The girl gang consisting of tweens was growing up fast. Every evening and earlier on holidays, we would meet, talk, play, cycle around, exchange school news and happily pass our time together. In fact, whenever we had to go out with our parents there would be protests and resistance. We hated missing out on the play, the giggles and most important the gossip which Tina dished out to us now and again.

From time to time we invite readers to contribute. This article is by Havovi Govadia.

Tina was the eldest in our group, a good 2/3 years older than most of us. She introduced us to the birds and bees and became our bible on “facts of life”. She loved to scandalize us by telling us outrageous stories, kinky or smutty news and giving us tid-bits on sex, which we all eagerly lapped up. She had our undivided attention whenever she opened her mouth. She swore us all to secrecy and told us that if we dared tell any of this to our parents, she would stop her sex education. None of us wanted this to happen, so this became our peer secret and further bound us closer.

Her claim that she had a boyfriend was a great source of excitement for us. She refused to divulge his name which further deepened the mystery and allure. One evening she declared very expansively that she would not be washing her mouth for a few days since she and her boyfriend had kissed for the first time. There were squeals and shouts and clamor for more details. That evening we only went home after the full blow by blow or should I say lip by lip account of the “first kiss” was given to us. Tina’s status went up a further notch – to have a boyfriend and to have kissed him was unimaginable to our naïve tween minds. I am sure that night many of us tried kissing ourselves in the mirror to get a feel of how it would be to kiss another!

Tina keenly followed the romance of her neighbor Zarin with great verve. Every few days we would be fed little morsels; on the path the romance was taking. Whenever she came across Zarin and Savky talking sweet nothing in each other’s ears, Tina would try her hardest to eavesdrop. None of us could verify the veracity of her gossip but none the less found it interesting. Some times when Tina knew the couple was alone, she would sneak us into her house. We would crane our necks to see if we could catch a glimpse of the mating rituals that couples go through. Even if we saw them hugging or holding hands, we would be shoving and pushing each other for a better glimpse. Zarin and Savky were probably too engrossed to notice the whispers and fits of giggles of a motley group of wide-eyed curious girls. All this stopped, when one day Tina’s mother realized what was happening and shooed us all out.

Some days, tired after our games, we would all gather and urge Tina to share some more knowledge with us. Most of the time it was all tame stuff which she had told us countless times before, about falling in love, or kissing or holding hands or the chemistry that existed between men and women.

But then one evening she burst a bomb. She told us she was going to tell us a big secret, which left us all breathless with anticipation. When the hullabaloo died down a bit, she announced that today she would be telling us how babies were made. Babies are made?

How does one MAKE a baby? Most of us thought that if the mother and father wanted a baby, God would put one in the mother’s belly. She looked at us pityingly and gave a wise and mysterious smile. “I read all about it in my friend’s sister’s book and that’s the truth”. With bated breath and total disbelief we heard how little babies were made and got ensconced in their mother’s womb. There were lots of protests and heated arguments and denials, but Tina stuck to her guns. Our first brush with adulthood was surreal and a little traumatic.

As we got older we became savvier. The girl’s school we went to was a hotbed of false or otherwise, information on sex. Without a TV or internet, knowledge on sex or other adult topics were mostly gleaned from peers. We slowly learnt about the difference in the anatomy of men and women, about different sexual preferences, about homosexuality and lesbianism, about how boys perceived sex, about puberty and on and on. The raging teenage hormones lapped up all the information we could lay our hands on from different sources.

We learnt that a flasher was not a person who wore fancy and flashy clothes, but a pervert who would exhibit his privates when he realized someone was watching. This knowledge was due to direct fallout of our brush with a flasher, who used to sit in front of our school. He was dressed like a sadhu with a long beard, forehead smeared with ashes and a saffron lungi. The lungi opened and shut when he realized that it was our school break and the girls would be out and maybe watching him. All this came to an end one

day, when the police were informed by the school authorities, and the flasher sadhu was hauled away not to be seen again.

Life went on. There were the usual teenage crushes, the breakups, the heartbreaks, the tears and on to the next attraction. It was so good to have friends one could confide in when needed, have a shoulder to cry on and to be able to share secrets, which normally one would not do so with parents, when growing up. In your teens, most things would revolve around love, rest was secondary.

All along Tina entertained us with more outrageous stories and sometimes, whenever we had an opportunity, nude shadow dancing on popular demand. When we had a house to ourselves without any interfering adults, Tina would put up a show for us. The lights would be switched off and a white bed sheet would be held taut by 2 girls. A dim light would come on and Tina would start dancing behind the bed sheet, a-la cabaret style in her under garments. There would be claps and whistles to egg her on. We did not have any moral police to stop what generation after generation did to learn and quench their curiosity about sex and which should be a natural part of growing up.

As we grew older and the boys joined our gang, the secret girly talks became fewer and far between. We started getting different feedback due to the entry of boys in our midst. We were now on the brink of experiencing the real world of men and women and the chemistry that existed between the two sexes. Since we had grown up with these boys, there was comfort in our interaction with them. We were not tongue tied but definitely shy at times. Occasionally, some one would sneak in an adult magazine like ‘Oui’ or ‘Playboy’, with scantily clad or half naked men and women. There would be hysterical giggles and rolling of the eyes. We were scandalized by the ‘brazen’ nudity but none the less interested. The boys compared us to the bombshells of their Playboy and other boys’ magazines. As a result many of us started having huge problems with our bodies. We thought we were too thin, too fat, or small built, or big built, alas anything but perfect. We tried our best to fit into the ‘perfect’ image of a woman. We had the padded bras and corsets to our rescue and took refuge in anything that made us look a little more like those bombshells of the boys’ magazines. Fortunately, most of us got out of that phase and accepted the fact that we were all different and that ‘beauty was to the beholder’ and hopeful that there was somebody out there who would like us for the way we were.

Today, children learn about facts of life very early. The parents are so busy leading their own lives, having careers and being caught up in the rat race that children have to fend for themselves. Their lives revolve around the internet and the information available so easily on it. The internet becomes their friend, guide and philosopher. Alas the learning process takes place on the net without any feedback, adult guidance or peer information. In spite of the ‘chats’ and hundreds of ‘e-friends’ and being connected to others on various social sites as well as other media feedback, it is a lonely world. The camaraderie, the closeness of real friends, the giggles, the sharing is all missing.

Havovi Govadia is a 65 years old grandmother of 3.  She was born and brought up in Mumbai and shifted to Nagpur after marriage.  Was working in Empress Mills (first Tata enterprise) till it shut shop in 1987.  Working now as an independent financial adivsor. 

Havovi wrote scripts, directed and staged plays and various tableaux on Zarthushtra, Parsi fashions through the ages etc. mostly to acquaint the younger generation of their rich heritage from 1980 till about 2000 for the Nagpur Parsi Gymkhana. 

Havovi started writing these little anecdotal stories at the insistence of her niece who is now 10 years old and living in USA and who was keen to know about her grand parents whom she would never meet and those days when “you and my Dad were little”.

The post Birds and Bees: Growing Up appeared on Parsi Khabar.

The amazing Zerbanoo Gifford has put together the Z Factor exhibition and has kindly shared the panels with us. She writes

The Z Factor Exhibition celebrates some amazing Zoroastrians. They are the followers of Zoroaster, the first prophet to teach the path of Asha, the Way of Righteousness, that there is One God, and that Good would eventually triumph over Evil.

Zoroastrianism is the ancient faith of Iran, and one of the great religions of the classical world. It links eastern and western faiths. Sharing common origins with Hinduism, it had a formative influence on Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Today there are 100,000 Zoroastrians worldwide and their numbers are declining.

Like the panda, they are an endangered species!

A preservation order should be placed on them, if only to protect their originality, generosity and eccentric lifestyles. Zoroastrians have impacted on our lives and have left extraordinary legacies, not just for their own community but for everyone.

The post The Z Factor Exhibition by Zerbanoo Gifford appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Family Qualities & Mental Health of Zoroastrian Young Adults is the title of a very detailed and interesting research exercise conducted by Farin Bakhtiari and and Scott Plunkett.

ADOLESCENT AND ADULT ADJUSTMENT (A LAB) RESEARCH PROJECT

The A Lab Research Project (http://www.csun.edu/plunk/alab) at California State University Northridge was designed to enhance the understanding of successful adaptation of adolescents and young adults from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. This report will focus on data collected from 209
Zoroastrian young adults from July 2014 to January 2015.

This is one of the first and only reports examining factors that relate to Zoroastrian young adults’ family qualities and mental health. Educators, teachers, mental health practitioners, and community leaders can use this report to better understand the development of Zoroastrian young adults. Also, the findings in this report would be helpful for organizations that want to implement family life education programs (e.g., parenting education) and/or workshops for Zoroastrian young adults.

Throughout the report, there are subsections titled “Comments & Recommendations” that will give ideas to practitioners and community leaders on how to improve the quality of life of Zoroastrian young adults. These sections are denoted with the graphic on the left.

Continue reading the report in PDF Format.

The post Family Qualities & Mental Health of Zoroastrian Young Adults: A Study appeared on Parsi Khabar.

The Zarathushtis of Los Angeles have broken ground on their Atash Kadeh in Orange County. This is truly a momentous occasion and a continuation of the trend of Zoroastrianism spreading and finding permanency and a home in the diaspora, especially in North America.

Our good friend Tehmi Damania, President of the Zoroastrian Association of California writes in, via the FEZANA website

Finally the big day arrived for the ground breaking ceremony for our Atash Kadeh!

On October 18, 2015 the members arrived on the grounds of the center which was decorated with a beautiful toran on a huge canopy and set with all the prayer paraphernalia for the Jashan to be performed for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Atash Kadeh. Chairs were strategically placed under the shade of a huge tree for members to sit close by and enjoy the prayers recited by our revered Mobeds Zarrir Bhandara, Zerkxis Bhandara, Jehangir Dastur and Arda-e-Viraf Minocherhomjee. Arrangements were made in the Center premises for the special invitees and seniors who would prefer to sit inside the Hong Kong Room and view the ceremony with the comfort of hearing it relayed on the speakers.

The Center too was decorated with auspicious “chalk and toran” everywhere. There was an air of “Khushaali na Sagan” all around.

The prayers started promptly at 11.30am and everyone was engrossed in the powerful mathravani that filled the air. Next to the canopy where the Jashan was in progress, there were two chairs which were set up for the actual ground breaking ceremony. On these chairs were set a box decorated with “Kumkum teeli” and tied with a huge red bow. This box contained the items of Zoroastrian religion which included a Khordeh Avesta, Kusti, Sadro, Topi, sukhad, lobaan, rice, kumkum, Zarthost silver coin, a Farohar, 7 types of ores, sagan ni sopari, kharak, harad, badam, saaker etc and topped with a full list of names of all our members. Next to the box in a silver “ses” was placed a coconut with large kumkum teeli, a pomegranate cut in pieces, and a big bowl of rose petals sprinkled with rose water and with a bag of rice to be used by all for offering into the ground.

When the Jashan was over, all the mobeds together with the members of the ZAC executive committee and past presidents – Noshir Jesung, Khushroo Lakdawalla, Darayus Mistry and Vira Santoke – who were present for the ceremony, came toward the ground where the earth was dug out. Thereafter, to the chanting of 21 yatha and 12 ashem vohu by all present, everyone showered the rose petals with the rice into the ground. The sound of the mathravani that filled the air at that time was truly magical!!  Lastly, the pomegranate seeds and pieces were offered in and Darius Mistry then broke the coconut and sprinkled the water in the ground.. Mobed Arda-e-Viraf was then requested to come forward and put the box inside the ground which was accompanied by cheers and clapping by all the members present. The special invitees were then escorted out to put the first shovels of earth into the ground. Thereafter, everyone present – young and old had a chance to pick up a shovel full of earth and place it into the ground and fill it up completely.

Although we were in the midst of hot summer days, the weather was fairly cloudy with a constant breeze that day as though Ahura Mazda was blessing the project and everyone who took part in it.

There was lot of mevo, malido, fruit, sev and ravo to be had by all which was later followed by a delicious sagan nu dhan daar patiyo and topped with Xerxes Commissariat’s famous mango kulfi which was appreciated by one and all.

Our Zarathosti architect, Sohrab Charna and contractor, Feridoun Goshtasbi were also present for the occasion and the contract for the project was signed that day at the Center. 

It was once again proved that when we all put our efforts together we are sure to succeed.

Thank you all for gracing this wonderful occasion and a BIG thank you to everyone who made an extra effort to get all the ravo sev, malido, mevo fruit etc to help us make this function a grand success! We also want to thank everyone who helped us to set up the place for the function and did all the hard work of setting the tables and chairs and the audio system and helped in the kitchen and the clean up thereafter. Special thanks to Arnavaz Dungore and Sri Rasa of  Woodlands Restaurant for making it possible to have Parsi food for the occasion.

THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS YOU ALL!!!

The photographs are now available at the ZAC website in 3 albums for the event.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/52291114@N07/sets/

The post Zarathushtis of Los Angeles Break Ground for their new Atash Kadeh appeared on Parsi Khabar.

He was the quintessential ogre. To my 6-year-old eyes there did not exist a more ferocious giant than Keka. When I first saw the Bollywood movie ‘Sholay’ and Gabbar boasting about his notoriety and how for miles his name was invoked by all mothers to frighten their children to fall in line, that Keka’s image came to mind. When the mothers wanted to frighten their children, it was Keka’s name they invoked. “Eat up or Keka will come to feed you”, “Stop this noise at once or else we’ll have to call Keka”, “Don’t cry, Keka does not like bawling children”. Most children were endlessly blackmailed day after day, to fall in line, with Keka’s name. Whenever Keka passed by the house, mothers would see that the children had a good look at him so that their jobs would be made easier when the need arose!

From time to time we invite readers to contribute. This article is by Havovi Govadia.

He was so embedded in my consciousness that whenever I read fairy tales replete with fairies, goblins and ogres to my children and now grandchildren, Keka again came to my mind.

Keka was homeless and in our affluent community, this was something unheard of. He was a huge unkempt man with a big belly. The hand-me-down shirt he wore strained to cover him. The buttons were broken and the gaps in the shirt gave us a peep of his hairy salt and pepper chest and a hirsute line running to his navel. Ironically, his pate was bald with wisps of matted hair and a huge black mole on the bald scalp stared at us like an ominous third eye. His pants were frayed at the edges and worn out at the seat. We would have a giggling fit, if by chance we ever spied part of his buttocks through the worn-out pants. A brown dirty handkerchief always showed in his pocket.

A battered tin plate and mug, along with some dirty bedding, comprised his earthly possession. All this was kept under the staircase near the electricity meter board. This was his ‘home’ where he slept come heat, rain or cold, snoring like a steam engine laboriously chugging up a mountain. We tiptoed to the small dark dingy place and watched in horror as his huge belly shuddered and his chest heaved like a volcano about to erupt. Alamai, who stayed on the ground floor, and who must have faced the barrage of smell, sometimes bribed her maid with extra money and food to clean up Keka’s ‘home’. That day the mixed stench of stale food and snuff did not permeate the entire building!

While playing ‘hide and seek’ on the staircase, our greatest fear was that Keka might come along and spy us hiding there. When we heard a shuffle of dragging feet and the distinct smell of snuff, we came out of our hiding places much to the delight of the one giving the ‘den’. None was brave enough to go on hiding at that juncture.

He lived off the kindness of the residents. Come mealtime and someone or the other gave him food. ‘Kekaaaa’ a shout would be heard and Keka, promptly picking up his plate and mug shuffled to that house. His plate piled high, he proceeded to devour, chewing noisily and breathing heavily through his nose, oblivious to the audience of little people. After a loud smelly belch, he sprawled out on the staircase, like a stuffed satisfied tomcat. This was our cue to scatter.

His dinner invariably came from Shireenbai who lived on the ground floor. She had an enamel plate and bowl separately for him. At a specific time every night, without a watch or any striking clock, Keka would gently edge up near the verandah and say ‘Baimai’ and his meal would be handed over to him. Many times he would return the plate and even say ‘Thank-you”. If he was not on time, Shireenbai would mutter ‘Mare, kahn gayo Keko?’ (Where has he gone?). Once in a while he requested for a bhelpuri which was willingly bought for him.

As we saw him shuffling around the Colony, we wondered why he did not have a family like most of us. Did he not have a mother and father or maybe a brother or sister? And did he ever go to a school? Why did he not go to office like our fathers did? None of us had the gumption to ask him these questions. According to old timers he was employed with BEST and cycled to work in the company of his friend Boman from R-23. Somewhere there was a setback; may be a failed relationship or an unrequited love which left him stunned with a vacant look in his brown eyes.

As I entered adulthood, Keka acquired a softer hue. I realized that his big bulbous brown eyes had never showed any anger. In fact we had never heard him raise his voice to anyone. Keka was a gentle soul, never given to violence or bouts of ill temper. The unique thing about him was that he was never teased, not even by the hardliners who spared no one…. he was left to himself since he never interacted with anyone. Keka addressed all elderly ladies as

Baimai and at times they shared tid-bits with him. This was probably the only human interaction he had.

Age took its toll and Keka took ill, was treated but faded away… and was given a decent funeral by the Panchayat.

Keka was a nonentity as far as the world was concerned. But he taught us a lesson or two; that, appearances are deceptive. He looked fierce, but was as gentle as a baby. That whatever cruel blows life dealt you, you do not take shortcuts. You lived your miserable life as best as can be. His life was pathetic but he never attempted to end it all or steal to better it. Keka was a hobo, but had managed to leave a lasting impression on me.

Havovi Govadia is a 65 years old grandmother of 3.  She was born and brought up in Mumbai and shifted to Nagpur after marriage.  Was working in Empress Mills (first Tata enterprise) till it shut shop in 1987.  Working now as an independent financial adivsor. 

Havovi wrote scripts, directed and staged plays and various tableaux on Zarthushtra, Parsi fashions through the ages etc. mostly to acquaint the younger generation of their rich heritage from 1980 till about 2000 for the Nagpur Parsi Gymkhana. 

Havovi started writing these little anecdotal stories at the insistence of her niece who is now 10 years old and living in USA and who was keen to know about her grand parents whom she would never meet and those days when “you and my Dad were little”.

The post Keka the Quintessential Ogre appeared on Parsi Khabar.

If public intellectuals are ostracized or vilified from speaking their minds, India risks becoming a “cultural dictatorship”, world famous music conductor Zubin Mehta has said, calling the protest by writers, filmmakers and scientists returning honours “brave”.

“Our writers, our filmmakers do have a chance to speak their minds. Otherwise we will become a dictatorship, a cultural dictatorship and that is inadmissible,” the 79-year-old India-born musician told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

Click to view video

An increasing number of intellectuals have returned awards and resigned from positions in recent weeks, speaking out against the government at the Centre and protesting what they call “growing intolerance”.

“I respect them for this. I wish these brave people who are giving up their awards would sit down with the government and may be they would influence them too,” Mr Mehta said.

He said that artists “shouldn’t be ostracised by the government” for their opinion and that there should be “complete freedom of expression”.

The government has dismissed the protests by dozens of authors, scientists, filmmakers and historians with Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley slamming those speaking out for a “manufactured paper rebellion”.

The Mumbai-born composer said that incidents of ink attacks in his city on events involving visiting Pakistanis are “absolutely terrible” and “shameful.” He went one step further and said “Pakistani cricketers should be allowed to play in the IPL,” revealing that except when India was playing, he always backed Pakistan against other countries like Australia or England. .

Mr Mehta also compared the cancellation of Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali’s concert in Mumbai earlier this month after threats by Shiv Sena to the protests by separatists in Jammu and Kashmir against his own concert in Srinagar in   2013.

Speaking about incidents that have strained communal ties across India, Mr Mehta said, “There are 150 million Muslims in India. Minorities must be made to feel a sense of security.”

The post Zubin Mehta Says Ink Attacks Shameful, Wants Pakistanis To Play In IPL appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Najamai is thrilled to welcome her new daughter-in-law…Of course as long as she is ” whitish” !

The post Najamal Welcomes Vohumai appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Today is the 106th birth anniversary of the father of India’s nuclear program, Homi J. Bhabha. Not many know that he had initiated a successful nuclear programme in Great Britain and was in India on vacation. As luck would have it, that’s when World War II began in September 1939 and he was forced to stay back.

Article by Kunal Anand, indiatimes.com

1. He had a meteoric rise in India

From the position of “reader” in theoretical physics at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, he was promoted to professor of cosmic ray research. 5 years later, he was chairman of the newly formed Atomic Energy Research Committee, and then became the Atomic Energy Commission chairman.

2. Some of the papers he published are still held in very high esteem even now.

His doctorate in nuclear physics (1933) was on “The Absorption of Cosmic radiation” about absorption features and electron shower production in cosmic rays, winning him the Isaac Newton Studentship in 1934.

3. He worked with a Nobel Prize winner as a student

As a student, he split his time between Cambridge and working with Nobel Prize winner Niels Bohr in Copenhagen, going on to determine the cross section of electron-positron scattering, a phenomenon renamed Bhabha scattering, in his honor.

4. He gave India’s nuclear program a new direction

He was instrumental in identifying how India could extract power from its vast thorium reserves, instead of its meagre uranium reserves, an approach never seen before in the world.

5. He wasn’t the typical scientist

Don’t picture Sheldon. In his spare time, he dabbled in painting, classical music and opera, and botany.

6. His cause of death is still debated

En route Vienna to a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Scientific Advisory Committee, he died in a mysterious plane crash. Conspiracy theorists believe the CIA killed him, to paralyse India’s nuclear program of India.

10th January 1966: Lal Bahadur Shashtri dies in Tashkent, from a heart attack. His wife claimed he was poisoned, but there was no medical inquiry of his death. Exactly, 14 days later, Bhabha died. Decades later, a series of mysterious deaths of India’s nuclear scientists has continued, unexplained, to this day.

7. For his contributions, he never got any recognition from India

For his contribution to India’s nuclear program, he never received the Bharat Ratna.

The post Homi Bhabha:7 Things You Need To Know About The Father Of India’s Nuclear Program appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Watch as Vir Sanghvi takes us through the life story of one of the most philanthropic industrialists of India-Mr. Ratan Tata, in the latest episode of #DrawMyLife

The post Draw My Life: Ratan Tata appeared on Parsi Khabar.

A man is known by the place he occupies. Very rare it is that a place us known by the man who is the life and heart of the place, Vohuman Cafe truly belongs to Hormaz Irani and his heart beats for his Vohuman Cafe…

Vohuman now and forever with Irani Sarosh-

The road where Vohuman used to be does not feel the same when you walk today. Sensing this for the legacy of a 38 year old place and a young man at it’s counter, thanks to Sarosh, we got the privilege to be a part of capturing this legacy with fantastic team of Aditya and friends.

The team worked for over 5 days continuously trying to capture the DNA of Vohuman…

Here is a brief attempt at cherishing the memories of Vohuman and the Human there….

We all know the man Rocks.

The post Vohuman cafe…. The Journey ! appeared on Parsi Khabar.

The Parsi community, alarmed by dwindling numbers, has reason to celebrate as a repopulation programme shows results

Around 35 Parsi middle-aged men and women, most of them couples and several of them accompanied by their children, have gathered in a community hall on a rainy Sunday morning for a parenting workshop in Mumbai. The din of sporadic yet heavy showers along with a mysterious babble of children from outside an open window enter the hall like the whir of a noisy machine. But those inside, who are part of the workshop, are not to be disturbed. They are in titters every now and then, play-acting a series of situations— from an episode where one of the parents acts as a boy who has flashed his private parts to a friend, to another who gets caught sending porn to a female college friend. Egged on by the organisers of the workshop, they giggle and improvise while enacting small instances of ideal parenting. So far, not very unusual.

Article by Lhendup G Bhutia | The OPEN Magazine.

But at the end of these acts, just when everyone’s attention seems most unwavering, comes a homily in the garb of an act: two couples sitting around a third, convincing the wife why, despite the challenges, she should have a second child. “Don’t be selfish,” one of them says, “your child needs a companion.”

Earlier, before the workshop began, one of the counselors for the event, Binaifer Sahukar, explained to me the purpose of the event. “What we really want is for Parsis to get married early, to have children, many children. And we do that, even through these workshops, discreetly.” At the end of the workshop, another counselor and volunteer, Pearl Mistry, introduced to the audience as the poster- girl of a programme called Jiyo Parsi for bearing three children, walks up to the front, and, with a mike in hand, says, “People say, ‘Oh it’s all pointless. Parsis are dying. There’s no hope. In some years there will be no trace of us.’ I say, even if a kid throws a single starfish into a sea of dying starfishes—it makes a difference, to the starfish.”

A Parsi family on their way to a parenting workshop in Mumbai (Photo: PHOTOS ANUSHREE FADNAVIS)

The Parsis of India, a religious and ethnic Zoroastrian group that began to reach Indian shores from Persia as early as the 8th century CE, did not just maintain their customs and adapt to life in India. Over the centuries, through hard- work and enterprise, they also became one of India’s most successful communities. The Parsi genius for trade and commerce, unlocked by the British, saw them setting up India’s opium trade with China, establishing banks, mills and business houses, and playing a major role in turning Bombay into the country’s business hub. They became, in an analogy they often cite, the sugar that did not displace but dissolved to sweeten the milk of India.

Their history is glorious. But in the past few decades, an issue of the future has begun to bother this tiny community, a discussion that is reaching a fevered pitch: looming extinction. Even as India’s population expands fast enough to displace China as the world’s most populated country in less than a decade, the count of Parsis is dwindling. It has fallen by a tenth each decade since the 1950s. According to the census conducted in 2001, there were 69,601 Parsis living in India, about two-thirds of them in Mumbai. In 1941, when the rest of India’s population was a fraction of what it is today, there were 114,000 Parsis in the country. According to the World Bank, the community has a fertility rate of 0.8, compared to a national rate of 2.5 children per woman. “Every year, some 800 Parsis die and only 200 Parsis are born. I shudder to think how much smaller we must have become since 2001,” Mistry says. Several issues—from youths delaying or foregoing marriage and parenthood to focus on their careers and mixed marriages outside the community to rumoured poor fertility of Parsi youths because of years of inbreeding—are said to have created this problem.

PEARL TIRANDAZ, choreographer, Mumbai: “Sometimes it appears that despite all our efforts, the younger generation is just not interested in the future of our community”

The community has made several attempts so far to address the crisis. The Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), the trust that governs Parsi properties in the city, established a matrimonial department, a scheme to hand out cash to parents who have more than one child, and even a fertility clinic that offers free IVF treatment to Parsis who are interested. The youth wing of the BPP, Zoroastrian Youth for New Generation (ZYNG), organises speed dating, a blind-date fair called Being Cupid, and youth camps for youngsters. Last year, a community newspaper Jam-e-Jamshed even instituted a contest titled the Bawa Baby Boom Contest and announced a cash prize of Rs 50,000 for anyone with the best idea to increase the community’s numbers. But nothing really appears to have worked. The matrimonial department, for instance, is said to have fostered only 20 marriages in several years. Pearl Tirandaz, a dance choreographer who is one of the founders of ZYNG, says, “Sometimes it appears that despite all our efforts, the younger generation is just not interested in the future of our community.”

A new undertaking, however, has begun to show some results. Supported and financed by the Central Government’s Ministry of Minority Affairs, and managed by a Parsi organisation, this is a unique state-sponsored programme titled Jiyo Parsi. Through its counselors and volunteers, it conducts seminars and campaigns in various Parsi colonies and settlements. Their workshops for both parents and teens encourage them to consider the importance of early marriage and several children. Crucially, it also offers free fertility treatment to all Parsi couples.

The Government has set aside Rs 10 crore for this programme. Its current target is 200 babies within five years. So far, the Centre has announced the birth of 30 babies in the past year, including two pairs of twins. According to the team in charge, there have been several more deliveries this year, at least a dozen. “Oh, we will easily reach our target,” says Mistry. “Every few weeks we get calls or messages about new pregnancies and new deliveries.”

The idea behind the project began to take shape when Parzor, a UNESCO- initiated programme to preserve Parsi- Zoroastrian culture and heritage in India, began to travel to traditionally Parsi- populated places in Gujarat like Navsari. Those working on this programme discovered what resembled ghost-towns, with only the elderly to be found. Several villages, homes and Parsi institutions were empty and crumbling.

PEARL MISTRY, community counsellor: “People say, ‘Parsis are dying. There’s no hope.’ I say, even if a kid throws a single starfish into a sea of dying starfishes—it makes a difference to the starfish”

Dr Katy Gandevia, a researcher with Parzor and the project coordinator of Jiyo Parsi, says, “The old Parsis in these towns told us, ‘All this saving of art and culture is all very well. But what is the use if these buildings remain empty?’” Parzor Foundation began to conduct a series of studies to understand what exactly what going on, and then began to work on the latest project’s development, with the Government coming on board by the end of 2013.

Earlier this year, a couple from Dadar’s Parsi Colony began to ask Pearl Mistry a series of questions. The couple have a four- year-old son who would often play with Mistry’s children in the neighbourhood garden. “They would keep asking me about the challenges of having more than one child, and how the birth of a baby might impact an elder child,” Mistry recalls. “And then I realised they wanted to have another baby.” Their four-year-old son, although chirpy amongst friends, apparently appeared lonely and depressed at home. The parents, both in their late 30s, had been trying to have another child with little success. After learning about the Jiyo Parsi scheme, the mother began to consult an IVF specialist and underwent an IVF procedure, although the specialist informed her that it might take several procedures before she would conceive. The father’s mother, however, would often express displeasure that Mistry had convinced the couple to have a second child. “She would say, ‘Do you know how expensive raising another child is?’ I would know, being a mother of three, wouldn’t I?”

“Why are you all after the numbers?” Dr Gandevia asks on the phone when asked the number of babies born under the scheme so far. “This many Parsis born. That many Parsi pregnancies. The programme is more than just numbers. We are trying to change a way of thinking here.”

Till May this year, around 100 women had availed of the fertility scheme of the programme. Thirty Parsi babies had been born, 17 were on their way, and 48 women were under treatment. So far, it is believed around another dozen have given birth. “It might not look like significant numbers. But when you look at the births and deaths per year (200 births in comparison to 800 deaths), this is quite a big number,” Mistry says. “Imagine, if we achieve 200 births in five years, this will be 200 babies who would otherwise probably not have been born.”

800 Parsis die each year in India but only 200 are born. But with advertising and outreach campaigns aimed at young couples in the community, activists hope to raise

The campaign has been successful not just because of its fertility programme, but also for its emphasis on advocacy. “To check the population dwindling further, we had to think out of the box,” Mistry says. The group holds heritage walks around South Mumbai, where several historical Parsi buildings are located. The idea is to generate, as Mistry puts it, a feeling of shared heritage. Jiyo Parsi began to hold workshops for couples and parents to goad them to have more children and to contain the rate of divorce. They even began to hold programmes for teens and youngsters, according to Sahukar, to catch them young. Each session ends with participants being implored to spread the word.

“When you put two Parsis in a room, there is bound to be some argument,” Mistry says. “But despite the arguments they put forward during our workshops, I think gradually we have begun to have an impact. We have to. Otherwise we won’t be here for long.”

A few months ago, Mistry received a phone call from the parents of the four- year-old boy who likes playing in the garden. The wife had conceived and she was expected to deliver her second child by the end of the month. “I haven’t met the grandmother though,” Mistry says. “I really don’t know if she will be happy or sad.”

The post Parsis: Come Baby Come appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Institute houses Madam Cama’s will, and oldest image of Zarathushtra

Today, images of the prophet Zarathushtra with his flowing beard, soft brown eyes, and golden halo, are ubiquitous in fire temples and Parsi homes. But as historian Daniel J Sheffield explains in his paper, ‘Picturing Prophethood’, they are a “recent innovation” dating back to just the 19th century. Earlier, illustrations simply didn’t exist or so Sheffield thought, until in 2009, he stumbled across the 1654 AD Zartusht Namah with an illustration of the prophet’s birth at the KR Cama Oriental Institute opposite Lion Gate. “I was delighted to find a 17th century manuscript,” writes Sheffield, “…which, to the best of my knowledge contains the earliest known images of the prophet Zarathushtra as imagined by a Zoroastrian artist.”

Article by Nergish Sunavala | Times Of India

Established in 1916, the KR Cama Institute kicks off its centenary celebrations this month with a series of lectures on an eclectic group of subjects including ‘Carpets of the Orient’, ‘Henri Cartier-Bresson’s fascination with India’, and ‘Philosophizing Persia’. Over the years, the institute has acquired a host of valuable manuscripts such as freedom fighter Madam Cama’s will, various copies of Firdausi’s Shah Namah, a 280-year-old Koran and an Arabic astronomy text from 1663 AD. There’s also the Ahd Namah written on a mix of paper and parchment, which dates back 1,371 years. “It is a charter of rights given by the first Caliph to the Christians and Jews of Syria exempting them from ‘Jizya’, the tax levied on non-Muslims,” explains Chairman Muncherji Cama.

The institute is named after Cama’s accomplished ancestor, Khursetji Rustomji Cama, who was a Zoroastrian scholar, a municipal corporator, a Justice of the Peace, a champion of women’s education, a high-ranking freemason, a numismatist and the founder of the ‘Society for the Promotion of Researches into Zoroastrian Religion’. According to a short biography published by the institute, he was born in Bombay in 1831 and raised by his uncle after his father’s death. He went to Elphinstone School and College but never got a degree simply because Bombay had no university to grant one. But that didn’t stop him from learning eleven languages including German, French, Avesta and Pahlavi. When Bombay University was finally established, he ensured Avestan languages were included in its curriculum.

He worked in his family’s trading business in Calcutta and Canton (now Guangzhou), before co-founding the first Indian firm in England along with Dadabhai Naoroji. He seemed to be involved in every pressing issue of his time – from explaining the aims and objectives of the census to his countrymen to convincing mill workers to take the plague vaccine by getting inoculated in their presence. After he died, the citizens of Bombay, decided to set up an oriental institute in his memory with the help of a large donation from a “liberal minded Hindu citizen”, Damodar Gordhundas Sukhadvala.

The institute was initially located on Hornby Road (now DN Road), before it was moved to its present site. The land was sold to the institute at cost price by the Tata trust, and the current building’s foundation stone was laid on KR Cama’s 105th birth anniversary according to Masonic rites. At the time, the institute boasted “11,205 books, 1,978 journals and 1,865 manuscripts in Avesta, Pahlavi, Iranian, Arabic, Urdu and Turkish”. Today, that number has ballooned to over 30,000 thanks to the absorption of various collections such as the Mulla Feroze Library and the Poure Dawood Collection.

The collection is currently being restored by conservators from INTACH, who check each page’s mineral content, and de-acidify it before wrapping it in Japanese tissue paper. As part of the centenary celebrations, the institute hopes to publish a tri-lingual coffee table book showcasing illustrations from its rare manuscripts. Besides holding regular seminars, funding research and publishing journals, the institute has recently set up a genealogy cell, which compiles information on illustrious Bombay families like the Petits and the Sethnas. While few Mumbaikars have ever visited this institute, it is a hub for foreign scholars. Burzine Waghmar, a senior teaching fellow at SOAS, University of London, terms it “the sole centre in South Asia for Iranian and Persian studies in the full sense of the term.” Prods Oktor Skj198rvo, the Aga Khan Professor of Iranian Emeritus at Harvard University, once attempted to catalogue the vast Avestan and Pahlavi collection. “Reading the manuscripts and identifying texts took time, however, and after three weeks I had only catalogued 42 manuscripts,” he recalls. “When I told Dr Mody (honorary secretary), she commented: so there’s only a thousand to go!”

While cataloguing, Skj198rvo was elated to find a well-known manuscript, whose whereabouts, until then, were unknown. It was the two parts of the ‘Book of a Thousand Judgments’ the only known Sasanian law book.

The post The K.R.Cama Oriental Institute Turns 100 appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Have you heard of the Bumsuckerwallah’s of Karachi ?

Parsi family on a motorcar (Karachi, 1925): A Parsi family of Karachi poses for a photograph on their motorcar.

Patrick O’ Meara wrote the following anecdote in his Indian Tales:

“You will probably be aware that, there is a caste of people called Parsees, who have made India their home. They are descended from the Persians (Iranians) and are very astute business folk. Many of the bigger businesses established in India are owned and run by Parsees. When they came to India they created a fashion for naming themselves according to the work they did, much like “Jones Butcher”, “Jones Baker”, and “Jones Milk”, in Wales. Eventually, the name would stick, and there would really be no way of knowing what the original family name was, except perhaps, to the family itself. However, this vogue caught on quite well and was, of course, very helpful in getting business from foreigners, particularly the Brits, who couldn’t have pronounced the Parsee names anyway, leave alone remembered them. Hence it was, that such “surnames” as Engineer, Contractor, Rotiwallah, Kekwallah and a host of others, became fashionable and remain so to this day.

“There was a Parsee soft drinks wholesaler/supplier who had apparently wanted another more elaborate and descriptive name with which to do business. He asked the warrant officer, who was in charge of supplies and purchasing to the regimental mess and who would be instrumental in giving further orders to the supplier, to suggest something. The story goes that the W/O, totally fed-up with the constant knocking on his door and sucking up for orders by the wholesaler, said, “Well, if you want ME to remember your name, you should name yourself and your business ‘Bumsuckerwallah’.”

“The Parsee, unaware of the implication, replied, ‘Then sahib, it shall be so’, and duly had the name painted in enormous letters over his warehouse. That was a stroke of luck for the trader because everyone in Karachi must have, at least, heard of the name of the trader and smiled… In 1940, Bumsuckerwallah’s was easily the largest and most successful wholesale soft drinks business in Karachi.”

The post Bumsuckerwallah Family of Karachi appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Being Parsi

‘The Path of Zarathrustra’ made in English is a film that perhaps for the first time   explores the Parsi identity and the history and origin of the faith.  This reminds us of the contribution of the Parsis to Indian cinema. But has Indian cinema been kind to the community in portraying them? SHOMA A. CHATTERJI probes.

by FPJ Bureau, freepressjournal.in

It began with Ardeshir Irani who gifted us the first Indian talkie Alam Ara and  followed by great filmmakers  like Sohrab Modi, J.B.H Wadia, Homi Wadia  and now actors as talented as Boman Irani and Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal are names that count.

But the portrayal of the average Parsi in mainstream Indian cinema has been within stereotyped cliché or captured marginally. The Parsi in films comes across as an exaggerated caricature with speech patterns bearing a superfluous accent that is a funny mix of Gujarati and English. But rarely does one come across a negative Parsi character or a villain with a Parsi identity. There is a delightful character in Avtaar (1983) named Bawaji. He helps Avtaar (Rajesh Khanna) when the latter wishes to start his own business.  Sujith Kumar portrayed this character with depth and understanding.

Oorvazi Irani who has both directed and acted as the protagonist in The Path of Zarathrustra, says, “I would not like to name films, but it is the oversimplification that popular cinema as a mould forces a director to appeal to the mass audience that hurts us.  Mostly, these stereotypes show a Parsi as an eccentric or as a buffoon to be laughed at rather than presenting an authentic picture of a Parsi. We are neither buffoons nor eccentrics but are normal human beings leading normal lives.”

The first film that comes to mind featuring a Parsi story set against a Parsi backdrop with actors drawn from the non-Parsi groups is Basu Chatterjee’s Khatta Meetha (Sour-Sweet) made in 1978. Like its name, it was a touching family drama that brings two different Parsi families together through two marriages, one between two aged couples who have lost their spouses and find it difficult to manage their growing children alone and one between two members of the next generation. It was a very entertaining film with lovely music and wonderful performances by Ashok Kumar, Pearl Padamsee, Deven Verma, Preeti Ganguly and others. The family drama was woven into with interesting sub-plots like the molly-coddled son of a widowed mother who wants to marry a ‘healthy’ girl and happily gets wedded to Preeti Ganguly! The characters are fleshed out very well and this remains a memorable depiction of the Parsi identity in Indian cinema.

Noted writer Cyrus Mistry’s Percy appeared in print in a collection of short fiction. This was turned into a Gujarati language film directed by the late Pervez Merwanji, an FTII graduate. Unlike most Parsi stories laced with good-natured humour, Percy was different. It was a mother-son story that underscored the mother’s obsessive possessiveness over her son which deprived him even from thinking on his own. He cannot live without her support and yet, when she dies, we see him dancing away merrily to his favourite notes of music with an imaginary partner, celebrating his ‘freedom.’

Says Cyrus Mistry: “The idea of a person finding some sort of self-realization through an exposure to music seemed to me a very literary idea. Maybe because I was raw – in terms of my knowledge of cinema – I didn’t initially see its potential nor realize how effective the music could be in cinema. I think I made Pervez wait two years before actually taking it up.”

Percy used four different languages (Gujarati, English, Marathi and Hindi) so it was multi-lingual. The smooth flow of languages, one into another, with never a false note, is another of Percy’s achievements. Ruby Patel and Kurush Deboo did brilliantly as mother and son which has a universal resonance. Produced by NFDC, Percy won the National Award for the Best Gujarati film in 1990. Percy is the most memorable and authentic portrayal of the Parsi in Indian cinema. It bagged an award at the Mannheim International Film Festival.

Pestonjee (1987), a film directed by Vijaya Mehta on a story by B.K, Karanjia, was a serious satire about a mismatch in marriage of one of two friends who grew up together. The film, produced by NFDC won two National Awards– one for the Best Hindi Feature film and the other for the best Costume Design. The film offers an intimate glimpse into the life and manners of the Parsi   community especially those living in Bombay (now Mumbai) in the 1950s and 60s.

Ironically, the film and the story are titled not after the hero Phirojshah (Naseeruddin Shah) but after  his childhood friend Pestonjee (Anupam Kher) who marries Jeroo (Shabana Azmi), the woman Phiroj cherished but could not marry and decided to remain a bachelor after that. But Jeroo turns out to be a shrewish, quarrelsome harridan and even more so, after Pestonjee dies. Phiroj discovers that Pestonjee’s mistress (Kiron Kher) is a better human being than his wife who drove him to death. The film shows how Naseeruddin Shah meshed so well with the character that no one could say that he is not a Parsi.

Shrin Farhad Ki To Nikal Padi (2012) is a romcom filled with Parsi actors playing Parsi and non-Parsi characters in the film which includes , other than Boman Irani and Farah Khan who is half-Parsi, Kurush Deboo, Daisy Irani, Shammi, Dinyar Contractor, Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal and Nauheed Cyrusi.  The film marked the directorial debut of Bela Bhansali Sehgal who explores the awkwardness that can emerge when a 40+ man and woman begin to like each other but find expressing it tough and embarrassing.

Ferrari Ki Savari (2012)  is a serious film of a boy’s cherished dreams set against a very cosmopolitanised Mumbai backdrop filled with characters of all colour and range but with the main actors set within a typical Parsi family in financially dire straits. The acting honours are shared equally by Boman Irani and Sharman Joshi as father and son in a struggling family with no woman to take care. The film offers a glimpse into a Parsi family filled with hopes that forces a father to steal a car to get his son’s dream of playing cricket at The Lords come true.

Another suspense thriller film needs to be mentioned too. It is Homi Adajania’s Being Cyrus featuring Saif Ali Khan in a different kind of role. The film made in 2005 is a psychological drama revolving around a dysfunctional  family.

Little Zizou directed by Sooni Taraporewalla featured an entirely Parsi acting cast that began with Boman Irani and went through the entire Parsi casting album of Zenobia Shroff, Jahan Batlivala, Iyanah Batlivala, Sohrab Ardeshi, Cyrus Broacha, Mahabanoo Mody-Kotal and John Abraham whose mother is Parsi and father is Malayalee Christian. The film had touching moments focussed on the long-existing dispute between and among different groups with the Parsi community – the traditionalists and the liberals.

Percy, anyone?

The post The Parsi Contribution to Indian Cinema appeared on Parsi Khabar.

The huge Rustomjee Cowasjee Banajee Agiary (Agiary – is a fire temple in which Parsi Zoroastrians pray) at 26 Ezra Street in Central Kolkata has been turned into an electrical market of sorts, but who cares!

Article by Phiroze Edulji | News World India

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation know that time and tide wait for none and thus are not at all concerned to evict the squatters and restore the said temple in spite of the Government of West Bengal declaring it as “Heritage Building” on 6^th October 2007 pursuant to the recommendation of the Expert Committee of the Heritage Buildings.

The fire temple which is Gothic in style with huge Tuscan pillars and dentil ornamentation is in a remorseful state. Plasters are peeling off from each wall; the marbles on the floor have been scooped out and sold. Vegetation growth has weakened the entire structure. Every inch of the building, including the temple basement, has been encroached upon by business units. Even the gate can scarcely be seen from the road.

There has also been a documentary made, showing the deplorable state of affairs titled: “A Brief Stroll Around The Parsee Fire Temple In Ezra Street, Calcutta.”

Since Rustomjee has thrown in the towel, that he cannot maintain the fire temple anymore, it is for the Parsis from across the world to unite and fight to get back the fire temple which is rightfully theirs and restore the fire temple to its former glory.

The fire temple was inaugurated on 16^th September 1839 and was built by Rustomjee Cowasjee Banajee. On 19^th December 1842, a trust was formed with the object that from the rents and profits of Rustomji’s bazaar lying at Beliaghata then a suburb of Kolkata, the fire temple would be maintained.

Over a period of time disputes arose in the said trust which was subject matter of lawsuits before the Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta. The trustees were unable to manage the affairs of the fire temple and ultimately the fire temple shut down sometime in the 1980’s though the exact date or year is unknown. Subsequently, unscrupulous traders started to encroach upon this fire temple.

The Ezra St Fire Temple is presently managed by one C. M. Rustomjee who claims to be the Shebait Priest of the Fire Temple and as per him the said trust is a “Public Charitable Trust”.

(Photo courtesy: Brian Paul Bach)

However in the Parsi Zoroastrian religion there is no such concept of Shebait Priest. Upon an application moved by Rustomjee in 2012,  the Calcutta High Court directed the trial court to hear his application for recalling of the order whereby the said Rustomjee was directed to “give delivery of operation of the Agiary Empowerment in 26 Ezra Street” to one Suresh Kumar Daga, Director of Monotona Marketing Private Limited.

In another writ petition moved by the said Rustomjee, Hon’ble Justice Shivakant Prasad directed “the Municipal Commissioner and the concerned respondents authorities to take all possible steps and to exercise their power for protection and preservation of the heritage building as the trustees of Rustomjee Cowasjee Agiari Fire Temple Charitable Trust have failed to maintain, preserve and conserve it due to their financial condition”.

Since Rustomjee has thrown in the towel, that he cannot maintain the fire temple anymore, it is for the Parsis from across the world to unite and fight to get back the fire temple which is rightfully theirs and restore the fire temple to its former glory.

The Central Government

(Photo courtesy: Brian Paul Bach)

The Prime Minister even when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat was always promoting the Parsis who are a microscopic minority. In 2011, Modi as CM had visited Udvada in Gujarat, the Mecca of the Parsis, where the Holy “Iranshah Fire”, was consecrated when the Parsis first landed in India some 1,300 year ago. It was predicted by the high priests that Modi would return to the holy site as Prime Minister of India. True to his word, Modi returned to Udvada in December 2015 as the Prime Minister. It was thanks to Modi that Udvada was declared a “National Heritage” site.

After the BJP came to power at New Delhi following the 2014 General Elections, the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) which falls under the Ministry of Culture has shown keen interest in the said fire temple. ASI regional director (east), Dr P K Mishra stated that he would recommend to the government to turn the fire temple into a monument of “National Importance”. Dr Mishra was further of the opinion that urgent restoration work is required to protect the temple from complete destruction.

The So Called Liberals

(Photo courtesy: Brian Paul Bach)

Why the Left Front and the so called Liberals didn’t speak when this fire temple was being plundered? The paradox is that the left, liberals and the media houses do not want to raise this issue. When they can’t stop speaking for Dadri incident and Beef controversy, why then do they not have the courage to speak against Mamata Banerjee’s Government for not doing anything to save the temple.

When authors and historians have been intentionally targeting the Modi Government for increasing alleged incidents of religious intolerance in the country, why don’t they come out and protest the desecration of the fire temple.

Indeed, the Dadri incident was appalling and law must take its own course but a prudent heart always speaks against injustice anywhere in the society. They don’t differentiate between prejudices against minorities.

Only time will tell, if the illegal squatters will be evicted and the temple be restored to its original grandeur or would a part of our rich “Bengali History” which we all are so ever proud of SUCCUMB to unscrupulous land sharks.

As aptly stated by Martin Luther King, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. How come such liberals never come forward to give up their awards for what has been done to the fire temple? The answer is that they would not get the desired media publicity which they crave for; since 50 thousand Parsis in a population of billions don’t matter.

If this is not shocking enough let the so called left and liberals be succulently reminded that amongst the encroachers at the fire temple is the Communist Party of India who have their office in the fire temple as a name plate suggests.

Mamata Banerjee Government

(Photo courtesy: Brian Paul Bach)

The genius of the apathy of the State Government towards the Parsis is twofold.

Firstly, a mere Rs 500 in Kolkata don’t politically matter and secondly, the Tata Nano Singur controversy, the issue generated by land acquisition of the proposed Nano factory of Tata Motors at Singur in Hooghly District, West Bengal, which has been continuously opposed by the present government.

In fact Amit Mitra the finance minster of West Bengal once stated that “Tata (Ratan) is getting old and suffering from delusion. I do not know why he cannot understand about what is happening,” regarding a recent controversy about industrialization in Bengal. Since the Tata Empire is controlled by Parsis, the present government has decided to give the Parsis a “Royal Ignore”. It seems that only one minority is present in West Bengal when it comes to government schemes and initiatives.

Hello! Ms. Mamata Banerjee we do exist. Till Parsis are seen in museums across the country allow them to live with dignity.

Subsequently, when Parsis are only found in museums do protect the Parsis temples (there is another fire temple at Metcalfe Street, Kolkata) as heritage structures for it would be impossible for you to ever recreate one in West Bengal again.

If only the Government had followed the advice of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of our great Indian Nation when he said, “I am proud of my country, India, for having produced the splendid Zoroastrian stock, in numbers beneath contempt, but in charity and  philanthropy perhaps unequalled and certainly unsurpassed”.

Only time will tell, if the illegal squatters will be evicted and the temple be restored to its original grandeur or would a part of our rich “Bengali History” which we all are so ever proud of SUCCUMB to unscrupulous land sharks.

(Phiroze Edulji is a lawyer by profession and is Managing Partner of Edulji&Edulji. He can be contacted on phiroze@edulji.com. The views expressed here solely belongs to the writer and does not in any way reflect the views and opinions of News World India)

The post Banajee Agiary in Calcutta is now an Electrical Market appeared on Parsi Khabar.

It’s 5 p.m., but even at this late hour, the 50-some sixth-graders in Rushali Daga’s Mumbai classroom are bopping in and out of their seats. It’s the last class of the day; the kids belong to the second shift of students to attend classes — there aren’t enough seats or teachers to handle all the students during the same hours. The kids, oblivious to this, have a boatload of questions for the pen pals they’re writing to, students at a school up north: What do you like to eat? What is your room number? What is your favorite color? Will you make friendship with me?

Article by Sanjena Sathian, ozy.com

We’re in the Parel neighborhood, down the road from some of the city’s gleaming office buildings, but these are not the children of such businesspeople. They’re students in one of India’s troubled government schools, where, according to UNICEF data from 2012, around half or fewer of students who start primary school make it to secondary education. And while these kids aren’t asleep and are engaged — better than expected — the teacher’s boss, Shaheen Mistri, sits at the edge of the room with a subdued smile. She is not entirely pleased.

The big idea, much as it is in the U.S., is to balance the grassroots stuff with the high level, graduating alumni who stay in India and work on educational change.

Mistri, 44, is the ambitious founder of Teach for India, or TFI, a nonprofit that takes fairly green teachers (Daga was a trained engineer before this) and throws them into the messy fray of understaffed and infrastructure-less classrooms. It’s pretty much the same model as the well-known Teach for America program in the U.S. that works with thousands of kids across the country. But, as with many American ventures that have their versions in India — see Bollywood or e-commerce — the model here looks quite a bit different.

For one thing, TFI deals with some of the most difficult teaching conditions in the world, with only one out of every 10 students in India graduating high school. Here, teachers can be apathetic and classrooms lack furniture; in rural parts of the country, you might even teach under a tree, says Urvashi Sahni, founder and CEO of Study Hall Educational Foundation and a fellow with the Brookings Institution think tank. Though India produces some of the world’s top engineering and medical graduates, it’s famous for nonconceptual rote learning, even in some of its better schools.

On the one hand, it’s an obvious story: third-world country, rough schools, etc. On the other hand, it’s an easily hidden narrative, in part because of Indians like Mistri: sophisticated, well-off, equipped with cosmopolitan accents and a nonchalant grace with which they navigate the working world. The Mumbai-born Mistri, who attended cushy schools around the world, lives not too far from here, in the lovely Worli neighborhood, which looks out onto the water. She has two daughters, ages 11 and 16, who attend private school. “I don’t think there are any really good schools in Bombay,” she says.

Where Mistri lives, just as in Parel, nouveau luxury sits next to sprawling slums. Mistri, though, is native to the “constant contrasts” of rich and poor in India. She remembers it from visiting her grandparents as a child, and as a teacher for 12 years, occasionally working in schools where there was no running water and just two toilets. She’s also no stranger to the nonprofit world, having founded the well-regarded education-equity nonprofit Akanksha over two decades ago. As the daughter of a Citibank executive, she swung between schools from moneyed Greenwich, Connecticut, to Jakarta to Athens to Beirut to India itself. Mistri says Mumbai was the first place she really felt at home.

Her recollections of those early days, and her assessment of classrooms like Daga’s, though, is less a soft look at what we’ve given them and more exigent: “In some ways,” Mistri says of her first years as a teacher, “I don’t think my expectations were high enough.” While the sixth-graders write their letters, we sit on a ledge in the hallway, where various kids stop to ogle us. Mistri is an exciting stranger in their midst. She wears a white paisley shirt and brown pants and sports summery orange toenails — one little girl obsesses over that pedicure.

Mistri oscillates between practical and almost yogic language when she describes training her teachers, which number over 1,100 and work in more than 300 schools. She sets a tone within the organization that demands not only competence but also introspection. At TFI’s five-week summer training institute, young teachers get emotional, are told to “live the values,” Mistri says, and work through the “internal journey” of becoming leaders. The big idea, much as it is in the U.S., is to balance the grassroots stuff with the high level, graduating alumni who stay in India and work on educational change.

Mistri interrupts our conversation to ask the children what they are learning. They say, math, books, etc. She quizzes them. A few grow bored and wander away. She persists. What, she wants to know, is the class motto? “Read, baby, read!” one girl says. A few join in, saying in unison, “You’ve got to read, baby, read.” The school motto? They recite, lively but rote, “Knowledge is power.”

The post Shaheen Mistri’s Teach for India: Read, Baby, Read appeared on Parsi Khabar.

On 12 June 1975, Justice Jagmohanlal Sinha of Allahabad High Court found the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi guilty of electoral malpractices in the “State of Uttar Pradesh vs Raj Narain” case. The judge declared her election null and void, unseated her from the Lok Sabha and barred her from contesting elections for the next six years.

About ten days later, on 23 June 1975, the appeal in the Supreme Court, which had closed for summer vacation, was heard by Justice V R Krishna Iyer who was the vacation judge. In a much-praised verdict, he refused an unconditional stay but allowed Indira Gandhi to attend Parliament as a member without a vote, pending final decision. The lawyer who appeared for Indira Gandhi and got that stay order: Nani Palkhivala.

Palkhivala is known to have taken up the brief for Mrs Gandhi because of the grave nature of the issues involved. He also felt that the Allahabad High Court’s decision was wrong. For him, Justice Sinha’s verdict meant that if anyone down the line did anything wrong, the person at the top, irrespective of whether he or she knew of such wrongdoing, would be held guilty. He thought he had a good case. However, just a day later, on the night of 25 June 1975, Indira Gandhi panicked and declared Emergency.

Palkhivala did the unthinkable. As a mark of protest, he promptly returned his already accepted brief to defend the PM. To do such a thing to Indira Gandhi, at the height of her powers and during Emergency, required enormous courage. With Emergency in full force, had Palkhivala been arrested and sent to a torture chamber, no one would have known.

That wasn’t the end. Later that year, for some strange reason known only to him, the CJI A N Ray constituted a 13-judge bench to revisit the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973) in which the Supreme Court had concluded that the Constitution’s basic structure was inviolable by any amendment by Parliament.

Palkhivala rose to the occasion to counter the gravest threat the Constitution had faced. Heading a team of constitutional lawyers, Palkhivala argued continuously – morning to evening – for 2 days on November 10 and 11, 1975 and prevailed upon their lordships not to review the majority view in Kesavananda Bharati case. Sensing that most judges on the bench had been swayed by the brilliance of Palkhivala’s submissions, on November 12, CJI Ray dissolved the bench, without any explanation.

Justice Khanna, who was on the bench, remarked later: “The height of eloquence to which Palkhivala rose on that day had seldom been equaled and never surpassed in the history of the Supreme Court of India”.

If you remember Indira Gandhi today – sure, she gave us our most decisive victory against Pakistan – do spare a thought for Nani Palkhivala – who made sure our Constitution survived her intact.

The post When Nani Palkhivala Refused to Defend Indira Gandhi in Court appeared on Parsi Khabar.

A 35-foot road has been planned along the stretch that has the sanatorium

A 90-year-old structure which is part of the Parsi heritage in the city is in the middle of a raging controversy. Located on the Sabarmati Riverfront, the Parsi Sanatorium Compound is likely to be destroyed if the civic body implements its revised city development plan. As per Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority’s Second Revised Draft Development Plan 2021, a 35-foot road has been planned as part of the road alignment scheme in the area. It is likely to pass through the sanatorium premises for which the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation will be required to demolish the structure.

Article by Kruti Naik | Ahmedabad Mirror

The Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat has received a notice from AMC and plans to take legal recourse in the matter. Built in 1920, the Parsi Sanatorium Compound houses the sanatorium itself, part of which is used as a dharamshala. “The compound also has four residential blocks, known as ‘charity blocks’,” said Brigadier Jahangir Anklesaria, president of the Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat. As of now, 18 families reside in these blocks. The Parsi Panchayat constructs and allots heavily subsided or free charity flats to poor and middle-class Parsis as per their income.

“The Second Revised Draft Development Plan 2021 has included several new projects, including a Central Business District (CBD), a Transit-Oriented Zone and Residential Affordable Housing Zone for which the Local Area Plans are already underway. As part of the CBD’s road alignment scheme, a 35-foot road has been planned along the area that has the sanatorium. This will affect the charity blocks as well as the main buildings as AMC will need to demolish the buildings to construct the road,” said Anklesaria. The Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat reportedly received a notice from the AMC regarding the matter in June.

“We approached AMC officials for clarity, and were told that the local body has sent a proposal to the state government. So we are waiting for the state to respond to this proposal,” said the brigadier, who said the community is willing to take legal recourse to fight for their heritage structure. Deputy Municipal Commissioner (Urban Planning) Ranjit Barad told Mirror, “This is just the proposed plan which is yet to be approved by the government. As per the new rules, Floor Space Index (FSI) proposed for CBD is 5.4 so a high-rise building will be constructed in the area if it is approved by the government. If a community’s property falls in the selected area, then the civic body will negotiate with them.”

Caught in this tussle, meanwhile, are the 18 families that live in the charity blocks. A resident, on condition of anonymity, told Mirror, “We’ve been living here for 30 years now. It will be extremely painful if the AMC takes away this land and razes the buildings for a new road. The land is owned by the Parsi Panchayat and we are sure they try their best to save this plot.” Meanwhile, the Parsi Panchayat is in talks with AMC as they have sought land near the Sanatorium Compound for Vakil Adariyan Agiyari fire temple. At present, the fire temple is located in Bukhara Mohalla at Khamasa Crossroads in the Walled City. As per Anklesaria, the encroachments on the premises have made it tough for community members to visit the temple. “We want to shift out the agiyari at the earliest. We have written to the state government and AMC to provide us land where we can shift the temple but are yet to hear from them,” he said.

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It has been a little over 2 years since Ronnie Screwvala left the media and entertainment sector after UTV, the company he had founded back in 1990, was bought over by The Walt Disney Group. However, he has not let the grass grow under his feet. Apart from his philanthropic commitments with Swades Foundation (a NGO he started), he has founded Unilazer Ventures, which has interests in sports (USports), digital content (UDigital) and education (UpGrad). He is also the owner of U Mumba, one of the more consistently successful teams in the first two seasons of the Pro Kabaddi League.

Article by Abhinn Shreshtha 

We caught up with him for an in-depth discussion on his new business ventures, the move from broadcast to digital and other topics. Here, he speaks about the extensive investments that he is making in sports. Excerpts:

Pro Kabaddi League has been a spectacular success. What lies ahead for the league?

I think most people were expecting the league to be successful but maybe over a 1-2 year period, so, the “surprise” was that the success came in the very first season and I think there are some reasons for that. You take a sport like kabaddi; it is a very sharp game; for 40 minutes, it is completely action-packed. It is almost gladiatorial, very Bollywood-like in some ways and, yet, it is a sport. Now, if you take these three things and add a lot of glamour, package it well and market it, like what Star has done, it is sure to work great.

Now, from here onwards, this will be the first league that will have two different seasons in one year. This, obviously, speaks about the success PKL has had but it is also important since it keeps the sport in people’s minds. 

You can have a two month long league for cricket because it is still played in some form in the remaining months. In case of kabaddi, the impact is lost if you have a league that lasts for just one and a half month and it then gets forgotten for the remaining 10 months. So this is what is going to happen from now on; so we finished with one season in August 2015 and now the next season will by January end 2016.

I am not a spokesperson for the PKL but I think expanding the number of teams from the present 8 to 12 or 16 would be the right way to go because then you get a lot more states and cities where the game is getting played. The third I think is venues, which is a challenge. We need to get the 10,000 capacity venues. We don’t need 50,000 capacity venues for this sport because Kabaddi is a little bit of a personal sport; it is not a stadium sport like football or cricket, but it also cannot be played in a 1,000 seat venue. So I think the investment in infrastructure will take place.

The fourth thing is that advertisers and investors need to come in. The audiences are already showing a lot of enthusiasm, which is great.

Your own team U Mumba has also been performing really well…

For U Mumba, the first focus has always been teamwork. We are the only team that has come to the finals in both the seasons and we have also won one. That is a good start, but this is a sport, so anything can happen tomorrow. You will see that in the next season, we will have the same team that we had in season two. Most of the teams seem like they will undergo some change. The next thing is that we are constantly looking at getting new talent. Our on-ground programs to identify the future stars of Kabaddi is something else that will give us an edge.

We have been hearing about U Mumba being close to getting more sponsors on board. Can you tell us something about this? Also, is interest from advertisers in PKL and the franchises increasing?

Sponsorship-wise we are definitely looking at a 3x-4x jump. In Season 2 we had 8 sponsors and for Season 3, coming in January, we are looking at 15 sponsors. There has been a fair amount of interest but there seems to be a perception problem among advertisers, which is absolutely wrong, that Kabaddi is a mass sport. Actually, it is watched equally by people in urban areas. Kids have taken to it. It is the only sport which has 30 per cent female viewership. Even cricket and football can’t boast of this. So, obviously, it is hitting the high points in the top of the pyramid sector also.

Now, all advertisers take one or two years; they are always behind the trend, to be frank. They lost the digital plot, then they lost the new media plot. Maybe 50 per cent of the reason is that it is convenient to not face up to it (change) because, otherwise, they will have to pay the right rates for what they want. The other 50 per cent is because they are just behind times. So, that’s a process; we will go out and pitch and educate.

But we are very clear that if you see where IPL is placed and where ISL is placed, we are the No. 2 sport in the country; there is no doubt about it. There might be some media dispute over whether football is No.2 or Kabaddi is No.2 but any ratings agency will tell you that PKL ratings are at least 1-1.8 times that of ISL at any stage of the matches and that’s really what counts. So, if a sport gets higher ratings than football, why should it get 1/4th the rate of football? This is why we have a “take it or leave it” approach with advertisers.

Do you think having two seasons in one year will make PKL more attractive to advertisers?

It is the way to go because you cannot build a sport with a one and a half month window. All leagues around the world are 6-8 months long. If you look at EPL (English football’s top division) or anything else, even basketball or rugby, the leagues last for 6-8 months. We are the only country in the world where we have created leagues that last for 6 weeks. Now, the viewership pattern; if you take a 3 month league, you see a ‘U’ affect. The interest sags and then it starts coming back towards the end.

That is why we have broken it up into two separate seasons of 6 weeks each and I think this is absolutely the right way to go.

In sports, you are already in football and kabaddi. You mentioned that gaming (video gaming) and Moto (motorcycle racing) are two other sports that Unilazer Sports is interested in. Can you tell us why these particular sports and what will be the level of involvement of U Sports? 

Yes, these are the four sports that we want to be in. I think while in kabaddi our participation is as a team owner, in the other three we want to be at the top end of the value chain. When it comes to football, we are doing something that no one else in India has ever done before, even if I say so myself. The crux is that we have to get to the grassroot level and I know there are a lot of people who are already investing at the grassroot level. But the differentiator for us is that you cannot do 6 weeks or 6 months courses for kids. Firstly, you have to get them young so our entire initiative is for the under-12, under-14 and under-16 age group. Secondly, you cannot get into a disciplined sport if you are in a pampered environment. So, we have tied up with the Bundesliga (Germany’s top football league) to send these kids there for 6 years of training. We send 50-60 kids across the three age groups every year.

For me, the time frame and the fact that they are going outside the country is most important. Frankly, the challenge was not tying up with Bundesliga or selecting the kids but converting the parents’ mindset. We do not have a sporting nation DNA. For a lot of people, it is not a good or aspirational career option for their kids and this needs to change. We are sending these kids to train for 6 years and then we are going to manage their career thereafter. It is not a social project but it is a 10 year view that we have taken of football. We are sending teachers from here so their education does not suffer and we are also ensuring they learn 3 foreign languages.

Speaking of football, there has been some talk recently that it would be much better for the football ecosystem as well as sponsors if the ISL and the I-League are merged. What are your thoughts on it?

I don’t have very strong views on this, primarily because there are some challenges. The logical step would be that if you have a very limited talent base then it should all come together. On the flipside, the people who have invested in I-league have spent a lot of money over the last 10 years so they need to get something to show for it rather than just a trade-off.

They did not have the benefit of TV which would have taken I-League to a different level and ISL has managed to do this, which is why it is so popular. I think it is a fine line and people will need to sit down across the table and find a solution. It is up to the association to take a stand.

Having said this, multiple leagues do exist across the world. It is not like the Ranji Trophy is extinct because of the IPL. It’s something to ponder over.

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India thrives on festivals. A time to rejoice, festivals are supposed to bind different people together. There are some common festivals celebrated all over the country and there are some which are specific to a region, community or religion. Alas when any festival is celebrated, noise and pollution become an integral part of the festivity. It was so when I was growing up and it is so today also.

From time to time we invite readers to contribute. This article is by Havovi Govadia.

The difference is that today, even with so much awareness generated on the TV and internet about the harm we are causing to our atmosphere, water bodies and even to humans, we persist in carrying on with the same traditions, refusing to change anything. With the increase in population, there is an explosion in idols immersed in rivers and seas. The atmospheric pollution peaks during the festive season, when crackers are burst. The noise pollution caused by the bursting bombs and loud music insistently being played with microphones on at full blast or loud drums when processions are taken out goes beyond tolerance or permissible limits. There is a complete disregard to other people’s rights and no civic responsibility whatsoever. Courts have had to intervene to see that the rights of law-abiding citizens are not trampled on since the government or the police are either too indifferent to bother or displease any section of the vote bank.

There was a lot of excitement as Christmas approached. Our Club organized a party with lots of games, many prizes to be won and Santa giving away gifts to all the children. We all looked forward to it. We told Dolly aunty who was in charge of organizing this event that we would like to put up a play. She readily agreed and we got busy with selecting a play and practicing every evening. Tina, being the eldest took charge and allotted different tasks to us. The play had a party scene and to make it authentic, we decided to have real drinks and snacks. 2 from among us got the chore of making lime drink, the others had to get biscuits or sweets or any snack. The girls picked up a vessel without informing the parents and made ‘nimbu pani’ to be ingested later during the enactment of the play. The play went off well and we were praised for putting up a good show without any adult help. After about half an hour, 2 of my friends started vomiting. Alarm bells went off when the whole lot of us who had taken part in the play started feeling sick. The whole sorry lot was rushed to the doctor. After a lot of grilling, the culprit was nailed. The lime water was made in a copper vessel in the afternoon and all of us had it late evening during the play. The lime had reacted with the copper vessel, making the nimbu pani poisonous. This was our first lesson in chemistry. We also learnt painfully that 10 year-olds do not have the wisdom that age and experience bestows. As I grew older and went to college, there were countless other Christmas parties I attended with music and dancing and traditional Christmas goodies. But that Christmas party long ago became a part of my long term memory, for the play which we had so proudly put up without any adult help, the panic of our parents when one by one all of us fell sick and the misery of food poisoning which had spoilt the party for us.

In Bombay the Ganesh and Divali festivals were celebrated with a lot of gusto and noise. Our Colony was in the midst of the biggest Ganesh pandals. We had the “Lalbaug cha Rajaa”, the Ganesh gully pandal or “Mumbai cha Raja” and V. Shantaram’s Ganesh installation, all within walking distance. Mammoth crowds would be seen at all times trying to get into the pandals for a glimpse. Every year, we would form a huge group and visit all the pandals. Along with the Ganesh idol there would be a theme from mythology on display, with huge statues telling the stories. V. Shantaram’s installation was the tallest, well over 15 feet and every year we would stare at it in awe. The long serpentine queues, the cacophony of loud film or devotional music, jarring cymbals, whistles blown by children, shouts of people selling cheap jewelry and other odds and ends, heat and rains were an integral part of this annual event. No one seemed to mind and year after year, we too went along, standing out like sore thumbs in our dresses and jeans and tees, happily eating the Prasad, gawking at the life like mythological characters, and asking Lord Ganesha for good exam results or other secret wish which needed to be fulfilled.

Divali was full of lights and again lots of noise. One night before Divali, we had difficulty sleeping since deafening crackers went off all night long. Shops at Khodadad Circle, Dadar had their annual rangoli competition. Professional artists were appointed as the competition was keen and stiff. Huge rangolis some as big as 5/6 feet were on display and cordoned off to keep them safe from the huge crowds which thronged from all over

Bombay to see them. The art was magnificent and elicited admiration from all. Some would be made from traditional rangoli colors, some were done in petals of colorful flowers and leaves and some even used different colored grains. There were breathtaking designs either done in free hand or various geometric patterns; some would depict scenery, whilst a patriot few showed faces of freedom fighters and historical leaders like Shivaji, Gandhiji, Nehruji in their exact likeness. A very popular theme showed a benign Bharat Mata in long flowing hair and a crown on her head standing in a map of India. When I see ‘pavement art’ on the internet today and marvel at the 3-D effect, I remember those beautiful presentations during Divali that I was fortunate to witness during the 1960s. We also lit little diyas at home, made rangolis and decked our doors with flower torans. There was a typical Parsi custom of breaking eggs on kalichowdas, a day before divali, to ward off all the evil from our homes and lives. To this day I do not know how or when this custom originated.

Parsi New Year or Navroze was a very important festival for us. The days preceding Navroze are spent remembering the dear departed family members and in prayers and in atoning for any transgressions that one may have committed during the year. Navroze is a new day, a new beginning and the planning to celebrate that special day started way in advance. We planned the new outfits we would wear, what time we would go to the Fire Temple, where would be going to in the evening and various other festivities we would indulge in. The preparations were as exciting as the final day and we discussed all these ad nauseam.

Mum would wake me up early so that I would finish doing the elaborate rangoli, finish my bath and be ready to go to the Fire Temple with my friends. Typical Parsi songs like “sakhi suraj” and “hastu ramtu ….” would be heard on people’s gramophones to usher in the New Year. The “nankhatai” bands would also come to play the popular bollywood songs for a pittance. At the dot of 10, all the girls would gather, decked up in their finery and proceed to the Fire Temple, all the while chattering and passing comments on our new togs. It was a happy and gay procession that made its way to the Fire Temple, with innumerable stops on the way, being greeted and greeting in turn. After the customary obeisance, we went to our respective homes. Dhan dal and kolmi patio or fried fish would be the customary Navroze lunch accompanied by beer of course. Evenings were equally exciting since we all went for a play or an outing and dinner. Thus would end the first day of the Parsi New Year.

Bombay has a unique way of celebrating Janmashtami. If you were brave enough to get out on the streets, you would have balloons filled with water coming at you like little torpedoes. No amount of dodging helped since any moving person was a fair target for all those sitting in their balconies or terraces. But the very exciting dahi handi rituals were what we would wait for in anticipation and excitement. Handis or earthenware pots would be tied up high between two buildings. The pot was filled with yoghurt and other sweets. Teams of men would come, make a human pyramid and try to break the earthenware pots. There were good cash prizes to be won for the team who managed to break the pot. The ritual was a reenactment of scenes from Lord Krishna’s life and very popular in Bombay. The handi tied in Ganesh Gulley was very famous. It was difficult to break and carried a big prize. Through the day, countless teams came and tried but went away disappointed and empty handed. Every time we heard the sounds of drum and whistles we would rush out to see whether this particular team would be lucky enough to take the loot. After many trials, a team would at last emerge to reach a height of 25/30 feet and break the handi and take the prize money.

Holi was celebrated by the staff working in our colony near their quarters. They would burn a huge holi pyre and we would all go to witness that. Before that we played holi spraying each other with water. To respect the sensibilities of our parents, colours were taboo. When the holi pyre was lit, the pious old ladies reverentially bowed to the fire offering coconuts as Prasad. They had no idea nor did they care about the significance or the myth of holi. The burning fire was what they looked at and what mattered to them. The boys were all ready with long sticks tied with sharp steel rods at the end to pierce the coconuts or prise them out of the burning fire. The hot burnt coconut would be relished by us all youngsters. No amount of threats by our malis and sweepers or emotional blackmail by the devout elders had any effect. Year after year, we looked forward to holi and eating the burnt coconut and raw mangoes which would just be sprouting in that season.

To live in social harmony and peace with all communities has been a trait cultivated to a fine art over centuries by the Parsis since as refugees a long long time ago, it was necessary for our survival. Coupled with that any chance to celebrate, make merry and eat, received a “thumbs up” sign. So along with the other communities we have been celebrating practically all the major festivals of India.

Today, as I live in a more cosmopolitan setting, along with plates of savory during divali and fruit cake for Christmas, I get delicious sevai or biryani during Eid. It also reminds me that as mistrust and hatred are taking root and spreading like wildfire all over the world, celebrating festivals with neighbours is a small step that we take to keep our balance in life.

Havovi Govadia is a 65 years old grandmother of 3.  She was born and brought up in Mumbai and shifted to Nagpur after marriage.  Was working in Empress Mills (first Tata enterprise) till it shut shop in 1987.  Working now as an independent financial adivsor. 

Havovi wrote scripts, directed and staged plays and various tableaux on Zarthushtra, Parsi fashions through the ages etc. mostly to acquaint the younger generation of their rich heritage from 1980 till about 2000 for the Nagpur Parsi Gymkhana. 

Havovi started writing these little anecdotal stories at the insistence of her niece who is now 10 years old and living in USA and who was keen to know about her grand parents whom she would never meet and those days when “you and my Dad were little”.

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