Sooni Taraporevala’s Mumbai series gives a fascinating glimpse into the character of an ever-changing city and its people

There’s something captivating about an old man in a vest, sitting on a charpai (cot) on a summer afternoon, beneath the wing of a large aircraft. He appears disgruntled, glaring at the viewer with his head slightly tilted. This image was made by Sooni Taraporevala in Bombay in 1982. It now inhabits her series, Home In The City: Bombay 1977-Mumbai 2017, an important collection of black and white photographs that spans four decades, revealing the charm of an ever-evolving city and its people.

Article by Radhika Iyengar | Live Mint

The image serves as a memory of a time that no longer exists. Nowhere in the world today will you find a person sitting so casually on the airport tarmac inches away from an aircraft. But what really catches your attention is the nature of the image: It is so intimate that it gives you the sense of unwittingly intruding into the man’s personal space. And that’s the hallmark of Taraporevala’s style—her ability to capture people in their most uninhibited raw moments.

Taraporevala began documenting the city 40 years ago, when she had taken a semester off from her studies at Harvard University, where she was majoring in literature, to return to her home in Mumbai. The images were made using a Nikkormat, a camera she had bought in Boston in 1977 with the help of her roommate Cathy Dement, who had lent her $220 (around Rs14,430 now) to buy her very first professional camera (the first point-and-shoot camera Taraporevala owned was an Instamatic, gifted by her aunt and uncle).

Carrying the Nikkormat around her neck, Taraporevala walked the streets of Mumbai, photographing anything and everything that caught her eye. Little did she know back then that she was building a visual memoir of the city. “One of the earliest successful pictures that I took at that time was of the Gateway of India, framed by the window of the Taj Mahal hotel,” recalls Taraporevala. “It was around the same time that I took the photograph of the camel on Marine Drive. I never had an agenda to document Bombay,” she confesses. “It all happened quite organically.” Both these photographs form part of the series that will be on view at the Chemould Prescott Road gallery this week, an exhibition that has been curated by author Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi, with support from Dattaraj and Dipti Salgaocar (founders of Sunaparanta-Goa Center for the Arts, an arts education initiative).

Taraporevala has the eye of an archivist. In 2013, her photographs documenting the Parsi community in India found life in her series, Parsis: The Zoroastrians Of India (chronicled from 1980-2004), which gave an insider’s view into the lives of the otherwise closed community. The exhibition of this series announced Taraporevala (who was known to the general audience as a screenwriter and a film-maker) as a photographer to reckon with.

Sifting through Home In The City, you will see a city age and transform. There is a certain sense of lyricism—an unhurried fluidity—that is present in the images. They are visceral and alive. But it’s the character of the people who populate the images that is really the charm of the series. Often, they depict an individual within a crowd, focusing on their relation to the surroundings. The image of a young boy looking out of a window (Chi Lung Sean Ma, Air Show) is one of Taraporevala’s more memorable ones. “It’s a photograph of an air show in Bombay in 2005. That day, almost all of Marine Drive was packed with people, with not an inch between them. If you look at the photograph, the boy in the window is isolated, while below him there are thousands and thousands of people,” she says.

Taraporevala is a visual diarist. Consider her series on the Parsis, which took almost a quarter of a century to develop, or Home In The City, which took 40 years. One would think that she’s someone who, arguably, holds on to her photographs for decades so as to quietly ruminate over them and build them piece by piece, before sharing them with the world. But Taraporevala modestly puts such assumptions to rest. “It’s not an unwillingness to share, believe me,” she says laughing. “I would have happily done a show (on Bombay) five or 10 years ago.”

The idea of holding an exhibition specifically on Mumbai happened by chance. For years the photographs remained unseen, relegated to the confines of a file cabinet. They were taken out at the behest of Photoink’s founder-director Devika-Daulet Singh. “My friend Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi and I had initially thought of doing a show on my iPhone (colour) work. Then he invited Devika on board, and when she was looking at my photographs, she said, ‘Why don’t we do something with your Bombay work? Look at your archives.’ And that’s how it all happened.”

The Mumbai images that were shot on film were specifically culled and scanned for the show. Not all of them, particularly the older ones, were in mint condition though. “I had a leak in my roof once, and some negatives were ruined then because of water damage. Thanks to digital scanning though, the ones that could be saved were saved really well, and I could preserve them.” This particular exhibition features 102 photographs, of which 80 are made on film. The rest belong to the period after 2004 and have been shot using digital cameras (she currently uses a Leica M10 and a Canon 6D), when Taraporevala turned to digital photography for good.

Shanghvi has got the images bound in a book—with an introduction by authors Pico Iyer, Salman Rushdie and himself. It will be launched on the opening day.

Home In The City displays a certain kind of photographic intimacy. In a time when images are made for immediate broadcast and “likes”, this particular series allows you to revisit a time that was much simpler, slower and far more cherished.

Home In The City, Bombay 1977-Mumbai 2017 will show from 14-31 October, 11am-7pm, at Chemould Prescott Road Gallery, Fort, Mumbai. Click here for details.

There was a time when the humble chikoo with its grainy sweetness was as exotic as the bristly rambutan. Far from being native to India, the sapodilla or chico zapote–as it’s known in Spanish–hails from Southern Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.According to a 1995 Parsiana article, it was imported to India in the 1890s and planted in Parsi textile magnate Sir Dinshaw Maneckji Petit’s garden in Nana Chowk where Ness Baug now stands. These saplings then hitch-hiked to Dahanu taluka in 1901 when Petit’s estate manager, Ardeshir Irani, a second-generation Irani refugee, set up the first chikoo garden east of the Suez on a one-acre plot in Bordi village.

Article by Nergish Sunavala | Times of India

Soon, Ardeshir, who started life as a mill `mazdoor’, had purchased another eight-acre plot and named his imposing home and garden `Bage Eram’ or `Garden of Paradise’ in Persian. Ardeshir’s success drew more Zoroastrian refugees from Iran like Bemun Khushroo Nassrabadi, a woodcutter, who at 13 walked for 18 months from his native Nassrabad in Iran’s Yazd province to Bombay before settling in Dahanu where he slaved for years with adivasi workers to grow orchards. Decades later, the hard work paid off. Chikoo farmers recall bumper crops in the 1970s with prices skyrocketing to Rs 120 per 10kg. The DahanuBordi-Gholwad belt was labeled the chikoo bowl of India.”We could buy a house in Bombay every year with the amount of money we were making,” says a chikoo farmer with a 117-year-old farm.

Around 75 Irani farms still exist but the fruit’s heyday is over. The first blow came when the Bombay Suburban Electric Supply Company set up a thermal power station, now run by Reliance Energy , in1996.Suddenly , harvests fell and the once-perfect fruit was infested by pests like the seed borer. Today , the more urgent problem is a paucity of cheap labour.Adivasi workers perceive factory jobs as more prestigious so the younger generation is opting to work longer hours for more pay in the nearby Umbergaon and Boisar industrial zones. “Buses pick them up from home and take them to work,” says Khurshed Rashid Irani.

Khurshed, a former Central Bank of India employee in Bombay , moved to Dahanu in 1976 to help his father-in-law run his chikoo farm. He started a bakery 18 years ago to supplement his income. Most chikoo farmers have an alternate occupation–Ronnie Boman Irani runs Hotel Pearline opposite Dahanu beach besides cultivating chikoos and the Mubaraki brothers have set up afishery on their chikoo farm. Many would like to sell their land but are holding on in the hope that the notification of “ecologically fragile green zone” will eventually be lifted causing land prices to soar.”I’m just keeping my 5-acre farm as an investment because it’s breaking even for now,” says Ronnie, who runs Pearline.”There’s a port coming up in Dahanu and if it brings a highway running past my farm that could get me more money .”

To ensure middlemen don’t eat up the profits, Dahanu’s Zoroastrian farmers set up the first auction house in 2003. Every day , between 50 and 150 tonnes of chikoo make their way to a rambling warehouse whe re the fruit is graded and then sold to the highest bidder. On the day TOI visited, a group of young Zoroastrians sporting cargo pants, sunglasses and pea caps were there to negotiate prices on their produce.

They are the next generation of Irani chikoo farmer – a fast vanishing breed – who despite having degrees and other career options have chosen to return to farming because they love the simple life. Some like Sharom Mubarakai studied sports management in England, while Farzan Mazda was a professor at Symbiosis in Pune. Others like Khodadad Irani want to give their children the chance to grow up on a farm.

Khodadad and Mazda are both related to Merwan Khodadad Irani, who transformed the industry when he grafted the chikoo sapling on the rhine tree to strengthen the root system. A 1970 article, published in TheIllustrated Weeklyof India, describes Merwan as a “Biblical patriarch” living on a prosperous 120-acre estate. But Khodadad recalls something more touching. “He never spoke much at home but he would walk around the farm constantly talking to his trees.”

Perzen Patel’s online moniker is the Bawi Bride (Bawi means Parsi woman) and true to its name, her pantry is a repository of secrets and traditions of the Parsi kitchen. At the outset she points to her treasured stash of dried Zereshk berries, which look somewhat like tiny raisins. An essential flavouring ingredient in the Irani pulao, these dried and tart barberries are not that easy to come by, and Patel hoards them in her kitchens, sometimes keeping a ready supply of up to 7kg. While this is a special-occasion ingredient, there is one staple that provides the souring element in Parsi cuisine—matured sugarcane vinegar imported from EF Kolah & Sons in Navsari, Gujarat. “The original vinegar from Kolah has its own trademark flavour and a potent smell that adds both colour and piquancy to the food,” says Patel.

Article by Diya Kohli | Live Mint

Talk to a Parsi about food and it is highly unlikely that there will not be a passing mention to dhansak and thus the dhansak masala is an obvious pantry regular. However, it is interesting to discover that Patel’s masala is store-bought. “Parsis actually prefer their masala sourced from M Motilal Masalawala, the Mecca for all Parsis as far as ground masalas are concerned,” says Patel. Other spice blends in her cache are a home-made green masala and curry masala (based on her grandmother’s recipe) that make for quick flavourful weekday fish and meat curries.

Slim, white sabudana papad called saria are another favourite of Patel’s. Saria is made on festive occasions and served with generous helpings of the carrot and raisin lagan nu achaar (literally, the wedding pickle). There is a legend that back in the day, after a prospective match was made between a Parsi girl and boy, both families would meet and exchange jars of their respective lagan nu achar and the wedding date would be fixed only if they approved of each other’s pickles. And that is where the name comes from.

Parsis are also known for their affinity for tea and every pantry has a ready stock of tins of flaky khari biscuits and buttery Shrewsbury from B Merwan & Co. in Mumbai or Kayani Bakery in Pune. Patel also has a stock of dar ni pori (a sweet pastry stuffed with lentils and dried fruits) that goes well with lemongrass tea, a drink that is more popular than the better-known milky and sweet Irani chai.

Two ingredients integral to any self-respecting Parsi cook’s repertoire are sali (fried potato sticks) and eedu (eggs). While the former adds that final textural flourish to a range of Parsi dishes and is best had from well-regarded stores like Camy Wafers, eggs form the dazzling centrepiece of many dishes. From the well-known akuri to the lesser-known malai par eedu (eggs cooked on clotted cream), eggs are much more than breakfast food. “Parsis put eggs on just about everything and I always tell my kitchen staff, ‘When in doubt, put an eedu on it’,” says Patel.

‘Reduce no-fly zone over Tower of Silence’

Airport development body’s proposal to reduce the prohibited zone around the Tower from 1nautical mile to 500 metres does not fly with Bombay Parsi Panchayat.

Article by Linah Baliga | Mumbai Mirror

The Bombay Parsi Panchayat (BPP) is in a flutter over a request to revise flying restrictions near the Tower of Silence at Doongerwadi in Malabar Hill. The Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd (MADCL) has put forth a proposal to the Collector to reduce the ‘no fly zone’ around the Tower from 1 nautical mile (NM) to 500 metres.

The proposal, which would require an NOC from the Parsi community, states that if the prohibited area around the Tower is realigned by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), it would enable helicopters to use the path in emergencies and disaster situations.

This is obviously a sensitive issue for the Parsi-Irani-Zoroastrian community. In a letter to the Collector dated September 27, the BPP has said, “It’s in this place that our dear departed are laid to rest and the open air space above this area is critical for continuation of our long established and time tested method of the dead. We may point out that both in terms of visibility as well as affecting the bird (vulture) population over this area, this would be a critical concern for our community.”

It is due to these concerns that the Board of Trustees has not yet given their consent to the proposal.

The BPP plans to arrange a meeting between AAI officials and high priests and scholarly priests to discuss the issue. “By reducing the limits of the nofly zone, those flying on choppers would be able to see inside the tower of Silence and this is prohibited in our community,” said Yazdi Desai, chairman, BPP.

Suresh Kakani, vice chairman and managing director, MADCL, in his letter to the collector’s office, stated, “This proposal is also to facilitate new projects like the coastal road which will open aerial routes to support Mumbai. I request you to take up the matter of protected area around Tower of Silence from 1NM to 500 metres with the Parsi Panchayat to issue an NOC to the state government so that we could take up the matter with the minister of civil aviation, government of India.”

This proposal to reduce the limits of the no-fly-zone in Tower of Silence is also to provide helicopter facilities to Malabar Hill residents in case of medical emergencies and disaster situations, he said.

City collector Sampada Mehta said if the existing limit for chopper movement is reduced, it can not only be used for emergency services but also by dignitaries and VIPs. “At present, dignitaries make use of the landing and take off facility at Racecourse. So, if the existing limits for chopper movement are relaxed, it can be used for other purpose also. The Parsi Panchayat has communicated that they support social issues and will not come in the way of progress. But they want to consult their religious heads before arriving at a decision,” said Mehta.

The first thing I ever cooked came from my mother’s tattered old copy of the Time & Talents cookbook. It was an omelette savoyarde, and I was an enthusiastic 12-year-old, armed with saucepan and knife for the first time in my life. The cook was not a success. The omelette was so runny as to be completely inedible, and after many softly-muttered imprecations, my parents surreptitiously flung it out.

Article by Meher Mirza | Indian Express

That culinary debacle scarred me for a few years, but then I returned to the kitchen with the recipe for aloo mokala. I had tried the dish at my mum’s friend’s house, a kind lady named Mrs Lentin, and could not stop eating it. The recipe seemed simple enough — fried potatoes, flavoured with turmeric, cloves and cardamoms. What could go wrong?

Plenty, it seems. The oil, angry and hissing, spat out many blistering drops on my hands. I clean forgot to season the potatoes. And my aloo was so crisp when it reached the dining table that as soon as my father tried to spear it with his fork, it bounced off his plate and escaped into my startled grandmother’s lap.
This is not to say that the Time & Talents cookbook is a reservoir of my disappointed hopes, and, therefore, I banished it from my life. Not at all. My mum frequently refers to it, as did her mum before her — I can’t remember a time when it wasn’t a part of our life. I read it incessantly. The literature student in me was especially drawn to the food-related sayings and limericks that are spattered throughout the book. Here we find Don Marquis telling us that “I love you as the New Englanders love pie.” There, Cervantes expounds on the wisdom of dining with friends — “A man must eat a peck of salt with his friend before he knows him.” And in my very early edition — “A woman who cannot make soup should not be allowed to marry.” Hmm.

The cookbook has long been a handy reference to Parsi women everywhere, especially those who are just embarking on their culinary journeys. It is suffused with recipes from around India (I can vouch for Indu Thadani’s recipe for Sindhi bhaji), and the world: before there was Naomi Duguid, there was Yasmin Motivala, telling us how to make khoreshte fesenjan (an Iranian dish of chicken brightened with a tangy pomegranate sauce). Semretab Amsalu’s Ethiopian recipes grew to become personal favourites, and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve cooked Joy Dumas’s Calypso chicken from Trinidad & Tobago.

Most of all, though, it is a repository of traditional Parsi recipes. Not the greatest hits that you might find on a restaurant menu, but the kind of cooking you would unearth in traditional Parsi kitchens. Sifting through the snows, chiffons and soufflés, you will find dishes such as dodhi no doombo (stuffed marrow or pumpkin), colmi no saas (a prawn concoction in an eggy sauce), and vaal ni dar with aloo na patra (bitter beans cooked with arum leaves), the comfort food of my childhood.

It is also more than a treasured cookbook. It acutely captures the zeitgeist of cooking during the time of the colonialism — the first edition was printed in 1935, and many others followed. I myself have three editions! The Time & Talents club was home to a flock of wealthy Parsi women, many of whom yearned to be socially responsible at a time when, perhaps, their agency was limited. A cookbook provided an imprimatur of respectability, and its proceeds were distributed to the poor.

Many ladies contributed to the books; amongst them was the venerable Parsi chef and cookery writer, Bhicoo Manekshaw, whose Parsi Food & Customs is a charming ode to Parsi recipes as well as a repository of our cultural customs, historical, religious, and geographical.

Manekshaw’s book will always occupy a treasured place in my cookbook place, as will Vividh Vani, third in my trinity of iconic Parsi community cookbooks. Published in 1903, in Gujarati, it is full of uncompromising recipes made with utensils I’ve never heard of, all explained in interminable sentences that stretch into paragraphs. Nevertheless, it is well worth the effort —it is after all, an artefact of the fast-vanishing cuisine of my foremothers and forefathers. My home would not be complete without it.

Meher Mirza is a Mumbai-based independent writer and editor, with a focus on food and travel.

Hong Kong’s very earliest days were dominated – surprise – by the question of land. Traders had begun putting up mat-shed structures and company jetties in 1841, even before the Treaty of Nanking of 1842 which formalised the ceding of the Island of Hong Kong to the British in perpetuity.

The 1841 Land Auction was, therefore, held under dubious authority, and caused legal problems as time went by.

Article by Vaudine England | Hong Kong Free Press

But the list of buyers on that summer’s day of 14 June, provides a curious insight into who actually had the power and the money at the time.

Yes, there were the expected English and Scotsmen, even a few Americans. But who were those men with the fascinating multi-syllabic names?

• Dhunjibhoy Ruttonjee Bisney
• Dent & Co
• Dirom & Co
• Ferguson, Leighton & Co
• James Fletcher & Co
• Fox, Rawson & Co
• Framjee Jamsetjee
• W & F Gemmell & Co
• Gribble, Hughes & Co
• R Gully
• Charles Hart
• Holliday & Co
• Hooker & Lane
• Jamieson & How
• Jardine, Matheson & Co
• Captain Larkins
• Lindsay & Co
• MacVicar & Co
• Captain Morgan
• Pestonjee Cowasjee
• P.F. Robertson
• H. Rustomjee
• Turner & Co
• Robert Webster.

The earliest to build were Lindsay & Co, who built The Albany Godown in Wanchai, and Jardine Matheson at East Point. These two had been the first two independent firms (outside the East India Company monopoly) to establish themselves at Canton earlier, also.

Some lots quickly changed hands, others remained in company hands — witness Jardines’ East Point (the Causeway Bay site where sits the Excelsior Hotel and the Noon-day Gun) for a remarkably long time.

The most interesting point to my mind, however, is the ethnic mix. Among the expected names of the Anglo-Saxon contingent was just one other group of buyers: the Parsis.

These ‘gentlemen’, as British records invariably describe them, can trace their family histories back to Persia, from where their Zoroastrian religion derives. After upheavals at home, the Parsi diaspora found a safer base in Bombay where they put their considerable skills in trade — both a cosmopolitan outlook and a reputation for honesty — to good effect.

They traded with the new powers in the area as well as the old, and so had long-established relationships with the British and others in Canton. Unsurprisingly, they were partners in the enterprise that was early Hong Kong.

The astute reader will recognise names such as Ruttonjee and Bisney on some of Hong Kong’s more generous, long-lasting institutions.

Their community remains tightly-knit and successful to this day, forming just one part of what was on its way to becoming a richly exotic mix of peoples making up Hong Kong.

The Alpaiwalla Museum in Khareghat Colony in Mumbai, is probably the only Zoroastrian Museum of its kind in the world. It has some amazing artefacts in its collection. However in the recent past it has been closed for much needed repairs; which have been dependent on funding.

Today Parsiana reports that the Alpaiwalla Museum has received a Rs 4 crore ( Rs 40 million or about 612,000 US$) from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India.

Parsiana writes

The Alpaiwalla Museum in Khareghat Colony containing Parsi artefacts is to receive a four crores rupee (USD 6,12,028) grant from the Government of India to complete the repairs, renovation and restoration of the ground plus one storey structure owned by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP).

According to an email dated October 3, 2017 from the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, “The Committee has approved your proposal and recommended Rs 400.00 lakhs financial assistance to your (BPP) organization for setting up of (the) Museum. In this regard, you are requested to submit an undertaking… confirming the willingness of your organization to bear the amount of Rs 109.79 lakhs (remaining part of the total project cost of Rs 509.79 lakhs) from your resources.”

Anu Aga and her daughter Meher Pudumjee, of energy and environment engineering business house Thermax Ltd, are among India’s 100 richest people as per Forbes magazine rankings. The mother and daughter duo sees philanthropy as much more than writing out cheques for charity and personal involvement takes priority for both. In an interview, Aga and Pudumjee talk about how they complement each other—one is the heart and the other the head—when it comes to giving. Edited excerpts: 

What does philanthropy mean to you?

Pudumjee: Philanthropy to me is the joy of giving, both in terms of my time and my resources to a cause that I passionately believe in.

Aga: And it’s different from CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), which is now mandatory for corporates to give. So if my company gives hundreds of crores, it’s still not philanthropy, it’s CSR. I would like to make that difference.

If I were to take you back a little in your journey, when and why did you first decide to give?

Aga: When I was in college, I didn’t have money to give but I gave a lot of my time for the social service league at St Xavier’s College. And then later in life, I lost my son in a car accident at the age of 25. He had spent eight years abroad and felt that we were very insensitive to the poverty around us. And he said, unless as a family we give 90% to social causes, he will go away to England. I hate taking a decision at gunpoint, so I told him “Go! I don’t want you to tell me what I should do”. Then, of course, my daughter and son-in-law got involved and he said, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be aggressive and say what percentage, but what I mean is start giving substantially.” And we started in a small way. (It was) only after the company went public 20 years ago that we had money in hand. It was only in the last five-six years that we decided that 30% of our personal wealth dividend income will go towards philanthropy.

What have been the lessons learnt, big surprises, big disappointments, highs or lows?

Pudumjee: In the last five years, I am amazed to see how many youngsters are involved with this whole sense of idealism, giving of their time—just look at Teach For India!

Aga: And though by definition, philanthropy is giving your money, I think if you give your life and your time, I would call that also a form of philanthropy. Earlier, I used to give impulsively, not go into too much asking what the cause was, how they were going to do the work, but ever since my daughter partnered with me, she asks the hard questions and we’ve never gone wrong. So it’s a good combination.

What is your approach to and model of giving?

Aga: From our personal wealth, we would like to find credible NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and support them not just by writing out cheques, but getting involved with them in long-term planning in many areas.

Pudumjee: We like to fund NGOs rather than do it directly.

How do you think you complement each other and how are you different?

Pudumjee: I think mum and I are very complementary in the sense that she does a lot from the heart, I do more from the head. So I think the combination is really very effective in looking at causes, looking at impact, looking at strategy, doing things differently but trying to bring it together towards a particular outcome.

Aga: For me, human rights is very important. Again in a small way, we help there. Meher is very good at finance. I hate finance. So if there’s anything related to figures, I say Meher, you look after it. I think I helped Meher to be a little more trusting.

What would your advice to aspiring philanthropists be?

Pudumjee: For people who have the funds but don’t know where to invest them, I would say don’t do it on your own. Try and find a good, credible NGO that you trust, that you know other people are working with, that is making an impact. There are so many NGOs doing really good work that are very professionally run, but it is very difficult for them to find funders. And I would really urge more and more people to come together, because there are some people who can give money, a cheque, some people who can give time but less of money, and I think all the combinations are required to take things off the ground. And if I can just give one example of a platform called Social Venture Partners which started in Pune a couple of years ago. You give a minimum of Rs2 lakh to join. In Pune, we are 45 partners that have come together. We pool in all the money and we have a grants committee who then chooses which NGOs to support. The NGOs make a presentation to all the partners. Initially I was very sceptical but I think it’s such a wonderful way to get more and more people to come together and give their time and a little bit of money, and then see the cause grow.

Aga: My advice to people who are seeking a cause is to check out different causes and see what they are drawn to. It’s no use giving to a credible NGO for a cause you don’t feel passionate about.

What according to you should philanthropy work towards in the next 10 years and what will get us there?

Pudumjee: I think there is no dearth of causes in India that require funds. My only fear is that it shouldn’t be a little bit here, a little bit there. We really need to look at scale, in whichever way. It doesn’t have to be scale in terms of huge amounts, but it has to be scale in terms of impact and sustainable impact.

Aga: I would be a little more specific and say I am ashamed that after 70 years of independence and with our GDP (gross domestic product) growing in the last few years, we haven’t solved the malnourishment problem. Second is education. Look at the quality of our education. We love to be ostriches and not face the problem that the quality of education is bad. If we educate people but they can’t get jobs, there will be chaos. We all have to realize that business cannot survive in a society that fails.

This interview is a part of the India Philanthropy Series, a joint initiative between Dasra, a strategic philanthropy foundation, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This series which will be launched in 2017 will showcase through videos and a report, the philanthropic journeys of some of the most generous, strategic and innovative philanthropists in India.

DaanUtsav or The Joy of Giving Week started on 2 October. In a four-part series, Mint examines the changes and developments in the sector, speaks to philanthropists and discusses how and why they give. We also look at how donations, even small ones, have the potential to change lives.

In British colonial times, enterprising Parsis looked further south, and set their sights on Sri Lanka, bringing home a good many Parsi families.

Parsi Pioneers

Gathering of Parsis outside Parsi Club, c.1940s. Those were the days when there were about 200 Parsis here before the Swabasha policy in the 1950s spurred many to migrate. Image courtesy Aban Pestonjee

The Parsis are known for their pioneering spirit and it is possible that even before colonial times, a few had established themselves here. However, it was when Ceylon (as Sri Lanka was known) was part of the British Empire that the first recorded migrations of Parsis here took place, their eyes set on import-export trading, upon which they would build their fortunes.

Article by Asiff Hussein | ROAR

According to Jamsheed Choksy*, as early as the late 1700s and early 1800s, about a hundred Parsi men lived in Colombo Fort as merchants and as planters in the estates of the Central Province. One of the earliest such entrepreneurs was Dady Parsi, based in King’s Street, Colombo Fort, whose company in the early part of the 19th century handled much of the transportation of goods in and out of the Port of Colombo. Another early pioneer was Framjee Bikhajee, who arrived in Ceylon in 1817 and founded a company that would in later times own the famous Framjee House in the seaside neighbourhood of Colpetty, and a large shopping mall located on the corner of Main and China Streets in Pettah.

A further spurt of immigration took place in the late 1800s and early 1900s, bringing many of the Parsi families who rose to prominence in subsequent years, and whom we are most familiar with.

Prominent Families And Personalities

The Parsi Club down Palm Grove, Colpetty. Image courtesy writer

Prominent Parsi families today include the Captains, Choksys, Khans, Billimorias, Pestonjees, and Jillas. The ancestor of the Choksy family, K. D. Choksy, arrived from Bombay in 1884 as an employee of Framjee Bikhajee & Co. His son, Nariman Choksy, rose to become Queen’s Counsel and Justice of the Supreme Court, while his grandson, Kairshasp Choksy, PC, went a step further. He took to politics and became an MP before becoming Minister of Constitutional Affairs, and later Minister of Finance, the highest achievement for a Sri Lankan Parsi. Pheroze Choksy, another member of the clan, became a famous architect.

The Captains are another old Parsi family long settled here. Its founder was Eduljee Captain, who served as General Manager of Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills from its establishment in 1914 until 1966. His son, Sohli Captain, owned Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills and his grandson, Rusi, went into corporate investments. The family is the largest shareholder of John Keells Group, a large business conglomerate running a supermarket and hotel chain. The Captains are well known for their services to humanity. Sohli Captain developed Sri Lanka’s first cancer hospice, and his sister, Perin Captain, has also contributed much to the Child Protection Society.

Yet another long established family were the Billimorias. As we gather from the Ceylon Observer Christmas Number 1921, the Britannia Bakery established in 1900 was owned by Framjee Billimoria of Hospital Street, Colombo Fort. And it was Homi Billimoria, a renowned architect, who designed the Mumtaz Mahal, the official residence of the Speaker of Parliament in Colpetty, and Tintagel, which became the family home of the Bandaranaikes. The Khan family owned the Oil Mills in Colombo and built the Khan Clock Tower in Pettah, still a prominent landmark of the area. The N. D. Jillas, another well-known family, started Colombo Dye Works along Turret Road in Colpetty, while the Jilla brothers Homi, Kairshasp, and Freddy served in varying capacities. Homi was an army physician, Kairshasp a naval officer, and Freddy a civil aviation officer.

The Pestonjees, yet another entrepreneurial family, are actually quite recent arrivals. Its founder was Kaikobad Gandy, a marine engineer who sailed around the world and finally settled for Sri Lanka, which he called ‘The Best Place in the World’. That was way back in the 1930s. He was awarded Distinguished Citizenship by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike in recognition of his services to the country’s ports as Chief Engineer. His daughter, Aban, founded Abans Group, a large business conglomerate that handles everything from hospitality and electronic goods to janitorial services. Aban started her business in a very modest way in her home garage in the late 1960s by purchasing household appliances from auctions and embassy sales before restoring them and selling them at her small shop on Galle Road. When the economy took off in 1978, so did Aban, who got into the business of importing electronic goods. Her son Rusi, as persistent as his mother, started canvassing for the McDonalds fast food franchise when he was 18, and got it when he was 28, ten years later. (So now you know why Abans and McDonalds are cheek by jowl with one another.)

Keeping The Faith

The Parsis are a very religious community, understandable for a people who migrated to yet unknown lands just to preserve their faith. The Ceylon Parsi Anjuman was founded in 1939 and administers the community prayer Hall, Navroz Baug (‘New Year Garden’), and the ‘Agiari’ (Fire Temple) down Fifth Lane, Colpetty, which is served by a ‘Mobed’ or Zoroastrian priest. The Temple, unlike the traditional Agiaris, does not have the ‘Atashbehram’ or ‘Eternal Flame’, kept lit day and night, but still suffices for the religious needs of this small community. There was a time, over a hundred years ago, when our Parsis like those elsewhere exposed their dead in a Dakhma (Tower of Silence) to be devoured by birds of prey, but this has long been given up in favour of inhumation in Aramgah (Places of Repose).

Parsi Priest with siblings of a mixed union, who were recently inducted into the community. Image courtesy Aban Pestonjee

Aban Pestonjee, who serves as Trustee of the Parsi Club along with Sohli Captain, is hopeful of preserving the community’s identity. The Parsi Club and Navroz Baug, both in Colpetty, serve as venues for social and religious gatherings such as the Zoroastrian New Year, Prophet Zarathustra’s birthday, and the communal feast known as Gambhar. Aban explained that although the offspring of Parsi women who marry out are not considered Parsis and not allowed into the inner sanctum of the temple, they meet in the balcony of Navroz Baug for the communal meal, which is partaken of by about 60 people, of both completely Parsi as well as mixed origin. She also observed that there is a trend to be more accommodating to offspring of mixed unions, and that recently, two siblings of a mixed Parsi-Sinhalese union were formally inducted into the community, bringing the number of Parsis living in Sri Lanka to 42 persons.

Although a very small community, our Parsi friends are a great inspiration for all of us who call this beautiful island home—seamlessly integrating and contributing to our nation in so many ways. And to think they came all the way from Persia!

* Iranians and Indians on the Shores of Serendib – Parsis in India and the Diaspora, J. Hinnels & A.Williams, 2007

Contractors of the underground Metro III rail project on Thursday morning arrived to inspect the 187-year-old Wadia fire temple (Atash Behram) at Princess Street in south Mumbai. However, they were met by a group of protesting Parsis, who did not allow them to take any measurements.

On Monday, TOI had reported the alignment map showed major portion of the tunnel passing below the sanctum sanctorum, the room where the consecrated fire is placed.

Article by Nauzer Bharucha | Times of India

“The contractors came without any written authorization and no metro officials accompanied them,” said Hanoz Mistry, a community activist.

“I explained to them that the Atash Behram is not just the holy fire, but the entire complex commencing from the boundary wall. Hence, the distant from the fire is irrelevant,” he said, adding that the contractors must consider the boundary wall as the point of reference.

Aspi Deboo, another concerned Parsi who was present when the contractors arrived, said, “There is something very sinister going on and the community needs to be extra vigilant. The centre line of the metro will be three metres inside the compound and thereafter another 3.5 metres will be the tunnel. It means the entire Kusti area (the place where ablutions are done by devotees) right up to where the wall of the ‘kebla’ where holy fire is enthroned will be affected. In short, it will virtually destroy the Wadia Atash Behram.”

Structural engineer Jamshed Shukhadwalla, who first raised the red flag about the Metro III line damaging landmark buildings, said, “”Since major portion of the tunnel will pass below the sanctum sanctorum, it will break the continuous contact of the sacred fire with earth and break the magnetic circuits established by religious ceremonies performed during the consecration of the fire. This is against the tenets and practices of our religion.”

An online petition addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already garnered over 7,500 signatures within a day. “The major cause of angst is on account of the proposed Metro-III line which is going to pass through Jagannath Sunkersett Road, on which are located two of our holy Fire Temples viz. Wadiaji Atash Behram and Anjuman Atash Behram. One line of the Metro will partially pass under both the above Fire Temples. In case of Wadiaji Fire Temple, part of the tunnel will actually pass under the sanctum sanctorum where the holy Fire is enthroned. Both these holy fires are consecrated entities; living vibrant beings who are intermediaries between God and mankind,” it said.

Metro rail officials had last week told TOI they would have to check where the sacred fire is enthroned. “This is the tunnel portion which will progress from CST side and proceed towards Girgaum/Grant Road deep inside ground. No portion of the heritage temple will be affected because of our work. We will not require shifting or relocating even the boundary wall which is the closest structure of the temple,” said Gupta, director (projects) of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC).

Sign The Petition

Piramal Finance Limited and Piramal Housing Finance Limited Managing Director Mr. Khushru Jijina has been recognised as the ‘AsiaOne Global Indian of the Year 2016-2017’ under the ‘Business Leadership (Finance)’ Category.

Nominations for this highly coveted award include individuals who have made the most impact and contributions over the past year within their specific category. The final list is assimilated through primary, market driven research by the AsiaOne editorial team and an eminent jury, with the process of review and selection being audited by PriceWaterhouse Coopers.

The award has been conferred on Mr Jijina as an acknowledgement of his stellar leadership that contributed to the success of Piramal Finance in the past year. It also bears testament to the standards of excellence demonstrated by each and every member of the team, strong partnerships in the real estate ecosystem, and unrelenting focus to drive scale and relevance within the industry.

Mr. Khushru Jijina Managing Director, Piramal Finance and Piramal Housing Finance said, “I am truly humbled to receive the AsiaOne ‘Global Indian of the Year 2016-2017’ award on behalf of every single team member of the Piramal family. At Piramal Finance, the team constantly works towards becoming a truly differentiated financial provider across industries and to improve the overall customer experience. Such recognition is always encouraging and further motivates us to achieve newer and higher goals.”

Mr. Khushru Jijina is a Chartered Accountant with an illustrious career spanning over two decades in the fields of real estate, corporate finance and treasury management and has spearheaded the group’s foray into real estate development. Over the period, the Piramal Group has rapidly built a pipeline of over 20 million sq. ft. in Mumbai and aspires to build high quality living and work spaces through customer centric designs and strong execution.

AsiaOne is a pan-Asia magazine with a distribution network in ten countries and a vast B2B readership.

***

About Piramal Finance:

Piramal Finance is the financial services division of Piramal Enterprises, the flagship company of Piramal Group. Piramal Finance provides both wholesale and retail funding opportunities within real estate and non-real estate sectors (under its Corporate Finance Group). The platform is capable of funding across the entire capital stack ranging from early stage private equity, structured debt, senior secured debt, construction finance as well as Flexi Lease Rental Discounting (within real estate). Piramal Finance also has a third-party fiduciary business advising institutional and retail investors alike through customized fund strategies such as the Mumbai Redevelopment Fund focused on slum rehabilitation and the Apartment Fund focused on bulk buying individual units as well as larger separate account mandates with leading global pension funds such as CPPIB, APG and Ivanhoe Cambridge. Piramal Finance has recently received a license from the National Housing Bank (NHB) to operate a housing finance vertical. The platform has also piloted an expansion into lending towards smaller corporates and SMEs who are not typically covered by traditional wholesale lending channels through the Emerging Corporate Lending group.

Sooni Taraporevala was on the air with Radio host Hrishi K of 94.3 FM radio station in Mumbai. She discusses her upcoming exhibition and book launch.

Click here to listen 

She is best known for writing films such as Mississippi Masala, The Namesake, and Oscar-nominated Salaam Bombay. She also directed the National Award-winning film Little Zizou.

Since 1977 Taraporevala has photographed India’s western city of Mumbai in which she grew up.

Published on BBC

These photographs celebrate the odd and the everyday and provide a significant contribution to the social history of one of India’s most diverse cities.

Her images, cutting across class and community lines, are an insider’s affectionate view. Her photographs explore one of the most populous cities in the world.

The works on display at an upcoming exhibition in Mumbai are personal documents of the city’s eccentrics, its children, its elderly within the landscape: a gentle mirror to the culture and politics of Bombay with the secret sideways glance of a casual observer.

Sooni Taraporevala’s photo exhibition Home in the City opens on 13 October at Mumbai’s Chemould Prescott Road

A camel ride on Mumbai’s Marine Drive in 1977

Actors Lilliput (left) and Stellan Skarsgard on the set of a film in 1987

A synagogue, 2012

Spectators at an air show, Marine Drive, 2005

Image caption A security guard sits on a rope bed at Juhu Airport in 1982

A film shooting on location, 1987

Actors Sarfu and Irrfan Khan (right) blindfolded during a workshop on the film, Salaam Bombay, 1987

One of India’s most famous artists, MF Husain at home, Mumbai 2005. He died in June 2011

A girl looks at the ocean while standing on a beach, Mumbai, 2015

Men laughing while celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi, a Hindu festival, 2016

Naseeruddin Shah (left) and Stellan Skarsgard on the set of a film, 1987

A poster of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi during the Congress party’s centenary celebrations, 1985

The navy band performs ahead of the premiere of the movie Janbaaz at Metro Cinema, 1986

Actor Raj Kapoor at the premiere of Janbaaz while a fan gazes at him, 1986

The Queen frontman’s Zanzibarian roots are often forgotten when discussing his life. But he didn’t hide from his Persian heritage – and neither should the movie

There is a sweet black-and-white photograph of Farrokh Bulsara from 1946 in a pram in the garden of his Indian parents’ home in Zanzibar, then a British protectorate. When he died, 45 years later, very few of the millions mourning knew him by that name; by then he’d become Freddie Mercury, Queen frontman. A forthcoming biopic called Bohemian Rhapsody will focus on the singer’s life after he formed Queen, but it would be a shame if it ended up whitewashing Farrokh’s story.

Radio ga-ga … Freddie Mercury as a baby. Photograph: Kashmira Cooke

So how did Farrokh become Freddie, you ask? His parents, Jer and Bomi, were Parsees whose ancestors came from Persia. India-born Bomi went to work in Zanzibar as a registrar for the colonial government, taking his wife Jer with him. When their son was eight, they sent Farrokh to a British boarding school near their home city of Bombay.

After leaving school, their son was known by his nickname, Freddie. When Zanzibar became independent in 1963, there was a revolution in which the wealthier Indian population was targeted, so his parents fled with Freddie and his younger sister Kashmira to London. It was while studying at college a few years later that he met Queen’s other founding members. When they began touring, he adopted Mercury as his surname and his Asian upbringing faded into the background.

Queen were founded only two years after Conservative politician Enoch Powell’s notorious “rivers of blood” speech and racism towards immigrants was intense. So a whitewash of his Asian origins may have been an astute commercial move. “Being perceived as Indian or ‘foreign’ was clearly a disadvantage,” argued journalist Palash Ghosh in 2011. “Luckily for Freddie, with his white skin and dark brown hair, he was physically indistinguishable from any European (or indeed, any British) man.”

He will rock you … Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury. Photograph: Nick Delany/20th Century Fox

A few years ago, his brother-in-law Roger Cooke sought to explain Mercury’s attitude towards his roots: “To an English mind, Asian means Indian. It doesn’t in Freddie’s particular case; he was Persian by ancestry. He was accused of denying his Indian heritage. I don’t think he ever did, but if he did, it would have been because he was Persian.”

Mercury himself never spoke publicly on the subject, yet at his funeral in 1991, two white-robed Parsee priests officiated. Mercury had arranged the ceremony to be in keeping with his parents’ wishes. His mother said in 2011: “Freddie was a Parsee and he was proud of that.”

Bohemian Rhapsody will be released next year

Zubin Mehta returns to Carnegie Hall with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) this fall, following a recent announcement that he will be retiring from his post as Music Director of the IPO in 2019 after 50 years in the position. Three back-to-back concerts in Carnegie Hall‘s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage celebrate his legacy and his extraordinary achievements as the Orchestra’s Music Director for Life.

On Tuesday, November 7 at 8:00 p.m. guest soloist Yefim Bronfman joins the IPO for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37, recognizing his more than 30-year relationship with the orchestra. Maestro Mehta also leads the Orchestra in the New York premiere of Amit Poznansky’sFootnote Suite, as well as Richard Strauss‘s Ein Heldenleben.

The following program, on Wednesday, November 8 at 8:00 p.m., features a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with Japanese mezzo-soprano Mihoko Fujimura along withMasterVoices, directed by Ted Sperling. The Manhattan Girls Chorus (directed by Michelle Oesterle) – which made its Carnegie Hall debut with Mr. Mehta and the IPO in 2012 – will also join the program. A pre-concert talk will be held in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at 7:00 p.m. with Ara Guzelimian, Provost and Dean of The Juilliard School. Carnegie Hall members are also invited to attend an open working rehearsal prior to this performance on Wednesday, November 8 at 10:00 a.m.

As part of the seventh annual Carnegie Hall Live broadcast and digital series, the November 8performance will be broadcast live on WQXR 105.9 FM in New York and streamed online at wqxr.org and carnegiehall.org/wqxr. Produced by WQXR and Carnegie Hall, and hosted by WQXR’s Jeff Spurgeon, select Carnegie Hall Live broadcasts throughout the season feature live web chats, including Twitter commentary from the broadcast team backstage and in the control room, connecting national and international fans to the music and to each other.

Violinist Gil Shaham joins Mr. Mehta and the IPO for the final Carnegie Hall performance on Thursday, November 9 at 8:00 p.m., performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35. The concert also includes Weber’s Overture to Oberon and Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 in C Major, D. 944, “Great.”

These three performances conclude a seven-city North American tour with Mr. Mehta and the IPO, which kicks off with a benefit gala at Carnegie Hall on Wednesday, October 25 at 7:00 p.m., hosted by the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic. The October 25 gala, which will be streamed live on medici.tv, features an all-Mozart program including his Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, Symphony No. 36 in C Major, K. 425, “Linz,” and Sinfonia concertante in E-flat Major, K. 364, featuring violinist Itzhak Perlman and violist Pinchas Zukerman as guest soloists. The orchestra then travels to Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, West Palm Beach, and Miami before returning to New York for its three November performances at Carnegie Hall.

About The Artists

Zubin Mehta was born in 1936 in Bombay and received his first musical education under his father, Mehli Mehta, who was a noted concert violinist and the founder of the Bombay Symphony Orchestra. After a short period of pre-medical studies in Bombay, he left for Vienna in 1954 where he eventually entered the conducting program under Hans Swarowsky at the Akademie für Musik. Zubin Mehta won the Liverpool International Conducting Competition in 1958 and was also a prize winner of the summer academy at Tanglewood. By 1961, he had already conducted the Vienna, Berlin, and Israel Philharmonic Orchestras and he has recently celebrated 50 years of musical collaboration with all three ensembles.

In 1969, he was appointed Music Advisor to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and was made Music Director of that Orchestra in 1977. In 1981, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra awarded him the title of Music Director for Life. Zubin Mehta has conducted over 3,000 concerts with this extraordinary ensemble, including tours spanning five continents. Zubin Mehta will end his tenure with the IPO 50 years after his debut, in October 2019.

In 1978, the maestro took over the post as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, commencing a tenure that lasted 13 years, the longest in the orchestra’s history. Since 1985, he has been Chief Conductor of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence.

It’s early in the afternoon, definitely past the unusual office rush-hour, but no one seems to have informed people on East Street. There is serious traffic jam here. Apart from the vehicles, there seems to be a jam of people as well. The parking slots are full, but somehow, that has not discouraged the people swarming in. At first glance, the traffic jam and crowd are difficult to explain.

Article by Shiladitya Pandit | Times of India

One might think that the stately single-storey structure — home to the Cantonment’s first Western-style restaurant and ballroom — has attracted all the visitors. Though a pale shadow of its past glory, the building does house a Cantonment Board dispensary, a telecom firm service centre and a restaurant. But none of these three establishments justifies the crowds.

While the dispensary and the service centre do not have too many visitors anyway, the restaurant too is currently closed for renovation purposes.

For an answer, look a little ahead, and perhaps at your wristwatch. The Kayani Bakery is to shut for the afternoon in 20 minutes, and this crowd must rush to get its hands on the biscuits, cakes and other baked goodies before the bakery downs its shutters.

The bakery, started by a Zoroastrian family, opened its doors on this premises in 1955. Since then, business has been roaring. Incidentally, the items on sale — the different of cakes, the very-popular Shrewsbury biscuits, patties, orange-flavoured biscuits and the quintessential khari — have not changed much over the years. The evidence lies in the antiquated menu board on one of the walls. The prices, however, have changed, though the goodies here are not as expensive as some other big-name bakeries in town.

Henry Gomes comes to Pune from Mumbai almost every weekend to meet his parents. And every visit is also marked by a trip to the Kayani Bakery, to stock up on mawa and Madeira cakes, which Gomes takes back with him.

“The mawa cake here gets sold out fast. Hope it is still there,” said Gomes. “This place is part of my childhood memories. I used to come here almost every weekend with my parents. Of course, I now come here every time I visit Pune,” he adds.

And he is just one among the many, many loyal customers the bakery has. Though Kayani Bakery accepts only cash, even last year’s demonetisation did not adversely affect the business. “There was bound to be some effect. But we did not suffer much. Our customers kept coming. Most of them are very old and they all want their mawa cake and khari with tea,” said a shop attendant.

By the time the bakery was ready to shut for the afternoon, most of the items were already sold out. “Please come back after a couple of hours… when we reopen,” was the polite request of the security guard to some of the disappointed customers who could not make it on time.

They will have to wait a bit longer for their “sugar rush.”

Members of the city-based Parsi community will meet Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray over the Metro-3 project’s alignment that passes below three of its fire temples in south Mumbai.

According to the community, the metro work will allegedly disturb the ‘holy fire’ and ‘wells’ in such temples. The community has also started an online signature petition on the issue and has managed to get about 9,000 signatures till now.

“We have written a letter explaining how the alignment will affect the sanctity of our centuries old temple.

The online signature petition will end on Sunday. Once all signatures are attached, we are going to submit it to Mr Thackeray and request him to intervene in the matter,” said Mr Pervez Cooper, vice-president of Clean Heritage Colaba Residents Association (CHCRA).  The temples which are coming along the alignment include the Wadiaji Atash Behram and Anjuman Atash Behram on Jagannath Sunkersett Road and the Dadysett Agiary at Hutatma Chowk.  

“Tunnelling for Metro 3 is not directly below the well. In fact, it is more than 15m away in hard rock and at more than 18m depth from the nearest point of the well. Tunnelling in this area will be done by TBM following globally practiced safe tunnelling methods. All due precautions shall be taken during tunnel construction to safeguard the structure of the well and water in it.  The MMRC has already communicated the details and precautions to be taken,”said a MMRC spokesperson.

The city’s Parsi community staged a protest on Friday against a proposal by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) that recommends that the no-flying zone be reduced from one nautical mile (around 1,852 metres) to 500 metres around the Tower of Silence or Doongerwadi in south Mumbai where the last rites of the departed are conducted.

The community fears that if the no-flying zone is reduced, the Doongerwadi will come within the sight of aircraft, which would be disrespectful to the dead. As per the proposal, if the Airports Authority of India realigns the restricted area, helicopters can use the path during emergencies or disasters.

“The proposal was put up with the view that during emergency situations, helicopters can ply the route. If somebody is supposed to reach the hospital during any disaster and if there is a traffic jam, helicopter services would prove useful. However, if the community does not want the fly zone there, we may have to stall the proposal. We require their NOC to go ahead with this proposal,” said an MADC official requesting anonymity. In protest to the proposal by MADC, the community marched from Bhikha Behram Well in Fort up to the Doongerwadi.  

“This ritual of exposing the dead to scavenger birds has been followed since the British rule and according to it the dead body should not be exposed to any external aerial elements except the sun.should not be disturbed by external spaces,” said Pervez Cooper, vice-president of Clean Heritage Colaba Residents Association (CHCRA).

Sethna Agiary (left) and Boyce Dhana Patel Agiary are more than 130-years-old and have been demarcated under the new road-line plan of DP 2034

Article by Anagha Sawant | DNA

Under the civic body’s DP 2034, two fire temples in Tardeo are likely to lose a part of their land

The draft Development Plan (DP) 2034, a blueprint for the city’s land use over the next two decades, has left a few members of the Parsi community upset. Two fire temples which are located on the Tardeo Road are likely to lose a part of their land under the DP prepared by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The two fire temples — Sethna Agiary and Boyce Dhana Patel Agiary —which are more than 130-years-old are situated on Javaji Dadaji Marg, opposite Bhatia Hospital in Tardeo.

Community activists recently learned that part of the grade-2 heritage fire temples have been demarcated under the new road-line plan of the draft DP. The activists then met Tardeo’s MLA, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, to discuss the issue and put forward their concerns. The two temples, situated a few meters away from each other, will lose a part of the premises of the fire temples.

Rustom Irani, social activist and a resident of Tardeo, who got to know about this development, said, “In 2016, the part of the opposite side of the road, where there are residential buildings and chawls, were marked for road widening. The authority had asked for suggestions and objections then. But after revising the drafted plan in 2017, without taking any suggestions and objections, the authority has marked the road-line on Agiary side for the setback. The road is marked in a curvey shape due to which both the fire temples are affected.”

MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha said, “We won’t let the authority harm the fire temple. I will be submitting a letter to the Urban Development Department next week and request them to revise the plan.”

Speaking about the plan, Burjor Mehta, Trustee of Sethna Agiary, said, “I got to know about this recently. If such proposal is made, then we will oppose it. We will have to check since we are not aware of the wrong marking.”

The Goolrukh Gupta case has reached the Supreme Court, where a 5 judge bench will deliberate on it.

Below is a video segment on a local TV channel in Mumbai.