What happens when 4 Dasturjis, 2 architects, 2 therapists, 2 Lawyers, an advertising exec, an entrepreneur, a paramedic, a filmmaker, a sommelier, a colonel in the US army, a political consultant, a yoga instructor…. all walk into the Forest of Dean in England?
A social movement finds its wings!
Article by Narges Kakalia
In March 2018, a group of young Parsi and Iranian Zoroastrians from India, Pakistan, Canada, the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand gathered for ten days at the inaugural World Zoroastrian Youth Leadership Forum at the beautiful Asha Center in England. They came at the generous invitation of Zerbanoo Gifford, who founded the Asha Center, a beautiful, serene retreat space in Gloucestershire, that delivers transformative education “to bring about lasting inner, social and environmental change.” The Asha Centre was founded on Zoroastrian-inspired principles of environmental and social sustainability. The Forum was organized by Asha Center intern Sanaya Master of New Zealand, who helped run the Forum. The participants had all been identified as people who play leadership roles in their local communities.
The Forum was nothing short of transformative for the participants. The group of 20 young Zoroastrians worked together under the auspices of instructors Mark Gifford, an interfaith minister who has extensively studied Zoroastrianism, and Adrian Locher, an actor, director and specialist in conflict resolution. Through various exercises and energizers, Adrian and Mark helped the Forum participants connect with each other at a deep level. Then, together, the participants identified challenges facing Zoroastrian communities worldwide (some examples included youth engagement/empowerment, global support for Udvada Iranshah, diminishing knowledge of/engagement with scriptures/religious texts, the need for appropriate places of worship in the diaspora, etc.) and then brainstormed ways to surmount those challenges to build a stronger, more sustainable community. While religious education was discussed, the main focus of the Forum was on building momentum for engagement and active participation at every level of the global Zoroastrian community. The Forum concluded with the participants starting a written document that sets forth a mission, vision statement, and plans and projects for the future.
Of course no Zoroastrian event could ever be complete without some fun, silliness, and an obsessive focus on food and drink. In addition to the daily question, “what are we eating today,” the Forum saw the first ever Zoroastrian Masterchef challenge, a Zoros-Got-Talent night (featuring Lion King sung in a dagli, and sari-clad Spice Girls), a few heartfelt Freddie Mercury invocations, and roadtrips (to Oxford and Wales) during which some enterprising young Zoroastrians used bathroom breaks to buy and bootleg alcohol onto the Asha Center premises. Groups of participants routinely stayed up until 2 or 3 am, discussing their various communities and bonding with fellow participants over hot topic debates and games of Mafia! When the Forum concluded, the organizers, participants, staff and volunteers at the Asha Center bid each other somewhat tearful goodbyes. Though begun, the challenging work of initiating and building sustainable projects for a stronger community still remains. Stay tuned to this space for progress reports over the months and years to come.
Participants included:
Diana Bharucha, Seattle USA
Karl Desai, Sydney Australia
Jim Engineer, Chicago USA
Tanya Hoshi, Toronto Canada
Kayras Irani, Vancouver Canada
Narges Kakalia, New Jersey USA
Tinaz Karbhari, Auckland New Zealand
Jehaan Kotwal, Mumbai India
Shazneen Limjerwala, Mumbai India
Jimmy Madon, Lemington Spa, UK
Sanaya Master, Auckland New Zealand
Layla Mazdayasni, San Diego USA
Shazneen Munshi, London UK
Shireen Patel, Lahore Pakistan
Sheherazad Pavri, Mumbai India
Cyrus Rivetna, Chicago USA
Arashasp Shroff, Toronto Canada
Benafsha Shroff, Denver USA
Cainaz Vakharia, Washington D.C. USA
Arzan Sam Wadia, New York USA
Kurdistan, “The Other Iraq”, has been held up as a shining example of peace in the Middle East since US sanctioned protections were put in place in 1992, but how has this experimental democracy really affected women?
21 DAYS TO NAWROZ is a documentary feature explores the lives of three very different Kurdish women as they prepare for the ancient New Year feast by reckoning with the past and looking to the future.
Michelle Mama is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and veteran factual producer/director with over 250 of hours of television under her belt. She is a fiercely creative television professional known for her outside-the-box storytelling and her tenacity in delivering the best in factual entertainment. As a director she has the ability to disarm subjects and generate true intimacy with her subjects and as a producer she collaborates to inspire and extract extraordinary work from her team. With a well-worn passport and the confidence of experience, she is as comfortable in a studio control room as she is on location in a war-torn country.
Now based in NYC, Michelle is showrunning a prime-time documentary series about groundbreaking artists for CBC and producing a scripted series adaptation of a critically acclaimed novel.
The film has already won a flurry of awards….
PLATINUM REMI – BEST DOCUMENTARY – World Fest Houston
BEST INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY – Baghdad International Film Festival
SILVER PALM – BEST DOCUMENTARY – Mexico International Film Festival
GOLDEN EAGLE – BEST DOCUMENTARY – CINE International, Los Angeles
BEST IN SHOW – DOCUMENTARY – Accolade Competition, Los Angeles
You can watch or download the film at the link below
Zarin Havewala doesn’t call herself a professional matchmaker, but her track record suggests otherwise.
“So far, 55 couples have found their partners through my efforts — 53 couples are already married, and two more couples are engaged to be married soon,” says Ms Havewala, a Mumbai-based mother-of-two.
Ms Havewala is a Zoroastrian — or ‘Parsi’ (meaning ‘Persian’) as they’re known in India — a member of an ancient monotheistic faith that pre-dates Islam and Christianity.
Zoroastrianism was the official religion of Persia, its birthplace, for more than a millennium, but today the community is a fraction of its former size, and that’s raising serious concerns about the future of the faith.
“About seven years ago, it struck me very badly [that] a lot of our youngsters are getting married outside the community,” Ms Havewala explains.
“I thought maybe they are not having enough avenues to know that there are other young Parsis available.”
Unofficially, she now manages an international database of Zoroastrian bachelors and bachelorettes — an extensive list of names and numbers, careers and qualifications, ages and email addresses — that’s shared with singles who are looking for love.
It started as an idea for Indian Parsis, but word quickly spread and soon Zoroastrians living everywhere, from Austin to Auckland and Iran to Oman, began contacting Ms Havewala for her coveted list.
“It’s entirely word of mouth,” she says.
“I don’t advertise, I’m not on social media, but daily I get about three to four youngsters who send their bio data to me and I keep on sending them a long list of suitable matches.”
Modern-day matchmaking
Media player: “Space” to play, “M” to mute, “left” and “right” to seek.
Back in 2015, Sydney-born Auzita Pourshasb was one of the names on Ms Havewala’s list.
“When you’re taught that you’re a part of a diminishing community… you feel like you’ve got a sense of responsibility to meet a Zoroastrian and to help those numbers grow,” says Ms Pourshasb, a 30-year-old HR advisor and member of the Australian Zoroastrian Association.
“It has definitely been challenging because already in the Sydney community you’re faced with not a great number of bachelors to choose from, and the other thing is you grow up with them as though they’re as close to you as family … so it’d feel weird to even see them as your partner.”
According to the 2016 Census results there are fewer than 3,000 Zoroastrians currently living in Australia. The community is so small it makes up 0.01 per cent of the national population.
Ms Pourshasb eventually met and fell in love with a Christian man. But before she met her current partner, she heard of Ms Havewala’s database and decided to get in touch.
“She shared my details with the available bachelors and then shortly after I had people from India, Pakistan, England and Canada contact me,” she recalls.
“I even had parents contact me saying, ‘We’re looking for a potential suitor for our son’, and one family asked me for my time of birth and location of birth so they could match our horoscopes!”
Tinder for Zoroastrians
But Ms Havewala’s dating database isn’t the only online matchmaking resource for young Zoroastrians.
In 2016, Indian model and actor Viraf Patel launched the Parsi-only dating and social connectivity app, Aapro.
Zoroastrian Farhad Malegam says it’s very similar to Tinder — “you swipe if you like someone” — except matches aren’t limited to people in your area.
“[If] I’m sitting here in Sydney, probably there’s not too many people [nearby] who would use the app, but there would be someone in North America or New Zealand or maybe in India or Iran,” explains Mr Malegam, a digital start-up entrepreneur and keen user of the app.
The 26-year-old says it’s his preference to marry a member of the faith, but it’s not a prerequisite. So far, he’s yet to meet the one.
‘We will eventually be extinct’
It’s estimated there are 200,000 Zoroastrians worldwide with the majority (around 60,000) residing in India.
“Zoroastrians came to India about 200 years after the advent of Islam in Persia [because] there was a lot of oppression and religious conversion,” Ms Havewala explains.
Committed to preserving the religion and its beliefs — which centre around the core tenets of ‘good words, good thoughts, good deeds’ — India’s Parsis forbade converts from joining the faith.
Elsewhere in the world however, Zoroastrian communities do accept converts.
In Australia, Ms Pourshasb says conversions are occurring, but orthodox members of the community aren’t happy about it.
“We definitely do know someone in the community who’s doing all the conversions, [but] that particular situation is causing a bit of a divide,” she says.
“If we don’t allow converts into our community, we will be faced with diminishing number and our population will eventually be extinct.”
For Ms Havewala, the declining Parsi population in India is particularly worrying.
“The way the numbers are going, within 50 years or a maximum 100 years, we just won’t be there — I’m talking about Parsis in India,” Ms Havewala says.
“Every year we get the statistics in which the births are, say, about 50, then the deaths would be 10-fold.”
According to Mr Malegram, who moved from Mumbai to Sydney in 2015, Parsi protectionism is to blame.
“In India to protect that Iranian ancestry and the genome, they decided to prohibit any inter-faith marriages and prohibit other people from entering the faith,” he points out.
“It kept the ethnic group alive for thousands of years, but in the process, it did compromise on the bigger picture, which is the faith itself.”
Despite the Parsi population decrease, Mr Malegam says new temples around the world are welcoming new members into the fold.
He’s hopeful that online technologies and database-wrangling matchmakers will not only help Zoroastrians like himself to find love, they’ll bring new life to the faith.
“We should do what we can to let this ancient faith, that’s almost 4,000 years old, survive and continue,” he says.
“The fact that we are here today is because of a lot of our ancestors did not want to change, [but] it’s high time that the community does, and I think this generation, my generation, is very excited.”
Karachi’s legendary Mama Parsi Girls Secondary School celebrated its 100th birthday on Sunday, April 1, 2018
In 1918, Jamshed Nusserwanjee Metha collected donations to establish the school. Initially the school functioned at the Bai Virbaijee School from where it was shifted in 1919 to a building, Mama Mansion, which stands today at the corner of Haji Abdullah Haroon Road. The construction of the school’s current building started on January 17, 1920 and was completed on January 26, 1925.
Mama Parsi School is considered to be one of the most prestigious and historical schools of Karachi, which has maintained its high standard of education and discipline for a century. The school not only focuses on its curriculum but also offers several extra-curricular activities, including a talent show which is held every year after the mid-term examinations.
The school also retains a house system, which was introduced in 1943. Under this, students are grouped in different groups called houses in order to cultivate teamwork and leadership skills among them.
Over the years, the Mamaians have not just proven themselves in academics but have also performed brilliantly in various sports.
The school also takes students on tours outside Karachi and Pakistan in order to build their knowledge of the world. It has produced many extraordinary educated women who contributed to society in various fields
Announcing Formation of the Zoroastrian Faculty Network (ZFN) – A Joint Project of the GWG and WZCC
Dr. Farrokh Mistree has been a long term advocate for WZCC to develop a Zoroastrian Faculty Network (ZFN) that would empower Zarathushti students to create economic, cultural & intellectual value. The Global Working Group represented by Farrokh Rustomji and Behram Pastakia were to find ways of helping students from India to gain admission into foreign universities and address related questions.
After some discussions at the recent WZCC AGM in Bangalore and Global Working Group Annual Meeting in Mumbai (both events in December 2017) it was felt that a Joint Project between WZCC & GWG would enable us to attain this objective on a more sustainable and fast track basis.
The target is to complete the initial Action Proposals before the 11th World Zoroastrian Congress in Perth at which time GWG and WZCC can provide an update and discuss further.
ZOROASTRIAN FACULTY NETWORK (ZFN)
VISION
The GWG/WZCC in partnership with Zarathushti faculty in academia empower Zarathushti students to learn how to create economic, cultural and intellectual value.
MISSION
The GWG/WZCC in partnership with Zarathushti faculty in academia to make it possible for Zarathushti youth, through higher and specialized education, to prepare for 21st Century careers in industry, government, and academia as well as entrepreneurship.
a. WZCC business community partner with ZFN faculty to launch start-ups.
b. ZFN could be requested to provide mentoring services pro bono to prospective students and to provide business consultation to companies on chargeable basis.
c. ZFN members mentor young Zarathushti’s in their home country to get into university. WZCC could sponsor a webinar on this topic. This refers to undergraduate students.
d. ZFN members mentor young Zarthushti’s to gain admission for graduate studies to institutions. WZCC could sponsor a webinar on this topic. This refers to graduate students.
e. ZFN members collaborate within themselves.
f. ZFN members provide information on faculty openings, post-doctoral positions, need for research assistants, etc. We discussed establishing portals but experience has shown that people do not have the time or inclination to visit portals/websites. It has to social media or something that goes to each ZFN member such as E-Blasts.
g. Senior faculty in ZFN provide career advice to junior faculty in the ZFN. Help junior faculty prepare their promotion and tenure documents. Help aspiring faculty prepare their job applications and give mock interviews, etc.
h. ZFN members promote faculty exchanges. For student exchanges this should be on the basis of paid internships at Universities / companies / hospitals etc. for a couple of months. WZCC to help in the case of companies internships.
i. ZFN members promote faculty and student exchanges.
ACTION PROPOSALS FOR IMMEDIATE IMPLEMENTION
BEFORE GWG MEETING ON JUNE 1, 2018
1. Form Working Group of 3 from USA and 3 from India.
Academia: USA – Farrokh Mistree; INDIA – Dinyar Pestonjee from Mgmt. Institute, Ahmedabad.
GWG: USA – Behram Pastakia; INDIA – Farrokh Rustomji
WZCC: USA – Edul Daver; INDIA – Yazdi Tantra
2. Communicate formation of ZFN to the entire GWG & WZCC community to make them aware of it’s objectives and seek help in identifying academics.
3. Form Academia Group : This would consist of about 10 – 15 university academia from USA, India, Singapore, UK & elsewhere.
Farrokh M., Behram, Farrokh R. & Dinyar to identify professors to contact and bring committed individuals into group. The group will then decide how best to communicate and subject items for communication/networking.
4. Organize a Webinar for presentation to help prospective India students with their application process. A webinar could be done in May.2018 for India ( and other countries) students entering college in September 2019.
A similar webinar could done for US in August/Sept time frame.
If you are a faculty member and would like to get involved or need more info please contact
The third Indian to be elected to the British Parliament, his support for the independence movement would get him labelled the unofficial ‘Member for India’.
Courtesy: National Portrait Gallery
In November 1905, a ship docked at London, which was the centre of an Empire that was witnessing a growing independence movement in its most valuable colony – India. On board was S Saklatvala, a member of the influential Tata family, fresh from Bombay and in Blightly ostensibly to run the family’s ventures there.
Instead, Shapurji Saklatvala would become the third-ever Indian to be elected to the British Parliament and would use his position as MP to so vehemently agitate on behalf of the nationalist movement that a 1925 issue of the Daily Graphic would refer to him as the unofficial “Member for India”. And when “Comrade Sak” died in 1936, Jawaharlal Nehru would call him the most important nationalist figure outside of the country.
Focused on service
Saklatvala was born on March 29, 1874, in Bombay. His father, Dorabji, was a wealthy cotton merchant and his mother, Jerbai, was the younger sister of Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group, who had immense influence on his nephew’s politics.
Jamsetji Tata with cousin RD Tata (centre) and sons Ratan Tata (standing) and Dorab Tata (right). Photo credit: Tata.com
The first signs that Saklatvala would not follow the family tradition of working in the business was in 1896, when, as a 22-year-old volunteer, he worked alongside Waldemar Haffkine to help treat victims of an outbreak of bubonic plague in Bombay’s slums.
His daughter, Sehri Saklatvala, maintains this had a profound effect on his personal politics. “What he saw in those years of the bubonic plague must have remained always in his mind,” she writes in The Fifth Commandment, her biography of her father’s life. “It was to those victims of circumstance that he dedicated his life.”
Saklatvala then spent several years working for the Tatas. Though highly competent, his outspoken views on home rule soon attracted the attention of the colonial authorities and the ire of JN Tata’s son, Dorabji, whose antipathy towards his cousin had festered during their childhood.
By 1905, Saklatvala had fallen seriously ill with malaria. With the Raj increasingly concerned over his ardent nationalism, Dorabji saw the perfect opportunity to send his hated cousin far away from Bombay.
So it was that Saklatvala boarded a ship bound for Britain where, after receiving treatment for his illness, he was to assume charge of the Tata offices in Manchester.
A new start
During his convalescence, Saklatvala stayed at Smedley’s Hydro, a health spa at Matlock, a working-class Derbyshire town. It was here that he met Sally Marsh, a hotel waitress he would eventually marry in 1907. Meeting Marsh was a pivotal moment for Saklatvala, not just personally but also politically. Through her, Saklatvala was granted his first intimate view of working-class life in Britain.
He joined the Independent Labour Party in 1909, and, 12 years later, joined the Communist Party. Saklatvala moved his family to a spacious house in Highgate, a mere stone’s throw away from the cemetery where his hero, Karl Marx, is buried.
An undated newspaper cutting showing the Indian MP with his wife, Sarah Marsh, who hailed from a working class background. Together they had five children – two sons and three daughters. Photo courtesy: British Library.
Saklatvala was endorsed by Labour as the Battersea North candidate in 1921 as part of a seat-sharing deal. He won in November 1922, becoming the third-ever Indian to be elected to the House of Commons as well as one of the few Communist MPs. (According to the local paper, his working-class supporters were so buoyed by their electoral triumph that they exclaimed they would storm heaven next.) He would lose the seat the following year, before regaining it in 1924 and serving as an MP for a further five years.
The new MP opened his maiden speech in Parliament – to audible gasps – with the words, “No Britisher would for a moment tolerate a constitution for Great Britain if it were written outside of Great Britain by people who were not British.”
His duty, Saklatvala felt, was not to speak on local matters but those of the Empire, and he used his position to wage a one-man campaign in Parliament, fearlessly attacking motions and legislation designed to secure control over India in the face of the growing threat of the nationalist movement as well as to fight for workers’ rights in Britain.
Saklatvala never met the first Indian MP, Dadabhai Naoroji, but he was acquainted with the second, Sir Mancherji Bhownagree. All three men, coincidentally, belonged to the Bombay Parsi community.
An Anglicised empire loyalist and member of the Conservative Party, Bhownagree regarded Naoroji as a dangerous radical, and Saklatvala as being even worse – a radical Communist.
An advertisement for Shapurji Saklatvala’s 1931 election campaign. Image courtesy: British Library.
Back to his roots
While Bhownagree was condemned as being a British stooge – one of the nicknames contemptuously bestowed upon him by Congress leaders was “Bow-and-Agree” – Saklatvala, despite his Communist ideology, was a symbol of nationalist pride, fighting the good fight in the very heart of the Empire.
So it’s not surprising that when Saklatvala returned to Bombay on January 14, 1917, to begin a year-long tour of India, he was welcomed by a cheering crowd. His first act was to place all the garlands he had been presented at the statue of Dadabhai Naoroji near Flora Fountain.
The British, however, were not so warm. After a flurry of frantic telegrams from the Viceroy to Lord Birkenhead, the Secretary of State for India, a decision was made – Saklatvala would be allowed to proceed with his tour of the country, but he would not receive an official welcome by the Raj.
A 1922 campaign ad for Shapurji Saklatvala. He would win that year, being elected as MP of Battersea North, a working-class area in South London. Image courtesy: Battersea Archives.
Was Saklatvala a nationalist? The short answer is yes – he relentlessly campaigned for Independence and supported the new generation of leaders like Nehru. But he differed in how he thought India should pursue its goals, believing that a state which did not achieve Independence through Communism would never truly liberate its poor and workers.
He was especially critical of Mahatma Gandhi whose nationalism, underpinned as it was by spiritualism and a distrust of industrialisation, was exactly the opposite of what he believed in.
“Dear Comrade Gandhi,” wrote Saklatvala in 1927. “You are preparing the country not for mass civil disobedience but for servile obedience and for a belief that there are superior persons on earth and Mahatmas in this life at a time when in this country the white man’s prestige is already a dangerous obstacle in our way.”
Gandhi responded by acknowledging that, while his sincerity was “transparent”, Saklatvala’s opinions of his khadi movement and thoughts on industrialisation were “misguided”. “We do stand at opposite poles,” Gandhi concluded.
Fighting the good fight
A self-described “Tilakite extremist”, Saklatvala chose a Congress mass rally in Ahmedabad to criticise the route the party was taking. “Awake your peasantry from slumber,” he urged those present. “You will never get freedom if you do not work with the village folk.”
He left India after meeting Gandhi in Nagpur, parting with the Mahatma on cordial terms, and stating that India’s best chance for freedom lay with the Congress party.
The British were horrified. Concerned by his speeches and any potential Communist activity in their most valuable colony, he was deemed a security risk and was banned from returning to his homeland. Saklatvala would never see India again.
By 1929, perhaps as a consequence of his refusal to discuss his constituency, Saklatvala had lost his seat, though he continued to be an important figure in the fight for Independence.
He hosted the leader of the Self-Respect Movement, Periyar, when the latter came to Britain in 1932, and even had a curious run-in with VK Krishna Menon, after the latter polled more votes than him in a 1934 London borough election.
Saklatvala died on January 16, 1936, in London after suffering a heart attack. He was cremated, and his ashes were buried next to those of his parents and JN Tata in Brookwood Cemetery on a plot of land owned by the Anglo-Parsi community.
Marc Wadsworth, author of the biography Comrade Sak, writes that Saklatvala was a precursor to “the future generations of migrants… who have tried to forge for themselves a role in shaping their own destiny in Britain whilst at the same time remaining concerned with the fate of their country of origin.” In Britain, he is remembered as a titan of the Communist movement – their main hall in London, located a few streets away from Ambedkar Hall, is named after him.
Whether his legacy is remembered in India, the country which he spent all of his life fighting for and whose freedom he would never witness, is another story altogether.
“It is all like a dream now…” I stand in the thicket and look over the board to read an article written about my grandmother. The bulletin is full of clippings on the great Mrs. Bhandari. For some strange reason, the journalists who had the opportunity to meet her ended the article in the same way. Poached eggs, tea, toast, and marigolds…a repetitive reference to the past. People always wrote about her youth and failed to see her in her old age.
Mrs Bhandari opened her guesthouse in the 1950s, catering to the diplomats of the High Commissions of Delhi and what is now Pakistan. Rumour has it, people paid to sleep on her floor and use her American style bathrooms. Her house had amenities that were uncommon to most households in Punjab at the time. Amritsar is situated along the Grand Trunk Road. It is the centre of Sikhism and is most known for the Golden Temple. The guesthouse gained a favourable reputation with overland travellers-where they could park, plug in and camp safely in its vast grounds. With four children, widowed twice, she managed the place alone, fending off criticism from the male-oriented Punjabi society. The famous people she met, living through the partition and numerous wars, makes one wonder of the yarns that could have been written about her life. I was too young to ask.
My grandmother Tahmi was the second child in a Parsi family of five sisters and a brother. Her father, Adeshwar Boga, was the owner of ice factories in Amritsar and Ludhiana in the early 1900s.
She was a teenager during the Amritsar massacre at Jalianwala Bagh in 1919. She was perhaps one of the first women in India to own and drive a car-a 12 cylinder Lincoln in the mid-1930’s. Elegant and outgoing, she watched movies in Lahore, shopped at the markets of Anarkali, had coffee at Fallty’s (which still exists today), and drove back to Amritsar before sundown. During the partition in 1947, together with her staff, she stitched clothes for refugees who arrived in Amritsar. In 1948 a few months after the partition, she was honoured by Lady Edwina Mountbatten, the wife of the first Viceroy for all her relief work.
Nana as I often called her, grew up with friends like HFJ Sam Manekshaw, India’s first and only Field Marshal, Surjit Singh Majitha- India’s then Deputy Defence Minister and writer Mulk Raj Anand. When she was more lucid, I would tease her on her many admirers. “They loved me more, “she would laugh.
She is an overpowering, strong-willed woman, well ahead of her time. Despite her diminutive frame, she holds her own in a crowd. The staff cowers to her demands. Her wit shocks. People laugh at her dry, cutting humour and colourful choice of words.
She married a Hindu for love, which was unheard of at the time. She met my grandfather, Padam Chand Bhandari, while she was studying for her Masters in English at the Khalsa College, Amritsar. He was an executive officer in the Improvement Trust, who helped build a bridge that linked the walled city to the civil lines. The Bhandari Bridge was named after him in 1954. He died young, and at just 48 years old my grandmother had a large house and 4 children to care for. Undeterred, she rose to the challenge and converted her palatial red bougainvillaea home into a guesthouse. She remarried an engineer, DD Kaila, and they expanded the guesthouse together. He died in 1971, before the Indo-Pak war.
Her graciousness left a lasting impression. Charlton Heston sent her a holiday card every single year until his death- with an undisclosed amount of money, after staying with her twice. Guests make the pilgrimage to the Golden Temple and to her doorstep. You hadn’t been to Amritsar if you didn’t stay at Mrs. B’s.
The gardens, the main house, its art deco interiors are all intact. Time has stood still and my words to describe it will never do justice.
Ratan my aunt was groomed to continue my grandmother’s legacy. She willingly decided to live in India. The rest of Mrs. Bhandari’s children have made their own lives abroad. The younger generation has little affinity for the house or India. Her children occasionally took turns looking after her through the years. However, one can’t live within the guesthouse’s four walls forever. My grandmother did.
In 2001 I was asked by my father to keep my grandmother company and assist in managing the house in Amritsar. It seemed like a decent idea. I was at a stage in my life where Manila bored me, and I couldn’t seem to find a job that could keep me for long. The Philippines is where I was born and call home. It is my mother’s country, but it is always good to come back to my Indian roots.
I arrived in Amritsar with no expectations. I suppose it is the way to travel. It is liberating to come to India. It is also a challenge to deal with the filth, noise – and the chaos of Punjab. Your life is an open book, your existence is everyone’s business. I did not speak a word of Hindi or Punjabi. The staff a little over 20, barely spoke English.
The staff took pride in my stupidity. It infuriated me to not know where things went. The routines in the house are not meant to be broken; you follow her orders to the hilt. Each flower, carpet, cushion cover, and fan blade, exists for a certain season. Labelled, covered, knotted and kept. An entire system, day by day, planned by her. The manner to uphold it constantly with great dedication was a challenge.
Until the age of 98, my grandmother remained strong and managed to go about with the help of Kamlesh, a lady who has cared for her for the past 30 years. We shared our love for American Wrestling and she would cheer heartily at wrestlers being tossed in the air. Conversations became non-existent. “What is the time?” she’ll ask before she covered her eyes with her handkerchief. Her white hair braided and tied with pretty red bows. She would remain quiet for the rest of the afternoon. Her days and nights flowed from one to another, a never-ending cycle, like the chores in her house.
She was frail from age, but she knew my name well. My recollections of her are vivid and we all lived in her shadow. Towards the end of her life, she became childlike, but her eyes continued to hold a spark as she looked into mine. I felt she understood why I had come.
I travelled in between my time in Amritsar, to get away from the guesthouse, a rest despite the declining health of my grandmother. Caring for the elderly can take its toll on any person. Six years of my life I sacrificed to serve her. Year after year, any given chance, I would spend a night or two in Dharamsala to gather my thoughts and recharge before going back down to Amritsar and wait for the inevitable.
There is one place, The Church of St. John in the Wilderness which most tourists overlook. The 19th century Church is situated in a scenic valley, directly facing the Dalai Lama’s monastery. St. John’s suffered a massive earthquake in 1905, which killed close to 20,000 people. The structure and Belgian stained glass windows miraculously remained intact. The bell tower was destroyed and was later replaced in 1915. A cemetery is located around the church.
Ironically, the air of death that I was so desperately trying to escape brought me there. I could sit in solitude and think. Dharamsala, in Hindu usage, refers to a shelter for spiritual pilgrims. It lives up to its name.
My grandmother died at the grand old age of 101 in 2007. I was by her side. She chose the Hindu rites of passage and we cremated her at a temple near our home. She is deeply missed by her family, her devoted friends and the tens of thousands from around the world who enjoyed her hospitality for more than 50 years at the guesthouse.
It is a privilege to learn how she lived. Since her passing, I resettled to Manila. On my last visit to Amritsar a few years ago, the halls of the guesthouse still reflect her absence. I know in time I will return there for good.
Her ashes and a stone marker in her honour rest in the Church of St. John in the Wilderness, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh. Mrs. Bhandari’s name lies peacefully among those who once lived in the majestic mountains of the Himalayas.
When Michael Rakowitz first visited London in 1984, his family treated him to a grand tour of the city’s cultural attractions. On the loftier end of their itinerary was the British Museum, where the future artist first encountered the Middle Eastern archaeological wonders that would one day inform so much of his encyclopedic practice. In a somewhat lower-brow excursion, they also invested in tickets to the London Dungeon—an institution combining the aesthetic restraint of a Wes Craven movie with the curatorial diligence of a Hard Rock Café merchandise stand. It clearly had a gruesome appeal.
“It was this institution devoted to misery,” recalls Rakowitz, who fixated on one exhibit in particular: a wax figure of Lord Nelson, showing the various body parts he had lost in battle. Later that day, the family passed through Trafalgar Square, where the same British admiral’s likeness towers over the city atop his eponymous column. Young Rakowitz’s priorities, it’s fair to say, were less than scholarly: “All I wanted to do was look at him through binoculars to see if the statue had the missing limbs,” he admits.
Three-and-a-half decades on, Rakowitz is back in Trafalgar Square with a rather different agenda. This morning, his sculpture The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist was unveiled on a vacant plinth in the square’s northwest corner, where it will remain until March 2020. It is the twelfth contemporary artwork to take up residence on the site, which, since 1999, has hosted one-off commissions from European and British art-world giants including Marc Quinn, Antony Gormley, and Hans Haacke.
Michael Rakowitz, The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist, 2018. Photo by Caroline Teo. Courtesy of the artist.
The plinth is one of four such pedestals arranged symmetrically around Nelson’s Column, all of which were intended to support statues of British monarchs and military heroes. While the other three were filled, plans to top out the final pedestal with an equestrian sculpture of King William IV foundered due to a lack of money. For a century and a half, the plinth stood unoccupied, an unintentional monument to near-sighted budgeting.
In the late 1990s, however, the recently elected Labour government began ploughing money into public art projects with the dual aim of boosting tourism and making culture accessible to all. Located at the heart of the capital, the Fourth Plinth was a perfect flagship for the strategy. Mark Wallinger was selected for the inaugural commission, with efforts from Bill Woodrow and Rachel Whiteread following in 2000 and 2001. A hiatus followed, but since 2005, it has been a regular event, and a popular one too—no mean feat in a city famous for its pessimistic temperament.
The program has its critics—notoriously, the former London mayor Boris Johnson’s election manifesto proposed permanently filling the space with a statue of a wartime fighter pilot—but it has arguably become the U.K.’s most prestigious running public art project. That Rakowitz, an American of Iraqi heritage, has been chosen is significant: He is the first non-European artist to be selected by the commissioning body, which has previously seemed, if not parochial, certainly limited in its tastes. Fittingly, then, that Rakowitz’s sculpture is a complex and highly original proposition that looks far beyond Trafalgar Square’s traffic-clogged confines.
The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist is a recreation of a statue of a lamassu, a mythical winged beast that, for nearly three millennia, stood at the gates of the ancient city of Nineveh, in present-day Iraq. In 2015, this astonishing artifact was very publicly dynamited by ISIS militants, its destruction recorded for posterity in a widely circulated online video.
“It was performance, in a sense,” Rakowitz says. “Traditionally, the burning of books has been a gesture intended to demolish the pride of a people—a form of symbolic mass execution.” ISIS’s attempts to destroy Iraq’s extraordinary heritage of statuary served much the same purpose, even if some of the many supposed artifacts the terrorists desecrated turned out to be modern reproductions. “Replicas or not, the impulse was pretty much the same: liquidate items, and turn that action into part of a war machine.”
Rakowitz has made no attempt to conceal the fact that his lamassu is not the genuine article—quite the opposite, in fact. While the original was heroically carved from Mesopotamian stone, The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist is a work constituted of rather humbler materials: namely, colorfully designed cans of date palm syrup, a commodity once vital to the Iraqi economy. Over 10,000 of these tins have gone into creating Rakowitz’s scale-model lamassu, creating a painterly rhythm of color and shape that ripples across the sculpture’s surface. There is a poignant resonance to them, too: According to recent figures cited by Reuters, Iraq once produced three quarters of the world’s dates—but after years of war, insurgency, and mismanagement, the country’s stake in global production has fallen to around 5 percent, with predictably dire results for its people.
This isn’t the first time Rakowitz has employed these syrup tins in his work. His 2005 project Return saw him attempt to import cans labelled “Product of Iraq” into the U.S. via Syria and Lebanon, at once circumventing sanctions and shadowing the passage of refugees fleeing the post-2003 chaos that engulfed the country. Nor is this the only reference to his wider body of work in The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist, which is just one component of a much larger, decade-long project of the same name. In 2007, Rakowitz took it upon himself to create life-sized recreations of the thousands of objects that went missing from the Iraq Museum after 2003, using a variety of materials so as not to create replicas that might be mistaken for the real thing. “Artifacts can end up mirroring the story of a people,” he explains. “It was important not to make an exact copy: You can try to reconstruct the artifact, but you can never bring back the people.” Following the rise of ISIS and the desecration that followed, the project’s scope expanded even further. “I felt it was a continuation of a commitment. The unfortunate thing about the project is that it’s had to continue.”
Despite this broad and astonishingly ambitious context—and the pouring rain that greeted its unveiling—The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist works brilliantly as a site-specific sculpture in its own right. Trafalgar Square, memorably described by the novelist Will Self as “one of the most crap urban public spaces in the world,” is not an easy location for an artist to work with: Traffic, crowds, street performers, and a small army of historical statues conspire to crowd out any new work seeking to assert itself here. Many of the artists who have taken on the Fourth Plinth commission have failed to overcome these compromises, but Rakowitz has aced it.
For one thing, no photograph will prepare you for quite how huge the sculpture seems atop the plinth; far from being dwarfed by the square’s vast dimensions, it holds its own even when seen in opposition with the vertiginous shaft of Nelson’s Column. And rather than jarring with its uniformly gray surroundings, the sculpture’s colors—subtly varying tones of green, gold, and red—create an effect that is at once arresting and oddly solemn. This is pleasingly at odds with the jingoistic effigies of monarchs, empire builders, and kings with whom it shares space, yet even if it appears to be speaking a different language, it is still in dialogue with these other statues. Like them, the lamassu is the product of cultural myth-making—but it is also a reminder of how abruptly myths, and the people who identify with them, can be forgotten.
Most of the successful coaches that we see around today are familiar faces. But usually their fame precedes their coaching careers and we know them from their years on the professional circuit. Be it Stefan Edberg for Roger Federer, Zinedine Zidane for Real Madrid, Subhash Bhowmick for the Calcutta Maidan or Pulella Gopichand for the Indian shuttlers.That is, however, not the case for Cyrus Poncha, the head coach of the Indian squash team.
For Cyrus Poncha, it was all about becoming the support system for others that he missed for himself. Hence, only at 18 Cyrus took to coaching children over the weekends, which would soon become a lot more than a weekend chore.
“When I was playing as a junior in Bombay, there weren’t too many coaches to help us. So I took it upon myself to help the kids out over the weekends which would eventually spread over weekdays.
“I figured that I enjoyed helping out very much and a lot of people started to encourage me to give it a serious thought and that’s how I became a full time coach for a sport I love,” said Cyrus while talking to The Bridge.
Over the years, Poncha has dabbled in the management of both the junior squash circuit and the senior and has had fruitful tenures in both stages. In the last ten years Indian squash has shown a remarkable improvement, with three players within the top 20 in the world and a crop of fast improving junior players, waiting to burst on the big stage.
“Managing the two junior circuits come with challenges of their own. It’s like raising a 5 year old, a 15 year old and a 25 year old adult. The kids in the U-12 level need a far more holistic guidance but they need it at every step and they need it from scratch. But with seniors, coaching is a whole other ball game.
“Many of them are already professional while some are on the cusp and they have ideas of their own. They don’t require taking care of like the younger players but with them, there is a lot more convincing involved if you need them to make changes or come on board with you,” he explained.
One such junior who rose from under Cyrus’s wings was Velavan Senthilkumar. To Cyrus, he was an outstanding junior who he held up as a model player. Currently, pursuing academics at Columbia University, it hasn’t been too long since Velavan, the U-19 world no.1 took the junior circuit by storm.
Recalling Velavan’s days as a junior Cyrus said, “ He was miles ahead of others in the U-15 level and even in the U-19 category, he was head and shoulders above the others. He won the British Junior Championship then and although he is studying now, I hope he comes back to give squash a professional go and see how far he can go.”
While Velavan is off on his quest for knowledge in the world of academia, Cyrus gives a heads up to India to watch out for another upcoming star who finished second, behind Velavan at the British Junior Championship in the same year. “Abhay has jumped up the rankings massively in the past 6 months and I am certain that it’s safe to expect big things from him in the future.”
With the Indian Squash Academy, where Cyrus and others work relentlessly to produce champions of the future, the face of squash in India has had a complete refurbishment. “We have developed a proper training system, dedicated team to ensure great facilities like educating the coaches, good tournament planning and so on. Things can only look better and brighter in the future for India,” said a very optimistic Cyrus Poncha.
While clearly taking great care of the juniors, and now with the Commonwealth Games almost only hours away, Cyrus does not seem to be breaking a sweat. The likes of Saurav Ghoshal and Dipika Pallikal, Joshana Chinappa and Harinder Pal Sandhu are taking part in both singles and doubles. Yet, it does not seem to trouble the coach at all.
“Of course it is hectic but this is what they’ve been training for. This is how players from all over the world will work and so will our boys and girls. These players have been paired in the past and know each other well. Moreover, both the girls hit number 10 recently and Saurav is at no.14. To reach that level, you have to be special. So I’m not worried,” said the Dronacharya awardee.
Speaking of medals, Cyrus was cautiously optimistic while being full of praise for the hard work that the players have put in. “Of course, I’d be overjoyed if the medal tally went from one to two. I’d be over the moon. But it’s all very easy for me to say. The CWG is a seriously difficult platform and I’d honestly be happy with one,” Poncha admitted.
“A good outing at the CWG would be a great boost for the Asian as the former is a much harder competition. Naturally I’d say the chances of winning a medal in doubles is better but I’m not going to rule out an upset in Singles as well,” he added hopefully.
Talking to Cyrus Poncha for even five minutes is enough to understand that getting more people involved in the sport is a cause close to his heart. According to him, the Sports Authority of India is quite a generous helping hand but the sport lacks corporate backing.
“Right now, we do get support but it’s mostly the top players that reap the benefits. There are a lot of thoughts in the pipeline and there are talks to begin a league system. With TV coverage, the sport would definitely become more popular,” opined Poncha.
For decades, squash has been treated as an elite sport, a game for the rich upper class. The coach, having missed out on systematic coaching himself, does not deny the elitist history of the British hand me down sport.
“Yes, earlier the sport was a niche one, played only in exclusive clubs or in the army. But now a lot of academies are there and even the new housing complexes include squash courts. So it’s definitely widening up. Maybe it’s still a while before every person on the street knows what squash really is but there has definitely been a steady move towards inclusiveness,” he said.
The 2005 Dronacharya awardee also won the Asian Squash Federation ‘Coach of the Year’ award in the years 2016, 2004, 2009, 2012 while in 2014 he won it as the team coach. While the real award lies in the victories of the players, Cyrus admits that an occasional pat on the back is not half bad.
“These are the little recognitions that keep reminding us of the good that we are doing. A little acknowledgment of the effort makes us push that extra mile to work relentlessly in getting more children to pick the sport up,” said Cyrus Poncha.
“It is an all weather sport, and we have so many plans for nationwide development on a junior level. I would always suggest to take this sport up because it has so much to offer. Be it money, excitement, challenges, recognition- it’s a fabulous sport,” he eagerly said.
From the efforts and recent achievements in squash, a line of future champions is not an extreme dream for Cyrus. It is now for the Indian fans to see what Cyrus’s trainees bring to the table over the next two weeks at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Our dear reader and friend Rusi Sorabji informs us ….
From President Kapadia to Kapadia and after 93 years a lady named Khullar….Ava Khullar
The Delhi Parsi Anjuman all through its 93 years existence has been a very progressive Anjuman and a torch bearer in matters concerning the Parsi / Zarathusti community in India and elsewhere.
From 1925 till early 2018 it was continuously headed, by some of the most eminent Zoroastrian gentlemen Delhi-ties of their times. The first in 1925 named Mr. Kapadia the last 93 years later also named the same. Both “retired not out”.. to address it as a cricketer of a cricketer after a brilliant inning.
The present and newly appointed acting president, also has the surname coincidentally starting with a K, who though a Zarathusti is the first lady head of the Anjuman and the first one with a non- Parsi name.
The following have been the Presidents that captained the Anjuman during the its brilliant 93 not out years
1925 – 1944 Founder President Mr. Naowroji Kapadia. Business man.
1956 -1958 Mr. Khusru F. Rustomji, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan.
1958 -1960 Mr. Nariman B. Shroff. Director Railway Board and Chief Architect.
1960 – 1986 Mr. Shiavaxsha D. Nargolwala. I.C.S.
1987 – 2006 Lt. Gen Adi M. Sethna. AVSM, PVSM, Padma Vibhushan.
2006 – 2012 Mr. Dadi E. Mistry. Businessman.
2013 – 2018 Ervard. Yezad Kapadia. Engineer and Zoroastrian Priest.
(“Change happens. Without which we’d still be going 4 mph, probably in an animal driven cart, if not on our lower extremities” Rusi Sorabji.1971)
Below is the text of the farewell speech given by Ervad Yezad Kapadia, the outgoing President on March 21st at the Jamshedi Navroze celebrations.
MARCH 21 2018
We are what we are because of the manner of our upbringing and the manner we respond to events as they unfold in our lives.
In that sense the extensive praise you have showered upon me is, to a great extent due to my parents. Although not bountifully endowed with wealth, they insisted that we, my brother and I, went to one of the most prestigious schools in Mumbai. In his own way my brother is bringing hope to children living in the far flung slums of Mumbai. But, apart from the formal education we received, it was the insistence on the Zoroastrian workethic and the Zoroastrian values that has stood both of us in good stead throughout our lives. Not only to distinguish between Good and Evil but to fight Evil whenever encountered.We received a moral compass which, unfortunately, isnot to be found these days. A heightened sense of justice was instilled in us.Injustice hadto be foughttill justiceis restored. Above all, we were taught how torespond toseemingly unassailable challenges. We were taught the meaning of our shortest prayer, The Ashem Vohu. Righteousnes for the sake of Righteousness for Righteousness is its own reward
Let me now talk about a few seemingly unrelated stories. It was January 1949, I was starting my last year in School, which also happened to be the last year of our Principal who, after serving the School for 25 years, thelast 10 as its Principal. L.M.S.Bruce was a stern faced, bespectacled red haired Scotsman, best noted for the fact that when he wielded the cane with such efficiency that when it came crashing down on the tender bottom of a recalcitrant student, the whack could be heard in the adjacent classroom which happened to be ours! The Principal was solely authorized toselect the Head Boy or School Captain. Bruce surprised everyone when he selected me to this honour. At the end of the year the winner of the McDonald medal for Leadership was announced. Usually, but not always, the medal was awarded to the School Captain. So it was no surprise that I got the medal. However it was what Bruce said on that occasion that made me particularly happy.”The honour was bestowed on Kapadia more nearly unanimously than I have ever known before.” Doing things unanimously is what leadership is all about. It is often debated whether leadership can be taught or one is born with it. If I was taught leadership, I do not know who could have done this. There was no subject like Leadership taught in School and the Greats who spoke and wrote about the subject, like Drucker and Goleman, came on to the scene much later.
After a short stint in college, it was time to go abroad for higher studies. A scholarship was needed. The J.N.Tata Endowment agreed to give me a scholarship only if I went to Germany. In those days we had to learn the language as lectures were held in German. Therefore, the decision to go was a tough one to make. Those days the Endowment was headed by an eccentric Parsi lady, Piloo Vesugar, whose most favourite word was Ghadhera! She had no compunctions in calling her husband one in public! Seeing the perplexed expression on my face she exclaimed “Ghadhera tar ma bheju che ke bhusu. Ass do you have brains or saw dust.” I was not sure about the brains part but reasonably sure that it was not saw dust. So I told her that I would let her know my decision in a few days time. After tossing in bed for several nights the AHA moment arrived and I said I will go. The next morning I walked up to my mother and told her that I had decided to go. She said, son, do you know what, last night I too came to the conclusion that you should go. Was that a coincidence? My four years in Germany were some of the most memorable of my life. The integration with the country was near complete. With the birth of the baby girl Merle family Hage became the third family in Germany I know for four generations!
On returning home it was but natural that I work for a Tata Company. So it was off to Jamshedpur. There are many stories I can recall about our – I had married Rati shortly after I started working – 27 year stay in that delightful town but I choose to narrate one incident that illustrates the point I am trying to make.
It was a round 2 am one night. Rati and I were sleeping in the room adjacent to where our daughters, Jeroo and Rukshna, not yet in their teens, were sleeping, when Rati nudged me to say we have company. What does one do when woken up in the middle of the night to be informed that we had intruders? One gives a war cry and charges to push back the intruders. The response? A flash, a bang and they dissolved into the night. I was about to climb back into bed, when I felt something trickling down my chest. It was blood! I had been shot and some 100 pellets of lead were pumped into my system. Alarm bells were sounded and all the top doctors, most very good friends of ours, turned up at the hospital. During the emergency operation some 75 pellets were removed. The rest lie harmlessly in different parts of my system. As Dr. Reddy, the radiologist, entrusted with the task of locating the pellets said, “Kapadia it was your sternum bone which saved your life.” If the blast of pellets had entered my body just a few inches to the left of where it did, I would not be standing before you today!!
By now you may be wondering what binds all these randomly selected stories together. If you have listened carefully, you might have noticed that an invisibly thin thread runs through all these stories. Whenever I needed it, there was a PRESENCE by my side ready to hold my hand. This PRESENCE was never needed more than when I was your President!
I have now a word for my young Ervad Sahebs. I would like to repeat to them what my mother told me when she nudged me to become a Navar. That was some 75 years ago! She said “Son, there wasa time when it was an honour to wear a white Pagree. Only the elite of the elitewere entitled to wear it.Never do anything in life that would bring disgrace or disrepute to the Pagree.” Your story does not end with becoming a Navar. It has just begun! You have to lead from the front, showing the way!
The DPA has always been a torch bearer in community affairs in India. But , for all practical purposes, no other Anjuman was following the example of the DPA. Those who have given the Anjuman a very firm footing look down upon us from the wall facing uson the stage. However, I feel that now, more than at any other time in history, when the BPP is in a seemingly selfdestructive mode and the Federation having seemingly lost steam, the DPA has a very significant and leading role to play. I am not aware of any other Anjuman where a lady conducts its affairs, much less one who is married outside the community. What we do and say is stated in the Supreme and High Courts! The DPA , for me, has always been like the Statue of Liberty. Welcoming those not welcome elsewhere and throwing light on the way forward. I shall be standing and applauding from the sidelines as the DPA plays its pre ordained role in the future.
We would not have been able to achieve what we did without the active support of some of our very senior and highly respected members, Fali Nariman and Keki Daruwala. We acknowledge with gratitude their unstinting support.
Mega Conglomerate to build Pakistan’s first six-star international hotel on site of near-abandoned Hotel Metropole spread over 4 acres
KARACHI: In an exclusive interview with Profit, ‘mystery billionaire’ Habibullah Khan announced that he would be building Pakistan’s first six-star international hotel in Karachi.
Khan said, “We’re going to make a district with four different components. One will be a globally recognized six-star hotel [in Karachi].”
He added that there would also be branded apartments sharing the hotel’s facilities. “We want to build a city within the city and we have been working extensively to achieve this,” he told Profit.
Khan has used his own funds to buy Hotel Metropole, a near-abandoned hotel complex spread over 4 acres right in the middle of the financial district of Karachi.
Talking about how he purchased the heritage site, he told that past owners of Hotel Metropole were Zoroastrian, more commonly known as Parsis. They had been trying to sell their property for a decade. There were many interested parties, but few had the kind of liquidity and appetite to consummate the transaction fast. Khan said, “By the grace of God, within two months we closed the deal.”
Moreover, his company Mega Conglomerate has been considering to award the design contract to renowned British-Iraqi architecture firm Zaha Hadid Architects or Louis Vidal of Spain, both of whom have already given their proposal for the complex. A third UK architecture firm is in the running as well.
Khan is known as the largest player in dairy after Nestle and Engro Foods. He has been actively working to acquire a financial institution besides being a huge player in the energy sector, having recently acquired a major stake in Hub Power (Hubco).
As power prices surge in the country, Hubco Board Chairman Khan also plans to provide electricity slightly above one-third of the current price, within a span of two years. He stated that he plans to bring the electricity cost down in the country by adding renewable energy components to Hubco’s portfolio to create the right energy mix.
Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic faith that began in ancient Iran over 3,000 years ago. The Bay Area happens to be a hub for the Zoroastrian community, whose global population has dwindled to just over 100,000. With Nowruz (Persian New Year) celebrations winding down, KALW’s Asal Ehsanipour set out to explore her roots by learning more about modern-day Zoroastrians in the Bay Area.
The haftseen table, one of the main customs of Nowruz, includes seven items to symbolize wishes for the year to come. Niloo Farhad’s haftseen includes several extra items, like burnt cookies, candies, and a mirror for splashing rosewater when arriving hom
It’s the first day of spring, and I’m welcomed by the smell of fresh herbs as I walk through the door of my aunt and uncle’s home. My entire family is scattered around the house, and orange tulips bloom everywhere.
We’re here to celebrate the Persian New Year, Nowruz, which translates to ”New Day.” We feast together on Persian foods, such as herbed rice and fish, as my cousin gives her niece new money, a customary gift.
LISTEN
The customs of Nowruz are shared by people of all faiths in Iran and its diaspora — Muslims, Jews, Christians, Baha’is. But its rituals actually come from Zoroastrianism, a monotheistic faith that began in ancient Iran over 3,000 years ago.
It was the dominant religion during three Persian empires, and remains one of the oldest religions in the world.
A close up of Nazneen’s haftseen table, which means “seven sins” or “s” in Farsi. Credit Asal Ehsanipour
Zoroastrians by the Bay
The day after Nowruz, I find myself in Palo Alto, washing my face with rosewater as I arrive at the home of Niloo Farhad.
“I was born and raised in Iran,” says Niloo. “I am Zoroastrian by birth.”
Now, Niloo does not consider herself a very observant Zoroastrian, but she believes in the spirit of Nowruz: What you do on the new year carries you through the rest of the year.
“That’s where the Zoroastrian part at least for me comes,” she says. “You think well, you speak well, you behave well.”
Like many Iranians, Niloo follows certain traditions every year, including creating the customary altar, called a haftseen table. The word means “Seven S’s,” and each of the items on the table starts with a “ssss” sound.
“Sib, which is apple, symbolizes health,” explains Niloo.
Or serkeh … ?
“Vinegar,” she says. “It symbolizes age and maturity.”
The haftseen table reflects wishes for the year to come, with roots stemming back to the number 7 and the Zoroastrian creation story. However, the table isn’t a mandated practice; people of all religions include books of worship, such as the Torah, Bible, or Koran. Some Iranians even include Sufi poetry as a symbol of their ideology. Niloo says that inclusivity is what Nowruz, or Persian New Year, is all about.
“I think that’s why it’s survived so long,” says Niloo. “Because it is not tied to one religion.”
Persian kings such as Darius popularized the holiday, which created a tradition of celebration across modern-day Afghanistan, Turkey, and, of course, Iran.
Each year, the Persian Zoroastrian Organization hosts a Nowurz party to ring in the new year. Traditional Iranian dancers and musicians entertain the hundreds of Bay Area Zoroastrians who attended.
Credit Asal Ehsanipour
Today, Nowruz is regarded as both religious and secular. Religious in that Zoroastrians are expected to clean their houses and go to the fire temple. However, it’s secular in that even the non-observant gather with family for celebratory meals.
Every year at the beginning of spring, hundreds of local Zoroastrians gather in San Jose, where the Persian Zoroastrian Organization hosts a party in honor of the new year.
Khashayar Anoosheh, or Kashi for short, moved to the Bay Area in the early ‘80s, back when there were just a handful of Zoroastrians here. As the community’s grown, he’s tried to preserve its teachings, like thoughtfulness.
“The core thing,” says Kashi, “is education and progress, and understanding of your surroundings.”
Some call Zoroastrianism more of a philosophy than a religion. It’s reflective and there’s no official day of worship. Therein lies an obstacle to preserving the culture.
Kashi says that on the one hand, it’s good to have progressive thinkers who make independent choices.
“But from the perspective of trying to get the community mobilized to do something, no,” he says. “That one it gets tougher. Because everybody’s going to have their own ideas.”
Each year, the Persian Zoroastrian Organization hosts a Nowurz party to ring in the new year. Traditional Iranian dancers and musicians entertain the hundreds of Bay Area Zoroastrians who attended.
Traditional Variations
At the party, I watch people greet each other with a kiss on each cheek, before the kids lead a prayer to ring in the new year. Traditional Iranian music starts. And then, a little girl approaches the dance floor, absorbed in Persian dance.
The party is set to go on like this until midnight.
But while the Persian Zoroastrians were celebrating Saturday night, the Parsis were having a Nowruz party of their own.
Now, the Parsis also practice Zoroastrianism, but come from India and Pakistan, where they settled after leaving Iran sometime between the 7th and 10th centuries.
“The Iranians like to have music and dancing,” says Nazneen Splietd, who was born in Karachi, Pakistan. “And the Parsis are more interested in their food.”
Nazneen Spliedt, former president of the Zarthoshti Anjuman of Northern California, with her haftseen table at her South San Francisco home. Nazneen is Parsi, and only began making haftseen tables of her own when she met the Iranian Zoroastrians of North America.
Nazneen Spliedt, former president of the Zarthoshti Anjuman of Northern California, with her haftseen table at her South San Francisco home. Credit Asal Ehsanipour
Nazneen is the former president of Zarthoshti Anjuman of Northern California, the Parsi organization here in the Bay.
“Parsi,” literally means “From Persia” in Gujarati, a language native to the Indian subcontinent. But with a recent migration to North America, Iranian Zoroastrians and Parsis have come together for the first time in over a thousand years.
“They were different and yet they were alike,” says Nazneen.
Different language, different food, different culture.
A close up of Nazneen’s haftseen table, which means “seven sins” or “s” in Farsi. Credit Asal Ehsanipour
“Then when we go back to see a little bit of the culture, we see we always used to eat this dish, but now we can see the [original] did come from Iran,” she says.
Nazneen says the convergence of communities here in North America allows the next generation of Zoroastrians to come together. They even share a Zoroastrian temple in San Jose, one of only eight across all of North America.
So while different languages once divided them, English can bridge that divide. Since the Zoroastrian community is so small, so scattered, this reunion feels even more important.
“Now of course everyone is worried that the population is dying and dwindling,” says Nazneen. “But all these tales are maybe just overblown.”
The Zoroastrian population is shrinking, with a little over 100,000 globally, according the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America.
However, the Bay Area numbers have grown — especially in job-rich Silicon Valley.
Jamshid Varza noticed this growth back in 1996, but found there wasn’t a single place his kids could learn about their Zoroastrian heritage.
He says it started one morning when he was at breakfast talking with his wife Mitra.
“The kids would go to school and see their friends go to church, go to synagogues, and ‘say what are we?’” says Mitra. “And they had no idea.”
So Jamshid and Mitra started a Zoroastrian school.
“Oh, the first class we had probably 8 or 9,” says Jamshid. “But … the second year I had 44 students.”
Turns out, students loved it. And eventually, it brought Zoroastrians of all ages together.
“Parents. Grandparents. Extended family. People coming from overseas,” says Jamshid. “Because they wanted to be together.”
The Zoroastrian classes still exist, but not under the Varzas.
Since then, Jamshid’s been producing documentaries on Zoroastrianism. He also helped start Stanford’s Zoroastrian lecture series, which became a department that lasted six years before the professor who led it transferred to Oxford.
Jamshid and Mitra say these efforts have given the next generation a feeling of belonging.
“Just a sense of ‘so this is what I believe. That’s what my ancestors believe. This is where I come from. This is what they did. This is how is all happened,’” says Mitra.
Mitra says education does more than bring Zoroastrian kids back to their roots. Traditions like Nowruz inspire regrowth. It’s the celebration of life. Of what sustains us.
“You felt it wasn’t just the nature having a rebirth,” says Mitra. “But it was everything having a rebirth. That sense of renewal was magical.”
Magical for everyone. After all, the beauty of Nowruz is that it extends to people of all faiths, whether you’re Zoroastrian or not.
FEZANA President Homi Gandhi was invited as a Guest of Honour by the Tehran Zoroastrian Anjuman to celebrate the Tehran Farvardingan ceremony.
This year, the Farvardingan ceremony was held at the Tomb of Kashfirouzheh. The prayer group began at 10am with the coordination of the local Mobed Association and members of the Tehran Zoroastrian community. Mobed Mehraban Firoozgari welcomed Homi Gandhi to this match.
The Tehran Zoroastrian Anjuman presented a tablet to FEZANA and Homi Gandhi in gratitude for FEZANA’s work in North America and at the United Nations where FEZANA is an NGO in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council [ECOSOC] and the Department of Public Information (DPI).
Our dearest friend and mentor Zerbanoo Gifford pens this beautiful obituary on the passing away of her beloved mother Kitty Irani.
The last of those who studied under the famous child psychologist Madame Montessori has died peacefully in London. Kitty Irani nee Mazda was the third and youngest child of Khan Bhadur Mazda and his wife Jerbanoo of the Khordad family of Pune. Kitty was born in Calcutta on 14th Nov 1924 where her father was one of the wealthiest men having created a mercantile empire from his hardwork and acute business sense. He had been born in Yazd in Iran and had left and walked to India a journey that took four years to seek a life of religious freedom. He gave his daughter Kitty his strength of character and moral compass. He also imbibed in her the absolute respect for the truth and when one gave one’s word one adhered to it. Kitty never broke her word once given .From her mother who died suddenly when Kitty was only sixteen she inherited her sense of glamour and passion for a full life.
Kitty married a childhood sweetheart Behram( Bailey) and after the birth of their daughter Zerbanoo named after her deceased mother they left for a life in England. Bailey with Kitty’s support was at the heart of the UK’s Zoroastrian community. Their Heritage Hotel in central London was visited by all Zoroastrians during their time in the capital. Bailey served as a trustee and then President of the Zoraostrian Trust Funds of Europe. He was also present at the inaugrual meeting of the World Zoroastrian Organisation in Teheran hosted by the late Shah of Iran and was then asked to serve as the founder President of WZO. Kitty though never seeking the limelight was there to support and guide the community.
Kitty was mother to Zerbanoo Gifford and her sister Genie and brothers Rustom and Naswan, grandmother to six devoted grandchildren and three times a great grandmother. She played her greatest role as the matriarch of a strong and loving family. Not a day passed without her talking to each of her children to ask what their news was. Not a day passed without Kitty going out either to a museum, or gallery as she not only loved art but was a gifted painter herself. Not a day passed without Kitty ringing friends worldwide to ensure they were well and had everything they needed to be happy.
The famous Doctor to the Queen of England, the late George Pinker had once said that ” He admired two great women. Elizabeth the Queen and Kitty Irani. They were both beautiful women who fulfilled their duty with great dignity. Their legacy would stand the test of time because it was based on service to be given selflessly to all .”
We are happy to announce the upcoming launch of a beautiful coffee table book edited by our dear friend Meher Bhesania of Dubai UAE. “Zarathushtra and the Origins of Zoroastrianism” will be launched on Friday, June 1st, 2018 at the 11th World Zoroastrian Congress at Astral Ballroom, Crown Complex Perth, Australia
Book Highlights:
A story on history’s most powerful, influential and fascinating figure – Prophet Spitaman Zarathushtra
From its roots in Iran – the key turning points in the history of the Achaemenian, Parthian and Sasanian Dynasties
The story of Zoroastrianism: A chronicle of Persian civilization from ancient Iran to present era
The flowering of the Zoroastrians on Indian Soil
The visual history of the Legends and their Legacies
Authentic stories by scholars and historians on Zoroastrianism: Exploring the social, cultural, and economic legacies
Creative art watercolor paintings on Zarathushtra from birth to old age
Spectacularly illustrated articles with 410 photographs, artifacts and maps
The book makes an ideal guide on Zoroastrianism and a wonderful gift for any occasion.
Book Price: US$ 35/- (or equivalent in INR) plus Shipment /Courier
Phiroz Mehta was born on 1st October 1902 in Cambay, India. There were 5 generations of the family in the house where he was born at the time. His father was the chief superintendent of the Ceylon Wharfage Company in Ceylon, as it was then known. At the time he was well known throughout Colombo as Mr. Mehta.
At age 3 or 4 Phiroz had lessons with a tutor and he used to go to these lessons by rickshaw. One day, already possessing some authority, he ordered the rickshaw driver to take him to Royal College, as he had met one of the older pupils from this school and decided that he wanted to go there. The rickshaw driver took him there and his friend took him to to the head mistress. “I want to come to this school” he said, and henceforth that was where his schooling continued.
Phiroz’s mother had become a theosophist and so Phiroz was not only brought up as a Zoroastrian but also learned about Theosophy. At age 9 or 10 he was reading Aristotle and Plato and later went on visits with his mother to Annie Besant’s Theosophical Centre at Adyar near Madras. At age 16 he was helping to run the theosophical group in Colombo.
Phiroz had started piano lessons at school and was quite rapidly becoming a competent pianist and performer. He also had a great love of cricket as do most Indians to this day.
At 18 years Phiroz not only came top in the chemistry exams in the island but also came top in his music exams and was offered a place in the Royal College of Music in London. He offered the student who came second in music to take his place and opted for a science degree at Trinity College, Cambridge University. Since Phiroz had no birth certificate he could not get a grant and although the appeal was taken as far as the House of Lords he had no luck. Eventually private sponsorship was found and he was able to take his place.
Throughout his early years Phiroz was intensely interested in religion and he is reputed to have often run alongside the Zoroastrian priest who was riding his bicycle, asking deep philosophical questions.
While still retaining his deep interest in theosophy and the religions of the world, Phiroz immersed himself in his studies of physics, chemistry and botany at Trinity College. It was an exciting period of scientific development, with Rutherford and Thompson splitting the atom for the first time at the Cavendish Laboratory. At the same time, following in the footsteps of Sir Phirozshah Mehta, (a cousin of his father’s) he concurrently studied law at Gray’s Inn in London. After passing his exams in Criminal Law he decided to stop his law studies on the grounds that if a good barrister could convict an innocent man or free a guilty person this was unethical.
After two years of study in a foreign culture and environment, Phiroz became ill and couldn’t complete his science degree. However he was still playing the piano to a very high standard and through a friend he was introduced to Solomon who was acknowledged as one of the world class pianists of the day. After hearing Phiroz play, Solomon agreed to give Phiroz piano lessons and these continued for 8 years and ended in a friendship, which lasted until Solomon’s death.
Phiroz continued to study the world’s religions and began to express his own understanding and interpretation of what he read. He also studied astrology, nutrition and yoga and in the 1930s he developed his own method of physical education in which he gave classes, based on rhythmic movement and yogic breathing.
He gave relatively few piano concerts in Britain but in 1934 he did a successful major concert tour in India, which met with much praise.
In 1938 on board ship on a visit to India he met Silvia Shaxby, daughter of a Cardiff University lecturer and they were married in July 1939.
After the outbreak of war, Phiroz applied to joint the RAF. Partly due to severe vitamin deficiency he had developed quite serious neuritis, which meant that he was neither fit enough to join the forces nor to carry on with his career as a pianist. Friends of his father-in-law suggested he could fulfill a useful role in the war by lecturing to the troops on ‘Race, Religion and Politics in India’. This was the beginning of his lecturing career, which continued after the war under the auspices of the Central Office of Information.
Having successfully completed part of his degree at Cambridge in the early 1920s Phiroz then decided it would be good to finish it. After consultation with the university he then undertook a 10 week intensive study in history, sat the exams and was awarded his degree (1950).
Soon after this Phiroz took up school teaching (1954) which continued for the rest of his working life and the last decade of that was teaching his favourite science of chemistry in South East London comprehensive schools.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s Phiroz would give talks at the Buddhist summer Schools and in 1961/62 the Venerable Panhavaddho suggested that many people could benefit from his wisdom and he should start having meetings with groups of interested people. After an initial hesitation he started these groups in February 1962. From then on he held regular meetings in his house in Forest Hill, South East London and these continued for over 25 years.
IN 1956 Phiroz published his first book ‘Early Indian Religious Thought’ and, as he had done through all his life since childhood, he continued his study and research into world religions He was privileged to spend 4 days in 1963 with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala learning more about Mahayana Buddhism.
His second book published in 1976 was titled ’The Heart of Religion’ which he felt to be common to all of the great world religions.
Books to follow were:
‘Zarathushtra- the Transcendental Vision’ (1985)
‘Buddhahood’ (1988)
‘Holistic Consciousness’ (1989)
He gave his last lecture on his 90th birthday.
He died on May 2nd 1994. His funeral was at Gloucester Crematorium conducted in the traditional way by Zoroastrian priests. A recorded movement from one of Beethoven’s last quartets was played, at Phiroz’s request, alongside a recorded talk by Phiroz himself on the meaning of death, as he understood it.
During his lifetime Phiroz gave over 3600 talks and several hundreds of these can be accessed on the ’Phiroz Mehta Trust’ website Being Truly Human.
To ensure all Zoroastrian Agiaries and Atash Behrams — two types of fire temples, the second being of the highest order —in Mumbai have enough funds and are well-maintained, a team has been formed under Athornan Mandal to look after the upkeep of fire temples. The Mandal, an organisation which looks after priests in the community, has floated survey forms within religious organisations to compile data.
“We didn’t have a complete data of how many priests are actually working and how much they earn. There are times when some Agiaries do not have funds, as a result a few priests are paid lesser than their counterparts. As the community receives a lot of donation, through this initiative their income could be supplemented,” said Ervad Ramiyar Karanjia, committee member, Athornan Mandal.
Survey forms that have been circulated seeks details such as land area, built-up area of the property, average worshippers visiting the place, details of various rituals conducted, number of Mobeds (priests) and staff employed and the remuneration paid to them and the details of expenditure incurred by the trust.
Most of these Agiaries are managed by private trusts and are not a part of Bombay Parsi Punchayat (BPP), the main caretaker of Parsi-Zoroastrian properties in the city. As a result, doubts were raised within the community about the survey being conducted.
“A part of the community isn’t happy sharing certain details about the Agiary because it feels their rights would be infringed upon. But when the survey form was sent to us, there was a clear mention of what the details have been sought for. When the plan is initiated, it will help maintain our religious places better,” said Anahita Desai, trustee. JD Amaria Sodawaterwala Agiary, Marine Lines.
Dasturji Khurshed K Dastur, president of Athornan Mandal, said that a fund would be set-up eventually for repairs and maintenance of religious places, to provide kathi (wood), remuneration for priests and other support staff and to make the system of Agiaries and priests self-sustaining.
“It has been noted that many Agyaries in India are starved of funds and not able to maintain the property or provide for mobeds and support staff. Some of them also do not have adequate devotees visiting them, as a result of which the profession of clergy becomes unattractive to young Zoroastrians. The final plan, when prepared, will be recommendatory and implemented only if the parties concerned give their approval,” said Dastur.
The celebrated dancer collaborates with rudra veena artiste Baha úd-din Dagar for his new work
The word ‘contemporary’ that is bandied about in the performing art world today has a committed champion in Astad Deboo. The original modernist on the Indian stage, he used his Kathak and Kathakali training to come up with his own mind and body language. The twirls of Kathak and mime of Kathakali are visible, but they are part of the many influences that make up his choreography. It’s a vocabulary that defines art as a liberating experience making Deboo’s works throb with a rare energy.
Taking forward this vision, the 70-year-old dancer will collaborate with rudra veena artiste Mohi Baha úd-din Dagar to establish a connect between contemporary dance form and Indian classical music.
This experimental presentation, an excerpt of a larger production to be premiered this year end, will be staged as part of Mudra Dance Festival at Tata Theatre in Mumbai today.
“Whether I am dancing or not, I am constantly in movement. Sometimes, it’s a physical journey and at times, an emotional trip. And I embark upon them to find new ways of expressing through nuanced dance imagery. I met Baha úd-din Dagar, three years ago, at the SPIC-MACAY convention. Kiran Seth, the founder, asked me to come up with something impromptu and I took Baha úd-din on board too. Since then I had been thinking of roping him in for a choreographic work. So here we are,” says an excited Deboo.
Joining the two artistes will be a young pakhawaj player, Pratap. Though the production will largely revolve round raga Bhimpalas, it will not be strictly driven by the technicalities of Hindustani music.
“It is more about the camaraderie between Baha úd-din and me. The rapport helps in more ways than one. Despite the diversity in the thought process, approach and genre, the singular purpose comes through clearly in the work,” says Deboo, who has always been fond of dhrupad.
“Like my dance, dhrupad is vigorous one moment and meditative the next. This made my collaboration earlier with the Gundecha Brothers exciting. Like the way they unravel the many layers of their music, slowly and steadily, I too invest a lot of thought into every move and gesture. I like the dance to grow on me and the audience at its own pace.”
His cross-genre productions have taken Deboo around the world. And they have often been driven by a social purpose too.
“Artistes are basically healers. We could rid the world of many ills, bring a smile on faces and soothe minds. It was as satisfying to work with the hearing impaired and the street children of Salaam Balak Trust as it has been with the other established artistes.”
The rhythm of Manipuri drums, notes of shakuhachi, Hindustani swaras, Rumi’s poetry…Deboo’s oeuvre has no boundary.
We are happy to learn that a new book titled ‘Zenobia Mistri: Teacher par Excellence’ by author Shireen Isal
A young girl, with gritty determination, pursues her college education in Bombay (now Mumbai), then goes on to successfully obtain her doctorate from the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris, France – not a given in the Bombay of the 1920s and 30s, when most girls were destined to a life of domesticity – thereby defying social conventions of the time! On her return to Bombay, she, in turn, offers the gift of education to women aspiring to a better life. Through teaching – her profession of choice from an early age – she acquires something loftier: the power to transform lives, to enhance the independence and self-esteem of young aspirants, rich and poor alike, through learning.
Thus did Zenobia Mistri (née Bamboat) not only pursue an exceptional path all her own but went on to become one of the most iconic teachers of French language and literature in twentieth century Bombay. Over a period spanning fifty years, scores of her students benefited from her brilliant grasp of the language and her unique ability to teach it. Her generosity of spirit and commitment to her work touched many hearts. Through teaching, Zenobia found her own voice which she used to brilliant effect. In revealing the merits of the language and its poetic beauty, she became a link between east and west, India and France, creating a powerful legacy and proving a unique ambassador for that country.
FEEDBACK:
‘A vivid and sensitive portrait of the aspirations and possibilities as reflected in the spirit of Zenobia Bamboat Mistri, a talented young woman from a Parsi family in Karachi; her inspiring search for an intimacy with French language and literature; her unwavering commitment to family and friends; and the art of making teaching a compelling experience several times a day. The author has portrayed all this with economy, grace and warmth.’
Prof. Homi K. Bhabha Anne F. Rothenberg Professor of the Humanities, Department of English, Director, Mahindra Humanities Center, Senior Advisor on the Humanities to the President and Provost, Harvard University
‘For the monumental work you have accomplished with so much love and care and hours of hard work, our deepest appreciation.’
Mehroo Golvala and Gool Mistri, grandchildren of Pirosha and Zenobia Mistri, Mumbai, India
‘What an extensively researched and vivid account of Zenobia’s life. And how perfectly placed you are to have written it! Enjoyed the easy and fluid read. Am sure her spirit rejoices at this publication!’
Yasmin Stafford, student of Zenobia Mistri, Mumbai, India
‘I bow to you. The book is more precious than a Rembrandt.’
Neville Golvala, great grandson of Pirosha and Zenobia Mistri, USA
‘I have already dipped into it and it promises to be fascinating both because of the Karachi connection as well as the link Zenobia forged between India and France, Bombay and Paris and which you now embody.’
Kairas Kabraji, Karachi, Pakistan
‘Ton hommage à Zénobia est remarquable, bien écrit, bien documenté. Un bel hommage et un vrai travail de recherches. Bravo!’
Geneviève Pascaud Bécane, auteur, Paris, France
‘It’s a true labour of love on your part. And it takes lots of painstaking research lovingly pieced together to produce it.’
Alaknanda Samarth, actor, London, UK
‘I didn’t know her, and yet you have brought her to life in a way that the reader can actually evoke her from your descriptions. You have also created a picture of her times and the Parsi community in that day…the language is very readable.’
Meher Pocha, London, UK
The image above is of Zenobia in Paris in the early nineteen thirties Photo (detail): Collège de France. Institut d’études indiennes, Rapport d’activités de lCI 1932-1933, Page 5. (Collège de France, Institute of Indian studies, ICI Activity Report 1932-1933, Page 5)
In the Parsiana bookshop in Mumbai, India (Rs.399/-)
(K. K. (Navsari) Chambers, Ground Floor, (Opp. St. Cathedral School side entrance) 39B, Amrit Keshav Nayak Road, Fort, Mumbai 400001. India. Tel: +91-22-2207 8104 * +91-22-2207 7543 * +91-22-2207 2624)
Saraswati Devi was a Parsi, born as Khursheed Minocher Homji, in 1912.
India’s first female composer, Saraswati Devi had a sonorous legacy which met an abrupt end as she was swiftly erased from memory and compelled to live a reclusive life, writes Sharad Dutt.
Towards the end of 1933, a young couple arrived in Bombay carrying two highly acclaimed silent feature films, The Light of Asia and Shiraz, which had earlier been screened across several cities in Europe. This celebrity couple was Himanshu Rai and Devika Rani, who together laid the foundation of the prestigious Bombay Talkies Limited, in 1934. Himanshu Rai had brought with him, Franz Osten, the director of these films and other technicians including cameraman Josef Wirsching from Germany. Soon, he prepared a strong team of producer S Mukherjee, director Gyan Mukherjee, Amiya Chakravarty, actors Devika Rani, Najam-ul-Hasan, Ashok Kumar,and the legendary Saraswati Devi, India’s very first female music composer.
Saraswati Devi was a Parsi, born as Khursheed Minocher Homji, in 1912.
She was trained along with her younger sister Manek by Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande in Lucknow. With the advent of broadcasting in India, in 1927, Homji sisters started singing in the Bombay studio and subsequently, formed their own orchestra. While Khursheed played the organ her sister excelled at sitar, dilruba and mandolin. Himanshu Rai was introduced to them by poet-actor Harindranath Chattopadhyay (brother of Sarojini Naidu). He was mightily impressed by their singing and offered them to join Bombay Talkies. After stiff resistance from the Parsi community, they finally conceded, and Himanshu Rai rechristened them as Saraswati Devi and Chandra Prabha respectively.
Saraswati Devi made her debut with Jawani Ki Hawa (1935), directed by Franz Osten, starring Devika Rani and Najam-ul-Hasan. There were strong protests by the conservative Parsi community that a Parsi woman had joined the film industry as a music director; but due to intervention of Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney, a renowned philanthropist-industrialist, the community was pacified.
Legendary actor Ashok Kumar made his debut with Jeevan Naiyya. Saraswati Devi had to work very hard to compose the tunes keeping in mind the range of Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani. Jamuna Swaroop Kashyap was the lyricist of Bombay Talkies.
The film which stormed the nation with the music of Saraswati Devi was Achhut Kanya. Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani paired once again. Its numbers were sung everywhere in the country. Kaahe karta pyaar sung by Ashok Kumar in Raag Maand was heart-rending. The film was a great success that made Saraswati Devi and Devika Rani popular overnight.
In films Mamta and Miyan Bibi, Devika Rani was seen playing a gramophone record in a scene. Saraswati Devi calculated the running time of the record and recorded the song in her voice. Maand was Saraswati Devi’s favourite raga. She composed several compositions in Maand. Janam Bhoomi (1936) was a patriotic film with several songs of nationalistic fervour, Jai jai janini janambhoomi (Chandra Prabha) being one of them.
Saraswati Devi was the backbone of Bombay Talkies’ films. She created soulful compositions in Bhabhi. Vachan, too, had a popular number and poignant duets in Devika Rani-Ashok Kumar’s voice. After hearing these songs, the chief of All India Radio Bukhari Saheb brought Balwant Singh on the staff of AIR.
Saraswati Devi composed songs in Kangan starring Ashok Kumar and Leela Chitnis. There were several hit songs. Kavi Pradeep had a long association with Bombay Talkies and he wrote Hawa dheere baho in half an hour. Ashok Kumar was impressed, indeed!
Bombay Talkies introduced the maverick Marathi actor Hansa Wadkar in Nav Jeevan. This was the last film directed by Franz Osten (being a German, with the outbreak of the Second World War, he was arrested by the British, and kept in Deolali Camp). Saraswati Devi recorded four songs in Hansa Wadkar’s voice including a very popular number, Pyaari ke pran Bharati ki shaan and Chandra kiran se poochha maine.
Soon Bombay Talkies gave a hit film Bandhan directed by NR Acharya. Once again, Ashok Kumar and Leela Chitnis were in the lead. Saraswati Devi composed a memorable number in Bandhan, Chalchal re naujawan (Ashok Kumar), which attained a cult status. Rukna sako to aao was sung by Arun Kumar (cousin of Ashok Kumar), a talented singer in Bombay Talkies who sang very popular numbers under the baton of Saraswati Devi. His song, Chana jor garam babu main laya mazedaar became the refrain of gram vendors for years in the streets.
Ramchandra Pal and Saraswati Devi were teamed together in Punar Milan starring Kishore Sahu and Sneh Prabha Pradhan. The film is remembered even today for its dance number, Naacho nacho pyaare man kemoh (Sneh Prabha), composed by Saraswati Devi.
Another Ashok Kumar-Leela Chitnis starrer Jhoola was directed by Gyan Mukherjee. Saraswati Devi yet again composed several hit numbers.
After the untimely demise of Himanshu Rai, Devika Rani took charge of Bombay Talkies. Soon differences cropped up between S Mukherjee, Rai Bahadur Chunnilal and Devika Rani. Two teams were formed, one led by S Mukherjee and another by Devika Rani. It was decided that they would produce films alternatively. S Mukherjee produced Naya Sansaar directed by NR Acharya with Ashoka-Renuka Devi. S Mukherjee continued to work with Saraswati Devi but Amiya Chakraborty preferred to work with composer Anil Biswas of National Studios. S Mukherjee produced Kismat, directed by Gyan Mukherjee, became a super duper hit. Anil Biswas composed for Kismat as he had formally joined Bombay Talkies. Soon, the split got wider as S Mukherjee, Rai Bahadur Chunnilal and Ashok Kumar launched their own banner, Filmistan, and brought SD Burman as their music director.
Thereafter, Saraswati Devi became a freelance music director. She worked with Sohrab Modi and gave music in four blockbusters of Modi’s Minerva Movietone – Bhakt Raidas, Prithvi Vallabh, Dr Kumar and Parakh.
The musical trend was changing very fast in the films. Saraswati Devi’s classical-based tunes took a back seat, but she continued as a freelancer. Films like Amarpali and Anarkali directed by Nand Lal Jaswantlal didn’t do well despite Saraswati Devi.
Saraswati Devi derived great satisfaction in recording some songs with Lata Mangeshkar: Lehron pe kabhi nachoon, (Lata), Aangan mein chandni chamke chham (Lata-Rajkumari) in Usha Haran (1949); in 1950, Saraswati Devi bid adieu to filmdom and started teaching music. Both Saraswati Devi and Chandra Prabha remained spinsters and Chandra Prabha took up a job as a librarian. Saraswati Devi spent her last days in Bombay as an unsung hero. When she fell down from a local bus and fractured her leg, she had no money even for her treatment. Her neighbours and friends donated money for her recuperation. What a sad reflection that S Mukherjee and Ashok Kumar, her associates in Bombay Talkies, didn’t extend any financial assistance!
Saraswati Devi passed away in 1980 at 68. One sincerely hopes that whenever the history of Bombay Talkies is documented, this inimitable path-breaking composer’s contribution would be given her deserving due.
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