The Iranshah Atash Behram building in Udwada, Gujarat has housed the revered Iranshah fire since 31st October 1894. With the passage of time, the main building and other structures in the complex had deteriorated, necessitating extensive restoration and conservation work. The Shapoorji Pallonji team acted as an anchor for the restoration project. A meticulous restoration plan was prepared with the objective to strengthen the structural stability and restore the architectural intent of the buildings in the Atash Behram complex as originally envisaged. The restored Atash Behram complex welcomed devotees on 14th December 2021, Roj Hormazd Mah Amardad, Y.Z. 1319.

The April 2022 Ba Humata Lecture series will feature

• Vada Dasturji Khurshed Dastoor, High Priest of IranShah, Udvada, India
• Honorable Senator And Minister Roshan Bharucha from Pakistan
• Mobedyar Maneck Bhujwala from United States
• ZTFE Resident Priest Ervad Yazad Bhada from United Kingdom
• Keshvar Merchant from Canada

and shall be moderated by Karishma Koka, PhD; Founder, Host And Moderator of Ba Humata

Sunday, April 3, 2022

8:00 AM Pacific, 11:00 AM  Eastern, 4:00 PM UK, 6:30 PM Iran, 7:00 PM UAE, 8:00 PM Pakistan, 8:30 PM India, 11:00 PM  Perth Australia, Singapore And Hong Kong Time

Join Zoom Meeting

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

Meeting ID: 834 0882 6220

Passcode: BAHUMATA

WHEN MAXIMUM ZOOM PARTICIPANT CAPACITY IS EXCEEDED

The Facebook stream will be available at
Log in or sign up to view

Zephyr releases his 2nd single for 2022, this April 1st. Drummer, Music Producer and Recording Artist, Zephyr combines his influences from playing in Urban Drum Crew, his love for Celtic vocals and his hip-hop and pop influenced music production techniques in the new single, a Dance Mix for an EP in the works, Jungles.

Spending a good part of the last decade exploring the music industry in Singapore, Zephyr was inspired by his unique and eclectic musical interests. Jungles (Dance Mix) is a unique pop/tribal track which combines a fast, driving drum crew, haunting synths and pads, a catchy bassline and Celtic and urban vocals.

This track was composed over 8 years, in pieces. “At first it was just drums that I wrote, getting inspired by Urban Drum Crew, which I used to play for,” he says. “Eventually I started layering vocals and bass, and everyone I showed it to kept smiling and nodding. That’s when I knew I had something.”

At the height of Covid in end-2020, Zephyr sent the track to his team in the U.S., headed by Tiara Parker-Ragland who previously worked with a company which has produced videos for Khalid and Wiz Khalifa. They also previously worked on his music video for Sail Away which made it to MTV and VH1. Now, Tiara heads Ragland Reign which oversaw the production of this video as a student mentorship project.

The entire video for Jungles was shot on a phone by the team as an experiment. It features a versatile and elegant dancer, Thomas Larché. This track is to be followed up with other versions featuring vocalists and producers, including Zephyr himself on vocals. The direction, production and set photography was done by a young student team under Tiara’s mentorship, namely, Cassandra Davis, Marianna Palladino & Emily Burroughs.
This is Zephyr’s second release of 2022. His first track for 2022, My Religion Is Love, was played on radio in Arizona, U.S. and was covered in periodicals, blogs and online platforms in India & Singapore. Previously, his tracks reached airplay in the U.S. in 2021 and Pakistan in 2020. A youtuber, recording artist, music producer, life coach and the founder of the 5.5k strong Facebook Group, Singapore Music, he has been slowly but steadily gaining influence online.

Previously, his unique and positive style of music met with positive feedback and features regionally including MTV Asia, VH1 India, Coconuts Yangon and the local press in Singapore, Yangon and India.
*Featured Quotes About Zephyr:
“His story is really inspirational.” – Vishen Lakhiani, CEO, Mindvalley
“Dynamic.” – Iskandar Ismail, Musician, Producer & Music Director
“This guy has passion.” – Danny Loong, CEO, Timbre Group

Title: Zephyr goes 2 for 2 with his 2nd track for 2022. Jungles (Dance Mix) juxtaposes a ballet and contemporary dance music video with exuberant drums, haunting synths and Celtic and urban vocals.

*Album art and promo picture(s) attached in Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vPgQ4OCq9JNx6wtTSd8838RQMCDRHUjq?usp=sharing

*Pre-Save and Streaming Link available to public immediately (same link before & after release)
https://bfan.link/junglesdancemix

*Music Video Link On YouTube, going live at 12am SGT on 1st April:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I6ftBkSdII

*Editor’s link to music and music video:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1N0qLFqumIuSqlOw8oMwUelmjuUhfyGbY?usp=sharing

*Contact Information
Email: zephyr.swift@gmail.com
Tel: +65 94245190 (Same for Whatsapp)
Social Networks, Website with full music bio: https://linktr.ee/zephyrkhambatta

Meet the one-woman army who became the force behind some of Indian classical arts’ heavyweights who performed in Europe in the 1980s and ’90s

In the Bombay Parsi home that London-based writer and former impresario Shireen Isal grew up in, it was Western music that prevailed. She was brought up on, and extensively studied, the piano. The Indian classical arts never really figured in conversations at home or even otherwise, she tells us, when we meet at the Royal Bombay Yacht Club on a weekday morning during her visit here. It comes as a surprise that Isal, in her later years, would go on to manage nearly 50 Indian classical artistes and their accompanists, spearheading almost 600 events in 16 European countries for them. She admits that nothing in her early years prepared her for it. But, her home city was where the groundwork for this began. While working at the Alliance Française de Bombay in the early 1970s, a chance encounter with Padma Shri, dance historian and critic Sunil Kothari, led her to discover other Indian classical arts. “For the next year-and-a-half or two, I went to every conceivable performance possible [in the city], and listened and watched, speaking to people in the field,” she recalls. By the time, she got married and moved to Paris, she realised that there’s “no other field I wanted to work in”.

Article by Jane Borges | Mid-Day

Shireen Isal. Pic/Bipin Kokate
In her new book, Joy, Awe and Tears: My Association with Sargam, available on parsiana.com, Isal goes down memory lane to when she started her own artiste management organisation, Sargam, which became the nerve centre for several leading Indian classical artistes, who wanted a platform in Europe. While working briefly as cultural assistant at the Indian Embassy in the French capital, she got the opportunity to liaise with French organisers and artistes involved with Indian culture. “Once, the cultural councillor asked me, on a very short notice, to organise a performance for Swapnasundari [leading exponent of Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam]. The show was a great success, and I remember, as we were returning to the hotel [where she was put up], I happened to tell her that I was planning on leaving [my job] as I was finding it very difficult to look after my baby. I asked her if she thought I could do this organisational work [on my own]. She said, ‘Not only will you be able to do this, I’ll also be the first artiste [you manage] next year’. She stuck to her word when I began in October 1979.” As an impresario, Isal says she represented Indian classical artistes—“I didn’t organise the events,” she clarifies. “I went through organisers [who wanted to do these shows, and call these artistes],” she says. It wasn’t a financially viable enterprise. “Artistes would give me 15 per cent of their earnings from their shows, which I ploughed back into my organisation, and that helped me cover my costs. It wasn’t easy, especially since I was doing this entirely on my own.” 

Isal with Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Alla Rakha, in 1984. It was the late sitar maestro who gave her association its name

Until 1983, Isal worked on an ad-hoc basis. “I didn’t even have a structure. But when [Pandit] Raviji [Shankar] came on board, I suddenly felt we needed something more concrete. That’s when I registered as a non-profit. We still didn’t have a name. Then Raviji arrived in Paris. I remember being very nervous. So, my husband Jean-Pierre decided to drive Raviji to the hotel. During that drive, Jean-Pierre may have mentioned to him that we were looking for a name for our organisation, and that’s when he came up with the name, Association Sargam.” The logo was designed at Chimanlals Pvt Ltd in Fort.

Isal had a near nine-year association with Pandit Ravi Shankar helping him find concerts in Paris; she had an even longer professional  relationship with his sister-in-law Lakshmi Shankar, who she says became family. The late Ustad Bismillah Khan, however, had a lasting impact on her. “Nobody came anywhere close. He was unique. Even now, I talk to him every day. He taught me so much. When I was going through a personal sorrow, Khansahib gave me advice that was easy to comprehend and comforting to live with. He also symbolised an immense, deep and unwavering faith in God, and that I think, coloured everything he said and did,” she shares. During the long drives to their concert halls or hotels, he’d never talk. “He was always praying, and sometimes, I’d find myself doing the same.” The last time they met—a few years before his passing in 2006—at the Nehru Centre in Mumbai, he told her, he’d come running, if she invited him. “That’s my only regret.” The shehnai maestro, she says, could never envisage a trip to the West without a mandatory pilgrimage to Karbala in Iraq. “But the war had broken out in Iraq, and the city was only accessible via an overland route from Jordan, and he was too old for that.”  She also writes about many celebrated artistes, Begum Parveen Sultana, Geeta Radhakrishna and Bharatanatyam exponent Rohinton Cama whom she feels “has never received his just dues by way of performances and participation in dance recitals [in his home country],” which led to his tragic early retirement from the dance scene. 

Ustad Bismillah Khan and Isal in 1993. Pics Courtesy/Association Sargam

She has steered away from talking about the unpleasant events with artistes, even though there were a few because she feels it would breach their trust. On an average, Sargam sent every artiste to at least six different European cities. “Raviji really laid the groundwork for other Indian artistes. I think it’s very important that everyone realises his contribution.”

Isal ran Sargam for 39 years between Paris and London, where she moved with family in 1990; she hung her boots in 2018 with one last performance by her dear friend Begum Parveen Sultana. “Sargam wouldn’t have been possible without these artistes. They were all so gentle and understanding of the conditions in which I was working. I owe them a huge debt.”

On March 23, 2022, Pakistan-based Roshan Bharucha – the only Zoroastrian in Pakistan to have been elected as both – Senator and Minister in the Federal Government – was felicitated with the prestigious Sitara-i-Imtiaz by the Government Of Pakistan for her selfless dedication, commitment and services in the field of Social Service. The ‘Star of Excellence’ or Sitara-e-Imtiaz, is Pakistan’s third-highest honour and civilian award. She has served as the Federal Minister for Human Rights, Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, States and Frontier Regions, Railways and Postal Services, in a caretaker capacity.

Article in the Parsi Times

Roshan Bharucha was also awarded the Balochistan Excellence Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award for her longstanding efforts and achievements in serving the needy and promoting the youth. Her hard work and dedication has won her numerous awards including the Human Rights Award by Pakistan Human Rights Foundation, Lahore; Social Work Award by Tarraqi-e-Niswan, Balochistan; World Zoroastrian Community Award by WZCC; the All Asian Presentation Award; and the Balochistan Excellency Award.

In 2005, Senator Bharucha founded ‘SOS Children’s Village of Baluchistan’ – a permanent home for orphaned and abandoned children – the only one of its kind in the entire province, which currently houses nearly 300 children, providing them with quality education so they have a fair chance in life. A crusader for disadvantaged women, she also founded the vocational training center – ‘Hunar’, located in Quetta, in 2010, for their empowerment. Hunar has trained over 4,500 underprivileged women. Serving as Chairperson of the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund since 2015, Bharucha presides over the Boards of several universities, NGOs and corporations across Pakistan.

In addition to her social work, Senator Bharucha dedicates much time to caring for the Parsi community serving as the General Secretary Of Quetta/Sukkur Parsi Anjuman. She goes through great lengths on a personal level to cater for their wellbeing and welfare, including personally housing and feeding those in need. She envisions a healthy and prosperous Balochistan and Pakistan and intends to dedicate the rest of her life to realizing that dream, in her words, “My vision for Pakistan is that of a progressive, educated, dynamic, and peaceful society.” In her spare time, Senator Bharucha enjoys visiting her three children and six grandchildren in Malaysia and the USA.

Born to a humble Balochistani farmer – Meherwanjee Irani and a mother from Gujarat, Bharucha was raised in Quetta, which she continues to call her home.  She acquired a Master’s Degree in English from the Baluchistan University, and a degree in Finance and Accounting from Pakistan Institute Of Management, Karachi in 1993. She married Khursheed Minocher Bharucha (then a Captain in the Pakistan Army) and started her career as a Montessori school teacher, teaching at various schools across Pakistan, in keeping with the different postings of her husband.

In 1987 she joined the UN’s International Labor Organization (ILO) as an Administrative Secretary and was promoted to Administrative Officer of the ILO’s Technical Training Center, which teaches English to Afghani refugees. She later became Administrator at the GTZ – a German non-profit organization which worked for the cause of Balochistan’s poor, where she dedicated over twelve years running over a dozen training centers and a micro-lending program. In 2000, in recognition of her social work, she was selected as Caretaker Minister in the Baluchistan Govt. where she played a vital role in shaping a positive image of the local community by uplifting the domain of education.

Mango plants sent from the Ganeshkhind Botanical Gardens, Poona still stand tall at various farms and gardens in Europe and the US. Experiments at the farm showed that the plants must be small, hardy, and dormant with no diseased or weak branches

The mango, “Kawasji – Patel”, was gathered green with white pulp. It had no fibre and hence was an excellent choice for cooking. The Europeans and the Parsees preferred the mango to cook jams and jellies. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

By Chinmay Damle | Hindustan Times

Cowasjee Rustomjee Patel (1744 – 1799), became the Patel of Bombay in 1763 after the death of his father, Rustom Dorab. When the English conquered the neighbouring island of Sashtee and its capital Thane in 1774, he was appointed the Patel of those villages too. He was presented a Dress of Honour in 1775 by the Governor, William Hornby, for his services. He held the lucrative contract for supplying shipping vessels to the East India Company. He encouraged the Parsees to migrate to Bombay and Thane from Gujarat. In 1776, he constructed a tank at Khetwadi, the area still popularly known as CP Tank.

A variety of mango, grown in his orchards in Thane and Poona, was named after him. The mango, “Kawasji – Patel”, was gathered green with white pulp. It had no fibre and hence was an excellent choice for cooking. The Europeans and the Parsees preferred the mango to cook jams and jellies.

In the early nineteenth century, the Europeans started to travel more between the continents. Not all officers and their wives who went back to Europe would miss the fruits they had had in India. But “Kawasji – Patel” was a variety they wished they had in Europe.

Several efforts were made to take “Kawasji – Patel” to Europe. They all failed. The Europeans realised that if they wanted to devour mangoes in their homeland, it had to be either Alphonso or Pairi.

An experiment was carried out at the Ganeshkhind Botanical Gardens, Poona, in 1900 to test the relative keeping and ripening qualities of Pairi and Alphonso varieties.

Twenty-four fruits of each variety were used and an additional twenty-four of Pairi were kept as a check. It was found that Alphonso was the better keeper. All the Alphonso fruits, even when plucked green, coloured beautifully, assuming an orange-yellow hue. The Pairis coloured feebly and were green to some extent, even when fully ripe. The Alphonso mangoes kept the firmness of their flesh till the last. The Pairis became watery soon. It was then decided that the Alphonso was the variety to export.

But exporting mangoes to Europe was easier said than done. The fruit had to stay fresh for a month and a half without cold storage. The first task was to find the right containers to store the mangoes on the ship.

Cities

Experiments carried out for twelve years at the Ganeshkhind Botanical Gardens showed that the great desideratum was a light, thief-proof, rain-proof, and well-ventilated package that would take approximately 75 fruits. As the packing material, hemp fibre and dry grass were used. The fruits were suspended in muslin bags fixed above and below on to trays. Soft, dry grass was found to be more satisfactory than hemp fibre, provided the fruits were wrapped in tissue paper.

A trial was conducted where two dozen Alphonso mangoes were sent to Karachi. They reached the destination without much damage. The fruits were then sent to Marseilles, Trieste, and London by Mail steamer. Cold storage was not available on these steamers. The fruits so sent, with the exception of a few that arrived at Marseilles, were in a hopeless condition on arrival. The cost of sending the fruit was also very high.

The Agricultural Department concluded that the European market was then limited and that until cold storage was provided for mangoes on the Europe-bound steamers the fruit would not arrive in good condition.

When this was announced to the public, some letters criticising the department appeared in newspapers. The Ganeshkhind Farm was told that fruit had been satisfactorily sent from the West Indies and from India to Europe and that they should consult fruit merchants and traders to gain expertise.

Accordingly, in 1913, an inquiry was made with four shipping companies in Bombay as to the number of mangoes exported per season. The 1913 exports of the four companies totalled 1,470 dozen mangoes. Of these, 129 dozen mangoes were sent from Poona. The fruits were said to be exported in small wooden ventilated partitioned boxes holding one fruit per compartment.

Messrs. George Monro Ltd., Covent Garden Market, London, in 1914 replied to the Superintendent, Ganeshkhind Farm, as follows – “We receive occasional consignments of mangoes generally sent to us by business people who have bought them from Bombay and Poona. We have also had several instances of traders who have endeavoured to send large quantities but they have never arrived in good condition except when they have come on small lots brought personally. There is a demand for really fine mangoes from Bombay and Poona if they arrive in good conditions, but the difficulty of getting suitable temperatures has always been in the way of this with any larger quantities.”

The British Council in Brindisi, a port town in Southern Italy, wrote in 1914 – “There is no commercial import of mangoes here. In the first instance, they would arrive during the Italian fruit season, when native fruit is cheap and abundant. Secondly, the Brindisi Port said that P & O has no cold storage and the mangoes are only taken as a favour to their own officials. There is no doubt that mangoes will arrive in good condition, if properly packed, but there is no sale for them here or elsewhere in Italy”.

As had been seen by the trials at the Ganeshkhind Botanical Gardens the possibility of Indian shipments arriving in good condition was small. Since importing mangoes to Europe proved to be a nearly impossible task, the department decided to send mango plants to Europe and to the US.

The first task was to design appropriate containers. G Marshall Woodrow recommended the use of Wardian cases to transport trees. These were essentially boxes with a glass roof protected by strips of wood. Ventilation took place through sheets of pierced zinc, and boxes were raised from the ground on square wooden legs. These cases were expensive and held few plants in proportion to the material used.

Ordinary wood packing cases had been used at the Ganeshkhind Botanical Gardens for the dispatch of plants to Washington DC, Dongola, and Cairo. Most of the plants reached their destinations safely.

The annual report of the Hawaii Experiment Station for 1908 gives an account of shipping mango grafts from the Ganeshkhind Botanical Gardens to Washington by mail steamer. The plants arrived in good condition but the immature wood died and the plants became defoliated either during the journey or on arrival. The report recommended the packing only of plants with mature wood and dormant buds.

Experiments at Ganeshkhind Farm showed that the plants must be small, hardy, and dormant with no diseased or weak branches. During the travel, ventilation and watering must be arranged. Both could be secured by fixing wire netting over the top of the box and nailing over it strips of wood at intervals of two inches, instead of putting on a lid. The cases were to be kept on the deck of the steamer out of the way of sea water and tied in a fixed position. The plants were to be watered lightly with fresh water through the top of the case every second day in hot weather.

Mango plants sent from the Ganeshkhind Botanical Gardens still stand tall at various farms and gardens in Europe and the US. These include the “Kawasji – Patel” variety too.

Chinmay Damle is a research scientist and food enthusiast. He writes here on Pune’s food culture. He can be contacted at chinmay.damle@gmail.com

Why I switched to the good old Indian secret

I was raised on a steady diet of ghee. Ghee was in my bowl of white rice as a toddler, in the simple vegetable dishes mum cooked, in the daal I loved eating, slathered on my toast if mum ran out of butter and yes, even in my baked beans!

You may know it as ghee butter or clarified butter. Indians call it the fat of the gods because it’s offered on altars and used as food for the gods for centuries.

Article by Perzen Patel | South Asian Today

I hated ghee. It didn’t look like any other oil I came across, it had a creamy smell, and I was happy it wasn’t readily available in our new home in New Zealand. After all, there were so many other oils you could cook with here! There was rapeseed oil for everyday stuff, olive oil when I went through my ‘Weight Watchers’ phase and avocado oil for when I wanted to show off and be fancy.

I didn’t believe it was co-related at the time, but the food I tried to cook during this time of my life – especially Indian food – has never tasted worse! My daal was never lusciously creamy. The kebabs I fried would remain raw. Even the spices I added to my food were somehow flat and did nothing to the meal. I didn’t know it then, but avocado oil and olive oil are not the best mediums for blooming spices.

I gave up all the oil experimentation, adopted sunflower oil and accepted that I’d never be as great at cooking Indian food as mum was.

Years later, in India, we ran out of oil in my catering kitchen one day. Lunch orders needed to go out, and our nearby vendor didn’t have any oil either. While I was busy berating myself that I had no business calling myself a caterer if I couldn’t figure out stock control, my lovely cook who helped me in the kitchen went back to the vendor and brought back a tin of Amul Ghee instead. “Use this”, she said.

I made a face and plopped some into the pan to get the onions going. Almost immediately, a warm buttery aroma hugged the kitchen. When I sat down to eat the leftovers that afternoon, something magical had happened. The food tasted yummier. Wholesome. Like it did when mum cooked.

As I overcame my hesitation , I started adding ghee everywhere. I changed my food cost models to include the pricier ghee because overnight, the food we cooked in our catering kitchen had gone from good to divine.

I’ve learned now that like with other things, mum was right. Ghee makes magic. It’s a flavour miracle-worker. Or for my fellow millennials, ghee is the smashed avocado on toast of fats.

The place where ghee shines is when you use it for a tadka, the act of blooming spices in ghee. The humble tadka goes by many names – vaghar, phoron, chhounk, tarka are a few. The common thread? Practically every Indian dish begins or ends with tadka.

As I learned more about Indian food, I discovered that what you put into your tadka depends on where you live in India. In the west, the Gujaratis will mostly use curry leaves, mustard seeds, cumin, garlic and green chilli while in the south there will be urad dal (black gram), chana dal (Bengal gram), curry leaves and spicy red chillies. You don’t need to remember any of this. The moral of the story is that you can – and should – tadka everything.

After living for seven years in India, it was time to move back home to New Zealand. This time rather than the avocado oils and olive oils I packed my love for ghee and tadka with me.

I now marinate my snapper in a tadka of ghee, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and broken chilli. In my cheese scones, I use ghee instead of butter and watch in glee as people try to figure out the ingredient that’s making my scones so yum. Recently, I even made pesto with ghee. And, since that worked too, it was time to test my other working theory. Tadka in a pasta dish.

Tadka. In Pasta!? Yes, the Italians will hate me. But, my spaghetti has gotten a whole lot tastier. I suggest you give it a whirl too. Especially if most of your produce – like mine – comes from the local veggie shop rather than the foothills of Mt Vesuvius and is not always bursting with fresh flavour. You will find that adding a tadka to your Aglio e Olio adds an oomph you didn’t know you were missing.

Triple Tadka Spaghetti (Serves 4)

500gm dried spaghetti, broken in halves
1500ml water
1-2 tbsp Salt (for pasta water)
1 tsp salt (for seasoning)
100 gm parmesan, pecorino or cheddar cheese, grated
First Tadka
2 tbsp ghee
1 heaped tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds (optional)
1/2 small onion, thinly sliced
1 fresh tomato, finely chopped (canned won’t do, cherry tomatoes split in half will work great)
12-15 curry leaves
Second Tadka
2 tbsp ghee
5-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Third Tadka
2 tbsp ghee
1 tsp mustard seeds
3-4 dried Kashmiri chillies, broken in half/big pieces
12-15 curry leaves

In a large saucepan, add the salt and water and bring it to a boil. Add in your pasta and cook for 8-11 minutes until al dente.

In a small saucepan, heat the ghee until it’s smoking. Add in the First Tadka ingredients one at a time in the order mentioned above. You want to make sure the cumin and fenugreek are roasted before the onions go in and that the onion is soft before you add the tomatoes and finally the curry leaves. Set aside in a bowl.

In the same saucepan, heat the second round of ghee. Add in the finely chopped garlic and allow it to become brown and crispy. Set aside in the same bowl as your first tadka.

Your pasta should be ready by now. Strain out the water and empty into a serving bowl. Add salt. Add the tadka you have set aside. Incorporate everything together.

Now, it’s time for the third tadka. One final time, heat the last round of ghee. Add in the mustard seeds. When they sizzle, add the curry leaves and the chillies. These will cook really fast in a matter of seconds so add them in and turn off the heat. You want them crispy.

Note – The final lot of curry leaves will be crispy and impart texture while the first lot will be soft from the tomatoes and impart flavour.

Empty the tadka on top of your pasta. Add your grated cheese. Serve immediately.

My 5-year-old – like me – has recently started wrinkling his nose when the warm buttery aroma of ghee fills our house. I felt a sense of pride while feeding him my tadka pasta. That I was able to give him a taste of the best from both my worlds.

South Asian Today is an independent media company committed to amplifying South Asian writers and artists. If you like our work, please become a member or buy us a coffee here.

About the author

View content by this author

Perzen is an Indian food expert. The eating kind. When it came to Indian food, Perzen spent years being ashamed, scared and confused with her food heritage. Until she started writing and fell back in love. Now, Perzen tells stories that will help you go beyond butter chicken. Find more at www.dollymumma.com

THE BOMBAY PARSEE ASSOCIATION PAYS HOMAGE TO SIR HORMUSJI COWASJEE DINSHAW (ADENWALLA) ON HIS 165^th BIRTH ANNIVERSARY

The Bombay Parsee Association paid homage to Sir Hormusji Cowasjee Dinshaw (Adenwalla) on his 165th Birth Anniversary on April 4,2022 at 9. a.m. President Xerxes Vispi Dastur, garlanded the statue of Sir Hormusji at Veer Nariman Road (Near Bhikha Behram well) on behalf of The B.P.A. Others who garlanded the statue were, great grandson Jehangir Patel, great grandson Saroosh Dinshaw, great great grandson Hirji Adi Jehangir, Commodore Aspi Marker, great grandson Homi Patel, Marazban Wadia and Adi Mehta.

Bombay Parsee Association President Emeritus, Mr. Vispi Shapur Dastur mentioned the highlights of Hormusji’s life and achievements. Hormusji was the Founder Patron of the Bombay Parsee Association and Founder President of the Iran League. His great grandson Jehangir (Editor of Parsiana) mentioned how the family had established and developed the business and helped the poor and the needy. Others who also spoke included Commodore Aspi Marker, Adi Mehta, President FOZAWAC.

Floral tributes were also paid on behalf of the Bombay Parsee Association, Iran League, Cowasjee Dinshaw Trust, Navsari Parsee Association, Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai, etc.

Others present included members of the Adenwalla family,

Aloo Shroff, Pervin Sidhwa, Tehmina Peer, Rusi Bhumgara, Jamshed Keki Mistry etc. Snacks boxes were provided courtesy Commodore Marker. Around 25 persons joined in paying homage to this great son of India and the Parsee community.

Xerxes Vispi Dastur

President

Bombay Parsee Association

When the British asked the French to jail Madame Cama, the ‘mother of Indian revolution’

For decades, the British government surveilled the Parsi freedom fighter.

Article by John O’Brien

A postal stamp depicting Bhikhaiji Cama. | India Post/ Government of India/ Wikimedia Commons

The struggle for Indian independence from British rule was not only carried on in India but was eagerly pursued by Indian activists and revolutionaries across the world, particularly in Europe and America. The India Office Records contains some fascinating files on one such activist, Bhikhaiji Rustom Cama, more often known as Madame Cama.

Born in 1861 into a wealthy Parsi family in Bombay, Madame Cama was educated at the Alexandra Parsi Girls School in Bombay, and later married Rustom Cama, a lawyer and son of the prominent Parsi reformer KR Cama. With her health suffering due to her work as a social worker during the 1897 plague epidemic in Bombay, Madame Cama travelled to Britain in 1901.

She would spend the next three decades working tirelessly for Indian freedom from British rule, becoming known as the “Mother of Indian Revolution”. In 1907, Madame Cama moved to Paris, where she was at the centre of a small group of Indian nationalists. That year she also travelled to Stuttgart for the International Socialist Conference, where she spoke of the poverty of the Indian people due to British rule, and unfurled the national flag of India “amid loud cheers” as reported in the Manchester Courier.

The India Office was greatly concerned at the influence of Indian activists abroad, and through the intelligence services kept a close eye on their activities. In 1915, the India Office received a copy of a letter sent to the Foreign Office from the British Political Officer in Basra, along with a specimen of Bande Mataram, the pamphlet published by Madame Cama, found in an Indian soldier’s kit.

In his letter, he asked: “In view of the existing conditions of war and of close alliance with France, could the French Government be got to arrest Madame Cama and put her away somewhere?” A note in the file suggested such a move would do more harm than good and pointed out: “The lady is under close observation, and is not now in a position to tamper with Indian troops.”

By February 1917 more direct action had been taken, with the newspaper Call reporting that “Madame B Cama, editor of the ‘Bande Mataram’, a Hindu paper published in Paris, is one of the most important women who have been denied their liberty. She was interned in Paris at the special request of the British Government.”

Intelligence Report on Indian Communists. Photo credit: British Library India Office Records

In the 1920s and 1930s, surveillance of Indian activists continued. Madame Cama appears in several of the files of Indian Political Intelligence, the branch of British Intelligence responsible for monitoring Indian nationalists in the United Kingdom, Europe and America, and some examples are given below in the suggestions for further reading.

Intelligence Report on Indians in Europe. Photo credit: British Library India Office Records

Madame Cama’s health had never fully recovered from her social work in 1897, and her work, combined with continual government hostility, strained it further. As she wrote to the Russian political activist Maxim Gorky in 1912: “All my time and energy are devoted to my country and her struggle”. In November 1935, she returned to India and died shortly afterwards in August 1936.

This article first appeared on the British Library’s Untold Lives Blog.

An excerpt from ‘The First World War Adventures of Nariman Karkaria: A Memoir’, translated from the Gujarati by Murali Ranganathan.

Article in Scroll India

From Manchuria station, a separate line goes towards Mongolia and Inner Manchuria, but we have nothing to do with it. We are going to board the train to Siberia, which leaves at nine in the morning. We are finally going to enter Siberia.

Irkutsk

I was rather excited about visiting Siberia; it is not something one does every day. I kept looking at my watch often, waiting for six o’clock in the evening when we were scheduled to reach Irkutsk, the capital of Siberia. Finally at 6.35, I could spot Irkutsk station as we edged towards it. Wow! But there was nothing I could see except a small structure in a dilapidated condition.

But what is this? I could hear voices floating in from all directions though I could not see anyone. I went towards the little building, trying to figure out what it was. Imagine my surprise when I entered it. This was the portal to enter the station that had been built underground. As one descended the fifty-odd steps, it was like entering a fish market. People were running hither-thither with their bundles and bags.

What looked like a small place from the outside turned out to be quite an impressive railway station once you entered it. There were all kinds of facilities underground, including the ticket office, telegraph office, waiting rooms and a refreshment room. There was even a tunnel to cross over from one platform to another.

I was feeling hungry once again as I had not had anything except for cups of tea since we left Manchuria. “It would be memorable to have a meal in the capital of Siberia,” I thought, and walked into the refreshment room. As soon as I sat down, a waiter approached me to take down my order. I pondered over the menu card but could not make any sense of it. Everything looked just the same.

I told him to get me something to eat but he could not comprehend what I was saying. When I tried to mime it by bringing my hand close to my mouth, the waiter seemed to understand. He went and got me a box of cigarettes. It would have been funny if the joke was not on me. Finally, I had to make do with a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

Land of ice and snow

Now that we were in Siberia, do I even need to mention the cold? And if you are hungry, the cold does weird things to you. It seemed like a world gone mad on ice and snow! Wherever you looked, you could see mountains of snow. Not a speck of land which was not covered by snow. It was as if a white carpet had been laid out on the roads.

The snow was two to three feet deep. If you tried to walk on it, you would sink to your knees. None of the trees had even a single leaf on them. On the other hand, snow was hanging from the branches, which made the trees seem like they were made of snow. Wherever you went, all you could see was snow, snow on roofs, snow on the roads, snow in houses, snow everywhere! All this was too tiresome for words. It was cold enough to freeze your bones. You would go so numb that it felt like your ears and nose had been chopped off.

I spent a most miserable night which I will never forget. Just imagine if one has to spend a whole winter here. Forget using a light blanket to cover oneself at night; instead, one would need a heavy rug, weighing a couple of tons. Even during the day, one cannot do without a heavy woollen overcoat lined on the inside with a thick layer of fur. A fur lining on the inside makes a big difference when compared to a coat without it.

These overcoats are not a mere article of fashion to be flaunted. They could be the difference between life and death in this weather. Additionally, one has to wear headgear made from similar material, which covers practically the entire head and face. The outfit would not be complete without a pair of heavy boots that are also lined with fur on the inside. Having donned this attire, one can hardly walk or bend. But if one does not wear all this protective gear, one might end up dead and buried under those mountains of snow.

During the months of December and January, the temperature drops to 40 degrees below zero. Where is one to get water to drink under these circumstances? But instead of water, one can get milk everywhere; and it is very cheap and extremely fresh. And our dear Siberians even wash their faces with milk during the harsh winters. If you wash your face with cold water, it might crack the skin.

There is no question of taking a bath during winter. What is one to do if there is no water in the pipes? It just freezes up inside. In the morning, they wrap the pipe with straw and burn it. As the pipe heats up, small bits of ice first emerge from it before water starts flowing. Why bother with so much hassle?

How is one to go around in this cold weather? No motor cars or carriages with wheels are in sight during winter since such vehicles with wheels cannot move on snow. They have therefore fashioned sledges with iron springs, each of which can seat two people. A few sledges are designed to seat four people on seats that face each other. Instead of wheels, these vehicles have two iron runners that slide smoothly on the snow. They can be very easily hauled by horses.

Since they do not have wheels, these sledges are rather low-slung like those little wooden carts on which children drag each other around in Navsari. But it is rather fun to ride these sledges. You just put your hand out and scoop up the snow. And one thing leads to another and we have a snowball fight! Strangely, during the summers, the snow and ice seem like a blessing.

The summers are so harsh in Siberia that it becomes a different kind of hell. To escape the heat, the Siberians prefer to burrow themselves in ice houses that are specially constructed during the winters by digging underground chambers whose walls are lined with ice. Indeed, the world is full of strange things!

Fox hunting in the snow mountains

The land of snow has got its own exclusive attractions. A roving sportsman could certainly have a good time. One of the more popular sports is the hunting of the Siberian fox. In our country, many hunters think no end of themselves after hiding up a tree and shooting down a passing tiger. They would be unable to shoot down a single fox.

Fox hunting is a long-standing and well-known sport in the northern stretches of Siberia. The fur of the fox is much valued across Europe and fetches high prices. Its fur is considered to generate the most warmth and ladies across Europe feel rather chuffed when they wrap it around their necks.

The Siberian fox is hunted only during the winter season when its fur is most developed. At the same time, the heavy snow prevents the fox from running at top speed. It makes the job of the hunter much easier. After having surveyed the area in the morning and having determined that there are a lot of foxes around, the hunting team stakes the area and surrounds it with a thick rope from which red flags are hung at intervals.

They fire a few rounds in the air to startle the foxes, which emerge from their hideouts and try to run away. But when they see the rope and the red flags, they get terrified. They keep running around in circles and stop only when they tire out. They are shot dead in that instant with a bullet aimed at either the forehead or the neck. If the bullet misses its mark, the fox runs away or tries to hide in the snow, making it difficult for the hunters to shoot it.

Excerpted with permission from The First World War Adventures of Nariman Karkaria: A Memoir, Translated from the Gujarati by Murali Ranganathan, With a Foreword by Amitav Ghosh, HarperCollins India.

Saturday April 23, 2022 will forever be a red letter day in the annals of the Parsi Irani Zarathushti community in India, and all over the world. It was on this day that the Empowering Mobeds Trust held their first function after officially forming the Trust per government guidelines.

It has been a long road upto this point, but it’s only the begining of what is really a fantastic and much needed initiative. Completely volunteer driven, the Mobeds and Behdins who are part of Empowering Mobeds Trust bring their professional expertise and religious knowledge to help groom and truly “empower” the next generation of Mobeds.

Over the centuries, our Mobeds have been the Keepers of the Flame. In their success is the success and continuity of our faith. In enabling them to do they need to do in service of the religion, we all secure the future of our ancient religion, faith and culture.

Parsi Khabar wishes the best to Empowering Mobeds Trust and all those involved.

Below is the text of the address given by our dear friend and mentor Dinshaw Tamboly at the function.

Respected Dasturji Khurshed Dastoor, Dasturji Keki Ravji Meherjirana, Dr. Er. Ramiyar Karanjia, Digitaries on and off the dais, Mobed Sahebs, Friends, Ladies & Gentlemen.

On behalf of my colleagues I extend to you all a very warm welcome at the inaugural function of Empowering Mobeds Trust which was duly registered in March 2022 with the Charity Commissioner at Mumbai.

Let me begin by providing the genesis of what led to the creation of the Trust, which was the initiative of Athornan Mandal & WZO Trust’s.

a) The inspiration to establish Empowering Mobeds was that of my dear friend and colleague Binaifer Sahukar. It was her commitment and dedication that inspired all of us who believed in elevating the standing and condition of Mobedi as a profession.

We began on a cautious note in 2017 by forming an informal group called Empowering Mobeds. Our initial efforts were to hold bi annual training programs for full time practising Mobeds which were conducted by professionals from different fields such as ‘mental health’, Information Technology, corporate sector and of course scholar Priests.

We also held annual offsite programs at Sanjan.

It gives us great pleasure to see a lot many of our resource people seated in the audience today.

During the two years of the Pandemic we had digital training every Thursday on different modules of psychotherapy and allied fields like music and art therapy and pastoral counselling. Our team conducted activity based bhantar classes on Zoom for an entire year. Some of our behdin- mobed initiatives have been with organizations like HPY, XYZ and Return to Roots with activities which included football matches and heritage walks.

During the pandemic, financial aid was given and support groups came together for therapeutic dialogues to facilitate emotional healing.

In the wake of an unfortunate fire accident that happened in 2019, a young Mobed from Surat was severely burnt whilst participating in a religious ceremony, WZO Trust’s received funds from Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hong Kong, Canton & Macao from which we arranged free distribution of fire-retardant Jamas, gloves and padan to our Mobed Sahebs.

Let me now share with you my perception about the need for having a Trust such as Empowering Mobeds Trust.

b) Though having been born and bred at Mumbai my family roots are at Navsari, I recall that during my youth whenever we visited there, the respect that our Mobeds received from a satisfied laity left a lasting impression on my mind.

I vividly recall that whenever any important family related matter was to be discussed, my grandmother who lived at Navsari would invite our family

Panthaky, late revered Er. Cawas Ravji to be present along with her four sons. Such was the respect that our Mobeds had earned. Such was the esteem in which Mobeds were held, that a family moved with the Panthaky if he were to change the Agiary from where he was functioning.

Our connections with the Ravji family still continue over the decades, our connections now being with Dasturji Keki Ravji Meherjirana.

c) Coming to the present times, the relationship between Mobeds and laity has not been as was a few decades earlier.

It remains a fact that no community can survive without a strong religious foundation. At the same time no religion can survive without an enlightened clergy. The success and survival of our Zoroastrian community is undoubtedly directly linked to our religion and our Mobed’s.

We in Empowering Mobeds recognised that looking to present and the future spiritual needs of the community, what was necessary, was the development of an educated, intelligent, knowledgeable and articulate class of Mobeds. It was very essential to not only to encourage our young Athornans to embrace Mobedi as a full-time profession by making it economically viable, but also to inculcate in them the essential requisites required on how to interact with the laity, gradually shaping them to fit into the role of spiritual pastors who could be looked up to take on leadership roles besides being spiritual guides.

We propose to begin our activities with a pilot programme of identifying priests who show a commitment to practicing Modebi either part time or full time.

The intent is to train them in the following 5 core areas through Senior Priests as well as professionals in disciplines such as ‘mental health’, Information Technology, corporate sector, counsellors etc.

Rituals – How to conduct them and the Meaning

Prayers – Relevance, Pronunciation and Meaning

Presentation Skills – Grooming, Tone of voice, Decision making

Soft Skills – Confidence, Problem solving, Teamwork, Leadership

Connecting with Laity – Interpersonal skills, Being relatable

The main objective is to build a bridge between the community and our faith. With Mobeds who know their prayers and understand the rituals they can evolve into leaders who would connect with community members facing challenging times, by counselling them through prayers and a deeper connect with our faith.

d) We feel blessed that Mrs. Pearl & Mr. Hafeez Contractor, Eminent Architects and Philanthropists, are considering extending support. They have supported a number of causes such as donating munificent amounts to our various AtashBehrams, as well as of extending financial support to elderly Mobeds and their widows.

The couple do not have only our sincere gratitude and respect but also the genuine blessings of the hundreds they have helped.

Thank you all very much for attending in such large numbers. It is such a pleasure to see in the audience so many of our ‘Men in White’. We look forward to continuing support from our community.

LLNL’s Huban Gowadia named to State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Huban Gowadia has been inducted into the state of Alabama’s Engineering Hall of Fame<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = “[default] http://www.w3.org/2000/svg” NS = “http://www.w3.org/2000/svg” />

(EHF).

The principal associate director for Global Security, Gowadia was one of 10 engineers inducted into the state’s EHF during a ceremony last month attended by about 250 people.

She was nominated for Alabama’s EHF by the former dean of the University of Alabama’s College of Engineering, Charles Karr, and retired U.S. Coast Guard vice-admiral and former head of the Transportation Security Administration, Peter Neffenger.

Gowadia described her reaction as being “absolutely floored” by her selection to the EHF, made by the organization’s 20-member board of directors.

“If you think about those who are already in the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame, to have any association with them is a great honor,” Gowadia said. “I resonated with my fellow inductee, Mike Griffin, who said he was ‘honored beyond his merit.’”

Gowadia graduated in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from The University of Alabama. She went on to earn a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Her 18 years working as a civil servant in the United States departments of Defense and Homeland Security were capped by service as acting administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, leading a $7.6 billion budget and a workforce of 60,000 employees charged with protecting U.S. transportation systems.

As LLNL’s principal associate director for Global Security, Gowadia is responsible for building and executing programs focused on intelligence, cyber and space security, as well as nonproliferation, counterterrorism and incident response across the fronts of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive threats.

In her current position since early 2020, she leads more than 1,200 matrixed employees and manages an annual operating budget of about $500 million.

Her honors include the 2005 Under Secretary’s Award for Science and Technology for exceptional leadership of the Countermeasures Test Bed program, the highest honor in the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate. In 2015, she was selected as a Distinguished Engineering Fellow by The University of Alabama College of Engineering.

Gowadia was accompanied to last month’s ceremony by her parents, Aspie and Dhun Gowadia, and her brother and sister-in-law, Purazar and Jennifer Gowadia.

As we extend our efforts to address inequity one step at a time, is a society with no economic discrimination in education attainable?

This talk by Freyaz K. Shroff focuses on the certainty of it. Born and raised in India and educated in the USA, Freyaz K. Shroff moved back to India in 2006 with a Bachelor’s in Sociology and an M.B.A. in International Business and Marketing. She established “KurNiv Foundation,” a non-profit organization that focused on preparing students, living primarily below the poverty line, in gaining admission into and completing college graduation through a proven peer-to-peer mentorship model.

In addition to creating a new generation of teen and tween leaders, she also coaches parents and educators on how to raise youth leaders who are empathetic, sensitized, goal-oriented, and can work as part of success-driven teams. Freyaz addressed the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UN-CSW) in 2012, while her students addressed the UN-CSW in 2021 and 2022. She was the recipient of the Jamshed Pavri Humanitarian Award in 2012.

The May 2022 Ba Humata talk shall be on the theme Atarsh Niyayesh, Yasna Ha 43.3 And Related Prayers

Speakers:

• Ervad Solicitor Zerick Dastur from India
• Dr. Dolly Dastoor from Canada
• Mobedyar Sarvar Taraporevala from Iran
• Farishteh Shroff from UAE & Pakistan

Moderator: Dr. Karishma Koka, Founder, Host And Moderator of Ba Humata

Please Reserve Your Time For A Milestone Experience Of Your Life.

Sunday, May 1, 2022

8:00 AM Pacific | 11:00 AM  Eastern | 4:00 PM UK | 7:30 PM Iran | 7:00 PM  UAE | 8:00 PM Pakistan | 8:30 PM India | 11:00 PM 

Perth Australia, Singapore And Hong Kong

Join Zoom Meeting

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

Meeting ID: 834 0882 6220

Passcode: BAHUMATA

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE

WHEN MAXIMUM ZOOM PARTICIPANT CAPACITY IS EXCEEDED

The Facebook stream will be available at

https://www.facebook.com/BaHumataVohumana

Announcement from National Editor Matea Gold, Deputy National Editor Philip Rucker and Senior Editor for Visual Enterprise Ann Gerhart:

We are delighted to announce that Kainaz Amaria is joining The Washington Post as the visual enterprise editor for National, pioneering a new role aimed at expanding our visual journalism and conceiving of innovative storytelling approaches.

In this key leadership role, Kainaz will oversee immersive, visual-first stories on both quick-turn news and longer-term projects. She will work with reporters and editors from all of National’s coverage teams as well as partner with the Audio, Data, Design, Graphics, Photo and Video departments to elevate our coverage. She will report to the national editor and work closely with Senior Editor for Visual Enterprise and the other visual enterprise editors to develop and share best practices for multidisciplinary storytelling and to drive more collaborative, immersive journalism across the newsroom.

Kainaz comes to The Post from Vox, where she has served as their first-ever visuals editor. She brings with her a decade of experience developing collaborative stories that have broken with convention, won awards, drawn huge audiences and influenced legislation.

At Vox, she has run an interdisciplinary team responsible for graphics, interactives, photography, data and design for on-site and off-platform stories. Along with overseeing daily and short-term stories, she has been responsible for setting the visual team’s philosophy, workflows and aligning their visual journalism with the newsroom’s editorial goals. She has spearheaded large collaborations, including live election results and projects such as one on supertrees, and fostered an environment where creative journalists thrived. She is known as a sharp editor, a diplomatic team leader, a shrewd problem-solver and a journalist with a strong ethical compass.

Before Vox, Kainaz was an editor on NPR’s Visual Team, where she played a key role in creating new storytelling formats. She drove the U.S.-Mexico border reporting alongside Steve Inskeep and assumed multiple roles in NPR’s “Planet Money Makes a T-shirt,” including managing producer, photographer and videographer. The project won the radio network numerous awards, including a News and Documentary Emmy.

Kainaz began her career as a newspaper photographer, driving hundreds of miles a day around the Bay Area covering council meetings, high school sports and breaking news. After nearly 10 years of working as a photojournalist — covering stories from President Barack Obama’s inauguration for the then-St. Petersburg Times to driving the length of the Grand Trunk Road in India for NPR — she decided to gradually shift her focus from being an assignment photographer to someone who worked with others to more fully shape the way news stories are told.

In 2020, Kainaz was honored with the John Long Ethics Award by the National Press Photographers Association for her writing and criticism on the photojournalism industry and visual language.

Kainaz has a BA in international relations and political science from Boston University and an MA in photography from the School of Visual Communication, Ohio University. In 2010, she was a Fulbright Scholar and completed a short film on the Parsi Zoroastrian community in Mumbai.

She and her husband, Gene Demby, a host of NPR’s Code Switch, welcomed their first child in November 2021. Kainaz was born in Mumbai, India, and grew up in California, which means she’s always dreaming of the Pacific Ocean and eating Indian street food. She loves to travel, hates sloths, can never pass up good pizza and is a fan of puns.

The challenge, Godrej says, was to reach a younger audience and children who might have had very little association with the brand

It is not the first time the history of the Godrej family is being written. In its centenary year in 1997, film journalist and former editor of Filmfare and Screen B K Karanjia had, at the behest of the industrial family, penned a voluminous two-part history, tracing their trials and tribulations since 1897.

So, what made the family want to tell its story again 25 years later? And not through another book, but through a completely different medium?

Download the PDF

The answer comes from none other than Jamshyd N Godrej, the 73-year-old chairman and managing director of Godrej & Boyce — the first company in the group’s fold, which made the ballot boxes for the country’s first election after Independence in 1952 in Vikhroli and thereon kept evolving to keep pace with changing times. Today, it also sells premium home furniture through its brand, Godrej Interio.

The challenge, Godrej says, was to reach a younger audience and children who might have had very little association with the brand. “We were looking at how we could reach children and young adults so that we could share the Godrej story, because they have not been associated so much with the brand,” he says. And the medium they finally chose? “A comic book, where you can use narrative writing and tell a story with illustrations, was a great way to go. We thought it is a very effective way to reach a new generation,” says Godrej.

Godrej, of course, went to the best in the country to do so: Amar Chitra Katha (ACK), the publishing king of comics and graphic novels, which has inspired millions of children to get familiar with Indian history and mythology through crispy, well-illustrated comics.

For ACK, it was an area they have dabbled in earlier as well, having published comic books of other industrial luminaries like Jamsetji Tata, JRD Tata and Ghanshyam Das Birla.

In the case of the Godrej family, the comic book is all about its founders, Ardeshir and his brother Pirojsha, who were instrumental in establishing the empire.

ACK is initially starting with a small print run of 500 copies, but expects bigger numbers to come from its digital version.

The comic book traces the Godrej history through the family’s migration from Bharuch in Gujarat to the bustling city of Mumbai. And how a small news item in the Bombay Gazette about a gang of burglars breaking locks in the city led Ardeshir Godrej to enter the business of making sturdy locks. With financial help from his benefactor and family friend, Merwanji Cama — whose nephew, Boyce, after whom the company’s name was changed to Godrej & Boyce, joined Ardeshir but did not work long — and a loan of Rs 80,000, he rented out a shed in Lalbaug, hired a dozen workers from Gujarat and Malabar, bought a small steam engine and started producing locks in 1897.

Learning from his earlier mistakes in business, he put in a clear marketing plan. The rest is history. From locks, the company diversified to other products, furniture included.

Soon, his younger brother Pirojsha joined him and got a patent for making springless locks. The next big step was their tryst with soap, starting in 1918 with Chavi, a bathing soap that took on imported giants like Lux, Cuticura and Windsor. After Ardeshir passed away in 1936, Pirojsha took up the reins of the Godrej business, and went on to build Vikhroli, an industrial township on the outskirts of Mumbai city.

Says Preeti Vyas, CEO, Amar Chitra Katha: “One challenge we faced was the page count — 32 pages are too little to write the stories of two business giants like Ardeshir and Pirojsha,”. The other, she says, “was to be chronologically correct even with the smallest detail, like which brand of soap was introduced first.

”The narrative, says Godrej, was supported by a wealth of archival material from the 1900s, which has been collected, sorted and made available to anyone interested in the Godrej history. These include letters, agreements, pictures, product history and advertising, and so on.

“The Tatas have the best archives and they understood its value. We did collaborate with them while setting up ours,” says Godrej, adding, “We have also helped many Indian business houses like Cipla and the Jindals, who are working on setting up their archives”.The Godrej group also organises annual, open-to-all lecture series in Mumbai on the contribution of Indian business houses to the India story. The last one was on the Sassoon family, a name Mumbaikars are familiar with because of the Sassoon Docks.

Is he looking to leverage other mediums so that more people get to know about their founders? Godrej replies with an emphatic “yes”, and says they are exploring all options: social media, perhaps an OTT series, videos, oral recordings. The Godrej story, he says, is a slice of Indian modern history and ought to reach more people.

Parsi Khabar features and

Zoroastrians.Net anchors

2022 After Mother’s Day Transformational Special

Build a new you

With ‘YOU’ in YOU

Saturday May 14, 2022

Host and administrator – Yazdi Tantra Founder – zoroastrians.net

Facilitators: Dr. Karishma Koka – Founder Bahumata & Mobed Zarrir Bhandara – Head Priest ZAC, LA.

Join and share

With love and light from Meher

This Special Transformational Show Is Dedicated

To My Granddaughter Arianna

Join Us Early To Get A Special Glimpse Of

The Star Of The Show – Arianna

This Magical Experience Is Focused On

How To Use Your Sight To Build Insight

How To Inform To Transform Not Deform

How To Live A Life Of Inspiration Without Facing Indoctrination

~meher Amalsad~

This Special Show Will Be Supported By Global Zarthushti Youth Ambassadors From

United States, Canada, India, United Kingdom, Pakistan, Iran, New Zealand, Germany, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, And Australia

Join zoom meeting

Https://us02web.Zoom.Us/j/84613966546

Meeting id: 846 1396 6546

Passcode: ARIANNA

On Saturday, May 14, 2022

9:00 am pacific 12:00 noon  eastern 5:00 pm UK 8:30 pm Iran 8:00 pm  UAE 9:00 pm Pakistan 9:30 pm India Midnight Perth, Singapore and Hong Kong

Very important note

When maximum zoom participant Capacity is exceeded

The facebook stream will be available at

Https://www.Facebook.Com/groups/theparsifamily

Click on – watch video to join the webinar

About Meher amalsad

Meher amalsad is an engineer, educator, inventor, professional speaker and published author of bread for the head ™

This gift book is filled with thoughts, ideas and affirmations that inspires the heart, motivates the mind and transforms the soul, with prime focus on parenting, unconditional love, spiritual consciousness, success, and excellence. This work which is rooted in ‘role modeling rather than rule modeling’ has been used by corporations, schools, children, parents, teachers, hospitals, wellness centers as well as healing and rehabilitation centers.

His work has been showcased to over hundred million people across the globe through his numerous appearances on radio, television, cable, and satellite talk shows nationwide.

His philosophies are simple yet applicable in each and every aspect of life.

His purpose is to help others excel academically, discover and maximize their true passions, and become their authentic best selves.

His work is focused on empowering people to create a footprint of success, in them.

Meher has served as the founding chair of the North American and World Zoroastrian Youth Congresses since 1985.

He is also the founding chair of the Helping Hands Zoroastrian Youth Committee of FEZANA, Which got transitioned into ZYNA after 7-years.

Meher has worked as a program manager for hughes aircraft company, which is one of the top aerospace defense companies in the world.

Presently, he is serving as the mentor and facilitator for the Global Bahumata prayer, leadership and entrepreneurship monthly webinar series.

His life’s work has been focused on creating Unity  within Diversity in Humanity

For more information about his transformational work visit: http://www.Bread4thehead.Com

Please reserve your time for a milestone experience of your life.

Please share and join us

For this sweet treat

Filled with love & light

Delshad Kalantary has adopted a Kiwi DIY attitude and built a light-therapy box she hopes one day could help with memory loss.

PhD student Delshad Kalantary. Photo: Billy Wong

Painstakingly building a state-of-the-art scientific machine was far from Delshad Kalantary’s vision of a career in neuroscience when she was younger.
However, her dream of helping humanity almost certainly sprang from a background of hardship. Delshad grew up in Mumbai as a child of parents who had left Iran to start a new life, with little by way of money or education.
Delshad’s doctoral project has involved building a platform that beams light onto the brain to potentially reverse memory loss, the main symptom of Alzheimer’s disease.
“I wanted to do a PhD in something meaningful,” she says. “Finding a cure for something would add meaning to my life. I wake up every day and I look forward to going to the University.”
More than 55 million people worldwide suffer from dementia, an umbrella term for conditions including Alzheimer’s, and 70,000 Kiwis have the incurable degenerative condition. Drugs are being trialled to slow the progression of the disease, but no one has been able to find a cure.
“This is an opportunity for me to give back to the country,” Delshad says.
Delshad arrived in Auckland in 2018 following an undergraduate degree in the United States where she first heard about optogenetics and fibre photometry techniques. When she submitted her research proposal for her PhD in Biomedical Sciences, under the Department of Medical Imaging at the Centre for Brain Research (CBR), her supervisor, Dr Andrea Kwakowsky, said no one had ever built a machine like the one she was suggesting.
“The main problem with fibre photometry is you can only analyse it through coding,” says Delshad. “That’s why people, specifically neuroscientists, are scared to use it, because they don’t have a background in engineering. I’ve always loved to code. So, I told my supervisor ‘that won’t be a problem’.”

Distinguished Professor Sir Richard Faull and PhD student Delshad Kalantary.

Ultimately, doing this could potentially reverse memory impairments. It’s a cutting-edge technique that could become a therapeutic approach to treat the disease.

Delshad Kalantary, doctoral student Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland

Delshad speaks slowly when explaining the complex process, as well as producing a helpful ‘dummy’ diagram.

“The word ‘opto’ basically means light and ‘genetics’ means genes. So, in optogenetics we transport a specific gene into a specific brain cell. In this case, the gene is a piece of DNA that instructs the brain cells to produce light-sensitive proteins. Using the light, I can manipulate and reverse the activity of specific brain cells – those involved in Alzheimer’s.

“Ultimately, doing this could potentially reverse memory impairments. It’s a cutting-edge technique that could become a therapeutic approach to treat the disease.”

Delshad built the optogenetic and fibre photometry machine from scratch and it was funded as part of her research by the Freemason’s Foundation, longstanding philanthropists for the University. The machine has a patch cord, which is a single strand of optical fibre, that can be attached to the hippocampus of a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, into the region of the brain primarily affected in humans.

“The patch cord has LED lights and when we switch on the machine, it sends light into the region where the gene is present.

“The gene basically turns the cells on and off. The light energy is converted to electrical activity, which is the language of the brain.”

It is still quite confusing for the average person, but, “basically what this machine could ultimately do is allow us to ‘hack’ into brain cells and eavesdrop on brain activity”.

The fibre photometry analyses the electrical activity of the brain in code, which is where Delshad’s passion for maths and coding comes into play.

In 2021, Delshad received training from optogenetic pioneer Professor Karl Deisseroth at Stanford University. She ordered the 150 parts needed to build the optogenetic and fibre photometry device over three months. She also wrote a user-friendly programming toolbox to help other neuroscientists analyse the data without requiring programming experience.

Over the past four years, Delshad has had the twin challenges of conducting challenging research and enduring Covid-19 lockdowns and isolation. There have been times when she considered giving up and returning to Mumbai.
“But this research is my dream and I kept holding on to that dream. The biggest challenge is definitely emotional support because when you do a PhD, you don’t get those constant dopamine hits. You have to come home and there’s no one to talk to. It is really, really hard.”

The next stage of her research is to develop an experimental plan.

“The machine is good to go, so the experiments will involve mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, followed by fibre photometry recording and optogenetic manipulation to reverse the memory loss.”
Delshad hopes to have completed her PhD in 2023. She says the CBR has been a supportive environment and director Distinguished Professor Sir Richard Faull has been a mentor and father figure.

Sir Richard says Delshad has all of the attributes to become a world-leading researcher.

“She has a scientific mind, she’s a genius at maths and physics, she wants to do her very best and she has the commitment to never give up.”
Delshad’s hope is she will continue to develop the potential for her platform as a postdoctoral researcher, as well as provide a base for future generations of researchers.
As Sir Richard puts it: “Delshad has a dream of helping people and she’s going to do her very best to make that dream come true.”

By Jodi Yeats.

This This story first appeared in the June 2022 issue of UniNews.

We are thrilled to learn that Ron Kalifa has has been Knighted in Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee Honours List for services to the financial services industry.

Sir Rohinton Minoo “Ron” Kalifa OBE is a British entrepreneur. He is chairman of Network International, and formerly served as Chief Executive Officer of Worldpay Group for over ten years from 2002 to 2013 and then continued as Vice Chairman. He was appointed an OBE in the Queen’s New Year 2018 Honours List for financial services and technology.^[1] 

Sir Ron Kalifa is an active member of the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe and a big supporter of Zoroastrian organizations in the UK and around the world.

Ron is a renowned strategic and operational leader in the field of digital and financial services, serving as Chair of Network International, a FTSE company, and of FutureLearn.

In June 2019, he was appointed to the Court of Directors of the Bank of England and is also a member of the Council of Imperial College, London. Previously, he led Worldpay, a leading technology payments company, for over 10 years and was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s New Year 2018 Honours List, for services to financial services and technology.

Sir Ron Kalifa said: “It is a huge honour and privilege to receive this recognition from the Queen. None of this would have been possible without the support of those closest to me throughout my life, not least my family, friends and colleagues.

“I’m fortunate to have worked in positions which I’m very passionate about, and I hope that I have made a difference, both in the boardroom and on the field. Sport in particular has the power to change lives and I look forward to continuing to make a positive impact in future.”

Martin Darlow, ECB Interim Chair said: “It is fantastic to see Ron’s achievements and hard work recognised with this honour. Ron has been a huge asset to the ECB Board since his appointment, using his significant expertise for the benefit of cricket and on behalf of the ECB I’d like to congratulate him on his knighthood.”

Our friend Meher Amalsad writes in…..

FATHER’S DAY 2022 TRANSFORMATIONAL SPECIAL

This M&M Show Is Dedicated To All The Fathers Of Humanity And Specially To My Son Arash For His First Father’s Day With My GrandDaughter ARIANNA

ZOROASTRIANS.NET Proudly Anchors

2022 Father’s Day Transformational Special
MANIFESTATION IN MEDITATION – Part 2

with Global Leading Holistic Health Guru And Corporate Life Coach Dr. Mickey Mehta from India & Professional Speaker And Author Of  Bread for the Head ™ Meher Amalsad from California

Saturday, June 18, 2022  07:30 PM PST,  10:30 PM EST
Sunday, June 19, 2022  08:00 AM IST,  2:30 AM GMT

HOST AND MODERATOR – YAZDI TANTRA Founder – ZOROASTRIANS.NET & Former WZCC Global Vice President

Join Us For This Transformational Session Focused On The Connection Of Manifestation With The Law Of Attraction And Meditation;  And How It Links With The Sublimation Of Creation

~Mickey And Meher~

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81067359247

Meeting ID: 810 6735 9247

Passcode:  SWEETM&M

Time: June 18, 2022  07:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Time: June 18, 2022  10:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Time: June 19, 2022  08:00 AM  Indian Standard Time (IST)
Time: June 19, 2022, 02:30 AM Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
Time: June 19, 2020, 07:00 AM   IRAN
Time: June 19, 2022, 06:30 AM   UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Time: June 19, 2022, 07:30 AM   PAKISTAN
Time: June 19, 2022, 10:30 AM   Hong Kong and Singapore
Time: June 19, 2022, 12:30 PM   Sydney, Australia
Time: June 19, 2022, 02:30 PM   New Zealand Time

DR. MICKEY MEHTA

Dr. Mickey Mehta completed 50+ years of yoga with 40 years of Pioneering experience in the Health And Wellness industry.

Dr. Mickey Mehta is a leading global holistic health guru and a corporate life coach to Bollywood superstars, top politicians, India Inc. and several Miss Worlds and Miss Universes. The recipient of ‘The Health and Wellness Icon of India’ award by Economic Times and is among the ‘100 Most Impactful Wellness Leaders of the World’ as announced at the Global Wellness Conclave 2018.

He is considered the first personal trainer of India, the first fitness columnist and the first fitness TV and radio presenter in India. He has trained police, army, navy and air force personnel.

An honorary double doctorate in Holistic Health and Life Sciences, from the Open International University for Complementary Medicines. He is author of best sellers ‘The Shoonyam Quotient’, ‘Lose weight gain shape’ and recently launched ‘Immunity +’ with Padmashree super Chef Sanjeev Kapoor.  Also, a speaker at Harvard University, IIMs, IIT and held holistic health workshops globally.

Dr. Mickey Mehta received an award at Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’s 75th year celebrations from the ministry of Cultural Affairs in Switzerland for “ Excellence and Pioneer in holistic health”

Dr. Mickey Mehta is also serving Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) VideshBhavan,Mumbai – cultural health.

He has been appointed as the FIT India Movement Champion by the Sports Authority of India and is a part of the steering committee at the Indian Merchant Chambers.

The author, poet, philosopher, the brand, the institution, the legendary – DR. MICKEY MEHTA who gets you Energized, Naturalized, Optimized, Maximized, Wellness Revolutionized and gets you IMMUNIZED and MICKEYMIZED!!!

Follow: https://twitter.com/mickeymehta
Like: https://www.facebook.com/drmickeymehta
Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mickeymehta/   
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mickey_mehta/

MEHER AMALSAD

Meher Amalsad is an Engineer, Educator, Inventor, Professional Speaker and published Author of Bread for the Head ™

This gift book is filled with thoughts, ideas and affirmations that inspires the heart, motivates the mind and transforms the soul, with prime focus on Parenting, Unconditional Love, Spiritual Consciousness, Success, and Excellence. This work which is rooted in ‘ROLE MODELING rather than RULE MODELING’ has been used by corporations, schools, children, parents, teachers, hospitals, wellness centers as well as healing and rehabilitation centers. His work has been showcased to over hundred million people across the globe through his appearance on numerous Radio, Cable, Satellite and Television Talk Shows nationwide.

His philosophies are simple yet applicable in each and every aspect of life. (www.Bread4TheHead.com).

His purpose is to help others excel academically, discover and maximize their true passions, and become their authentic best selves.  His work is focused on EMPOWERING PEOPLE to create a footprint of success, in them.

Meher has served as the Founding Chair of the North American And World Zoroastrian Youth Congresses since 1985.

He has worked as a Program Manager for Hughes Aircraft Company, which is one of the top Aerospace Defense Companies in the world.

His life’s work has been focused on creating
UNITY  WITHIN DIVERSITY IN HUMANITY WITH DIGNITY