesia.

JRD’s struggle with politicians and the licence raj continued with Indira Gandhi and Morarji Desai, despite being close friends with the Nehru family all along.

The book is a fascinating read. The language is easy, reads like a story and can be read in one or few sittings, yet is rich in content. The only flaw here- as with all other such books that need a lot of access with the subjects to get their hands on inside accounts, tales and untold stories- is that it comes off as slightly one-sided. For the many successes of the Tatas that the book focusses on, its failures aren’t much highlighted. A whole chapter is focused on the struggles that Ratan N. Tata went through to realise his dream small car, but the book is silent on Nano’s struggles in subsequent years after launch. Other businesses that are struggling like aviation or didn’t much yield like the group’s entry into Telecom and its ill-fated acquisition of Corus- Europe’s second-largest steel producer- are virtually absent from the book.

But that’s a minor complaint in an otherwise good read. Grab your copy.

Kayezad E Adajania heads the personal finance bureau at Moneycontrol. He has been covering mutual funds and personal finance for the past two decades, having worked in Mint and Outlook Money magazine. Kayezad was the founding member of Mint’s personal finance team when it was set up in 2009.

Dr. Farokh E. Udwadia is a legend in the medical field worldwide. He is also a proud Parsi Zarathushti and was invited as the Keynote speaker at the Iranshah Udvada Utsav 2017 In two frank and heartfelt speecheshe implores his fellow Parsis to find ways to thrive in the future.

The April 2021 Ba Humata lecture shall be on the topic: From Humata to Hvarashta: To Protect and Heal the Earth (Spentomad Gatha 48.12)

The lecture is scheduled for Sunday, April 4, 2021 at 8:00 AM Pacific | 11:00 AM  Eastern | 3:00 PM GMT | 8:30 PM Indian Time

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83408826220

Meeting ID: 834 0882 6220

Passcode: 545117

Speakers and panelists:

Ervad Homyar Nasirabadwala – Head Priest (Hong Kong)

Ervad Mahiyar Kerawala – VP BAWAZ (Australia)  

Arzan Sam Wadia – President FEZANA (USA)

Shirin Mehri – Zarthushti Peace Agent (Pakistan)

Afreed Mistry – FEZANA AVA Project (Canada)

Moderated by: Dr. Karishma Koka, PhD, Founder of Ba Humata

For more info visit: https://Ba-Humata.co.uk

The following update is put out by Empowering Mobeds & WZO Trusts

Saturday October 24, 2020 was indeed a dark day, not only on account of the Pandemic but more so that Er. Zahan Meherzad Turel, all of 14 years young, a shining star of our Mobedi clan, suffered severe (48.5%) burns injuries whilst performing the ‘boi’ ceremony at Goti Adarian, Surat.

After being administered basic treatment young Zahan was rushed to Masina Hospital at Byculla, Mumbai, where he was given treatment for an extended period of time and thereafter discharged on Monday, January 04, 2021.

Fortunately for Er. Zahan Turel, he received excellent treatment at the Burns Unit of Masina Hospital and is well on his way to recovery.

Such a grisly mishap is not the first such incident that our Mobeds have had to contend with whilst tending to our revered fires. It is beyond imagination that in this day and age our Mobeds continue to perform religious ceremonies without a modicum of protection.

The incident triggered off intense discussions amongst the core group of Team Empowering Mobeds (a joint initiative of WZO Trust Funds and Athornan Mandal). After proactive discussions where various options were considered it was finally decided to have ‘Jamas, Padan & Hand Pockets (for Boiwala Mobeds to wear when inside the kebla) made from fire retardant fabric that would provide reasonable safety to our Mobeds whilst carrying out various religious ceremonies.

Over the last few months, experiments were undertaken to test fire retardant fabrics that would provide safety to Mobeds in case of embers landing on their ‘Jamas, Padan & Hand Pockets’.

Trials have been conducted, where Mobed Volunteers have worn Jamas made from different fabrics of thickness comparable to existing Jamas (on which the fire retardant process would be added later on) to test the comfort levels.

A well wisher Mr. Viraf Sohrabji Mehta who was keenly interested in the project coordinated the exercise with Ms. Firoza Karani, Director of Casablanca Apparels Pvt. Ltd., in having samples made and trials done for which we are most grateful to both of them.

It has now been decided to place an order for manufacturing 800 sets each of ‘Jamas & Padans and 200 sets of hand pockets with Casablanca Apparels Pvt. Ltd., a well known garment manufacturing unit established in 1993 that manufactures a variety of garments for both domestic and export markets.

As fire retardant fabric is not available off the shelves, Casablanca Apparels have placed an order with Arvind Mills, Ltd., to produce the minimum quantity required. The fire-retardant fabric is expected to be ready by mid-June 2021, and the final product ready for distribution sometime between mid to end July 2021. A set each will be offered gratis to practicing Mobeds for their use, should they be interested.

After the fabric has been manufactured, appropriate certificates of the fabric having Fire retardant properties will be obtained from Arvind Mills, the manufacturers of the fabric, as well as Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS) an international inspection agency that inspects Apparels, Machinery, Medicines etc, before shipments.

High Priests, Dasturji Dr. Firoze M. Kotwal, Dasturji Khurshed K. Dastoor, Dasturji Keki P. Ravji Meherjirana, Senior Mobed Aspandiar Dadachanji, have all been informed about the initiative and their approval received.

After using the initial set, if Mobeds are satisfied in all respects, it will be for them, or their Agiary Trustees / Panthaki’s to procure additional sets from the manufacturers against payment. A suitable system will be put into place that will make it convenient to procure future supplies.

The ever-generous Trustees of Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hong Kong, Canton & Macao have committed to make funds available for this initiative through WZO Trust Funds which will facilitate the initial production from fire retardant fabric of 800 Jamas 800 Padans and 200 pairs of Hand Pockets.

Mobeds, Panthakies and Trustees of Agiarys wishing to accept sets of Jamas & Padans and Hand Pockets made from fire retardant fabric are requested to contact and coordinate with:

Er. Hormuz A. Dadachanji,

D. E. Mithaiwala Agiary

Opp Grant Road Station (West),

Mumbai 400007

Telephone Contact: (+91) 9820493813

Disclaimer:

It is clearly understood, implicitly agreed to and accepted by the Mobeds using attire made from Fire Retardant fabric that the initiative taken by Empowering Mobeds & WZO Trusts and funded by Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hong Kong, Canton & Macao has been undertaken solely with the intent of providing safety to our Mobeds.

Empowering Mobeds, WZO Trusts or The Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hong Kong, Canton & Macao, their Trustees and members will under no circumstances be held responsible or liable should the product malfunction / is found ineffective / does not offer protection / or causes any other complications.

It is also reiterated that The Trustees / Members of Empowering Mobeds, WZO Trusts or The Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hong Kong, Canton & Macao have no commercial / pecuniary benefit from this project.

Dinshaw K. Tamboly;

Chairman.

Former Mumbai batsman passes away in Dubai at 90; will be known for his long club cricket journey that spanned generations

Mehli Irani at the Bombay Gymkhana. Pic/mid-day archives

It seems only yesterday that I visited Mehli Irani’s home in Byculla to interview him for a piece I was doing on him playing the Dr HD Kanga Cricket League for 42 years.

Article by Clayton Murzello | Mid Day

We headlined the story NEVER SAY BYE, but Irani, 90, did say goodbye on Friday in a Dubai hospital.

He figured in the Kanga League till the 1990s. The genial Parsi may have played only one Ranji Trophy game for Mumbai (against Baroda in 1953-54) in addition to two other first-class games (Bombay v MCC in 1951-52 and Bombay v Commonwealth XI in 1953-54) but his role as an attractive middle-order batsman and wicketkeeper transcended eras. He enjoyed a long tenure as a club cricketer for Parsi Cyclists and Bombay Gymkhana.

Gavaskars, Sardesais, Patils

For example, Rohan Gavaskar played a few Saturday games with Irani for Bombay Gymkhana. And according to ex-Mumbai player Vilas Godbole, batting legend Sunil as well as his father Manohar could have played against Irani.  The late Manohar, it can be recalled, was a fine batsman, who used to represent Rajasthan SC.

Dilip Sardesai played against Irani and the late India batsman’s son Rajdeep played with him. Sandeep Patil and his father Madhusudan opposed Irani in different eras. The latter played in the same team as Irani in the Bombay v MCC match at the Brabourne Stadium in December, 1951.

Nari and Hoshedar Contractor too came into contact with Irani on the pitch.

Irani’s best cricketing moment was when he led Bombay University to a Rohinton Baria Trophy title triumph in early 1953. That team which beat Delhi in Bangalore had a clutch of future Test players—Nari Contractor, Ramnath Kenny, Naren Tamhane, GR Sunderam and Chandu Patankar.

“Mehli was a brilliant batsman, who scored heavily in University cricket. He was a typical fun-loving Parsi,” recalled Patankar, 90.

Contractor recalled his long association with Irani. “He was my captain at St Xavier’s College, my University captain and he took over when I resigned as Parsi Cylists captain. Mehli was an attacking cricketer. Winning mattered to him but he never went over the top. If we won, we won, if we lost, we lost,” said Contractor. Sandeep Patil, the former Test star, remembered Irani fondly. “Very sad to hear the news of his death. Mehli Uncle was a favourite among all youngsters; ever-smiling and always ready to help. He was a great person,” said Patil.

Abbas Ali Baig, who scored a Test debut hundred for India on the 1959 tour of England, spent two memorable years at Parsi Cyclists.

“I enjoyed every second of it. From the tiny tent passing as their change room to the hilarious exchanges between the players were exhilarating and I have a feeling that Mehli must have been the accepted band leader. My condolences to the family,” Baig told mid.day.com

Former Mumbai captain Shishir Hattangadi played in the same Bombay Gymkhana side as Irani in the 1980s. “He was a wonderful character in maidan and Bombay Gymkhana cricket. He played only one Ranji Trophy game for Mumbai and he always expressed that disappointment in a humourous way. He was a character and that tribe won’t increase,” remarked Hattangadi.

Those heavy lunches

Karsan Ghavri, who shifted from Saurashtra to Mumbai in the early 1970s, spoke about his first captain in Mumbai cricket in glowing terms. “Mehli was my first captain at Parsi Cyclists. We were a laughing riot. Every lunch break was spent at an Irani restaurant near Churchgate which served the best dhansak. The players used to relish it and wash it down with some Golden Eagle beer, which came in jumbo bottles.”

“After consuming all that, the fielding and catching obviously couldn’t be at its best. And the loudest voice on the field if we dropped catches, was Mehli’s. We got served the choicest expletives,” recalled Ghavri.

Until recently, before he went to Dubai, Irani would be seen at the Bombay Gymkhana enjoying his evenings in the company of his wife Dhun and friends. He needed medical aid often and was helped immensely by Nadim Memon, the Mumbai cricket administrator, who used to accompany him to hospitals.

In Mehli Dinshaw Irani’s death, Mumbai cricket has lost a true blue cricketer, who was happy to sit in his beloved Parsi Cyclists tent when not on the field, enjoying every moment the willow game handed out to him. He deserved better.

A photograph taken seven years before her passing says much about the life, times and character of the trailblazing Meherbai Tata

The much-loved wife of Dorabji Tata and daughter in-law of Jamsetji Tata, the founder of the Tata group, Meherbai Tata was a woman of personality. A participant in the ornamental theatrics of being imperial within Empire, one finds her name regularly among the maharajas, nawabs and begums in royal chronicles. And deservedly so.

Meherbai was honoured with the ‘Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire’ (CBE) in 1916 for her philanthropic efforts in service of the Crown during World War I. She hosted Queen Anne, along with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, at her home. She was India’s first woman Olympic athlete — at the 1924 Paris games, although her name is missing from India’s records — and the first Indian woman to fly in an airplane (in 1912). As founder of the National Council for Women in India, she fought for the ‘modern’ educated Indian woman.

Article by Sneha Vijay Shah | Horizons Tata Trust

is an art historian, curator and arts entrepreneur. She divides her time between London and Mumbai

The Lafayette Studio photograph of Meherbai Tata from 1924 and, commissioned after her death, the painting based on it (Images courtesy: © Victoria and Albert Museum, London (above left), and, Trustees, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai)

In the midst of a global pandemic, with grief and loss surrounding us, the time is perhaps apt to ask the hereafter questions. What becomes of us once we leave this realm? How would we like to be remembered? What happens to our legacy, our life’s work, the impact we make through our time in this world?

Photographs and portraits have long been used as a way to remember our ancestors and loved ones. Such remembering was not as straightforward in Meherbai’s day as it is now. The process of being photographed took far too long for the possibility of candid captures. One would carefully choose a photo studio, attire, props and then strike a calculated pose as the camera registered the image. Photographs images from this period, thus, represent the stories the people posing wanted to tell about themselves, how they hoped to be seen and remembered.

As an art historian, I research how such archived portrait photographs, when interpreted through the lens of art history, can recover ‘lost identities’. In the case of Meherbai, the photographs illuminate the private, the public and the political, as also the life, times, achievements and insecurities of a once dominant woman who belonged to one of the most powerful industrial families of India. The attempt here is to uncover the secrets hidden within Meherbai’s official portrait.

On 27 June, 1924, Lady Meherbai Dorab Tata walked into The Lafayette Studio at 160 New Bond Street, London, for her official photograph, possibly on the occasion of being summoned to court at Buckingham Palace. The studio had built a reputation as portrayers of a rich and powerful empire and had been decreed the title of ‘Photographer Royal’. The warrant was a magnet for the studio’s clientele, among them India’s royals and other eminences. These dignitaries flocked to Lafayette for the explicit purpose of having an ‘official portrait’ made.

‘Court’ attire

Within the black-and-white frame of her glass negative, located in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s archives in London, Meherbai looks ethereal. In the Lafayette archives, translated from plate into printed form, within the transferred image the light changes immediately (see image on page 68). One’s gaze is drawn towards her white gloves — the whitest element of the portrait — the very piece of her outfit that makes it definitive English ‘court’ attire. A gold bangle, with intricate leaf motives, traditional to Indian dressing, sits subtly over her gloves on each hand.

Meherbai appears dressed in a crisply ironed satin-silk sari, the folds still visible around the skirt. The image reveals photography’s ability to capture the unintended. The ironing around her hip gives way to crumpling. She probably arrived at the studio wearing the outfit — no easy task — and she would have had to climb up the three flights of stairs to the top floor studio, where the cumbersome equipment of the photographic trade would have been waiting for her.

A little rosette sits upon Meherbai’s waist, and it pieces together two eclectic elements of her outfit: the Edwardian blouse with a V-neck and her sari. The pallu (loose end of the sari) gracefully drapes her combed bun before flowing in the Parsi-Gujrati style to the front. Meherbai’s attire immediately identifies her as an Indian, somebody with knowledge of western fashions. Her hands come to a close, right hand tucked within her left, as she holds an ostrich feather plume and Indian batwa (purse) within her palms. Her dual allegiance to India and the Crown is evident.

For Meherbai, the ‘national sari’ was almost obsessively a patriotic symbol. She wore it while driving a motorcar or riding a horse, even at tennis tournaments. Furthermore, she was noted to have — in the words of Stanley Reed, then editor of The Times of India “regarded with some impatience the younger members of her community who discarded the traditional costume for Western modes”. In an address delivered at Battle Creek College on November 29, 1927, she stated proudly while drawing attention to her attire: ‘This is the sari, the dress that I wear. The sari was never worn in Persia, but we have modified it a good deal and we wear it a little differently from the Hindu ladies from whom we took the dress”.

By the early 1920s, the sari had emerged in India as a political garment, helped along by Gandhi’s push for women — as “mothers of Indian industry” — to give up foreign consumption and switch to Khadi fabrics. Meherbai’s choice of modified court dress, an amalgamation of the Indian-Gujrati sari draped over an Edwardian-fashioned bodice with a plunging neckline, is intriguing within this political context. It occupies a threshold position, much like her in society, between the English and the Indian.

Meherbai accessorises her outfit with her ‘Jubilee diamond’ pendant necklace, named after Queen Victoria’s centenary anniversary. This is set in a platinum claw and hung on a thin platinum chain, surrounded by a double-chain pearl necklace that extends to her torso. At 245 carats, after being cut and polished, the diamond is twice as large as the Koh-I-Noor, that vexed icon of colonial plunder.

Found in a South African mine in 1895, the Jubilee diamond was acquired by a consortium of London diamond merchants. During the cutting and cleaning process, the consortium realised the brilliance of the diamond and planned for it to be presented to Queen Victoria as a gift on the occasion of her ‘jubilee anniversary’ in 1896. This did not happen for some reason.

The consortium decided to display the diamond at the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. It is here, in the centre of much hype and attention, that Meherbai and Dorab Tata ‘shopped’ for it. ‘Shopping’ at the Paris expositions was almost a tradition within the Tata family. In 1878, Jamsetji Tata brought from his trip much that fascinated him, including animals that he kept at his zoo in Navsari and the spun-iron pillars that till today hold up the ballroom of the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai.

The Jubilee, which holds the rank of the sixth-largest diamond in the world, was purchased by Meherbai and Dorab for £100,000. Every time the Tatas removed it from their safe deposit vault in London for Meherbai to wear it, they were reportedly ‘fined’ £200 by the insurance company. Posing confidently with the Jubilee, a gift for the queen within this portrait, one cannot help but wonder how the diamond might have been received as part of her garb in court at Buckingham Palace.

Diamond for a cause

The Jubilee was part of the jewellery pledged by Dorab Tata to the Imperial Bank when the Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) was undergoing a crisis in 1924. The diamond was eventually sold following Meherbai’s demise from leukaemia, along with the rest of her jewellery, to set up the Lady Meherbai Tata Trust for cancer research and women’s education.

Coming back to the portrait, upon Meherbai’s lapel, almost camouflaged by the gradient of her sari, is her CBE badge. The award was instituted by George V to reward military and civilian wartime service to the Empire. It was almost a bribe to draw elite members of the colonies to help the imperial war effort. As Parsis with no title of their own, the CBE and other similar honours may have been the only way for them to gain the social clout to match their growing business power.

Unlike many of her female counterparts, Meherbai is careful not to lean on or take the support of any props in her portrait, an authoritative pose that marks her unconventional individuality. Meherbai stages herself as youthful, stands tall and poised, showcasing the grace, dignity and athletic spirit she was bred to embody. She is proud of her figure — Lafayette’s ‘retouchers’ were experts at bringing in waists and correcting arm widths, but Meherbai seems to have excused herself from such services — she is self-aware and confident.

The portrait’s backdrop is painted in a style typical of the period’s fashions, blurred out like the background of a Rembrandt painting. Lafayette’s expert team ensured that Meherbai, even embellished with all her adornments, is the only distinguishable subject. One sees a hint of a frame with a western balcony sneaking through. The only studio prop seen is a stool in the middle ground that partially hides behind Meherbai, its purpose seemingly to ground her within the composition.

The lighting is dramatic and Meherbai’s expression austere. She is well aware of her beauty, a notion that during this period alluded in part to a fair complexion. As Persians, Parsis were not as ‘white’ as Europeans, and not as dark as Indians. They held an in-between position even in this aspect. Meherbai doesn’t have to hide behind her colour. Her complexion is in fashion.

The Tatas were certainly proud of Meherbai’s portrait. It is the one the family chose to convert into an oil painting, upon her death, to immortalise her memory (see image on page 68). Queen Victoria’s court painter, John Lavery, was employed for the commission. Curiously, Meherbai’s batwa is missing from the painting’s composition.

Within the portrait, colour is brought to Meherbai’s skin and garb. She materialises as a manifestation of Reed’s description of her: “Above medium height, clear cut, and clear-eyed, with that flush through the faintly tinted olive skin…”

Sneha Vijay Shah is an art historian, curator and arts entrepreneur. She divides her time between London and Mumbai

Meheryar Rivetna, an active member of the library committee of the Zoroastrian Association of Houston (ZAH), has written and published a book Zarathustra: The Man And The Message. The book aims to dispel the myths pervasive in the Zoroastrian religion. Meheryar provides historical context of how the religion changed from the founding principles of the Prophet Zarathustra.

The book covers a variety of topics from the myths surrounding Zarathustra’s birth and early life, expansion of the religion, the concept of God in the Zoroastrian faith, the meaning of heaven and hell among other topics; it also offers an exegesis of Zarathustra’s inspiring words in the Gathas, all supported by evidence based on the works of eminent scholars and experts in the field. Beyond religious matters, the book highlights the influence of the Zoroastrian religion on other faiths as well as philosophical thought from the early Greek philosophers to modern times. The impact of Zarathustra’s teachings on Western civilization is a fact that is often overlooked and the book provides evidence of how much the Prophet of Iran influenced world thought.

The book costs $10.00 plus postage and handling and can be ordered by writing to Arnavaz Sethna at ahsethna@yahoo.com

Meheryar Rivetna is donating all profits from the sale to the library committee of the ZAH. The ZAH library committee is dedicated to advance knowledge of the Zoroastrian religion, history and culture. The library committee members are also Operations Committee Members of FIRES, the information, research and education arm of FEZANA. (More information on FIRES can be obtained by visiting www.fires-fezana.org)

For more information on Zarathustra: The Man And The Message, please visit:

messageofzarathushtra.weebly.com

Based in Mumbai, Bharucha is the Mayor of London’s chief representative in India and leads the teams in India with offices in Mumbai and Bangalore, according to a statement.

London & Partner on Friday announced the appointment of Hemin Bharucha as Country Director, India. London & Partners is London’s international trade, investment, and promotion agency that promotes London as the best city in the world in which to invest, work, study, and visit.

Hemin will report to Janet Coyle, Managing Director – Business Growth, London & Partners who is based in London, according to a statement.
Based in Mumbai, Bharucha is the Mayor of London’s chief representative in India and leads the teams in India with offices in Mumbai and Bangalore. As part of the London & Partners Senior Leadership team, he advises on strategic plans for London & Partners, participates in the evaluation of projects, and monitoring budgets and financial affairs, keeping in mind the mission, values, and policies of the organisation.

Bharucha is also responsible for delivering against set targets for trade and investment activities in India. This entails encouraging Indian companies to expand their business into London as well as support London-based companies to enter the Indian market and identify suitable partners in India for them to tie up with.

As London’s senior-most government representative in India, he also maintains strategic relationships with key stakeholders in India and London such as senior business leaders, central and state government heads and cabinet ministers, top bureaucrats, Mayor of London’s office, Greater London Authority, UK’s Department of International trade and heads of major trade bodies across India and London.

He is often called upon to present to the Board of London & Partners, the Mayor of London’s office and London Greater Authority (GLA).
Under Hemin’s leadership, India now ranks amongst the top three countries that invest in London for business, students and visitors. In FY 2019-2020, India was the second-largest investor in the UK. In FY 2020-2021, despite the lockdown, India continued to be the fastest-growing market for London and saw 16 new companies being set up in the city, the statement said.

London & Partners is a not-for-profit public-private partnership, funded by the Mayor of London and its network of commercial partners.

In the 1920s and 1930s, a dozen adventurous young riders went on the ultimate journey.

In 2017, Anoop Babani, Goa-based former journalist, was recuperating from a cycling accident when he encountered a book from 1931, With Cyclists Around the World, written by three Indians who, in the days before widespread paved roads and satellite communications, had biked around the world.

“A new China has been born in the world,” they wrote prophetically of one of their destinations. “Few see her; but those who do see, realize how she will affect world’s course and shape world’s history.” The cyclists—Adi Hakim, Jal Bapasola, and Rustom Bhumgara—chronicled their entire, unusual, four-and-a-half-year expedition. In early 20th-century India, cycling was for commuting. It was never considered a way to see the world.

Article By Arti Das | Atlas Obscura

Jal Bapasola, Rustom Bhumgara, and Adi Hakim (left to right) rode around the world on Royal Benson cycles. Courtesy Anoop Babani and Savia Viegas

“They were much more than mere cyclists,” says Babani who, along with his wife, artist-writer and fellow avid cyclist Savia Viegas, began to research the expedition in greater depth. They found how the cyclists returned to tell India more about a changing world—and inspire others to take similar journeys: four more such global expeditions, spanning 1923 to 1942, involving six more cyclists. All who partook in the small-scale craze were from the Parsi community of Mumbai (then Bombay).

Babani and Viegas collected archival information, interviewed family members, and found photographs. Their work resulted in a photo exhibition, Our Saddles, Our Butts, Their World, and has now taken the form of a book, The Bicycle Diaries: Indian Cyclists and Their Incredible Journeys Around the World. The result is a glimpse of a world between wars, in the midst of vast social and political change. It also landed the adventuring cyclists in jail a few times.

Savia Viegas and Anoop Babani are both avid cyclists, and found kindred spirits in the forgotten, two-wheeled adventurers of the early 20th century. Courtesy Anoop Babani and Savia Viegas

Adi Hakim was a member of the Bombay Weightlifting Club with a knack for outdoor activities. In The Bicycle Diaries, his granddaughter Jasmine Marshall says, “‘Nothing is impossible,’ he would always tell me. A passion, I am sure, shared by all his bicycle mates.” There were six of those, including Bapasola, Bhumgara, and three others who started the grand expedition but did not complete it. It’s not completely clear what inspired these young Parsis (an ethnoreligious group that practices Zoroastrianism) and the ones who followed them, but Babani believes it was their way of participating in India’s freedom struggle. “Instead of waving flags and joining demonstrations, they chose to pedal on a perilous path,” he says, “to paint for the world a true picture of India that would depict the glorious civilization, culture, and architecture of our native land.”

The expedition departed Mumbai in October 15, 1923. By the time they returned in March 1928, they had been to 27 countries and pedaled more than 40,000 miles—through Punjab, Balochistan, the Middle East, Europe, United States, Japan, and Southeast Asia. They encountered dense forests, swamps, and the terrible solitude of the Alps.

Each man rode a Royal Benson bicycle and carried just a British passport, some clothes and medicine, bicycle repair tools, a used compass, a world map, and Rs. 2,000—about $27. But they also brought skills to the trip. Hakim was the chronicler, Bhumgara a trained automobile mechanic known to perform circus-like acrobatics, and Bapasola the map reader. They spent the first three months cycling through India, and then into what is now Iran, where, to earn money, Bhumgara pulled a car with five passengers down the road with his teeth. From there they went to Baghdad, and across the Syrian-Mesopotamian desert, which they crossed in 23 days. Family members describe this as the worst part of their journey—and a phenomenal achievement.

Hakim, Bhumgara, Nariman Kapadia, Bapasola, Keki Pochkhanawala, and Gustad Hathiram (left to right), called the “Super Six,” began the trip. Three made it all the way around the world. Courtesy Anoop Babani and Savia Viegas

Lovji Hakim, the third of Hakim’s seven sons, says in the book that at one point his father had them all say their last prayers. “Fortunately, some Bedouins found them,” he says. “Every time my father narrated this story to me, he would suddenly go silent and humbled that he was alive.”

“Our lives, we were told, were in grave danger from their predatory excursions,” they wrote of the people who helped them get through the desert. “Instead, throughout our journey we found the Bedouins more a friend than an enemy.”

A sea voyage then took them from Alexandria in Egypt to Brindisi, Italy. In Rome, they got an autograph from then–Prime Minister Benito Mussolini, and at the Vatican they had an audience with Pope Pius XI. Europe at the time was still deeply scarred by World War I: poverty, bad roads, and unhygienic conditions. In Rome they were mistaken for German spies and spent a night behind bars. But the Prime Minister’s autograph and a news report about their journey in a Roman newspaper backed their otherwise far-fetched story.

An embossed note attests to the audience the cyclists had with Pope Pius XI. Courtesy Anoop Babani and Savia Viegas

After raising some money in Europe, they sailed with their bicycles to New York, which they found “bewitching.” They spent two weeks among the skyscrapers, traffic, and flappers. One of their initial riding companions, Gustad Hathiram, decided to stay in the United States. (He became an auto mechanic in Florida, and died in 1973.)

The remaining cyclists spent the next five months pedaling across the United States, where they were warmly received by hundreds of Indians studying in American universities. In Detroit, they briefly worked for the Ford Motor Company, presumably on the assembly line for the iconic Model T.

They were particularly in awe of American roads. “It was for the first time in our journey that we could ride 100 miles a day consecutively for five days,” they wrote of the trip from Boston to Buffalo. They found other parts of the American experience disheartening, such as the rude and insulting immigration authorities. “The immigrant is at best tolerated and viewed with suspicion,” they wrote. They were equally appalled by the “racial discrimination of the most demeaning character which is observed in railway trains, at railway stations, in tramcars, in hotels, and in places of amusements.” They continued, “India to them is a semi-barbarous country inhabited by black figures, mystics, magicians and infested with snakes and tigers.”

In America, “the immigrant is at best tolerated and viewed with suspicion.”

From San Francisco they sailed to Japan in November 1925. From there they went to the mainland and became the first to cycle across the “Hermit Kingdom” of Korea in winter. This brought them into China, pulsing with violent political change. Rifles were pointed at their heads when they were suspected of being spies. In Indochina (present-day Vietnam), they were furious about immigration rules and how Indians were treated by the French colonial government. Bapasola wrote an article about it for a local newspaper, at which point they were arrested—again—on charges of “bringing into hatred and the contempt of (French) government of Indo-China!” they wrote. They were only released after the intervention by Siagon’s Governor, Maurice Antoine Francois Monguillot, a sportsman himself.

Finally, in March 1928, they returned to Mumbai and a rousing reception. Along the way they had received warm welcomes, been awarded 26 medals, delivered public lectures, and collected 146 autographs: kings, the Pope, prime ministers, presidents, industrialists, mayors—even Zhang Zuolin, the Warlord of Manchuria.

Their efforts inspired others. In January 1924, sports journalist Framroze Davar went on a solo expedition. He picked up a traveling partner in Vienna, Gustav Sztavjanik, and the two cycled together for seven years, across 52 countries. “Theirs was the toughest and most adventurous journey,” says Babani: West Africa, the Sahara, the Amazon, the Andes.

A later expedition, with Rustam Ghandhi, Kaikee Kharas, and Rutton Shroff (left to right), spent nine years on the road and covered more than 50,000 miles. Courtesy Anoop Babani and Savia Viegas

In April 1933, another trio from Mumbai—Kaikee Kharas, Rustam Ghandhi, and Rutton Shroff—began a nine-year expedition of more than 50,000 miles. “They were the first cyclists ever to cycle across iron-curtained Afghanistan,” says Babani. They were present at the historic Nuremberg Nazi Party rally addressed by Adolf Hitler, and were the first to cycle across Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia. Two more solo expeditions followed. Eighteen-year-old Jamshed Mody left in May 1934, and went 30,000 miles in three years. Manek Vajifdar departed the same month, but ended his journey in London four years later due to international conflicts. All told, the expeditions resulted in a half-dozen more books, and opened up the world to Indians back home who might never have had a chance to see it.

Upon their return, the original three cyclists were lauded, but not formally recognized by the British government of India, which may be one reason their efforts have not been celebrated more. “At that time cycling tourism was a completely different ball game. It was an upper-class pursuit initiated and introduced predominantly by American and European cyclists in early 20th century,” says Babani. “A handful of Indian cyclists were impressed by it and took to it. Hence, it was imperative for the then-ruling British Empire to recognize their deeds. Since this did not happen, the cyclists and their journeys were totally forgotten until recently.”

The three original cyclists in China. “A new China has been born in the world,” they wrote of that portion of their trip. Courtesy Anoop Babani and Savia Viegas

After basking in some glory, all three cyclists returned to regular life. Hakim had a long career in the oil industry. Bhumgara joined the independence movement, assisted the Indian National Congress, and worked in the auto industry. Bapasola joined a steel company.

Babani and Viegas are now pushing for a museum and public monuments to honor all the cyclists. And Babani says that he’s seen a resurgent interest in recreational cycling in India: megastores selling premium bikes, an explosion in local cycling clubs, new endurance cycling events. But cycling around the world? That remains an ultimate challenge. “Their achievements and adventurous spirit have left an indelible imprint on the country,” Babani says, “as well as a source of inspiration.”

An expert in Information Technology Yazdi B Tantra has been elected unopposed as the new Chairman of Multi State Scheduled Bank- Zoroastrian Cooperative Bank in the recently held election. He replaced Homai A.Daruwalla who is now elected as the director on the board.

Besides, Phillie D. Karkaria has been elected unopposed as the Vice-Chairman of the bank. The bank’s board consists of 14 directors and all have been elected unopposed.

Article by Rohit Gupta | Indian Cooperative

Tantra has been running a medium-sized computer company ON-LYNE for the past 24 years. Despite efforts Indian Cooperative failed to elicit the response about the election of the new Chairman of the bank.

A statement released by the bank reads, “Mr Yazdi B Tantra has been on the Board of the Bank since 2005. A qualified Chartered Accountant, Tantra is an expert in Information Technology.”

“Earlier, Tantra was the Vice Chairman of the Board and has also been heading the IT Committee of the Board. He spearheaded the technological upgradation of various processes in the Bank”, the statement read.

“Phillie D. Karkaria, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (FCMA), London, has been on the Board of the Bank since 2014. He was heading the Audit Committee of the previous Board. Karkaria is a well-known professional and is on the Board of various reputed Companies”, the bank statement reads.

It further reads, “the new Board of Directors led by Mr. Yazdi Tantra is taking over the reins of the Bank at a time when the Economy has been significantly impacted by the COVID19 pandemic. The Bank would continue to pursue sustainable growth, high level of Corporate Governance, Customer Centricity and safety of the interest of its members”.

”If we see the overall performance of the bank in the 2019-20 financial year in comparison to 2018-19, the bank’s mix business decreased from Rs 1773 crore to Rs 1678 crore in 2019-20. The profit after tax of the Bank for the fiscal 2019-20 was Rs 328.29 lakh after provisions and contingencies of Rs 350.10 lakh, provision for taxes of Rs.302.10 lakh and all expenses.

The bank is having a network of 18 branches in two states including Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The Beshara Trust is pleased to announce that a recording of this event is now available on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/83Lozj_rv6I 

Each had to fight with their backs to the wall.” Cleopatra, Pope Joan, Razia Sultana are some of the figures featuring in Justice RF Nariman’s speech on “Great Women of History.”

A sleepy coastal town in Gujarat, about 180km from Mumbai, is home to one of the world’s oldest religions – Zoroastrianism. Udvada, also spelled Udwada, in Pardi taluka of Gujarat’s Valsad district, has been the custodian of the oldest continuously burning temple fire in India at Atash Behram – the most revered Parsi pilgrimage centre in the country.

And it is in this very town that mother-son duo Hilla and Shezad Marolia is working towards preserving and popularising the 1,300-year-old Parsi cuisine, which is an amalgam of the meat-rich Iranian and veggies-dominated Gujarati food.

Article by Rashmi Pratap | 30Stades

Hilla and Shezad Marolia at Udvada. Pic: through Farohar Caterers

The Parsis living in Persia (now Iran) fled to India in the 8th century following religious persecution by the Arabs. They came to India through Valsad and established the port of Sanjan.

“When we came to Sanjan 1,300 years ago, we adopted Gujarati food while retaining the Iranian style,” says 62-year-old Hilla, Parsi culinary expert, who has been running Café Farohar in Udvada with son Shezad since 2016. 

An example of this assimilation is the famous Parsi dhansak, where the mutton is an Iranian influence while lentil, pumpkin, fenugreek (methi) and eggplant are Gujarati elements, she says.

Parsi food history of absorption & assimilation

Similarly, papri ma kebab is a Parsi take on Gujarat’s winter specialty undhiyu, which contains papdi (broad beans), eggplant, yam and other vegetables. Parsis add mutton kebabs to a bed of broad beans, onions and eggplant to make their papri (not papdi) ma kebab.

Mutton dhansak is served with caramelised rice. Pic: Farohar Caterers

Hilla’s love for cooking began when she was 18 and opted to study Home Science at Bai Avabai Framji Petit Girls’ High School in Bandra, Mumbai. “Cooking was a passion. I thought of sending dabbas (tiffin boxes) of Parsi food with dhansak, kebab, salli murgi and patra nu machhi from my home in Kemps Corner.”

Later, when Hilla moved to Godrej Baug at Napean Sea Road, she continued her dabba work besides taking wedding and party orders, which grew rapidly as Ahura Caterers.

It is these years of selecting and grinding her own masalas, making gravies and retaining the authentic recipes which have made Hilla a popular name in the small Parsi community, mostly concentrated in Mumbai and some pockets of Gujarat. 

There are 57,264 Parsis in India, as per the 2011 Census.

Hilla recollects: “My mother was a very good cook and made excellent titori (a spicy, sweet and sour dish made of sprouted broad beans) and kebabs. Those recipes helped me during my dabba days.”

A cafe in the temple town

Later, she shifted to Daman where she continued her food business through a small joint. Hilla also regularly visited Udvada to pay obeisance to Iranshah at the fire temple and it was on one such visit that the high priest asked her to apply for managing the Seth S J Sodawaterwala Dharmashala in the town. The facility allows Parsi devotees to stay at nominal rates when they visit Udvada.

But at that time, the dharamshala only offered a set menu, giving no food options to visitors. They had to pay for dhansak, gravy, a fish dish, rice and some other items irrespective of what or how much they wanted to eat. And this is what Hilla and Shezad decided to address.

“I didn’t want people to compulsorily have the set meal and pay. We don’t know the capacity of people who come on the pilgrimage,” says Hilla. 

“So we decided to offer them the flexibility to eat just an omelette-pav for Rs 90 if that’s what they wanted,” says 37-year-old Shezad, who quit engineering in the second year to pursue Hotel Management. He later worked at ITC, then as a catering officer in the Merchant Navy and was the sous-chef in London for seven years before shifting back to Mumbai.

“I joined mom at Udvada in 2016 and introduced an à la carte menu with authentic Parsi cuisine,” he says.

Café Farohar, a brand of Farohar Caterers, is jam-packed with customers from breakfast till dinner on any given day. “We serve 500 people in one afternoon with a 25-minute waiting time,” Shezad points out.

What makes Parsi cuisine different

The key to the large crowds and a long list of Parsi wedding catering orders from across Gujarat and other states lies in the Farohar food. The duo has stuck to original Parsi recipes without compromising on ingredients or processes.

Despite demand for fusion cuisine from some quarters, Hilla and Shezad have not deviated from the authentic Parsi food, marked by khattu-meethu or sweet and tangy palate with a bit of smokiness.

The famous salli boti (salli is potato stick and boti is mutton) is sweet and sour much like patra ni machhi – pomfret smeared with green chutney, wrapped in banana leaf and steamed – or khatta-meetha pattice, tapeli kebab and chicken farcha (a chicken starter which is crispy outside and tender inside).

Shezad says that Parsis are not too fond of very spicy food, which is restricted to a handful of dishes like bhaji dana ma gosht, a spicy dish where mutton, greens and peas are cooked on wood fire (even today at Farohar), and atheli margi where the spicy gravy coats chicken.

“Parsis can’t take too spicy food. We concentrate more on flavours than spices,” he points out.

Not surprisingly, Parsis love their bright red and very sweet raspberry soda, which helps them wash down any spices in food.

Patru in machhi. Pic: Farohar Caterers

The food served at Farohar is the benchmark when it comes to serving party orders, be they for 120 people or 1200 people. “Our food has the same taste, flavor and aroma irrespective of the location or event,” Hilla says.

They work on standard operating procedures, with fixed ratios for every dish. “This helps us offer consistency in taste and quality,” says Shehzad, offering me to try cooking at the Udvada kitchen. The duo has streamlined processes and proportions to offer the much-loved authentic taste consistently even when any dish is prepared by someone unfamiliar with the cuisine.

Also Read: Cooking to survive vs cooking as a hobby: How coronavirus lockdown is changing food habits

Fresh ingredients are sourced every day and Hilla buys her own spices and grinds them herself till date. 

She also makes gajar mewa nu achaar (carrot and raisin pickle), tarapori patio (pickle made with dried Bombay duck fish) and other preserves and spice mixes, which can be bought from the outlet.

Parsi Russian pattice and stuffed pomfrets. Pic: Farohar Caterers

At events like weddings or Navjote (induction into the Zoroastrian religion), Forahar serves food in banana leaf as has been the tradition for centuries.

“People sit in rows and eat the set meal of 15 dishes served on a banana leaf, preferring it over buffets. When piping hot food falls on the patra (banana leaf), it adds to the flavor,” he says. 

“Even in my pulao matka, I put a banana leaf underneath and it lifts the aroma to a new level,” says Shehzad, who has also set up hotel Bawa Inn, which is open to non-Parsi travellers to Udvada.

From breakfast till dinner, there is a long list of food items made at the Farohar Café, which has been shut again due to rising COVID cases. Shezad, who spends the weekends in Udvada and weekdays serving Parsi food through his home kitchen in Mumbai, is currently in Mumbai due to COVID restrictions.

Ravo (left) and Malido — two popular Parsi desserts. Pic: Farohar Caterers

The who’s who of the financial capital order food from Farohar Kitchen, which is single-handedly managed by him. Weekends are special, when his menu includes various pulaos, chicken and fish recipes and even vegetables. “It’s a one-man show. I do all the chopping, washing, cooking and cleaning. Every day, I do 80 to 90 orders and the number goes up over the weekend,” says Shezad, whose wife is a doctor.

A strong votary of preserving the traditional customs and ways of cooking, he says: “I would rather give an authentic taste than fall for any fusion cuisine.”

Shezad also has a rich collection of Parsi recipe books, some of which go back to 1934. His own family has a strong food history and he is keen to document it all, including his mom Hilla’s recipes. But right now, Farohar Café, Farohar Kitchen and Farohar Caterers keep him occupied. “One day, I do hope to put all of my family recipes together. For now, I want to be the best Parsi caterer in India; that’s my dream,” he says.

(Rashmi Pratap is a Mumbai-based journalist specialising in financial, business and socio-economic reporting)

Around 40 members of community who succumbed to the infection in Surat denied the traditional funeral of consigning the dead to dakhmas and cremated as per Covid guidelines

Monaz Bhesania, a 30-year-old Parsi woman succumbed to the coronavirus infection on Monday and was cremated in Surat as per Covid-19 guidelines. She lived with her mother at Sargam apartment in Adajan, Surat.

Article by Gaurav Khara | Ahmedabad Mirror

As many as 40 Parsis have been cremated in Surat in the past one month alone. For the orthodox Parsis, being denied the traditional funeral of the dead being consigned to the Towers of Silence and exposed to scavenger birds has posed a serious question about disposing of their dead.

With Surat being the city with the second highest Covid-19 cases in the state, over a thousand cases are being reported daily. The second wave has not left the Parsi population untouched. Out of 3,000 Parsis living in Surat city, 40 have succumbed to the coronavirus in the second wave.

To ensure that the bodies do not infect others, they are disposed of by the leaders of the Parsi community as per the Covid-19 guidelines by cremation. However, as per Parsi belief, those who are not cremated as per their rituals do not attain Moksha. Considering the extraordinary situation that society, Parsis do not have a choice and for the good of everyone cremate the Covid victims.

In normal circumstances, after the death of any member of the Parsi community, their bodies are taken to Dungarwadi near Bombay Market in Surat. The body is placed inside the well after bathing and left for vultures to feed on it. The bones remain inside the well. The funeral rites performed by the Parsi community are considered among the most eco-friendly among societies in the world.

According to Surat Parsi Panchayat president Jamshed Dotiwala, “The last rites of those who die of Covid-19 are being performed as per the guidelines laid down by the government. The body is not handed over to the family. The body is sent for cremation.”