HAMAZOR - ISSUE 3 2017 · 20 “Like Sugar in Milk ... Dinshaw J Irani’s booklet called ‘Understanding the Gathas - The Hymns of Zarathushtra’ which was printed by Kaikhosrov

HAMAZOR - ISSUE 3 2017

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C o n t e n t s

WZO WEBSITE

www.w-z-o.org

PHOTOGRAPHS

Courtesy of individualswhose articles appear inthe magazine or asmentioned

03 Editorial06 Resolution in honour of Ervad (Dr) Jehan Bagli07 Visit to Baku - shahpur captain11 Times of India 1905 article13 A tribute to a glorious event in N America - behroze daruwalla15 Parsi Traders & Travellers - jesse palsetia20 “Like Sugar in Milk”21 The little-known History ... - anver alikhan24 Palaces of Ancient Persia ... - charles choi27 Oil Tanker Zoroaster - Nostalgia - jehangir mehta30 Launch of the Bicentenary of HMS Trincomalee

- malcolm deboo32 Are we missing the Woods for the Trees? - anahita subedar35 The Right Honourable Judge Firdaus Dordi

- teenaz javat38 In Conversation with Hu - dinsha mistree41 The Girl from Matunga - roeinton khambatta43 The Bambusa Bike - vijay chrishna46 History of Murree Brewery Polo Cup Tournament

- isphanyar bhandara48 FEZANA celebrates 30th - yasmin pavri54 The 11th Zoroastrian Congress, Perth - firoz pestonji55 Bombastic Bollywood - Part II - tehnaz bahadurji60 In Hot Blood by Bachi Karkaria

A Personal Memoir - bapsi sidhwaA Review - anvar alikhanAn excerpt from the Book

65 Parzor-TISS Book Launch - binaifer sahukar

COVER

The Right Honourable Judge Firdaus Dordipage 35

Prof K D Irani addressinghis New York communityon the opening of theirDar-e-Mehr on 26 March,2016. Photo credit ArZanWadia.

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Sponsored by The Firoz Madon Foundation

M e m b e r s o f t h e M a n a g i n g C o m m i t t e e

Printed by:A A Graphics1721/31 LAC No 2Karachi 75420Pakistan

Funded by:The Firoz Madon FoundationLondon, UK

Cover design by:Tannaz MinwallaKarachi, Pakistan

Design & layout by:Toxy CowasjeeKarachi, Pakistan

Volume LXXIV - Issue 3 2017

Note: WZO’s committee is extensive, these are just a few of the names given for member’s convenience

London, England

Mr Shahpur CaptainChairmanE-mail: [email protected]

Mr SammyBhiwandiwallaPresidentE-mail: [email protected]

Mr Darayus S MotivalaMs Shahin BekhhradniaHon SecretariesE-mail: [email protected]

Mrs Monaz M PatelMembership SecretaryE-mail:[email protected]

Er Jehan BagliToronto, CanadaE-mail:[email protected]

Mr Dadi E MistryNew Delhi, IndiaE-mail:[email protected]

Mrs Meher AmerseyMumbai, IndiaEmail:[email protected]

The World Zoroastrian Organisation

Mr Rostam YeganegiVancouver, CanadaEmail:[email protected]

Mr Darius MistryAucklandNew ZealandE-mail:[email protected]

Mrs Toxy CowasjeeKarachi, PakistanE-mail:[email protected]

Mr Russi GhadialiSingaporeE-mail:[email protected]

Dastur Kersey AntiaVice PresidentIllinois, USAE-mail:[email protected]

Mr Kayomarsh MehtaPresident, US ChapterIllinois, USAE-mail:[email protected]


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rom the EditorF

As the Hamazor goes to press, we have heard the sad news of our belovedProf K D Irani going to his heavenly abode.

Though known to his friends as KD or Keku, I could only refer to him asKaikhosrov as to me and to so many others, he was just too refined ahuman being to be called by anything other than his given name. I had theprivilege of being introduced during WZO’s First Gatha Colloquium, London,held in 1993 which he helped organise, and for me it was instant bonding.

Kaikhosrov was on WZO’s International Board since 1984, Vice Presidentduring 1989-92 and a constant face participating for many of our lecturesand seminars. In 1990 on the occasion of WZO’s 10th Anniversary,Kaikhosrov was honoured for his service towards the Zarathushtrianreligion.

The community has probably lost the finest mind we had, sharing hiswisdom and knowledge quietly with all those who listened. He spoke withreason and left it to one’s own mind to accept or not. His face resonatedwith empathy and kindness – leaving all those who came in touch with himhaving a deep affection.

To portray two small personal gestures of kindness of Kaikhosrov. Yearsago in 1995 a simple letter was sent, requesting Piroja and him to visitKarachi so that he could talk to us, a community who seldom has lecturerson our religion especially the likes of him. Promptly came the reply it would

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be his pleasure and in so doing, not only did he address the community butseparately, in a more simplistic level talked to our Parsi school children andstaff of the Mama Parsi School and the BVS Parsi School.

The last time he contributed in the Hamazor, though he had fallen, beenthrough surgery and was finding it difficult to walk, had hand written hispiece as he normally did, walked to the post office so that he could fax itto me, just so that it would come in time. A gesture of kindness never tobe forgotten.

Having retired after 60 years of teaching at the City University in New Yorkat the age of 90, he leaves behind a multitude of students who havebenefitted from his wisdom and methodology of teaching, resulting in asingular honour bestowed on him, the establishment of the K D Irani Chairof Philosophy. What better memory can one leave behind?

Thankfully during Kaikhosrov’s lifetime, Hamazor carried his image on itscover for Issue 2 of 2013 in celebration of his 90th birthday together withtributes and landmark images. Today regretfully, but with sincere fondnesswe remember our friend, fellow committee member and Professor, for thegood Zarathushtrian life he led. May his soul rest in heavenly peace withhis beloved Piroja.

The back cover which normally carries a quote from the Gathas using Prof Insler’stranslation, for this issue I have used a translation from Kaikhosrov’s father,Dinshaw J Irani’s booklet called ‘Understanding the Gathas - The Hymns ofZarathushtra’ which was printed by Kaikhosrov in 1994.

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As Chairman of WZO I received ane-mail from Farroukh Jorat, an AzerbaijaniZoroastrian about a couple of years ago,enquiring if we would be willing to restorethe ancient Atashkadeh at Khinalig, whichwas a place of pilgrimage and prayers bylocal people since Sasanian times. Aftercorresponding with Farroukh and beingmade aware that the cost would be $5,000,the WZO committee decided to restore thisAtashkadeh. Farroukh promised to keep meposted with the progress of the building ofthe Atashkadeh. There was only a shortperiod in the summer to do the work beforethe onset of severe winter. Almost at thetail-end of the construction, I received an e-mail asking me to send a further $3900demanded by the Government forauthorising work to proceed. Farroukh paidthis amount from the $5000 WZO hadremitted and so had no funds to progressthe work.

At this point of time, I approached FiruzMadon Foundation to donate $5000 towhich the Trustees agreed and the schemebecame a joint venture of WZO and FiruzMadon Foundation. This amount wasremitted to Farroukh and the restorationwork was completed.

The last photograph of the natural firereceived from Farroukh of the restoredAtashkadeh was so powerful, burning sobright, that instantly I found myself recitingone Ashem and Ahunavar prayers beforethat fire on my screen. I decided to visit thisAtashkadeh in 2017.

As agreed with Farroukh, we landed atBaku International Airport at 6am on the 26th

of May. Later in the afternoon Farroukh andI went to the Government offices to meetthe Chief of the Department of Preservationand Restoration of Ancient Monuments.There we met Mrs Konul Jafarova, a slimelderly lady in Western attire and Fuad,Director of Baku Atashgah. I had a long

Visit to Baku from 26th - 30th May, 2017by shahpur captain

conversation with them. The Government ofAzerbaijan had done a lot to restore andpreserve ancient Zoroastrian monumentsand were very happy to assist us inrestoring the Atashkadeh at Khinalig. Theywould continue to help if we were willing toassist in the restoration of other suchmonuments in Azerbaijan which during theSasanian period were all Zoroastrian. Weagreed to meet Fuad at the BakuAtashkadeh the next day.

That Saturday evening (26 th May) we wentto the “old town”, which looked very pretty atnight with electric lights galore and ancientfort walls well restored. In there stood around stone tower which we were informedhad seven fires burning inside and was aZoroastrian place of worship. Unfortunately,it was late in the evening and we wereunable to go in the tower. We had to satisfyourselves by taking a photo of this imposingancient monument.

Thereafter, we went to the home of areputed local artist / sculptor, who lived inthe old town. Apparently Huseyn Haqverdiwas well known locally and internationally.He was an abstract artist and his petite wifewas a puppeteer. Their flat was crowdedwith abstract paintings and stonesculptures.

Next day, Sunday, we were supposed to goto the Atashkadeh at Khinalig, but the tripwas postponed to Monday, as we had notreceived the permission from the military inthat area. Khinalig is 27 kms from theRussian border and falls within the MilitaryZone. The local population can travel freelywithin the militarised zone and go to theAtashkadeh but those from outside needpermission whenever the Russians blockthe border.

As Sunday was now free, we visited theBaku Atashkadeh. It was well preservedand maintained by the Department of

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Antiquities.It is fortifiedwith livingquarterswithin afairly largecompound.There wemet Fuad,Director oftheMonumentand thepersonresponsiblefor it’s

maintenance and orderly running as aMuseum. There is an Atashkadeh in thecentre of the fortified area, encasing thenatural flame coming out of the ground andburning ever so brilliantly, with anotherspouting out of the ground to the rear rightof the Atashkadeh. The brilliance of theflames was eye-catching. One could nothelp but recite spontaneously Ashem andAhunavar prayers. The fortified enclosedspace is referred to as Baku AtashkadehCaravanserai. The walled area had“residential rooms” for travellers to occupy.One such was for Zoroastrians, some forSikhs, Hindus etc. At the request of theperson in charge of this monument, Inderjitread the Punjabi inscriptions on one of theresidential areas.

Our tripto Bakucoincidedwith thatof KuroshGustashpAryana ofBozorgBozorgastAssociationofNorway,who hasbeenhelping

those who wish to convert to Zoroastrianismto go through their Sudreh Pushi ceremony(Navjote). He had arranged with Farroukh to

have such a Navjoteceremony of eight wouldbe Zoroastrians, majority ofwhom were from Iran, tobe performed at the BakuAtashkadeh. Four men andfour ladies all dressed inwhite clothes, proudlyshowing their sudreh. TheNavjote ceremony wasperformed by Kuroshdressed in priestly garband the kustis were tiedwhilst reciting prayers. Theceremony, a bit different from the onesknown to Parsis was solemn and dignified.The setting was just ideal. After theceremony we congratulated the Navjoteeswho reflected happiness on their faces atbeing Zoroastrians. Kurosh follows up withnew Zoroastrians with studies throughSkype tuitions.

OnMonday26th May,Farroukhpicked usup in avan alongwithKuroshAryana,hiscolleaguefromOslo, a “new Zoroastrian” of some yearsstanding and few others at 9am. We wereready for our visit to the Atashkadeh atKhinalig. The van journey took almost threehours. As we climbed the mountain range,the scenery was beautifully green with topsof mountains covered in snow. It was sunnybut there was a cold wind. At Khinalig wewere joined by some more Iranians.

We were welcomed by Hasan ShahkaramAghayev, a modest man who had built theAtashkadeh with local workers from thevillage. He was short, sun tanned withshinning bright light brown eyes, typical ofmountain folks. As suddenly so many haddescended compared to just the five

The Atashkadeh at Baku

Sudreh Pushi ceremony at the Atashkadah


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originallycomingwithFarroukh,at veryshortnotice,Hasanand hiswifehad tolay outa

veritable feast.

After lunch, we were informed that theBorder Military had closed the border at therequest of the Russian Border Guards dueto some terrorist activity on the Russianside of the border. Farroukh and Hasanwent up the mountain to negotiate with theborder guards to allow Farroukh, Hasan,Inderjit and myself to visit the Atashkadehfor a brief period of time. Farroukh andHasan returned with a “nyet”. I thenrequested Hasan to go back, fix the plaqueon the Atashkadeh which showed it wasrestored by The World ZoroastrianOrganisation and Firuz Madon Foundationand to take some photos of the Atashkadeh.Hasan went up again with a local friend.The friend was not allowed in the militarisedzone and Hasan was escorted by a soldierwith his sten gun at the ready. Hasanreturned with the photos including one ofthe plaque fitted on the walls of theAtashkadeh.

Naturally Inderjit and myself were upset atthis sudden turn of events and my wish tosay the Atash-ni-nayash at the Atashkadehcould not be fulfilled. It was a sad day, sonear yet so far.

Whilst in Khinalig, we visited two localmuseums which were interesting. Theywere situated further up the mountainresulting in my suffering altitude sickness.One of the museums had a metal oil lampwith a glass chimney. It reminded me of myschool days when we studied from lightemanating from such an oil lamp. It wasmuch later that electricity came to Karachi.

Enjoying Mr & Mrs Hasan Shahkaram Aghayev’s hospitality

I thankedHasan forbuilding theAtashkadehand for hishospitalitythat day, inaddition tohis going upand downthemountain tohelp mefulfil mywish to seeand pray at

the Atashgah. My genuinethanks were acknowledgedgracefully by Hasan. We thenleft Khinalig in our bus,returning to the hotel at 10pm.Before leaving, I requestedFarroukh to have lunch with usat the hotel at noon when wetalked about Zoroastrians inBaku / Azerbaijan, the attitudeof the Government topopulation turning to Zoroastrianism etc.

That evening Mr & Mrs Mehdihad arranged a special performance ofMuzorgh music at the flat of Huseyn

The restored Atashkadeh undertaken by WZO & The FirozMadon Foundation

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Haqverdi. The three musicians gave anexcellent performance and presented mewith a disc of their music. From there, wewent to an art gallery in the old townshowing the surreal paintings of the son ofHuseyn Haqverdi, which was full of youngand old.

The next day, Tuesday, we were set todepart from Baku in the evening and sotook the opportunity to invite Mr & MrsMehdi and their lovely son Ferren for lunchto say a thank you for looking after usduring our stay in Baku.

Our visit was for just four days but weseemed to have done much more in thisshort period than if we had stayed for aweek.

May Azerbaijanis return to the Zoroastrianfold so that Zoroastrians do not become afootnote in history.

Performance of Muzorgh music at Huseyn Haqverdi’s flat

Group photo at Khinalig

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Shahpur Captain, originally from Karachi,immigrated to UK in 1956. His contribution to theZoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (ZTFE) havebeen outstanding. During these 25 years he extendedthe pervious Zoroastrian House, placed its financeson a strong footing, forced the Brookwood Cemeterycompany to cede the freehold of the existing burialground and provide further lands for just GBP1 andconverted the association into a charity. In 1980,Shahpur formed the World Zoroastrian Organisation(WZO) London and has been working ceaselesslysince then.

Indejit, Ferren & I

For those who may havemissed reading thejourney leading to thecompletion of theAtashkadeh, please referto Issue 1/2017 pp 8-12.


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Times of India - Wednesday, 24th May, 1905New Fire Temple at Bhuj opened by the Rao of Kutch

shared by great grandson maneck bhujwalla

The ceremony of consecrating a firetemple at Bhuj, built at the expense of thelate Khan Bahadur Pestonji SorabjiBhujwalla, was performed on Friday, lastweek, by his Highness Maharao ShriKengarji Sawai Bahadur, in the presence ofa large gathering. The ceremony wasparticularly interesting in that a Parseeplace of worship was being opened by aHindu Prince. It was the desire of the donorto have the building opened at the hands ofhis Highness and a day was fixed for thatpurpose last year, but Khan BahadurPestonji suddenly died and it was with aview to carrying out the wishes of his lateofficer that his Highness was pleased toaccept the invitation of the relations of thelate Khan Bahadur to declare the buildingopen prior to the ceremony of theinstallation of the sacred fire by the priests.A large shamiana was erected in thecompound and among those present werehis Highness Rao Khengarji, GCIE; KuvurMadheva, heir-apparent; Kuvur Kuluba,CIE; Kuvur Manuba; Colonel Abud, PoliticalAgent; Dr Damania; Mr Chunilal Sarabhai,Dewan; Mr Chotalal Sevakram, privatesecretary; Mr Pallonji Bejonji and manyothers.

In the course of an eloquent speechrequesting his Highness to declare the newtemple open, Mr Dhanjishah Sorabji,brother of the deceased, said :“Your Highness Maharaja Dhiraj MirzaMaha Rao Shri Sat Sir Khengarji SavaiBahadur, GCIE, Colonel Abud, Ladies andGentlemen. Allow us to thank you all foryour presence in the name of our mostrevered worthy father Khan BahadurPestonji Sorabji Bhujwala. We have methere this evening for the purpose of openingfor use as a “Sacred Fire Temple,” thisbuilding with all the articles of furniturepertaining to its use, which was built and

furnished entirely at the expense, of our latefather Khan Bahadur Pestonji SorabjiBhujwala, to perpetuate the memory of hislate good father Sorabji Dadabhai Bhujwalawho for the whole of his life had been amerchant and a respectable Governmentcontractor in Cutch and Kathiawar. No suchsacred institution has existed in the wholeprovince of Cutch until to-day, and thenecessity for such a place of worship wasgreatly felt. We most certainly consider agreat favour and honour to see theinstitution opened at the auspicious handsof our royal noble patron his HighnessMaharaja Maha Rao Shri Sir Khengarji whoalways has at heart our welfare andinterest, and whose benevolent protectionour ancestors, as well as our worthy dearfather Khan Bahadur Pestonji Sorabji, havealways enjoyed. To the Hindu Princes ofIndia, the Parsis also owe their politicaleducation and advancement, for it was bythem, that they were first admitted toimportant administrative posts of trust andconfidence in their States and there ishardly a Native State in the BombayPresidency at present, wherein Parsis arenot ‘en evidence’ more or less. Baroda, thepremier native Hindu State, has at present aParsi Dewan, and similarly other importantnative States such as Kolahpur, Cutch,Rutlam, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Junagadh,and Gondal, have at one time or another,taken a Parsi as their Dewan or NaebDewan. Most of the Parsis living in Cutchowe their position and prosperity to thebenevolence and generosity of hisHighness Maharaja Rao Shri Sir Khengarji.We now request you Majaraja Rao Shri SirKhengarji to favour us in opening thebuilding with your auspicious hands anddeclare it open for use. Allow us to say oncemore that whatever has been accomplishedfor the good of the cantonment of Bhuj andelsewhere by our late respected father

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Khan Bahadur Pestonji Sorabji Bhujwaladuring his lifetime was entirely due to thegracious encouragement and generoustreatment he had invariably received at thehands of his noble patron Maharaja RaoSahib Sir Khengarji. We beg most cordiallyto thank his Highness Maharaja Rao SahebSir Khengarji and you all for the honour thathas been done to us today.”

His Highness then opened the lock on thedoor of the building with a silver key anddeclared the building open for theperformance of the ceremony of theconsecration of the fire by the priests,according to their religious rituals. HisHighness then addressed the assembly. Hesaid :“Colonel Abud, ladies and gentlemen, – I havebeen requested to preside at to-day’sproceedings and it is in compliance with theearnest wishes of the members of the familyof the late lamented Mr Pestonji that I haveconsented to undertake the duty. But wecannot proceed without being moved with atouch of melancholy sympathy for the losswhich the family has sustained. However, asthe late gentleman has a good record behind,the family concerned should try to assuagetheir sorrows. It may here be added that hewas a zealous officer of the Durbar and didhis duty earnestly wherever he was placed.Moreover, he was well known to the public ofBhuj as a citizen who possessed widesympathies and a goodness of heart. I believeit would not be inappropriate to remark that allthe duties which we are enjoined by religion toundertake the one that contributes towardsthe worship and adoration of the Most High ispre-eminently the best and most worthy ofadoption. In conclusion, I hope all present onthis occasion will cooperate with me indeclaring open the Fire Temple which I nowdo. It will be honoured with its consecration bythe religious part of the ceremony to beperformed, as I am informed at the hands ofthe Parsi priests a few days after. Lastly, Imay express my thanks to the members ofthe family for having particularly wished me topreside over a ceremonial function which,properly speaking, should be presided over bya privileged member of their own community.”

The usual nazranas were offered to hisHighness and the Kuvars, and in return H Hthe Rao presented poshaks to Mr Pestonji’ssons and brothers, and this terminated theproceedings.

Pestonji Ardeshir Bhujwalla, a former pilot inthe Indian Airlines, has brought to ourattention, funds are required to maintain theDar-e-Meher and Aramgah. His plan is tobuild a structure in the compound as anoffice and renting it out, which would give asteady income to supplement themaintenance cost of the Dar-e-Meher. Thecost of the construction is IRs35 lakhs for a2,000 sq ft building. Please considerdonating to “Shri Kutch Parsi Anjuman TrustFund” which can be mailed to the Trustee,Captain Pestonji Ardeshir Bhujwalla, No. 4,Babulnath Road, Mumbai 400007, Indiaor by emailing Maneck Bhujwalla [email protected]

Some images of the interior are on https://zoroastrians.net/2010/04/19/bhuj-agiary-photos/

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Photo credit Katie Bhujwalla

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Zoroastrian Society of Washington State(ZSWS) is a Member Association ofFederation of Zoroastrian Associations ofNorth America (FEZANA) based in Seattle,Washington State. It has over 70 Irani andParsi families. However, they do not have aMobed available to conduct any Zarathushticeremonies and rituals in their proximity.

At the FEZANA AGM in Seattle some yearsago, the then NAMC President MobedKobad Zarolia was approached by AlayarDabestani with an urgent need to have aMobedyar trained in Seattle to performbasic ceremonies for Irani as well as Parsifamilies and suggested a very capable andenthusiastic Irani gentleman, JamshidPouresfandiary as their candidate to be aNAMC Mobedyar.

As required by the NAMC MobedyarManual; Alayar sent a formal request for thesame to Mobed Kobad Zarolia and NAMCagreed to train Jamshid Pouresfandiary.NAMC requested Mobed Soli P Dastur to bethe mentor for Jamshid who readily agreedto this request.

Initially, Soli and Jamshid started theirjourney by communicating via telephone.Mobed Soli sent the NAMC MobedyarManual to Jamshid and the training forbasic prayers commenced. However, thismode of communication was cumbersomeand a recommendation from anotherMobedyar candidate, Hormuzd Katki fromWashington, DC, to train via Skype and thatdid the trick! The training becamemeaningful and encouraged both theMentor and the Mentee to move forwardexpeditiously.

Both faced many obstacles during thetraining to test their commitment to thisproject which included health issues of

A Tribute to a Glorious Event in North America

Mobed Soli Dastur but that did not deter eitherparty to back off or give up the project. Thetraining may have slowed down a little but theenthusiasm and commitment did not waver.Regular meetings / training were held onSundays from various locations in USA andUdvada so that the chain and continuity oftraining was never compromised.

All prayers prescribed in the NAMC Manualwith additional new ones that could helpand were required by a Mobedyar, werefollowed. Mobed Soli put in considerableeffort to create audio files for all prayerswith translations so that a Mobedyar couldbenefit in his training. Books on Jashan andObsequies written by stalwarts in ourcommunity - Mobeds Jehan Bagli and AdiUnwalla were utilized and proved veryhelpful and essential for this process.

At each Skype Mobedyar Training, the houseof both Mentor and Mentee would be filledwith prayers recited by Jamshid and MobedSoli which enriched the training with correctpronunciations, meaning and even historicalbackground as appropriate. This created thetrue essence of the training so that Jamshidnot only learnt the prayers but imbibed thepower of Zoroastrian prayers and rituals.What is remarkable is that Mobed Soli like atrue Zarathushti consciously kept an excelworksheet to keep track of the prayers andthe progress of this training.

The enthusiasm, perseverance andunimaginable efforts put in by Jamshid tolearn and Mobed Soli to teach is beyondcomparison. Mobed Soli insists that theeagerness to learn and the positive attitudeof Jamshid was instrumental in making thistraining a success for he has not seen anybetter Humdin for this kind of Mobedyartraining.

The Humdin and Mobed built such a greatrapport that many times, they compared

by behroze daruwalla - mumbai

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Parsi prayers with Irani prayers and it wasJamshid who helped Soli understand thedifference. Mobed Soli left no stone unturnedto provide Jamshid with Irani prayers throughgood offices of Mobed Mehraban Firouzgary inTehran as well as Mobed Fariborz Shahzadi ofCalifornia and in that process Mobed Soli alsohappily proclaims that he learnt quite a bitabout Irani prayers, ceremonies, and customs.

Finally, it was time to launch Jamshid as aMobedyar ...What started as a journey in July 2015 wasabout to culminate into fruition after havingcrossed all hurdles and challenges over theyears!

NAMC President Arda Minocherhomjirequested Mobed Tehemton Mirza to give theexam to Jamshid as required by the NAMCMobedyar manual and Jamshid passed theexam with flying colors. Tehemton was veryimpressed by Jamshid’s knowledge of therequired prayers by a NAMC Mobedyar andabove all he was really mesmerized byJamshid’s prayers. Tehemton informed theNAMC AGM in Toronto that “Jamshid doesnot pray ... He sings!” High praise indeed forany Mobedyar!

Jamshid’s Initiation was held in Seattle onSaturday June 3 rd in front of over 80 Irani andParsis. Jamshid was first given a Nahan inhis home by Soli and then Jamshidperformed the Daily Prayers with Soli beforethe Jashan ceremony followed by the JashanCeremony with Soli as his Rathwi, helper.The whole initiation was wonderfullyperformed by Jamshid. At the end of Jashanceremony, all prayed together 21 Yatha and12 Ashem as well as the Doa Tandoorasti,and history was created in North America!

Mobed Soli did not hesitate to give a glowingtribute to Jamshid for his enthusiasm,perseverance, and ‘always ready attitude’ tolearn and thanked the people of ZSWS,especially Alayar Dabestani and MahrukhMotafram, for their continued involvement in theprocess as well as NAMC for giving him aunique chance to train an Iranian Humdin to bea NAMC Mobedyar. He specifically directed hisrequest to the Parsi families to use Jamshid

from now on as a Mobedyar to perform the ceremoniesfor them.

Mobed Arda Minocherhomji, NAMC President,performed the oath ceremony for Jamshid andapprised him on the guidelines of a NAMCMobedyar. He then presented Jamshid with theNAMC Mobedyar Certificate and history was createdfor North America.

Alayar Dabestani thanked NAMC and Mobed Soli fortraining Mobedyar Jamshid. He also repeated Soli’srequest to the Parsi families to use Jamshid as aMobedyar.

Mobedyar Jamshid thanked NAMC, Mobed Soli andall those involved in his training and assured to bringthe Irani and Parsi communities together by playinga pivotal role in performing ceremonies for both thecommunities.

This unique event was attended by Irani and Parsicommunity members and since no event can endwithout a humongous spread of food - Parsi andIrani ladies rose to the occasion and fed all presentwith delicacies of Irani and Parsi fusion food.

Thus history was created and North America hasamongst them a Mobedyar who can performceremonies and prayers to bring Irani and Parsifamilies as one community in future !

The above sequence of events were reported byMobed Soli Dastur who aptly concluded :

“May the Flame of Fellowship, Love, Charity andRespect for all burn ever eternal in our hearts so we cando HIS work with humility, diligence and eternalenthusiasm!Atha Jamyaat, Yatha Aafrinaamahi! (May it be so aswe wish!)”(Aafrin Pegaamber Zartosht, from Ervad KangajiGujarati Khordeh Avesta Baa Maaeni – Page 424,adapted as Aafrinaamahi - we wish instead ofAafrinaami – I wish, in the original).

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Parsi Traders and Travellers : Global Zoroastrians in theAge of Empire

by jesse palsetia

While European travellers charted theworld and produced travelogues of theirjourneys in the non-West from the beginningsof European exploration from the 16th century– the details of non-Western peoples travelsand travel diaries is a less detailedphenomena. Local maritime and Indian Oceantrade had been going on for centuries amongIndian traders that undoubtedly producedperceptions of their travels. The Muslimtraveller Ibn Battuta left a famous account ofhis travels; though largely limited to theMuslim world. From the 16th century, a newage of globalization shaped by colonialismwould break the barriers of overseas travelfor many Indians and lead to the growth ofIndian travelogues. Parsi travellers were someof the first non-European travellers to voyageand make detailed accounts of their voyagesin the modern period. Moreover, early Parsitravels and writings reveal aspects of theParsis’ complex identities and attitudes to theirplace in empire. Parsi travel consequentlycomplimented the development of Parsiidentity.

The 17th and 18th century in India markedan era of tremendous change andsignificance. Across India, European tradingcompanies were consolidating theircommercial and political situations. Equally,the rise of European power in India affectedIndians and communities. Parsi contact withEuropeans would transform their material andsocial state. The Parsis’ acute sense of theirminority situation shaped a historicalimperative to safeguard their communityinterests and group identity at all times andunder all conditions. Parsis responded to thepossibilities of trade and travel thatcommercial collaboration with Europeansoffered. By the late 18th century, trading tiesbound Indians and Europeans in a complexsystem of commercial activities. Parsisbenefited from British security and protection

and Europeans found reliable local agents.Parsis transformed from basic hawkers andsimple mediators to commercial agentsbuying and selling goods, extending credit,and owning ships.

Rustom Manock of Surat

Successful Parsi commercial strategy of thefirst half of the 18th century is best typified inthe example of Rustom Manock (1635-1721)of Surat. Manock was the premier Parsibroker-merchant of the 18th century whodeveloped a network of commercial andpolitical contacts. Rustom and hisdescendants followed a discernible strategythat aimed to increase their wealth and socialstatus, and benefit the Parsis. The Manocks’commercial strategy included: to economicallycollaborate with Europeans; to diversify theireconomic activities to internal and externaltrade; and to operate a family business.Rustom Manock redefined the definition ofIndian broker from simple medium to anindependent merchant that engaged in localand international trade alongside Europeancontacts. Rustom’s sons Nowros, Famji, andBomanji and later his grandson ManockNowrosji continued the family business.Family connections permitted Parsis to passon and expand their business. Many of thegreat Parsi business concerns of the 19th and20th century began with Parsi-family runbusinesses of the 18th century.

The Manocks were successful Parsibusinessmen able to compete head on withpowerful established bania interests; andeven challenge Europeans. So much so thatin 1724 after the Englishreneged on financial commitments to theManock family to the sum of over 700,000rupees, and bullied and imprisoned Rustom’stwo sons over the English debt, NowrosManock travelled to England to seek redress;

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and became the first Parsi to travel to England.He called upon all the contacts the Manockshad made over decades – from ships’ captainsto business and government officials – andsucceeded in gaining redress to the sum ofover 560,000 rupees, and the release of hisbrothers. Nowros noted in a note to a ship’scaptain that “The English are a fair raceprovided one not trust them too easily”.

The Manocks’ also pioneered an importantsocial strategy to forge and exploit moral andsocial ties among the Parsis. The success ofthe Manocks redounded to general Parsisuccess. The Parsis of Surat and laterBombay benefited from many amenities frombridges and roads, wells and water tanks, torest centres and community residential areasor colonies within a town, known as a wadi orpura made possible through the Manocks’wealth.

The Parsis of Bombay

By the 19th century, other Parsis wouldreplicate and elaborate on the strategies theManocks had pioneered in pursuit of yetfurther wealth, influence, and community. Itwas at Bombay and under British colonialismthat the Parsis radically transformed their stateand set the foundations for theaccomplishments of the community within andwithout India. Among the rising merchant-princes of Bombay were the Nanabhais,Dorabjis, Patels, Banajis, Modis, Camas, andJamsetji Jejeebhoys all of whom had ties tothe British. The Pandays built some ofBombay’s first walls; the Patels controlled thelocal customs trade and started the first shopfor the sale of British and local liquors inBombay; the Modis, the Petits, and theJehangirs were brokers to Forbes & Co., thefirst mercantile house in India.

The Wadias would shape a new chapter inParsi success. In 1735, Lowji NusserwanjiWadia came to Bombay from Surat byinvitation as shipbuilder and later masterbuilder to the British. Lowji and his brotherSorabji assisted in building the Bombay dry-dock, the first dry-dock in Asia in 1750. Someseven generations of Wadias were involvedwith Bombay dry dock to 1913, building some

400 ships of all sizes for local and internationaltrade and warfare. The Wadia shipbuildersintroduced entrepreneurial, managerial,design and industrial changes under Britishencouragement and patronage that led to thedevelopment of large-scale manufacturingand labour organization in Bombay, and thetravel of Parsis across the globe. Parsitechnical innovation formed another aspectof the Parsi ability to adapt for the preservationof identity.

By the 19th century, Parsi merchantscontrolled an extensive commercial enterprisein Bombay and western India. Bombay was amajor centre of Parsi weaving, shipbuilding,and commercial trade on the west coast ofIndia. Moreover, Parsis were involved inregional and international trade with theMalabar and Coromandel Coast, Bengal, theMiddle East, and China. The manifests ofships associated with Parsi traders reflectsthe trade in goods such as mull mull cotton,timber, spices, and rice.

China Trade and Global Horizons

Bombay also became the centre of aconsiderable private trade for Indians whowere forbidden from directly trading withEurope up to the 1830s; and part of the privatetrade included the Parsis’ trade with China.The development of trade with China was anessential to the commercial value of India forEuropeans, and opened a new chapter inAsian globalization. Parsis were some of thefirst Indians part of the ‘country trade’transhipping goods between India and China.Great Parsi wealth emerged from the Chinatrade, principally in cotton, timber, silk, andopium from the middle of the 18th to the firsthalf of the 19th century.

The Parsi involvement in the opium trade isan important component in the rise of Westerncapital in Asia and a spur to the developmentof the Indian and imperial economies. At thesame time, the Parsi involvement in drugsserved internal Parsi requirements tosafeguard identity, adapt to historicalcircumstances, and shaped Parsi globalambitions. Indian opium provided an excellentmedium of economic exchange rather than


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expensive British silver bullion for the Britishdesire for Chinese tea. The opium trade byIndians financed much of British firms’ teapurchases in China. A diverse body of Indianmerchants was involved in the early China andopium trades among which includedArmenians, Indian Jews, and Parsis. These‘trade diasporas’ of minority trading groupsutilized their commercial expertise, communityconnections, and other advantages todominate commerce in a host society.

The Parsis grew dominant in the trade,conducting the China trade from the principalIndian ports of Bombay, Daman, Karachi, andCalcutta. The Parsis were part of theemergence of a new world trading pattern thatlinked Asia and Europe together; and one ofthe first significant new Asian trading entitiesto emerge in the period of colonialism. Parsisowned their own opium and consigned it to orbecame business partners with notableEuropean firms that handled the transactionsof goods such as Magniac & Co., JardineMatheson & Co., Forbes & Co., Remington &Co. and Russell & Co. Hirji Jivanji and hisbrother Maneckji are acknowledged to be thefirst Parsis to go to China in 1756 and establisha firm in Canton. The Jivanjis owned sevenships, half of which were for the China trade.The Jivanjis’ China trade proved so profitablethat the family took the surname ofReadymoney. The Wadias, Banajis, Rustomjis,and Jejeebhoys owned over 50 vesselsinvolved in the China trade in the first half ofthe 19th century, which constituted a third ofthe ships in the trade. The Patels, Banajis,Bhardas or Damanwallas, Camas, and Tatas,to name only the most well known were allinvolved in the China trade up to the late 19th

century. Jamsetji Jejeebhoy was the premierParsi China trader, making five personal tripsto China up to 1807, and establishing ashipping and commercial family businessempire from the trade.

Parsi traders were some of the first Indians tosense the value of the early opium and Chinatrades. They treated the opium trade as alucrative enterprise alongside the trade inother commodities, and benefited from theopium wars between Britain and China. At thesame time, they had to rely on the volume,

quality, and efficient conduct of their trade torealize profits. They also bore the risksassociated with an overseas trade includingthe loss of shipments, the costs ofconsignments, delays in credit remittance,price fluctuations, and detainment by theChinese authorities. The Parsis and othernon-Europeans’ involvement in it evinces thecomplexity of the opium trade in Asia, towhich Asians and Europeans were partiesthat both benefited. From the mid-19thcentury, the majority of Parsi opium tradershad begun to leave the opium trade anddiversify their business interests. Theadaptable Parsis gauged the new economicopportunities and moral realities. The Chinatrade, however, was essential in thecommercial rise of individual Parsis and theParsi community to prominence.

Material Culture and EasternDiasporas

The China trade also shaped aspects of Parsiculture. The Prince of Wales Museum inMumbai is replete with the China ware andother trinkets the Parsis brought back to Indiawith them. The famous Parsitextile weaving process of tanchoi, garo,and jari, uniquely associated with the Parsis,was adapted from the Chinese. The tanchoiutilized Chinese satin, twill, gauze, andembroidery for saris of various coloursrenowned for their multitudinous twillpatterns that included paisleys, vines,leaves, flowers, and even flowering spicessuch as coriander florets.

The China and opium trade also forms part ofthe history of globalization, including thecontact between Eastern cultures. The Chinatrade would see the first modern Parsidiaspora outside India take shape in EastAsia. Between 1828 and 1848, Chineserecords list 40 to 45 Parsi residents of Canton.In the 1830s, Parsi communities appear inCanton, Amoy, and Shanghai; and the firstParsi burial ground outside India appeared inMacao in 1829 at ‘Estrada Dos Parses’ or‘Parsi Road’. In 1845, an anjuman orZoroastrian community association wasfounded in Canton to set up burial grounds,

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arrange community meetings, and provideassistance to community members in theChina centres. In 1845, 1847, and 1854 Parsicemeteries were established in Hong Kong,Whampoa, and Shanghai respectively. Theearliest of Parsis maintained their Parsi dressand came to be known by the locals as ‘whiteheads’ for their white turbans of pugdis.

The Parsis also shaped the life of Hong Kong.In 1841 Dadabhoy Rustomji, known as ‘DaddyBoy’ to his fellow businessmen, purchasedland in Hong Kong and built the Hong KongHotel, the colony’s first major hotel. DorabjiNaoroji went to Hong Kong in 1852 and soonowned a bakery, warehouses, and theVictoria, King Edward and Kowloon Hotels,and established the Kowloon Ferry. He noted“the beauty of Hong Kong, so like Bombay inlifestyle yet more frenetic and fast paced”. TheTatas made Hong Kong a major centre ofIndian business. From the 1880s, the firm ofTata & Co. later to be Tata Sons & Co.conducted an export trade in manufacturedgoods between India and China, andestablished the Tata Lines shipping companyin collaboration with Japan’s Nippon YusenKaisha to 1895. H N Mody who arrived inHong Kong in 1858 to trade in opium becameone of Hong Kong’s great Indian taipans.Mody contributed to the erection of many ofthe early buildings of the University of HongKong, which was inaugurated in 1910, a yearbefore his death. Mody’s conspicuous charitywas a measure of his confidence in the long-term development of Hong Kong, and inspiredothers to contribute to the civic improvementof the city, earning him a knighthood for hischarity.

Travelogues of Indians

By the middle of the 19th century, then, Parsiswere active on a global stage. Select Parsiswere also noting their perceptions of theirtravels. Chief among the earliest of Parsitravelogues is that of Jehangeer Nowrojeeand Hirjeebhoy Merwanjee Wadia, and theircousin Ardaseer Cursetjee. Their respectivediaries of their travels to England, written priorto the great beginnings of Indians coming toEurope reveal their first-hand outlooks, andperceptions of their place in empire.

The reasons for the Wadias to travel toEngland were logical: seeking education tofurther their naval engineering; and they wereanglophile Parsis with extensive Britishcontacts. The travelogues represent theParsis as simultaneously travellers, studentsand educators: they come as travellers andstudents to learn engineering, while at thesame time they assume the responsibility tobe educators for future Indians travellers toEngland, reflecting the Parsi sense ofadvancement and leadership. ArdaseerCursetjee summed up his sense ofresponsibility to “impart to their countrymenthe benefit of their researches and otherexperiences in England” (AC, p. v).

In 1838, Merwanjee (21) and Nowrojee (17)accompanied by their older friend DorabjeeMuncherjee Navjivora and two servants firstwent to England. They stayed in Egham, nearWindsor to learn the English language andmathematics under Rev George Hopkins,before proceeding to Chatham for their navaleducation. They travelled extensively inEngland and took in all the major sites inLondon. Their technical education is a storyin itself; though their personal perceptions ofEngland truly mark out their diary. The traveldetails take precedence over their engineeringvocational information, suggesting theimportance the cousins placed on their roleas intermediaries between cultures. At onepoint they offer wise advice on the Englishweather to never stand in open air after a longwalk, or after you have perspired, and tosafeguard one’s health at all times.Ardaseer Cursetjee is probably one of themost unique Parsis in this period. He won acovenanted appointment at Bombaydockyard. He introduced one of the firststeam-powered model steam ships in India;and gas light in Bombay. Ardaseer 31, marriedwith two children, journeyed to England in1839 and interned in the London factory ofJohn and Samuel Seawards, marine steam-engine builders. His diary while a somewhatrapidly-paced and dry compendium of dailyevents reveals much about him. Hisfascination remained with technical andscientific details reflecting the raison d’etre ofhis visit to England: he is fascinated to visitfactories and foundries, and the printing press


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of The Times newspaper, and the bank notepress of Bank of England.

Other detai ls of the diaries reveal theimportant place early Parsis enjoyed undercolonialism. All three of the cousins hadimpeccable British contacts in England thatincluded British officials of the East IndiaCompany, British officialdom, and society. Thehighlight of all three of their visits was meetingHMQ Victoria and Prince Albert respectively.

Parsiness, Social Class, and Race

It is clear that all three cousins identify asEastern, British-friendly, and above all asParsis. The Parsis refer to themselves as‘natives’ of India. The early Parsi travellershave not yet become highly Anglicizedreminiscent of more post-mid-19 th centuryParsis. The Wadias continue to refer tothemselves above all else as Parsis:comfortable in their self-identification andoperation in Indian and English society. Theydress in Parsi garb of muslin jama and pichori.They are orthodox Parsis and they observerules of Parsi commensality, refusing to havetheir meals cooked by non-Parsis; andArdaseer Cursetjee repeatedly notes he couldnot dine with even his closest British friends“on account of my religion” (AC p. 48). Indeed,one gets a very Parsi sense of theiruniqueness. The Wadias delight and arebemused by the British inability to make outtheir ethnicity and nationality: “It was amusingto hear one call us Chinese, they are Turkssays another; no they are Spanish, vociferatesa third; thus they were laboring under mistakes,and taking inhabitants of British India for nativesof Europe” (JN and HM, p. 34).

The Parsis also evinced a growing sense ofParsi uniqueness as regards, social class.Little is mentioned of other everyday Indianswho had started to come to England: seamen,servants, nannies – and the Parsisconcentrate on mentioning Indian elites, likeprinces and dignitaries. The Parsis mentionthe important British officials and others whowelcomed them and with whom theyintercourse. JN and HM also lookedfavourably on British rule in India as in theinterests of the countless millions of Indians.

The Parsis were also less concerned withBritish racial prejudice than other Indians. Attimes they take a naÔve view, believingIndians to be judged on merits alone by theBritish. Ardaseer Cursetjee took a morenuanced outlook recognizing that British raceprejudice persisted in India; though blamedthis on the lack of intercourse between Britishand everyday Indians. Ultimately, their visitsto Britain are deemed a success for theknowledge they have gained and will be ableto impart. JN and HM sum up their perceptionsnoting how: “The English are decidedly awonderful people.”

The movement of Parsi traders and travellers,then, reveals much about Parsi identity in theage of empire. They travelled the world andmade contacts and connections that aimedto benefit individual Parsis and the community.At the same time, they maintained an orthodoxdefence of their religious and social customs,as Zarthoshti and Parsis. Equally, the Parsissought to carve out a place for themselvesbetween Indian and British cultures:representative of both, yet uniquely separatealso. There strategies and social outlooksgave them confidence in an ever-changingworld, and they managed to set the terms ofParsi self-identification.

See :Jehangeer Nowrojee and HirjeebhoyMerwanjee Wadia,Journal of a Residence of Two Years and AHalf In Great Britain. London: W.H. Allen andCo., 1841.

Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia,Diary of an Overland Journey from Bombayto England, and of a Year’s Residence inGreat Britain . London: Henington andGalabin, 1840.

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Jesse Palsetia is Associate Professor in the Department ofHistory, the University of Guelph, Canada. He is ahistor ian of India, and Brit ish imperial ism, withspecialization on the history of Bombay city, and the Parsisof India.He is the author of two books: The Parsis of India:Preservation of Identity in Bombay City (Leiden: Brill,2001; reprint, New Delhi: Manohar, 2008), and JamsetjeeJejeebhoy of Bombay: Partnership and Public Culture inEmpire (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2015).

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The following information ispermitted to be shared according tothe above website.

Abstract

BackgroundThe Parsis are one of the smallest religiouscommunities in the world. To understand thepopulation structure and demographichistory of this group in detail, we analyzedIndian and Pakistani Parsi populationsusing high-resolution genetic variation dataon autosomal and uniparental loci (Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA).Additionally, we also assayed mitochondrialDNA polymorphisms among ancient ParsiDNA samples excavated from Sanjan, inpresent day Gujarat, the place of theiroriginal settlement in India.

ResultsAmong present-day populations, the Parsisare genetically closest to Iranian and theCaucasus populations rather than theirSouth Asian neighbours. They also sharethe highest number of haplotypes withpresent-day Iranians and we estimate thatthe admixture of the Parsis with Indianpopulations occurred ~1,200 years ago.Enriched homozygosity in the Parsi reflectstheir recent isolation and inbreeding. Wealso observed 48% South-Asian-specificmitochondrial lineages among the ancientsamples, which might have resulted fromthe assimilation of local females during theinitial settlement. Finally, we show thatParsis are genetically closer to NeolithicIranians than to modern Iranians, who havewitnessed a more recent wave of admixturefrom the Near East.

“Like Sugar in Milk”: reconstructing the genetic historyof the Parsi population

ConclusionsOur results are consistent with thehistorically-recorded migration of the Parsipopulations to South Asia in the 7th centuryand in agreement with their assimilation intothe Indian sub-continent’s population andcultural milieu “like sugar in milk”. Moreover,in a wider context our results support amajor demographic transition in West Asiadue to the Islamic conquest.

Full details are on : https://genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13059-017-1244-9

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Published by Genome Biology on 14 June 2017

The Deccan Chronicle carried an article on9th June 2017, available at : http://www.deccanchronicle.com/science/science/090617/dna-proves-parsis-link-to-iran.html


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China’s designs to build a massivenetwork of land and sea links connectingfour continents have revived popularinterest in the old Silk Route, whosesuccess was in small part owed toZoroastrian merchants carrying goods fromChina across Central Asia and, often, all theway to Europe.

A recent article in the Hong Kongnewspaper South China Morning Posttalked about how Zoroastrian merchantshad been trading with China in the 12thcentury – and possibly even earlier.Records of fire temples in Chinese citiesalong the Silk Route have apparently beenfound in official records dating back to the12th century and, from these, historianshave pieced together the fact that Chineseemperors had encouraged Zoroastrianmerchants to come and trade in the countryand, in order to attract them, they allowedthem to build their own fire temples to

The little-known history of how Zoroastrian merchants

helped create the old Silk Route

by anvar alikhan

worship in. The ancient Chinese even hadtheir own special name for the Zoroastrianreligion: Ao Jiao.

This is fascinating, because the history ofenterprising Parsi merchants in the ChinaSeas from the 18th century onwards is wellknown, but the idea that the Zoroastrian-Chinese connection goes back at least sixcenturies earlier is less recognised.Unfortunately, the South China MorningPost story doesn’t give much more detail onthe subject, so we have to turn to othersources.

Chinese historical texts tell us that the firstofficial contact between China and Po-ssu –the ancient Chinese name for Persia – wasas far back as the 2nd century BCE, whenthe Qin ruler sent an envoy to seek analliance. But it was during the 5th centuryCE that regular diplomatic relations wereformed between the Sasanid emperors,

Parsi merchants, circa 19th century

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who led the Zoroastrian revival in Persia,and the Six Dynasties of China. Embassieswere exchanged, and this led to aflourishing of trade, overland along the SilkRoute.

The most important Chinese commoditywas, of course, silk, and Zoroastrianmerchants were the middlemen who carriedit along the Silk Route across Central Asia.In addition, this westward flow of tradeincluded paper, rice wine, camphor,perfumes and drugs. The eastward flow,meanwhile, comprised Persian carpets,textiles, furniture, leather, pearls andgourmet delicacies, as well as Persianmusic and dance forms. The exchange oftrade thus, as always, led ultimately, to anexchange of ideas.

Branded Sassanid productsIt was a sophisticated system: Both theSasanid and Chinese empires realised thatthey benefited from the trade andcooperated in policing the trade routes toprotect caravans from bandits. Privateentrepreneurs were organised intomerchant companies, and archeologicalevidence shows that the Sasanid merchantspioneered an ingenious system of brandingtheir products to indicate their quality.

Large quantities of Sasanid Persian coinshave been discovered in China – not onlyalong the Silk Route, but in central Chinesecities, thus indicating the extent ofZoroastrian contact. These coins date fromthe rule of Shapur II (4th century CE) to thelast Sassanid emperor, Yazdegird III (7thcentury CE). In time, the overland SilkRoute was supplemented by a sea route viaCeylon, and Persian ships carried cargoesto China and back. There are reports ofPersian merchants having settled in portslike Caton and Hanoi, which are supportedby discoveries of more Sassanid coinsalong the southern coast.

In 651 CE, however, Yazdegird III wasdefeated by the Arabs, and his familysought refuge with the T’ang emperor ofChina. A community of Zoroastriansaccompanied them, and flourished for acentury or so. But then in the 9th centuryCE Emperor Wuzong began his purge ofBuddhism and, as a result of his bigotry,Zoroastrianism in China, too, went intodecline, until all mention of it in Chinesetexts finally disappeared.

However, Zoroastrians from Persiacontinued to trade with China until at leastthe 12th century CE, as we can tell from theChinese records of their fire temples. Theymay have continued even after that, thoughit is not certain.

Flash forward to the 1750sFrom here we must flash forward sixhundred years to the 1750s. By then, ofcourse, a community of Zoroastrians – theParsis – had settled in India. And when thecity of Bombay was founded in the 1680s,the Parsis, with their business acumen andtheir open worldview, played an importantpart, becoming brokers and supply agents tothe British. Shortly after, in the 18th century,India emerged as the hub of a triangulartrade with China and Britain – shippingopium to China, and shipping tea back toBritain – and the Parsis, quite naturally,became a key piece of this trading network.

In 1756, Hirji Jivanji Readymoney was thefirst Parsi merchant to set sail for China,

The ruins of a Chinese watchtower along the Silk Route. Photo credit: WikimediaCommons [Licensed under Creative Commons by 2.0]


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and he was also the first to set up a tradingfirm in Canton. He was followed by otherpioneering Parsi trading families like theBanajis, Wadias, Camas, Vikajis andParakhs – but the most remarkable story ofthem all was, perhaps, that of JamsetjeeJeejeebhoy. As a young trader, Jeejeebhoywas once captured by the French, alongwith a young Scottish ship’s doctor namedWilliam Jardine. The two of them becamefriends and business partners.

Later,Jeejeebhoy setup Sir JJ & Co,and Jardineset up JardineMatheson, oneof HongKong’s originalhongs (andbecame themodel for DirkStruan inJamesClavell’s novel,Tai Pan). Butthe associationbetween thetwo men waslifelong:Jeejeebhoywas appointedas the onlyAsian directorof JardineMatheson, andhis portrait stillhangs at the

company’s headquarters. Later, when theHongkong and Shanghai Bank was set upin 1864, two of its founding directors,Pallonjee Framjee and RustomjeeDhunjeeshaw, were Parsis, and the onlyreason Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy II was notinvited to be a director was probablybecause he was considered too closelylinked with Jardine Matherson.

From Kotewall Road to Ruttonjee HospitalWhen the Treaty of Nanking was signed in1842, ceding Hong Kong to the British, itwas significant that it was signed on a ship

Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy.Image credit: Wikimedia Commons.

named the Cornwallis, which was built byParsi shipbuilders in Bombay. The Parsicommunity went on to play an importantrole in the history of Hong Kong. HN Mody,for example, helped set up the Hong KongStock Exchange as well as Hong KongUniversity. Dorabjee Mithaiwala set up theiconic Star Ferry Company between HongKong and Kowloon. Other Parsi families likethe Ruttonjees, Shroffs, Parekhs andPowrees contributed to the building of HongKong in other ways.

Meanwhile, through the 19th century, anentire community of enterprising Parsitraders, clerks and bookkeepers settled inother trading centres across South EastAsian, such as Canton, Penang, Singapore,Batavia, Macao and Amoy (some of themtaking the name Chinai – or the moreanglicised Chinoy – to indicate their Chinaconnection). The spirit of this age has beenwonderfully captured by Amitav Ghosh inhis Ibis Trilogy, which tells the saga of theParsi merchant Bahram Modi and, afterhim, his intrepid widow, Shireen.

In Hong Kong today, one can see remindersof this rich Parsi history everywhere: there’sa Mody Road, Kotewall Road, Bisney Road,Parekh House and even an impressiveRuttonjee Hospital. The fact that the latter iscalled Leuht-deun-jih Hospital, in theChinese manner, shows how much a part ofHong Kong life the Parsis have become. Theancient Persian Emperor Shapur II, in whosetime trade with China first began, would, nodoubt, have been suitably impressed.

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Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons [Licensed under CreativeCommons by 3.0]

Article reproducedwith permission fromthe author and editor ofScroll.in

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by charles q choi

Palaces of Ancient Persia Were Built with ‘Fire Temple’ Wood

Shared by Malcolm Deboo, President, ZTFE, London.

Ruins of a Zoroastrian fire temple in Esfahan, Iran. Photo credit : aaabbbccc/Shutterstock

Cypress wood might havebeen used in ancient palacesin Persia partly because of itssacred value in a religionknown for its “fire temples,” anew study finds.

Scientists examined ruins fromthe Sasanian Empire, whichlasted from AD 224 to 651 andconstituted the last imperialdynasty in Persia — what is nowIran. It was the most powerfulpolitical and economic rival ofthe Roman Empire for nearlyhalf a millennium, said studylead author Morteza Djamali, apaleoecologist at theMediterranean Institute ofBiodiversity and Ecology in Aix-en-Provence,France.

“Sasanians repeatedly defeated theRomans in different battles and were theabsolute masters of southwest Asia,”Djamali said. [10 Epic Battles That ChangedHistory].

The Sasanian “Kings of Kings” built anumber of palaces and forts, as well asZoroastrian fire temples. Followers ofZoroastrianism, one of the world’s oldestactive religions, believe in an epic strugglebetween good and evil; they worship intemples where fires burn as symbols ofdivine light.

Dating woodThe scientists examined cypress woodtaken from the Palace of Ardashir I, whoestablished the Sasanian Empire. They alsolooked at wood from the fort known asQal’a-ye Dokhtar, which previous researchsuggested was constructed near thebeginning of the Sasanian Empire, as wellas the Palace of Sarvistan (also spelled

Sarvestan), a building of uncertain functionbuilt either during the end of the SasanianEmpire or the rise of Islam in Persia. All ofthese sites are located in Persis, what isnow the province of Fars in southwesternIran, where the Sasanians first rose topower.

The researchers carbon-dated fivefragments of timber preserved in the wallsfrom the three sites. This is the first timescientists have such dates for Sasanianmonuments in Persis; until now, the preciseages of these structures were uncertain.

As expected, carbon dating revealed thatthe Palace of Ardashir I dated back, at thevery latest, to the beginning of Sasanianrule. The findings also suggested that Qal’a-ye Dokhtar was constructed when Ardashir Iwas battling for supremacy of Persia.

In addition, the Palace of Sarvistan dated toabout the seventh century AD, which wasthe end of the Sasanian Empire. It alsoappeared to have been used for centuries


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Cypress wood samples from the Palace of Sarvestan. Photo credit: M. Djamali et al./Journalof Archaeological Science: Reports.

during the beginning of Islamic dominationover Iran, the researchers said. Intriguingly,a Zoroastrian fire temple at this site mighthave been used for several centuries afterthe Muslim conquest, they added.

“The Zoroastrians, followers of the oldestmonotheistic religion in the Middle East,were not suddenly persecuted andslaughtered by Arabs, but most probablycontinued to practice their religion andmaintain their fire temples for severalcenturies,” Djamali told Live Science.

Sacred woodAll of the wood fragments that the scientistsexamined were cypress, an evergreen treethat held cosmic significance to followers ofZoroastrianism. For instance, according tolegend, the founder of the religion, theprophet Zoroaster — also known asZarathustra — planted a cypress hereceived directly from heaven in front of thefire temple at the city of Kashmar, theresearchers said. They noted that cypresscontinues to be an essential element ofPersian gardens even today.

Cypress wood was known in the ancientworld for its durability, insect-repellingproperties, resistance to humidity andseawater, and fragrant scent, theresearchers said. The ancient Greeks usedit to build temple doors, and the ancientRomans used it to construct villas andships, the scientists added.

The researchers suggested that ancientRoman workers and engineers captured by

ancient Persians during battles with theRoman Empire might have recommendedthe use of cypress as a building material. Infact, Roman prisoners of war helped toconstruct many bridges, dams, drainagesystems and irrigation canals in Sasaniancities, the researchers noted.

However, it’s possible that Persians usedcypress wood as timber long before theirfirst contact with the Romans, given thetree’s sacred status in Zoroastrianism, theresearchers added. “We think that the

frequent use of cypress treein the Persis region, thehomeland of Persiancivilization, is an indication ofmassive cultivation of thetree,” Djamali said.

Future research will examineancient pollen grains trappedin lake sediments to seewhat other plants grew inPersian gardens, Djamalisaid. In addition, thescientists will analyze woodin other Sasanian

monuments “to determine their exact ages,”Djamali said. “This will help us better knowthis forgotten empire.”

Djamali and his colleagues detailed theirfindings online January 30 in the Journal ofArchaeological Science: Reports.Original article on Live ScienceCypress Wood Provides Dates for Iran’sSasanian Empire Siteshttp://www.livescience.com/58032-ancient-persia-palaces-fire-temple-wood.html

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRANCE—LiveScience reports that paleoecologist MortezaDjamali of the Mediterranean Institute ofBiodiversity and Ecology led a team thatcarbon dated five fragments of cypresswood recovered from palaces, forts, andZoroastrian fire temples dating to theSasanian Empire, which ruled Persia from

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Profile ofCharles Q Choiis overleaf

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AD 224 to 651. All of thesites are located in Persis,in what is nowsouthwestern Iran. Thewood of the evergreencypress tree was prizedacross the ancient worldfor its strength and scent,and was sacred to theZoroastrians. The testresults provided precisedates for the Sasanianstructures, and suggestthat a Zoroastrian firetemple at the Palace ofSarvistan may have beenused for several hundredyears after the Muslim

conquest.

Mesopotamian Accounts ReceivableBy Samir S PatelCourtesy of the Oriental Institute

It was surely hard to keep accurateaccounts before writing was developed, butMesopotamian merchants found a way inthe form of clay balls that researchers call“envelopes,” filled with tokens andimpressed with seals. Dozens of theseenvelopes have been found, butdeciphering their meaning is problematic —broken ones are difficult to reconstructaccurately and, until recently, intact onescould not be studied without first breakingthem.

Sumerologist Christopher Woods and histeam from the Oriental Institute at theUniversity of Chicago are now using CTscans to peer inside 18 intact envelopesthat date to more than 5,000 years ago,excavated from Choga Mish in Iran in the1960s and 1970s. The team observed thatthe tokens come in a variety of shapes andsizes, and sometimes have surfaceincisions, all of which could representdifferent commodities or amounts. “If thecontents [of a transaction] were contested,”Woods writes, “the envelope could be

broken open and the tokens verified.” Theballs also have seal impressions around themiddle and on each end, which mightrepresent the identities of buyers, sellers, orwitnesses to a transaction. More scans willhelp researchers build a corpus ofenvelopes that can be deciphered. “We arenow at a point in terms of technology wherewe can collect more and better data usingnondestructive methods than we could if wephysically opened the balls,” according toWoods.

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http://www.archaeology.org/issues/125-1403/trenches/1799-mesopotamian-clay-ball-tokens

Photo credit : Anna R Ressman

Charles Q Choi is acontributing writer forLive Science andSpace.com. He covers allthings human origins andastronomy as well asphysics, animals andgeneral science topics.Charles has a Master ofArts degree from the

University of Missouri-Columbia, School ofJournalism and a Bachelor of Arts degree from theUniversity of South Florida. Charles has visited everycontinent on Earth, drinking rancid yak butter tea inLhasa, snorkeling with sea lions in the Galapagos andeven climbing an iceberg in Antarctica.

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Persia was arguably the World’s first superpower and as a Zarathushti, we have thisnostalgia of Ancient Persia which now ismodern day Iran. I am proud of my Persianancestry / culture. One tends to take pridein one’s heritage because we draw ouridentity from our birth religion. Culture andheritage is uniquely human and diversityand heritage is equally human. And just asthe Persian Empire contributed immenselyand had its many firsts, we should alsoremember that every other civilization,country and nation had its turn in leadingthe world.

Persia was among the first human civilizationahead of Egypt, India, and China andconsidered the mother of all civilizations.Main religion of ancient Persia wasZoroastrianism and Zoroaster orZarathushtra was the prophet. PersianEmpire stretched from Ethiopia to India, fromthe Indus River to the Danube in Europe andup to the Nile River in Africa, coveringpresent day Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Azerbaijan,Armenia, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Macedonia,Cyprus, to the borders of Greece. There area lot of firsts that Persia gave to the world atlarge. Insurance by Government was startedduring Cyrus the Great, weight, money andmeasurements were standardized in Persia.First brick invention, architecture of castlesand the engineering invention of the wheelwere among the other firsts from the PersianEmpire. We couldn’t imagine the Worldwithout a wheel. We couldn’t imagine a worldwithout the first human rights charter whichthe Persian King Cyrus the Great wrote, andwhich pioneered the freedom of religion andculture of the minorities in the world.

As though the nostalgia of the above is notenough to fill our pride of identity, I couldn’t

Oil Tanker Zoroaster - NostalgiaA tribute to the Pioneers and Ship Builders in the development ofModern Oil Tankers.

by jehangir mehta

contain my curiosity about the article on oiltanker Zoroaster which has been makingrounds on social media for some time. As aMaster Mariner and serving on oil tankers,the history of oil and the oil transportationformed part of the tanker safety curriculum,and even then I had no knowledge of an oiltanker named Zoroaster. I knew that thefirst oil well drilled was back in 1859 atTitusville Pennsylvania, initially producing10 barrels per day which then increased to3000 barrels per day. However what I learntin my maritime days was a drop in theocean as far as the chronology of thehistory of oil. I have used some referencesfor research which I have mentioned at theend of the article. Mankind’s search for oil isphenomenal. Although major modern oildiscoveries occurred during the 19th and 20th

century in Siberia, Azerbaijan, China,Burma and America, this search for oildates back to many millennia before Christ.

In 450 BC Greek Historian Herodotusdescribed oil and salt product from springsand wells in Persia. In 211 BC natural gaswas discovered in Szchehuan province inChina, used for heat and light. In 642 ADByzantine emperor Heraclitus destroyed anumber of temples near Baku where localsworshipped before burning gas wells. In1298 Marco Polo observed the exploitationof oil from surface seeped on the Abseronpeninsula in Azerbaijan and he noted thatthe oil was used for fuel and medicinalpurposes and transported on camels. In1636 German diplomat Adam Oleariobserved 30 oil wells in the Baku Azerbaijanregion and some of them were gushers. In1806 salt well drilled in western Virginia andstruck oil instead. In 1827 British geologistJohn Crawford investigated theYenangyaung oil field in Burma – hand dug

Jehangir Mehta is anoffshore terminal marinepilot and lives in Perth,Western Australia with hiswife Phyrooza. His love andpassion for food and cookingreflects in his periodic foodieblogs.

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wells. In 1858-59 successful oilwells were drilled in West Virginiaand Pennsylvania.

While the chronology of the oildiscovery that I have included inthis article is very brief and by nomeans complete, it takes us to apoint in the middle of the 19th

century where transportation ofthe oil became important due toincreased production of oil.Break-bulk boats and bargeswere originally used to transportPennsylvania oil and the Baku region oils in40-US-gallon wooden barrels. But transportby barrel had several problems includingweight of the barrel itself, leaky barrels andexpensive to make barrels. For example, inthe early years of the Russian oil industry in19th century, barrels accounted for half thecost of petroleum production. There is verylittle information that I could find on the veryearly days of oil transportation on sail-driventankers. The A to Z of Petroleum Industrypublication by M S Vassiliou (google books)briefly mentions sailing vessel brig ElizabethWatts carrying a commercial quantity of 224tons of oil from United Sates to Englandacross the Atlantic in 1861. Reference toother publications indicates the first oiltankers were two sail driven tankers thatwere built in 1863 on England’s river Tyne.

This then brings us to the modern oil tankerwhich were steamships. This is where theterm first oil tanker really becomes a pointof discussion. Many consider Nobel’sZoroaster, built in 1878 as the world’s firstsuccessful oil tanker, while others point tothe Gluckauf (1886) as being the firstmodern oil tanker which was explicitly anocean-going vessel meant to cross theAtlantic. The modern oil tanker developmentoccurred in the period from 1877 to 1886. In1876 Ludvig and Robert Nobel, brothers ofAlfred Nobel founded Branobel (short ofBrothers Nobel) in Baku Azerbaijan, one ofthe largest oil shipping companies in theworld. Ludvig Nobel especially pioneeredthe development of oil tankers. He designedZoroaster in Gothenburg, Sweden. It burnedfuel oil to power its steam engine. It made

its first run from Baku to Astrakhan in theCaspian Sea. Zoroaster carried its 242 tonsof kerosene cargo in two iron tanks. Onetank was forward of the midship’s engineroom and the other was aft. The ship alsofeatured a set of 21 vertical watertightcompartments for extra buoyancy. Theship’s overall length was 184 feet (56m), abeam of 27 feet (8.2 m) and a draft of 9 feet(2.7m). Beyond this I could not find the fateof tanker Zoroaster – how long it lasted,what happened, how long it was in use,other than the fact that Nobel began toadopt a single-hull design where the ship’shull forms part of its tank structure. In 1881Zoroaster’s sister ship Nordenskjoldexploded in Baku killing half the crew.

In 1883, British engineer Colonel HenrySwan designed a set of three Nobel tankersat Newcastle upon Tyne in Britain and thisdesign took a large step forward in thetanker design. Instead of one or two largeholds like on Zoroaster, Swans design usedseveral holds which spanned the width orbeam of the ship. These holds were furthersubdivided into port and starboard sectionsby a longitudinal bulkhead. Earlier designslike Zoroaster suffered from stabilityproblems caused by the free surface effect,where oil sloshing from side to side couldcause a ship to capsize. 2700-ton tankerGluckauf built in 1886 was the firstdedicated steam-driven ocean going tankerin the world. Gluckauf was in use for theStandard Oil Company of America till 1893when it ran aground at Fire Island, NewYork. The wreck of Gluckauf now lies 75-100 feet offshore in 25 feet of water. History

Zoroaster delivered to the Nobel brothers in Russia


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may not haverecorded fully,other efforts ofNorwegians andFrench merchantsabout their sailingships in 1870s,which were rebuiltfor transportation

of oil in bulk by lining the wooden hull withcement or felt. Many of these vesselsgrounded and sank, never to be seen again.This article allows you to understand that itis not important to wallow in the glory of thefirst achievements, but rather admire thetenacity of the pioneers and their ships todevelop and transform the oil transportationindustry from the sailing ship days tomodern steamers.

Neither did the story of oil transportationend with tankers Zoroaster or Gluckauf.After World War II, oil production in MiddleEast ramped up and the dominance ofproduct tankers was replaced by crude oiltankers. Panamax tankers were built topass through Panama Canal, followed byAframax and Suezmax tankers because ofeconomics of trade and the areas thattankers traded. I sailed on Niarchos’ tankersin the late seventies, early eighties and bothOnassis and Stavros Niarchos claimed tobe the largest tanker owners in the world.Sadly all that is history and Greek shippingis on the decline. Modern ultra large crudecarriers (ULCC) have a capacity of 500,000DWT and can be 400 m long. The world’slargest supertanker Seawise Giant was builtfor Tung Chao Yung of Hongkong in 1979 atthe Sumitomo shipyard Japan. SeawiseGiant was later renamed Jahre Viking in1991. The Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989inside Alaska’s Prince William Soundbrought tougher legislation requiring tankersto have a double hull, where a double hullshould minimize the consequences after agrounding or collision.There’s more than one view point on wherethe technology for oil tankers originated.Some say the first proper modern day oiltanker was the 2700-ton Gluckauf built in1886, others say the first real oil tanker wasthe Zoroaster built in 1878. The answer to

who was first depends on your definition of atrue modern day oil tanker. The oil tanker hasevolved from a basic tanker like Zoroaster to abehemoth of the sea, able to carry vastamounts of liquid cargoes in the most efficientmanner. Technology incorporated into tankersis increasing in leaps and bounds. Globaldemand for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) andLPG has seen a large scale expansion of LNGtankers.

The researchallowed me tobrowsethrough the oiltanker historywhich bringsback memoriesof my sailingdays ontankers. Thoselong seapassagesaround theCape of GoodHope when the Suez Canal was closed until1975 due to six-day war with Israel in 1967,the Iran / Iraq war in 1987 when tankers weretaking direct Exocet missile attacks and had topass in convoy at night in the Straits ofHormuz – Persian Gulf, sailing as secondmate on India’s first Very Large Crude Carrier(VLCC) MT Kanchenjunga in 1977, and thebizarre incident of stowaways hiding inside therudder stock transom space from Vietnam toSingapore on a ballast voyage. I am also gladthat the Nobel brothers felt the need to honourour Holy, benevolent and universal ProphetAsho Zarathushtra by naming the tankerZoroaster. I would like to express my thanks tothe Editor of Hamazor for giving me theopportunity to write this article.

References and notesHistory of the oil tanker- Wikipedia.The A to Z of Petroleum Industry - Google books 2009.Gluckauf - Wikipedia.Brig - means a sailing vessel with two square riggedmasts; used both as naval vessel and merchant vessel1 cubic meter = 6.293 US barrels.The Zoroaster was constructed with steel (Bessemer variance)while its oil storage tanks were made out of iron.

On board a modern tanker

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Glauckauf grounded in heavy fog on Fire Island

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Launch of the Bicentenary of HMS Trincomalee

from the report sent by malcolm deboo

Vada Dasturji Khurshed K Dastoor, HighPriest of Iranshah Atash Behram, Udvada,ZTFE patron Lord Karan F Bilimoria CBEDL and ZTFE President Malcolm M Debooled the ZTFE delegation on board the IndianNavy ship Tarkash, for the launch of thebicentenary commemorations ofHMS Trincomalee and Make in India, onTuesday 9th May 2017.

The host of the event were, TheCommanding Officer Captain Ritu Raj Sahu,officers and men of INS Tarkash, incollaboration with the National Museum ofthe Royal Navy and HMS TrincomaleeTrust. The INS Tarkash was docked atThames Quay, West India Dock, London.

HMS Trincomalee is not only the oldest shipafloat in the Royal Navy, but it is the oldestwarship ship afloat in the world. It was builtby Jamsetji Bomanji Wadia, the great ParsiZoroastrian Master Ship Builder of thelegendary Wadia family at BombayDockyard for the British Admiralty in 1817.

Dastur Khurshed recited a short prayerinvoking the fravashis of the Wadia MasterShip Builders; Lovji Nusserwanji, ManeckjiLovji, Bomanji Lovji, Framji Maneckji andJamsetji Bomanji.

The Dastur also remembered, revering andpraising the heroic beneficent souls of thearmed forces, rulers and righteous peoplewho have served and sacrificed their livesdefending the freedom in India and theUnited Kingdom from their adversaries.

In front of the First Sea Lord of the RoyalNavy, the immediate former First Sea Lord,Officers in the RN, Army and RAF, theDefense Minister of the United Kingdom,the Commander and Officers of INSTarkash, the Indian Naval Attache in Londonand the Indian High Commissioner, VadaDasturji concluded with a benedictoryprayer requesting Ahura Mazda to protect

all those who sail on the INS Tarkashdefending the boarders of India andconducting its international maritime dutiesand for the HMS Trincomalee to continue tobe afloat for another 200 years.

Since India is a secular country, it isextremely rare for a prayer to be recitedpublicly on board an Indian navy shiptherefore special permission had to beobtained for the Dasturji to pray on INSTarkash.

ZTFE presented their SesquicentennialMedallions to:Captain Ritu Raj Sahu, CommandingOfficer, INS Tarkash.Admiral Sir Philip Jones KCB, ADC, FirstSea Lord, Royal Navy.Admiral Sir Jonathon Band GCB, DL,Chairman National Museum of the RoyalNavy and former First Sea Lord.Colonel Euan Houston OBE, ChairmanHMS Trincomalee Trust.Commodore Sameer Saxena, NavalAdviser, High Commission of IndiaHis Excellency Yasvant K Sinha, HighCommissioner of India.

Commodore Sameer Saxena, Malcolm M Deboo, Ashok Kumar Chauhan MBE, C B Patel, Lord Karan F Bilmoria CBE DL, Captain

Ritu Raj Sahu, Commanding Officer, Indian Naval Ship Tarkash,Vada Dasturji Khurshed K Dastoor, Rohinton F Munshi, Noshir J

Avari, Behram R Kapadia (behind Noshir), Dr Firoze R Munshi.

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Lord Karan F Bi lmoria CBE DL, presenting ZTFESesquicentennial Gold Medallion to Admiral Sir Philip Jones

KCB, ADC, First Sea Lord, Royal Navy

Captain Ritu Raj Sahu, Commanding Officer, Indian Naval Ship Tarkash,Lord

Karan F Bilmoria CBE DL, Patron, ZTFE, Vada Dasturji Khurshed K Dastoor,

High Priest, Iranshah AtashBehram, Udvada, Admiral Sir Philip Jones KCB,ADC, First Sea Lord, Royal Navy, Malcolm M Deboo, President, ZTFE,Behram R Kapadia, Vice President & Social Secretary, ZTFE.

Vada Dasturji Khurshed KDastoor, invoking thefravashis of the WadiaMaster Shipbuilders andbenedictory prayers for allwho sail on the INSTarkash.

HMS TrincomaleeHMS Trincomalee is a Royal Navy Leda-class sailing frigate built shortlyafter the end of the Napoleonic Wars. She is now restored as a museumship in Hartlepool, England.The Trincomalee after being ordered on 30 October 1812, was built inBombay, India by the Wadia family of shipwrights in teak, due to oakshortages in Britain as a result of shipbuilding drives for the NapoleonicWars. The ship was named after the 1782 Battle of Trincomalee off theCeylon (Sri Lanka) port of that name.With a construction cost of £23,000,Trincomalee was launched on 12October 1817. Captain Philip Henry sailed her to Portsmouth Dockyardwhere she arrived on 30 April 1819. During the maiden voyage the shiparrived at Saint Helena on 24 January 1819 where she stayed for sixdays, leaving with an additional passenger, a surgeon who had attendedNapoleon at Longwood House on the island, Mr John Stokoe. Afterbeing fitted out at a further cost, Trincomalee was placed in reserveuntil 1845, when she was re-armed with fewer guns giving greaterfirepower, had her stern reshaped and was reclassified as a sixth-ratespar-decked corvette.Trincomalee departed from Portsmouth in 1847 and remained in servicefor ten years, serving on the North American and West Indies station.During her time, she was to help quell riots in Haiti and stop a threatenedinvasion of Cuba, and serve on anti-slavery patrol. In 1849, she wasdespatched to Newfoundland and Labrador before being recalled toBritain in 1850. In 1852 she sailed to join the Pacific Squadron on thewest coast of America.Trincomalee finished her Royal Navy service as a training ship, but wasplaced in reserve again in 1895 and sold for scrap two years later on 19May 1897. She was then purchased by entrepreneur George WheatleyCobb, restored, and renamed Foudroyant in honour of HMS Foudroyant,his earlier ship that had been wrecked in 1897. She was used inconjunction with HMS Implacable as an accommodation ship, a trainingship, and a holiday ship based in Falmouth then Portsmouth. Sheremained in service until 1986, after which she was again restored andrenamed back to Trincomalee in 1992.Now listed as part of the National Historic Fleet, following her recentrestoration Trincomalee has become the centrepiece of the historicdockyard museum in Hartlepool.Trincomalee holds the distinction of being the oldest British warshipstill afloat . - Source - Wikipedia

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As Indian Zoroastrians or Parsis, welive in interesting times, having become anendangered community, pretty much on theverge of extinction. Parsis are cherished,respected and hailed by India as aneducated, cultured, progressive and peace-loving community – with good reason. Ourforefathers made gigantic contributions inindustry and society. We have done well forourselves. But we need to get real andarrest our dwindling population – ourpriority, (bio)logically and otherwise, shouldbe the survival of our tribe. But a closer lookat the widening gap, between the currentstate of our community and the currenturgent need of our community, makes onewonder – are we missing the woods for thetrees?

We are distressed about our impendingdisappearance and even more disappointedat the slow pace of well-meaning initiativesand solutions. Even so, for reasons that failreason, we have chosen to prioritise otherissues which plague our community – underthe veil of ‘preserving religious sanctity’ and‘maintaining our inviolable bloodline’ –there’s the constant orthodox-liberal divide;lack of the entrepreneurial spirit which wewere once known for, scarcity of Mobeds /caretakers for our Agiaries, corruption withinthe community and its elected caretakers,paucity of modern-day heroes/role modelsfor our youth, etc.

We forget, that to resolve any of theseissues – including the key issue of our verysurvival – we need to put all differencesaside and be single-mindedly committed tounity ... but in keeping with the state of theParsi community today, that looks like avery distant possibility. Distant, notimpossible. Not yet. We have to get aroundto understanding the futility of the dividecaused by the opposing orthodox-liberalbelievers, and the surreal hypocrisy it birthsand nurtures. And we need to change ourvitiating mindset and attitude about the toxic

Are We Missing the Woods for the Trees?by anahita subedar

sense of entitlement which has arrested andregressed our legacy of greatness, left to usby our celebrated predecessors ...

The Orthodox-Liberal Divide and theHypocrisy

Even for a people as educated as us, theadage ‘agree to disagree, withoutdisrespect’ escapes us when it comes tofiguring out a common solution that’sincreasingly eating away at our sense andsensibility – the Orthodox-Liberal divide.How ironic that the community known to bemost ‘progressive’, allows this anomaly togive birth to illogicality and sexism! Onesuch area is the forbidden inter-castemarriage where the rules are skewed infavour of the Parsi man who marries a non-Parsi woman – he’s allowed to continuepracticing his religion and can gain entranceinto our agyaries, unlike the Parsi womanmarried to a non-Parsi man – inspite ofbeing married under the Special MarriageAct which legalizes her right to continuepracticing our religion as a Zoroastrian.Similarly, the navjote ceremony of a mixed-parentage child fathered by a Parsi is farmore acceptable than one mothered by aParsi. The question remains – if we do nothave an issue admitting into our temples achild who is born half Parsi (fathered by aParsi), then why do we create a storm whenit comes to admitting a Parsi woman born ofboth Parsi parents and is married to a non-Parsi under the Special Marriage Act? Andspeaking of hypocrisy, it may be amusing tonote that priests who perform the navjote ofa half-Parsi child are maligned in ourcommunity as non-traditional or‘renegades’. However, when the same childgrows up and marries a Parsi, then his/herwedding ceremony is performed veryacceptably by even a High Priest! There arenumerous such incongruities that needresolving, including the methodology ofdealing with our dearly departed ones –cremation versus dokhmanishini. But the


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real issue isn’t about who’s right and who’swrong – it’s about our inability andunwillingness to unite and find a mutualsolution.

One of the biggest trending evils, whichadds to this distasteful situation, is whensome of us, instead of focusing on resolvingthe issues within the community, believethat greater prudence lies in sharing theundesirable details of our community’sdisagreements and politics with the mainlinemedia, undoing centuries of struggle andsacrifice by our forefathers, who built animpeccable image for our community inIndia and the world over. Unabashed andunrelenting ‘Social-Media-Shaming’ is yetanother fast-growing community sport ...

This Toxic Sense of Entitlement

As Parsis in India, we are a privileged lot –our forefathers left us more than justlegacies of greatness – they left us materialbenefits like housing and funds, in the hopethat we would be saved of the tribulationsfaced by the rest of the populace – likedealing with EMIs and paucity of funds, andthis relief would catalyse our efforts infurther consolidating their achievements,and add to the pride of our gloriouscommunity. Alas! Instead of appreciatingthese privileges with humility and a sense ofgratitude, we have become arrogantlydemanding! Instead of using this cushyplatform as a launch-pad to help us soarfurther, towards what should have been ourquest for greater achievements orexcellence, we seem to have perfected thefine art of being couch-potatoes – mentallyand physically – converting an inspiringadvantage into an appalling handicap!

This ‘entitlement behaviour’ is rife in ourcommunity. Most of us have failed our ownsense of privilege, and our community.We’ve chosen to use these privileges as anexcuse to sit back and achieve close-to-nothing really! Where’s the need? We haveinstitutions like the BPP telling us they willcater to us ‘From The Womb To The Tomb’,and they do that, for the most part. We havegrants for numerous facilities. We have

doles. We may be rich enough to possessmultiple vehicles but how dare we be told topay for a small increase in the parkingsurcharge! We may enjoy the good qualityof life offered in the Baugs (undeniably waybetter than that outside of the Baugs) butwe are enraged when asked to undertakeour own repairs by ourselves, or worse, beltout a slight increase in the rents – evenwhen the sum is laughable, compared tothe real market rates of rent outside! Andthis, inspite of the provision that those whoare genuinely unable to afford the increase,will be given a waiver! Ever wonder howcrestfallen our forefathers would be to seewhat unfortunate scroungers we havereduced ourselves to, using the veryprivileges they extended to us, hoping wewould do them proud and perhaps evenout-perform them!

Every week I receive correspondence abouthow certain authorities are not ‘doing theirbit’ to keep these freebies (because that’show we treat privileges) going. And maybethis is the malaise affecting our community.We are so used to our privileges, we haveforgotten we could be of use too! This is thepoison within our community – this toxicsense of entitlement. Most of our youthtoday are so ‘okay’ doing not much, ‘okay’without high aspirations, ‘okay’ to be stuckin mundane jobs which do not justify theirtalents or passions. The proverbial ‘fire intheir belly’ gets doused when they drink atthis watering hole of entitlements. We needto face up to the fact that these entitlementsis not the watering hole, it is the crocodile atthe watering hole.

Abraham Lincoln said, “You have to do yourown growing, no matter how tall yourgrandfather was.” Resting on the laurels,privileges and achievements of ourforefathers, without so much as a fleetingintent or effort to consolidate or give back toour legacy, is a brazen level ofshamelessness that has steadily crept intous over time, all thanks to this sense ofentitlement we thrive on, making this deadlylethargy ‘okay’. We need to break out of thisselfish cocoon, which is yet anotheraftermath of this sense of entitlement, and

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start thinking about the legacy we will leavebehind for our future generations. It’s timeto start asking ourselves what we can do forour community, instead.

Greatness Must Beget Greatness

Greatness is a choice made consciously,when you awaken every single day to theresolute aim of demanding a higherstandard from yourself, in order to deliver acause greater than yourself. 30th June,2017 marks a hundred years since thepassing of a man who epitomised suchgreatness – a man reckoned globally for hisfierce patriotism; saluted by the nation forhis fearless stance towards liberating Indiafrom the British Raj; and hailed as theunparalleled cynosure of the Parsicommunity – the great Dadabhai Naoroji.

A leading proponent of India’s freedomstruggle, he understood that India’semancipation was a function of the unity ofher citizens. Ever wonder how he wouldreact to see the unfortunate state of his owncommunity today, dwindling into itsimminent extinction, yet unable to unite on asolution for its very survival; ... or to see hisbelief in unity itself undermined by his owncommunity which is up in arms against eachother at the slightest provocation; ... or tosee the greatness of his legacycompromised by the community which wassupposed to be inspired into furthergreatness following in his footsteps, insteadof slouching into a lackadaisical lull of most,who seem content in resting on the laurelsof our past heroes, marinating in mediocrityborn out of a lack of will, necessity andpurpose.

Wasn’t greatness meant to begetgreatness? As a community, we are gratefuland proud to have birthed many great men– Dadabhai Naoroji surely leads that valiantband, having united a nation of millions intofreedom. They say great leaders can seethe greatness in those who are unable tosee it themselves, and lead them to theirown highest, unknown potentials. Why then,are some in our community, intent onblowing off others’ candles to make their

own shine brighter? It’s time we lookedinwards and asked ourselves why wehaven’t been able to deliver unity orgreatness, in its true sense, as acommunity. And why are we unable toinitiate or attach ourselves to a causegreater than our own?

It’s been a while since we birthed greatsand greatness. Perhaps the answer tothese questions can be found in the wordsof Dadabhai Naoroji himself – “Be united,persevere, and achieve ...”

Bombay-based Editor ofthe leading communityweekly, Parsi Times,Anahita Subedar is aseasoned mediaprofessional with over 18years of experience inMedia andCommunications. ACommerce graduate withan MBA in Marketing, shecompleted her Masters inCommunications from thereputed Xavier College of

Communications and shares her expertise as a journalist,Public Relations Consultant and educator. She loves musicand animals, especially dogs.

Image with reference to page 43

Bollywood actor Amir Khan admires our Cycle E-Rickshaw


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I have never been requested to interview alawyer, let alone a judge.

So when I was offered this assignment, Itook it up as a challenge and immediatelygot cold feet.

In the performance of my trade I wouldusually approachlawyers for feed backor clips on cases theyhave worked on, or asexperts onconstitutional law, orjust their take on the‘story of the day’.

Judges are totally outof bounds.

In my email interviewwith the HonourableJudge Firdaus Dordi, Iwas pleasantlysurprised at hiscandid answers tosome of myquestions. As well, thejudge preferred to notanswer a couple ofquestions. He didn’tfudge any nor was heevasive.

I present in here excerpts from my interviewof a son of India, whose rise from the grit ofBalaram Street to the Los Angeles SuperiorCourt.

TJ: Paint for me a picture of the India youleft and the America you came to. Howdifferent is it now?

FD: I was born in Mumbai (Bombay), Indiain 1970. Both my parents worked for Air

The Right Honourable Judge Firdaus DordiFrom Balaram Street to the Bench: The Right Honourable Judge Firdaus Dordi in his own words.

interviewed by teenaz javat

India, that is how they met. At the age of 15,my father had to support his parents, as mygrandfather lost his job. We lived in whatmany may consider a tough, lower working-class neighbourhood near Grant RoadStation. Our home in India consisted of twobedrooms; each about twelve feet by twelvefeet in size. My paternal grandparents

occupied one bedroom,and my parents, my olderbrother and I occupiedthe other. Most of thespace in our room wastaken up by my parents’full bed and the bunkbeds where my brotherand I slept. In one cornerof the room was an openenclosure with a drainwhere we showeredcalled a mori. We onlyhad running water forroughly an hour eachmorning. Mygrandmother would haveto wake up before dawnand fill the tank to ensurewe had enough water tolast the day. Everymorning, my parentswould bring a bucket ofboiling water to the moriwhere we would mix it

with cold water to shower before we went toschool. Our toilet was outside ourapartment, down a common corridor, at thevery back of the building. Although it maynot seem like we had much, we had morethan anyone else in our neighbourhood, andmy parents constantly reminded us of howfortunate we were.

When I was six, my father received apromotion and was posted to New York City.My parents moved to New York and placed

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my brother and me in an English speaking,Catholic boarding school in India for oneyear. In 1978, we moved to New York City,where the four of us lived in a one bedroomapartment in Queens. The apartmentseemed enormous compared to our livingsituation in Mumbai. I attended publicschool in Queens. Although I spoke a fairamount of English, my accent was so heavythat no one understood what I was sayingfor much of that year. Fortunately, I was(and am) a very social person and madefriends quite easily despite the cultural andlanguage obstacles. I also was ahead of myclass in math and did well academically.Like the children of many immigrants, Iassimilated and, within a short time, lost myaccent from watching television and playingwith friends.

TJ: Most South Asian immigrants have a‘work hard and you will succeed’ ethic. Wasyours any different?

FD: In the summer of 1979, we moved toLos Angeles. Shortly thereafter, my parentsbought their first home. It was a veryexciting time. To my parents, my brotherand my education were of the utmostimportance, and they wanted aneighbourhood with good schools. Ourhouse was literally the last house in thearea that covered my elementary school.The house backed into a gas station. Onemorning, I went to the driveway to get thepaper. When I was returning to the frontdoor, I noticed that someone had spraypainted “GO HOME F’ING IRANIANS”across our garage door. When my fathersaw this, he simply had the garage doorrepainted. I don’t think he even reported it tothe police. He saw it as a small price to payfor the opportunities this country had givenhim. My parents reminded us about ourSikh friends, who were sufferingdiscrimination daily during this time,because they wore turbans. My parents toldus that people are good, but they are angryand not thinking straight right now. They toldus that this sentiment would pass, and itdid. History has shown us, in tougheconomic times, immigrants are easy toscapegoat.

TJ: Can you throw some light on thisstatement you made in Indiawest earlier thisyear: ‘As an immigrant, I have always feltvery fortunate in what my family and I havebeen given by this country.’ How fortunatedo you feel and what has this country givenyou that your home country could not?

FD: In 1984, my father received apromotion, but it required him to return toIndia. At the time, my father had completed25 years of service with Air India. Thatsame year, my brother graduated highschool and was accepted into UCLA. Myparents had a very difficult decision tomake, either return to India and continue avery promising career or remain in the US,leave Air India, and start anew. They knewthe latter option would be a significantstruggle, but they opted for it nonethelessso that their children could pursue theeducational and career opportunities thiscountry presented. They started a travelagency where my parents and brother stillwork today, 33 years later. I would like tothink that some of their courage,selflessness, compassion, optimism, workethic, and resilience have seeped into methrough decades of observation, admiration,and association.

TJ: You have done a lot of pro-bono work inyour career. Any one case that will stick withyou forever?

FD: The Narinder Virk case. It is a pro bonocase that I worked on for over 15 years. It isundoubtedly the one pro bono case that will‘stick with me forever.’ From 2000 to 2015,I assisted the Ventura County PublicDefender’s Office in the case of People v.Narinder Virk, Case No. CR47981. I did notappear for Ms Virk and was not a counsel ofrecord for her. I assisted with her case onmy own time. Ms Virk was charged with theattempted murder of her two children in PortHueneme. In the middle of the night shepushed her children off the pier at PortHueneme and then jumped off herself. Shedid not know how to swim. She had a third-grade education and was brought to theUnited States by her husband, whosubjected her to severe physical and mental


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abuse. He wanted out of the relationshipand was making life unbearable for Ms Virkboth physically and mentally. I helpedorganize the South Asian community andwith raising the collateral and premium forher $500,000 bail. I also helped arrangefree mental health counselling and therapyfor Ms Virk from a South Asian therapistwho spoke Ms Virk’s native language,Punjabi. As trial neared, I helped DeputyPublic Defender Cynthia Ellingtonbrainstorm and strategize the case. Ms Virkwas found not guilty by reason of insanity.She spent three years at Patton StateHospital. I continued to visit Ms Virk andassist the Ventura County Public Defender’sOffice in obtaining her release from PattonState Hospital. I also helped Ms Virk renewher green card and obtain her Californiaidentification. In 2015, Ms Virk wasdetermined to be restored to sanity and thecharges were terminated. Ms Virk has sincebeen reunited with her children, who arenow adults.

TJ: It is not how high we go, but where wecome from, that informs our choices.Where do you see yourself in the next tenyears viz-a-viz where you were 10 yearsago?

FD: In the next ten years, I hope to continueto serve my community and improve as ajudicial officer both in my command andmastery of the law and my ability tocommunicate and help parties resolve theirdisputes. I would also like to overseeoutreach programmes in the United Statesand abroad to encourage socially andeconomically disadvantaged childrenpursue careers in social justice. Finally, Iwould also like to create more avenues forrestorative justice in our criminal justicesystem. History has taught us that anindependent judiciary is instrumental to theforward movement of our democracy. In thewords of Dr King, ‘Human progress isneither automatic nor inevitable ... . Everystep toward the goal of justice requiressacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tirelessexertions and passionate concern ofdedicated individuals.’ The pursuit of humanprogress and the quest for justice have

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been ingrained in my very fibre not just as afunction of my western, legal education, butas part of my Zoroastrian faith, in having tomake a daily choice to think good thoughts,speak good words, and perform gooddeeds. In a time when immigrants and ourjudiciary are under constant assault, I hopeto serve as one of many shining examplesof what makes America truly great, its grit,its diversity, and its intrinsic desire to alwayswant to be better.

Teenaz Javat works asa senior writer at theC a n a d i a nB r o a d c a s t i n gCorporation.She writes headlines fora living and onoccasion produces forToronto’s flagship radioprogramme MetroMorning. She is also astory teller, who as partof The Shoe Project,tells and writesimmigration storiesthrough the lens of

shoes. As part of the Shoe Project outreach Teenaz leads awriting workshop at Literature for Life for at-risk teenmothers in Toronto’s priority neighbourhoods. Teenaz livesin Mississauga, Ontario with her husband and almost adultchildren.

Prior to the appointment as a Judge,Firdaus was a public defender andco-founder of the Dordi, Williams,Cohen law firm. In January of thisyear, 46 year old Firdaus becamethe First Parsi Judge appointed toLos Angeles Superior Court. - Ed.

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Huban A Gowadia is currently theActing Administrator of the TransportationSecurity Administration in the United States’Department of Homeland Security, whereshe oversees approximately 60,000employees and annual budget of more than$7 billion USD. Dr Gowadia joined thefederal government in 2000. She holds aBS in Aerospace Engineering from theUniversity of Alabama and earned a PhD inMechanical Engineering from PennsylvaniaState University. She agreed to speak withHamazor in a wide-ranging interview abouther life.

Dinsha Mistree: Thanks for taking the timeout of your very busy schedule to speakwith me. Actually your busy schedule is agreat place to start. What does a day inyour life look like?

Dr Gowadia: It is a pleasure to join you. Iam up at 0400, when I begin to reviewovernight world events, news, and emails. Iget to my office desk around 0600. Usuallymy day is packed with meetings, so I needend-of-day catch-up time at my desk beforereturning home. And then – and this is the“aspirational” part – I try to leave the officeby 1800 or so to squeeze in a little exerciseand reading before getting to bed by 2100.

Wow, that sounds quite intense. Do youalso travel?

Yes, I do. I get to travel for work bothdomestically and internationally. And when Iam able, I enjoy travel in my personalcapacity as well. This bug was instilled bymy parents, and by my father in particular.His work took him around the world and hemade every effort to afford us opportunitiesto see and learn from and about differentpeople and cultures. While our parents gavemy brother and me access to good schoolsaround the world, I firmly believe that ourbest education came through these travelsand time with our parents.

In Conversation with Huby dinsha mistree

Did youalwayswant towork ingovernment?

Mygraduateresearchintroducedme tonationalsecurity,and myfirst jobbrought metogovernment.There wasno specific‘aha’moment,but when Ilook back, it occurs to me that I would havefound a way to serve. Today, I cannotimagine doing something that doesn’tinvolve national service.

So then how did you decide to joingovernment instead of doing somethingelse such as joining a corporation or goinginto academia?

Candidly, after I graduated I looked acrossthe board. There were a few academicoffers, but I wasn’t much interested inpursuing them at that point in my life. Iapplied for positions at various corporationsand with some national labs, but it was theyear before 9/11, and no one seemedinterested in someone who had doneresearch on explosives detection! Then Igot the opportunity to work for the FederalAviation Administration’s Aviation SecurityLab, to work on threat detectiontechnologies. It was a no-brainer. It hasbeen a true blessing to almost stumble intogovernment service.


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Do you have any advice for younger peoplewho might be considering careers ingovernment?

Just do it! At least for some portion of yourprofessional life, spend time in service ofyour nation. There is no better feeling thanknowing you are contributing to the greatergood. Yes, you can do that from the outsidethrough industry and academia – you canvolunteer in your communities – but don’tdismiss civil service.

One of the reasons why young people aresometimes hesitant to join government isbecause they doubt if things ever get done.After all, ‘bureaucracy’ is often considered adirty word. Is bureaucracy really asdysfunctional as it seems from the outside,or would you say that government gets abad rap?

Fundamentally, I believe every society hasa need for bureaucracies because they aremeant to provide frameworks and structuresfor coordinated effort in service of widerconstituencies. Ideally, a bureaucracy wouldoperate much as President Kennedyoutlined in his speech at Rice when he gavethe nation the goal “to go to the moon in thisdecade.” The bureaucracy would facilitatesuch goals by providing the means “toorganize and measure the best of ourenergies and skills.”

Now bureaucracies are not limited togovernment. Private industry has its ownbureaucracies as well. Agencies need ameans to ensure efficient execution of theirmissions and provide some rules /regulations that govern those whoparticipate in the enterprise. In everyagency – private or public – there will bethose who use the full “space” offered withinthat framework to be entrepreneurial andinnovative. And conversely, in every agency– private or public – there will be those whowill ascribe the narrowest definition to theframework.

There is a perception that government issteeped with bureaucrats of the latterpersuasion, while the private sector has

many more of the former. I would posit thatif you’ve ever been on a call with acustomer service representative for a“name-a-service” provider, you’veexperienced just as much frustration withbureaucracy as you did when you were inline at the Department of Motor Vehicles.Yet, I have had pleasant experiences withboth and frustration with both.

Generally speaking, the government getsmore grief in this regard. Now remember, itwas the government bureaucracy that tookus to the moon within a decade, and it wasgovernment innovation that gave us theInternet and GPS. Federal investments andfederal bureaucrats support thedevelopment of drugs and vaccines, newtechniques and technologies to counterdiseases such as cancer, and even lactose-free milk! So yes, government does get abad rap.

And it is likely because in many ways, whenthe general populous interacts with thegovernment, it is typically for services. TSAis a great example. We are essentially theretail face of government for the travelingpublic. At US airports, we see more thantwo million people every day and theoverwhelming majority of those interactionsbegin and end with no issue. But sometimesin very, very few cases there will be aninteraction that does not go as both theOfficer or the passenger would like. Andoften, there is a rush to assume that theOfficer was in the wrong. After all, it is easyto malign the civil servant because his orher service is tagged with the negativeconnotations associated with “bureaucracy.”

But I have found that even through thosedifficult engagements, our Officers maintaintheir dignity and professionalism – youcannot know how proud I am to have theopportunity to work with them. Men andwomen from all walks of life, who get upevery day with the intention of serving andprotecting the traveling public. We strivehard to keep the traveling public safe.

How do you see the TSA evolving in thefuture?

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You know, I started my career in aviationsecurity – and was here when TSA wasstarted after 9/11. I came back to TSA asthe Deputy Administrator last May, and mustsay that I could not have picked a bettertime to come home. And that’s becausetoday, we are an agency that isfundamentally transforming. And we must –the terrorist threat is constantly evolving.Today, we are faced with a shifting threatenvironment that is in many ways moredynamic, profound, and complex than everbefore, and certainly more so than the onewe faced when TSA was established. Ourenemies are entrepreneurial, exceptionallyadaptable, and creative. To defeat them, wetoo must be more than ever entrepreneurial,adaptable, and creative.

And so, TSA is undergoing a fundamentalchange. We are focusing on vitalpartnerships: across federal, state and localgovernments and law enforcement, withindustry partners – airlines, airports,vendors, with academia, and also with thetraveling public. It may be a clichÈ – but weare actively encouraging “out of the box”thinking at all levels in the agency. Wehave stood up an Innovation Task Forcethat allows us to trial next-generationtechnologies and forward leaningoperational protocols. Dinsha, can youenvision a day where your face is yourboarding pass? We can!

Ultimately, our aim is to be the “employer ofchoice” in the federal government. We wantto attract the best of the best to come serveour country, right here at TSA. And it allbegins with changing the perception andmorale of our workforce. And perhaps I canask for your readers’ help in this regard.Please may I request that the next time youencounter a Transportation Security Officer,please would you say “thank you” for his/herservice and efforts to keep you safe? Itwould mean a lot to us if you did!

You are quite inspiring. Have you evercontemplated running for political office?

Oh no! I am a self-professed nerd. Politicsare not in my wheelhouse!

What is one of your proudest achievementsduring your career so far?

Well, it was a team achievement. Based onthe 2014 Federal Employee ViewpointSurvey, my previous agency, the DomesticNuclear Detection Office (DNDO) was rated#11 in the Best Places to Work inGovernment Sub-Agency Rankings.Agencies within the Department ofHomeland Security (DHS) are routinelyrated at the lowest levels – so this was quitean outlier. When I took over as ActingDirector in 2012, DNDO was not even thehighest rated sub-agency within DHS, so toget to #11 across the government in twoyears was a tremendous achievement. Andagain, I must emphasize that this was ateam achievement. I was blessed to workwith yet another incredible cadre of civilservants on a mission of great importance –and we overcame many hurdles to movefrom an agency that was “relevant” in theUS government’s nuclear counterterrorismenterprise to one that is now“indispensable.” In doing so, we individuallyand collectively made significantcontributions to the enterprise – it’s nowonder our morale was raised.

Just to switch it up a little bit, it would begreat to know a little bit more about yourfamily and your upbringing. What do yourparents do?

I was born and raised in India. Actually Igrew up in Pune. Mom worked in the bankand Dad worked in steam engineeringsystems for a Parsi-owned business. Theparent company is based in the UK andthey subsequently asked him to work forthem in East Africa and the US. When heretired, he had worked for the same firm formore years than he had been married to ourMom! When they moved to Kenya, Momretired and took up a new passion –volunteering and philanthropy. You’d behard pressed to meet a kinder, gentler soul.My brother and I get our competitive spiritfrom Dad, we get our constant drive to findgood in all people from Mom, and we getour commitment to family and communityfrom them both.


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You mentioned your brother. Would you liketo share more about him?

The best gift my parents ever gave me wasmy brother. He hates when I say that, butit’s true. Just the two of us siblings. He isnow married to an incredible lady and thebest gifts they ever gave me were twodarling nephews.

My brother and I both went to Catholicschools in Pune. We both spent a lot of timein serious athletic pursuits. My brother wasvery driven, serious about, and focused oncricket. One of my favorite memories iskeeping score for his team. Our time as afamily – traditions, routines, travels –ensured we had the happiest of childhoods.We both went on to the University ofAlabama, and then I went on to Penn Statefor graduate school. When he graduated, hewent to work for a while, then on tograduate studies in the UK, and now is atremendously successful executive inprivate industry. We both wish we had moretime for golf – especially with our Dad.

Who do you look up to?

At 5’ 1”, pretty much everyone. No seriously,throughout my life I have been blessed tohave teachers – true gurujis, guides,friends, and family that brought me undertheir wings and allowed me to learn andgrow from their experiences andknowledge. The shoulders upon which Icould and did stand were formidable. I wasafforded every opportunity to succeed. Thelist is long, Dinsha. It took a very largevillage to raise me!

Do you ever encounter other Zoroastrians inyour line of work?

Every so often, I do. And it is always lovelywhen we find each other.

Dinsha Mistree is a Research Fellow andLecturer in the Rule of Law Program atStanford Law School, where he focuses ongovernance and public administration inthe developing world. In his spare time,Dinsha is involved in several Zoroastriancommunity initiatives.

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The Girl from Matungaby roeinton khambatta

There was no Joshua to blow his trumpetso that the walls of Jericho came tumblingdown. The order was issued by the thenGovernor of Bombay that the walls of theFort which protected Bombay’s harbour,were no longer considered necessary.Some of the walls of the old Fort arereplaced by areas called Rampart Row.The walls came down; Bombay was tobegin its march to become one of the greatcommercial and industrial cities of theworld. The few mud-spattered islands,received as a dowry by King Charles II,when he married Catherine of Braganza,daughter of the King of Portugal and thensold to the East India Company, had itsshackles removed.

The Parsis, who had come from Gujaratand had been crowded in the Fort, nowfound release for their genetically-disposed“foot-loose bug” and moved westwards tothe Arabian Sea via Central Bombay with itsabodes being built at Grant Road, SleaterRoad, Kalbadevi and enjoying the warm,tropical breeze on the Esplanade. There,this small community, happy to have minordiversities in its beliefs ensconcedthemselves, and of course, dedicating theirtemples of worship – for the Shahenshahi’s(Wadia & Anjuman); for the Kadmi’s (Banajiand Dadyseths). The Parsis dominated thisnew area.

But Bombay continued to grow with the BB& CI Railway on its West Coast and the GIPon its East Coast. Higher-learning colleges– Elphinstone on Rampart Row (and in lateryears, the Royal Institute of Science),Wilson at Chowpatty and St Xavier’s inbetween these two. The Sydenham Collegeof Commerce in town, and the GrantMedical College (with the Sir J J Hospital) inByculla and the G S Medical College (withthe King Edward Memorial Hospital) atParel made Bombay one of the great seatsof learning and the University of Bombay

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was established. The Parsi contribution inthe Learned and the Learning was out ofproportion to their small numbers.However, Bombay now had cotton mills onthe upper reaches of its mighty harbour, andother industries, including ship-building andship-repairs, demanded an influx of workersfrom surrounding areas. The Parsis playeda major share in this development as well –the Petits, Jeejeebhoys, Wadias, Tatas wereconcentrating their factories and mills inNorth Bombay and the move started to builda Parsi Colony – the famous one at Dadar.But, aspiration and achievement hadbecome Parsi watchwords and beyondKings Circle at Dadar, a new town wasvisualised – with broad roads, lined withleafy trees, clean and tidy and the Parsiswho aspired more than Dadar, startedmoving to Matunga. It was served atWadala Station in the Harbour, with thegreat Victoria Terminus in Central Bombay.Many were the families to grow out of their‘shells’ and aspire for higher things inbusiness, education, medicine, commerce.This heady mixture was being boiled overand over again, and was a perfect mediumin which young Parsi men and womenwould dream of a better world. But highereducation was imperative.

There was a wise father, who moved hisfamily to Matunga and started a businesscalled Wansons, which one day would growinto a giant. One can picture his daughter,daily catching the suburban train to CentralBombay and either taking a bus or walkingto her Alma Mater, St Xavier’s College.Somehow, it was this College, out of thethree mentioned earlier, that was always amagnet for Parsis. There she took up thestudy of Economics and a social consciencestarted developing. On graduation, this hadto be nurtured further. A Postgraduatedegree at the Tata Institute of SocialSciences beckoned. There she did so wellthat she was awarded a FulbrightScholarship to study in America.On her return, she found that her elderbrother had joined the father in thebusiness. He introduced her to his bestfriend, a graduate from Cambridge. Lovespawned and soon she was married to this

fine young man. Love brings manyobligations, chief of which is procreation,and a son and a daughter were born andour friend busied herself with her youngfamily.

The business continued to grow. Wansonhad changed its name and had moved toPoona (now Pune). Here, the young familylived happily in the beautiful and clean cityof Poona.

A true test of character was menacing andstruck. In quick succession, she lost father,a beloved grandmother, and her brother.However, she had been moulded by theenterprising spirit of Matunga, the learningand courage she had acquired at StXavier’s, the social conscience at the TataInstitute. Fortified by her antecedents, shebravely accepted God’s will.

Further tests awaited – she lost her son inan accident, and her young husband (whowas managing a stupendously growingbusiness) of a heart attack.

After only a slight hesitation, this young ladytook over the business (of which she hadnot been any part), educated her daughterat Imperial College, London, who happilymarried a fine young man – scion of two ofPoona’s oldest Parsi families. Shedeveloped the business, producing turnoverof millions. Contrary to what happens inmost families, her daughter became theChairman and she retired.

Now, in spite of the tragedies in her life, sheembarked on social work, promoting schooleducation for underprivileged children, thereal inheritors of a new India. She alwaysused the word ‘Philanthropy’. She nevertalked of ‘Charity’.

Intrigued, I went back to the fount of allknowledge – the OED (Oxford EnglishDictionary).Charity is defined as ”Christian love, God’slove to Man, Man’s love of God and of hisneighbours”. Philanthropy is “active effortto promote the happiness and well-being ofone’s fellow-men”.


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These are active efforts. But, there has tobe a “feeling” called “Benevolence” –disposition to do good, desire to promotehappiness of others, “kindness, generosity”.No wonder she not just spoke ofPhilanthropy, but, from her newly-acquiredpersonal wealth gave a share to promotethese ideals.

No wonder, the Government of Indianominated her to be a member of the RajyaSabha (the Upper House of Parliament).She is a quiet, thinking person. Not at allconscious of her wealth, when she comesto London, she travels by London Transport,goes out to a small Italian restaurant withPhiroze’s (her son in law) family. There areno outward shows of wealth.

I first met her, when my late wife and I werestaying with her daughter’s in-laws, inPoona, and when introduced to her by myold friend, (a doctor in Poona), I thought shewas his wife. His reply to me was “No. Butshe would make a great wife because sheis a great woman”.

Let us end on this note wishing her allhappiness and all success in the wonderfulwork that this humble lady is doing.

Disclaimer: I find I have not mentioned hername. Whenever she comes to London,she brings me a dish of good old fashionedParsi food, cooked by herself – again herkindness.

Mrs Edith Roosevelt, wife of that greatAmerican President, Theodore (Teddy)Roosevelt had said:“A lady’s name should appear in print onlythree times – at her birth, marriage anddeath”.

I intend to break this rule and tell Hamazor’sreaders that I have been writing about that“Girl from Matunga” ... (on page 68)

Roeinton Khambatta is a retired cardiologistand with a good deal of spare time, indulgesin writing vignettes about people’s lives. For25 years he worked in London.Having graduated from the Grant MedicalCollege in Bombay (1946), and being broughtup in the happy atmosphere of Karachi, andthe wisdom of Dasturji ManeckjiNusserwanjee Dhalla, he has, he feels a goodappreciation of the Parsi Community.

Lawkim Motors Group is a division ofGodrej & Boyce, the 120 year-old Indiancompany that manufactures everything fromlocks to washing machines and officefurniture all the way to sophisticated partsfor the country’s cryogenic enginespropelling the rockets of the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO) into outerspace. Lawkim has manufacturedspecialized electric motors since 1961, firstin a suburb outside Mumbai city, and then ina new factory 55 kms outside Pune citywhich was established in 1991. I’ve run thiscompany since 1977.

Our Lawkim team, which has been togetherin the best Godrej traditions for many years,has always tried to anticipate changes intechnology to remain at the forefront ofmanufacturing techniques in general, andtechnology in particular. We do this byattending international Fairs and creating aset of international contacts, many of themexperts in motor making technology. Inaddition, we conduct various exercises ledby experts for our teams of engineers andworkmen. One of these a few years agoinvolved the use of alternate materials foruse in our motors. We call this ‘lateralthinking!’

This particular exercise threw up thepossibility of using bamboo, which growsquite plentifully on our factory site as well asin outlying areas around us. Coincidentally,just at this time I happened to travel to theAntarctic in 2012 at the invitation of SirRobert Swan, the first explorer to walk toboth Poles unaided, who organizes thesetrips to introduce young people to theuncertainties of climate change. The term‘unaided’ refers to being out of all touch withexternal sources while on the Expedition.On our trip, while we were waiting to sail offfrom Ushuaia, the southernmost town inSouth America, we were joined by twoyoung Dutch friends who had cycled all theway from Deadhorse, Alaska, all the way

The Bambusa Bikeby vijay chrishna

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down to Ushuaia. Doing projects withvillages along the way related to waterconservation, they had pedalled nearly30,000 kms on these bicycles made forthem by an American bike-maker in SanFrancisco called Craig Calfee. I wasimmensely inspired by not only the spirit ofthese young Dutchmen doing water relatedprojects over nearly two years and, by therobust design of the bikes themselves whichhad obviously been built to last on such arigorous journey.

As soon as I got back to India I made apresentation to our teams about theseyoung Dutchmen and exhorted them toconsider building such bikes since thebamboo to make them was right at hand.

Well, the long and short of it was that whilegood intentions are fine, it took us severalmonths to discover that it takes a lot morethan that to put a strong bike together!

Fortunately, we had created a researchwing in our company dedicated toconserving and propagating endangeredspecies of medicinal plants endemic to thewestern ghats, called the Naoroji GodrejCentre for Plant Research (NGCPR). Andthrough the NGCPR, as we term it, wefound that the particular variety of bamboobest suited for making frames grew rightthere in our company and in its vicinity -“Pseudo-Oxytenanthera stocksii” (earliercalled Dendrocalamus). Bamboo, as weknow, is a grass that grows entirely naturallyand because it is natural and not man-made, lends itself beautifully to creatingproducts out of it. Due to the carbonfootprint required to put together a frame ismuch lower than those used onconventional bicycles, no fossil fuel energyis being utilized to manufacture the frames.

When we realized that there was obviouslysomething missing in how we were creatingthe frames we decided to ask the help ofCraig Calfee who had created the bikes Ihad admired so much. On the internet wemade contact with him, to try and set usright on the processes to use that worked

so well for him on the bikes that he madefor the young Dutchmen who had pedaledall those 30,000 kms down the length of theAmericas. Craig also said that hesometimes visited Africa where he had setup projects for local communities tomanufacture bamboo bikes in Ghana andcould possibly visit us next time he visitedAfrica. Obviously we needed no secondbidding and invited him to do just that. Hefound time to visit us and spent two weeksat our factory in September 2015. His visittotally altered the way we had approachedthis project, and we professionalized ourapproach totally with his help, bringing astep-by-step process rigor into the wholeoperation. Thanks to him we were able totake frame-making to an entirely new levelensuring that each process was adhered toin great detail.

Now we needed to test each aspect of whatwe had built. First we made sure that ourframe-making adhered to ISO 4210standards. Then we decided to devise areally exacting road test for the bikes whichwould put every aspect of our frame-makingto the extreme test. We spoke to bikingenthusiasts and came up with the idea of acycle expedition that would go all the wayup from the tip of south India atKanyakumari to Khardung La, 4,400 kmsaway in Ladakh. Khardung La is of coursethe highest motorable road in the world, sowe could not have aimed for a more iconicend to our bike ride. We then enthused twohighly experienced young cyclists fromMumbai who’d made long biking journeysbefore, to join us in this endeavor. Theyjumped aboard enthusiastically. The tripbegan on 14 th July 2016 and finished on 21st

September 2016, which would entail theduo having to ride through the monsoonrains for most of the journey. Theyoungsters not only survived the rains andthe ride in great style but also discoveredthat bamboo’s unique tensile strength beingfour times as absorbent as carbon fibregave them a smoother ride on some of theworst roads in the country. An extra icingon the cake was that we made the ride inaid of Girl Child Education in India, raisingin the process a sum of over Rs41 lakhs.


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The Godrej Family themselves contributedsignificantly, and it was a great motivatingforce to all of us at Godrej and particularlyfor the young cyclists themselves to be partof such a worthy cause.

The bikes have just been released onlinelast month (May) and we are also sendingfive bikes to Amsterdam where peoplecommonly ride to work on bicycles eachday.

We have also been able to demonstratethat what Craig taught us can be used tomake a variety of bamboo-frame vehiclesfor very different purposes, as are shown.

The exercise has been very fruitful in termsof how we have come to ideate products,taught us the rigor of process that needs tobe adhered to when making a great productand has brought our teams together in away that we could not have imagined thatthis exercise would do.

A great learning process and one fromwhich we hope to benefit from in the timesahead.

Bambusa Bikes will be available in differentvariants like Bambusa urban, Bambusa Sports,Bambusa Kids. For more information on ourproduct & project one can visit our website:www.godrejbambusabike.comFollow us on social media :https://www.facebook.com/godrejbambusabike/https://twitter.com/godrejbambusahttps://www.instagram.com/godrejbambusabike/

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Vijay Crishna worked in Shippingand Tea in Kolkata and then Bombayfrom 1972. He joined Lawkim Ltd,a bankrupt company at the behest ofShri N P Godrej in 1977, helpedturn it around and today is itsExecutive Director.He has been involved very activelywith acting and directing in theatre,over 100 theatre productions since1965 in Delhi, Kolkata andMumbai. He sometimes finds timeto perform tiny roles in the films, anda few TV serials.

The Bambussa bike

Bambusa Electric wheelchair for the physically handicapped

Anotherimageis shown onpage 33

Bambusa vehicle for use with an Automatic Guided Vehicle

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The final of the113th Bhandara MemorialPolo Cup was held on April 30, 2017. It waswon by the Dominion team with a score offive goals against their rivals, Ten Corps,who only managed two. The match washeld at the Polo Ground, Rawalpindi, andattracted a great dealof interest. A largecrowd was present towatch the Chief Guest,British HighCommissionerThomas Drew, awardthe prizes. Alsopresent were MNAMalik Abrar Ahmed,Station CommanderRawalpindi SyedHassan Raza and theCEO of MurreeBrewery Ltd,Mr IsfandyarBhandara.

It is a singular honourfor the MurreeBrewery Company toorganize and supporta sport commonlyreferred to as the“Game of Kings”.Since 1904, MurreeBrewery has takengreat pride in itspatronage and supportof the game. Thisconstant support forthe game of polo hasresulted in a renewedsense of interest in thegame, both frommembers of the publicand from the corporatesector. Polo is anexpensive sport toplay and the reality isthat without corporate support it would notbe possible to fund events such as this.

History of Murree Brewery Polo Cup Tournamentby isphanyar bhandara

The sport of polo in Pakistan is organizedand regulated under the Pakistan PoloAssociation which came into being afterPakistan gained independence in 1947. TheAssociation is responsible for supportingand promoting the game of polo and also

for coordinating allpolo relatedactivities inPakistan.

The game of Polohas a very interestinghistory. It is quitepossible the oldestrecorded team sportin known history, withthe first matchesbeing played inPersia over 2500years ago. A teamsport played onhorseback, itsobjective is to scoregoals against anopposing team. Fourriders on each sidescore by driving awhite wooden orplastic ball into theopposing teams’ goalusing a long handledmallet. Goals are onlyvalid if the scoringrider is mounted. Therules of the gameremain unchanged tothe present day.Initially thought tohave been created bycompeting tribes ofCentral Asia, it wasquickly taken up as atraining method forthe King’s elitecavalry. These early

matches often resembled battles, with up to100 men to a side.

Isphanyar M. Bhandara bornin Karachi in 1972. He is theChief Executive of MurreeBrewery Company Limited,Rawalpindi, one of the oldestpublic limited companies ofthe sub-continent. He hasbeen associated with MurreeBrewery Group ofCompanies since 1997. AnMBA from the School ofBusiness and Commerce,Islamabad, has also attendedbusiness workshops fromLUMS. He is the Presidentof Rawalpindi ParsiAnjuman, the chief Executiveof D P Edulji & Co (Private)Limited and Member of theNational Assembly ofPakistan on a seat reservedfor Minorities since 2013.


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As mounted armies swept back and forthacross our part of the world, conquering andre-conquering, polo was adopted as themost noble of pastimes by the Kings andEmperors, Shahs and Sultans, Khans andCaliphs of the ancient Persians, Arabs,Mughals, Mongols and Chinese. It was forthis reason that it became known as “thegame of Kings”.

During the age of the British Raj, especiallyin the years the British Empire and its armieswere at peace with the general situationexisting in the sub-continent, the British highcommand concentrated on creating ahomely atmosphere for the troops. It was atthis stage that the decision was taken toestablish a Brewery at Murree Hills GhoraGali to provide fresh beer to its troops. TheEastern Command Headquarters waslocated at Rawalpindi and between 1885 and1890 the Murree Brewery was re-locatedfrom Ghora Gali to its present location atRawalpindi. At the time it was the onlyindustrial set up of its kind at Rawalpindi.The British Army General Headquarters atRawalpindi initiated sports activities for itsofficers at which the game of polo tookcentre stage. Initially it was played betweenthe regimental teams only.

The sport was also introduced into Englandin 1869 and seven years later sportsmanJames Gordon Bennett imported it into theUnited States. After 1886, English andAmerican teams occasionally met for theInternational Polo Challenge Cup. Polo wasalso played at several Olympic Games, buthas not been an Olympic sport since 1936.

The Murree Brewery Company first wasasked to sponsor a Polo tournament for theBritish Army Regiments located in thenorthern Command in 1904. The FirstMurree Brewery Polo Cup was played at thesame polo ground in Rawalpindi which isstill being used in 2017. Till 1947, TheMurree Brewery Polo cup was playedamongst the British Army Regimentalteams. The original trophy, if observedclosely, bears small silver plaques of thewinning teams of the British ArmyRegiments.

The Murree Brewery Polo Cup (nowrenamed The M.P. Bhandara Memorial PoloCup) continues as it has done for so long torepresent this pinnacle of sport. By itscontinued presence in this arena it reaffirmsits special bond and historical commitmentto the sport, continuing to sponsor one ofthe most well attended and colourful Poloevents of the year in the Garrison city ofRawalpindi.

1975 : winning team with Gen Sher Ali

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2017 : 113th M. P. Bhandara Memorial Murree Brewery Polo Cup. Winning team withChief Guest British High Commissioner, H.E. Mr Thomas Drew, MNA Malif AbrarAhmed, Station Commander Rawalpindi Syed Hassan Raza, Chief Executive of MurreeBrewery Co Ltd Isphanyar Bhandara, Ambassadors of Denmark, Bulgaria, Cuba, Sri Lanka,Portugal, Nepal and Mauritius.

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The Zoroastrian Association of Houston(ZAH) was very excited to host theFederation of Zoroastrian Associations ofNorth America (FEZANA) Annual GeneralMeeting (AGM) from April 28-30, 2017. Itwas FEZANA’s 30th anniversary and in thetrue spirit of Houston there wereextravaganzas planned for both Pre andPost AGM events.

For the first Pre-AGM event on ThursdayApril 27, the World Zarathushti Chamber ofCommerce (WZCC) had organized a sitevisit to Coating Industries Inc., a localZarathushti-owned business, followed by ameeting of the WZCC.

An Evening with FIRESLater in the evening FEZANA InformationResearch Education System (FIRES),which is based in Houston, had invitedguest speaker Aban Marker Kabraji. Theprogramme also included an exhibit toshowcase the library collection, and tohighlight the mission, the history, and futureplans for FIRES.

It was truly an evening to remember. Theprogramme started with the inauguration ofthe new Purvez S Rustomji Room, donatedby Aban Rustomji in memory of herhusband. At the ribbon cutting by Aban,assisted by her son Arish, daughter Nerina,and grandson Aaryan, there were manysmiling faces and a few wistful tears.

After the joyous opening, the audience filedinto the new room for the formalprogramme. Choreographed by VehishtaKaikobad, the youngest group of Sundayschool children walked down the aisle,carrying traditional artifacts like a ses, ajabla, and a replica of the Cyrus Cylinder.They sang the beautiful Khan Ashem Vohuprayer and the crowd was encouraged to

FEZANA Celebrates 30thSpotlight on Houston: FIRES, FEZANA AGM, & an Atash Kadeh

compiled by yasmin pavri

join in. Zubeen Mehta of ZAH remarked: “thetalented and most endearing Sunday schoolkids processed into the Rustomji Room fromthe Library carrying objects of significance tous as Zarathuhstis. It was impossible not tobe cognizant of the fact that we werewitnessing a momentous event. Here beforeour eyes in a brand new room, itself atestament to our community, philanthropyand faith, was the shiny, new generationproviding tangible and full-throated evidenceto all present that our faith is alive andkicking, and that it will march on!“

The children’s performance ended with theofficial opening of the very well receivedexhibit set up in the newly renovated library.The library looked impressive, as it was setup to display many interesting exhibits.Beautiful garas, two rare hand-paintedversions of the Shahnameh with pagesetched in gold, a silver “paro” with Chineseengravings on it, an old gold pocket watch,and unusual gold necklaces, medals, andstamps honoring Zoroastrians were alldisplayed artfully with books from thecollection matching the artifacts. Theattendees went around the room to admirethe artifacts as well as the Wall ofAncestors, a permanent photo exhibit,linking Houston Zarathushtis to theirancestors. All donors, big and small, wereacknowledged. Of special note was thedonation of the late Shapur K Irani whodonated his entire collection to FIRES inmemory of his beloved parents. A veryspecial permanent exhibit is thememorabilia of Dr Dastur M Dhalla, acollection donated by the Dhalla family tothe Zoroastrian Association of HoustonLibrary, and is being held as the DhallaTrust in Houston.

Aban Marker Kabraji, the guest speaker forthe event, is a biologist and scientist and is


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currently the Regional Director of the AsiaRegional Office of the International Unionfor Conservation of Nature (ICUN). Her talk“Memory and Identity” resonated with theaudience. She observed that forZoroastrians in the diaspora, the ethos oftheir homelands (India, Pakistan, or Iran)permeates their lives and work, eventhough they are outwardly Western. AbanKabraji maintained that the events of 9/11and the resurgent Islam movement, hasmade many religions and communitiesaround the world question their place in thesocial fabric. So how do Zoroastrians in thediaspora define identity? Drawinginteresting distinctions between “home” andsense of “belonging”, Ms Kabraji proposedthat communities are important to convey asense of belonging. They help youunderstand who you are. Unlike the Jews,Armenians or Filipinos, Zoroastrians “arenot tied to a physical land or country todefine their identity”. However, “in order tobelong, you must know the country, bevisible, recognized and embraced by theentity to which you belong. Our youth todayhave assimilated into their new diaspora;but they want to be connected with eachother to feel a sense of belonging.” In away, she said the Return to Roots (RTR)programme, of which she is a co-chair,ensured that youth “return, reconnect andrevive.” Wherever they may be,Zoroastrians seek out and form bonds withother Zoroastrians. Zoroastrian Centers(like ZAH) have become a substitute for thebaghs they grew up in. She applauded theFIRES collection as it would “allow theconnection of shared memories, availing anopportunity to learn about our history,culture and religion”. The evening endedwith a delicious dinner of dhan-dar-patio,and Parsi stew followed by lagan-nu-custard that was enjoyed by all.

The FEZANA AGMOn April 28, 2017, Homi Gandhi, Presidentof FEZANA, inaugurated the FEZANA AGMand welcomed all member associations,past presidents, committee chairs, andZarathushtis attending in the audience. TheAGM was attended by all five of the currentexecutive officers of FEZANA, all seven of

the past presidents of FEZANA, 18 ofFEZANA’s 26 member associationsrepresenting 53 out of a total of 66 eligiblevotes, and 22 out of 26 FEZANAcommittees. Sister organizations such asthe North American Mobed Council andWorld Zarathushti Chamber of Commercewere also represented. The AGM report, inelectronic format for the first time waspreviously sent to members.

In his opening address Homi Gandhi laudedthe achievements of the past years withspecial mention of the three new AtashKadeh’s: the Arbab Guiv Dar-e-Mehr in NewYork, the Atash Kadeh in Orange, California,and a new Dar-e-Mehr in Sacramento,California, which attests to the fact that “thebest of our community is yet to come”. Headded: “As a new diaspora, we are buildingour own institutions, we are defining ourown identities, and we are creating our ownprogrammes to lead a group of Zarathushtison this North American continent with thesame values for which our Zarathushti faithhas stood for over three millenniums. Wewant our community members, especiallyour children and grandchildren, to be proudof their Zarathushti identity.

Vice President ArZan Wadia urgedmembers to “harness the energy andenthusiasm in the room to put theZarathushti community on the path togrowth in North America”. He applauded the“work, passion and time” of the manyvolunteers in the room. He said: “a strongshowing by FEZANA at the Global WorkingGroup Meeting in Hong Kong reinforcedFEZANA’s standing as representative of thesecond largest geographical group ofZoroastrians in the world”.

The sessions started every morning with abenediction led by various Ervads presentat the meeting. A particularly uplifting Boiceremony was performed in the prayerroom of Houston’s Zarathushti Heritage &Cultural Center (ZHCC) on the morning ofSunday, April 30th with all attendees joininghands together in prayer.

In addition to the FIRES and Return toRoots committees, FEZANA has several

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active committees and each committeegave a brief report. The Unity and WelfareCommittee provides help with financial andother assistance. Their beneficiaries trustthem to maintain the highest level ofconfidentiality. Dolly Dastoor, Chair of theScholarship Committee stated thatscholarships were the most sought afterresources. Due to the high demand, onlyone third of the applicants were grantedscholarships but they totaled a generous$35,000 in 2016. Zoroastrian Youth ofNorth America (ZYNA) is looking to mentorhigh school students applying touniversities. Behram Pastakia, Chair of theZarathushti Youth Without Borders, spokewith great pride of Garshasb Soroosh who,with his two classmates, will send amicrobiology experiment they devised to theinternational Space Station. The experimentwill test the effects of weightlessness onmicrobe gene expressions. The UN-NGOCommittee’s Co-chair Afreed Mistry, amember of the younger generation, strivesto bring youth participation at UN events.This year four youths will have participatedin the “Preservation of the Oceans”conference on June 4, 2017 at the UNHeadquarters.

After another sumptuous dinner of Texasbarbecue and Tex-Mex cuisine, the ZAHelementary school children gave anentertaining programme titled From Zal toRustom, based very loosely on theShahnameh. This was followed bypresentations of the attending memberassociations.

On the evening of April 29 th, at a glittering30th Anniversary Gala event, FEZANAbestowed the FEZANA LifetimeAchievement Award to Ervad (Dr) JehanBagli, who has faithfully served the NorthAmerican Zarathushti community for manyyears,. The gala, hosted by the ZAH, alsocelebrated the 10 th Anniversary of theLegacy Awards that were set up by ZAHfrom the proceeds of the World ZoroastrianCongress in 2000.

The award to Dr Bagli recognized hisdecades of service to the community as a

priest, a scholar, a writer and a speaker.There are few Zarathustis in North Americawho have not heard of Dr Bagli’sscholarship and commitment. In hisacceptance speech, Dr Bagli recognized hiswife Freny, their son Darius and spokemovingly of their late daughter Shiraz.

Dr Bagli, along with the current and allseven past presidents of FEZANA,inaugurated a special 30th AnniversaryIssue of the FEZANA Journal titled Voicesof the Future. The Journal’s chief editor,Dolly Dastoor, said that it was a befittingmoment that the Journal’s very first editorshould inaugurate this 30th anniversaryissue.

ArZan Wadia, unveiled the new FEZANAlogo, designed by Zara Contractor ofKarachi, which identified the accentuatingelements of air, earth, fire, and water andstrong Zoroastrian identity. He presented aretrospective of FEZANA’s work over thepast few years.

The evening programme includedentertainment by ZAH Youth and RhythmIndia. ZAH awarded scholarships to four ofits youth heading off to college for the firsttime, while a new needs-based scholarship,the Mike Engineer Scholarship, wasunveiled and awarded for the first time. ZAHalso gave a lifetime service award to SaroshCollector, a founding member of ZAH.

Several upcoming events were highlighted:• The 11 th World Zoroastrian Congress inPerth, planned for 2018, which is the firstWorld Congress to be held in Australia; itstheme will be “Together Towards Tomorrow”.• The Seventh World Youth ZoroastrianCongress to be hosted in Southern Californiain Summer 2019 by the California ZoroastrianCenter.• The North American Zoroastrian Congressin December 2020.• A bid for the 12th World Zoroastrian Congressin 2022, by New York, whose theme will be“Bridging the Global Zarathushti Existence”.

The next FEZANA AGM will be hosted bythe California Zoroastrian Center.


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Post AGM activities included a visit to theMuseum of Fine Arts with a special tourdirected by Vehishta Kaikobad who is adocent there.

Pictures of the 30 th FEZANA AGM may bedownloaded at the following link, courtesy ofYezdi Engineer, ZAH: https://goo.gl/photos/uPifCTonbQeQfmhJ6.

Atash Kadeh:Houston is a dynamic and successfulZoroastrian community. We now have adiverse group of approximately 600Zarathushtis from India, Pakistan, Iran, anda few from the Middle East, Africa andAustralia. ZAH members overwhelminglyvoted to have an Atash Kadeh, one that isopen to all Zoroastrians, their spouses andchildren. Just prior to the FEZANA AGM,ZAH received the building permit for a newstand-alone building to be erected on landalready owned by ZAH, across the parkinglot from the current ZHCC. Feroze andShernaz Bhandara have very generouslyagreed to fund the entire cost ofconstruction.

The process of building the Atash Kadehhas been carefully planned. ZAHestablished a design team that worked witharchitect Cyrus Rivetna to come up with adesign that is a blend of traditional andmodern architecture. The floor plan of theAtashkadeh follows all the traditionalelements of the agiaries of India / Pakistanand Iran and uses the guidelines suggestedby the North American Mobed Council. Theexterior is a classic timeless design, withvery traditional elements, that will easilyidentify it as a Zoroastrian building, but usesmodern materials and finishes to create anelegant building.

The design consists of two halls, the Prayerhall, which contains the Atash Gah, and theJashan / Muktad hall with the Urvishgahattached to it. The Prayer hall is verytraditional, complete with the raised floor,with the ritual Pavi, for the Atashgah (Kebla)and a Ghumbad tower to vent the smoke. Itwill be large enough to hold 100 people,standing. The Muktad hall will seat 120. The

wall between the two halls is separated bydoors that can be opened, so that for largegatherings everyone can see, hear, and feelall the prayers and ceremonies within theAtashgah. The two rooms are separated sothat during a Jashan, people can use theprayer room for their individual prayers.Also, when higher liturgy ceremonies areperformed, non-priests can sit in the JashanHall and participate in the ceremonies.

We hope that this Atashkadeh will beamong the first Navar training centers inNorth America. It has two bedrooms, akitchen and Nahn (ritual bath). TheAtashkadeh will also have the traditionalquiet garden for outdoor prayers, and theritual stones used during the Navarceremony.

ZAH has started an Atashkadeh Operationsand Maintenance fund, and would like toencourage donations (large and small) tothis fund.

The ZHCC has been an integral part of ourlives; this addition will truly be something tocelebrate.

Authors: Article compiled by Yasmin Pavri withJangoo Mistry (FIRES), Percy Master (AGM)and Aderbad Tamboli (Atash Kadeh).

• Jangoo Mistry moved to Houston several yearsago after retiring from Ford Motor Company.He is currently on the ZAH ExecutiveCommittee and is also on the ZAH LibraryCommittee.

• Percy Master serves as the Secretary of both theZAH Executive Committee and the FEZANAAdministrative Board.

• Aderbad Tamboli is the current Chair of theZAH Executive Committee and has worked ondesign and construction of the Atash Kadeh.

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Yasmin Pavri is a long timeresident of Houston. She hasbeen active in ZAH activitiesincluding stints on the ExecutiveCommittee. She is now on theLibrary Committee thatadministers FIRES.

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The 11th Zoroastrian Congress is beingheld in Perth, Western Australia, one of theworld’s most beautiful and clean cities. TheCongress since its inception in 1960 hasnever been to the southern hemisphere andwe are honored andpleased to have it inPerth.

The congress themeis – TogetherTowardsTomorrow.Together theZoroastriancommunityworldwide toprogress towards abrighter future for allmembers and theworld environment.

The Global workinggroup awarded Perththe Congress at theIranshah Utsav inUdvada on 25December 2015,after considerablecommunication anda presentation givenby BAWAZ to them.The worldwidesupport from ourpeers wasextraordinaryreceiving manyideas and information.

The Congress team started at the groundlevels and approached the general peoplefor their thoughts and views on what theywould like to see at the Congress.

Fortunately from the lay person to scholars,priests and business people, all havecontributed to ideas, views and theirthoughts on what they would like to see at

The 11th Zoroastrian Congress, Perth. 1 – 4 June 2018

firoz pestonji – congress chair

the Congress. We have tried to implementthose views as best as possible for ourCongress sessions.

Main features are:• Topics of similarnature to beclubbed together.• Emphasis onfinding solution toglobal communityissues, not justvoicing them.• Highlightingissues that arecrucial for ouryoung adults,women andseniors.• IncreaseHamazoriamongstdelegates andnetwork to fosterfriendship andbondingA highlyinterpretivewebsite alreadyre-launched on 1June 2017highlighting mainfeatures forCongress. Pleasebrowse at :www.11wzcperth.com.au• Globally

requesting people to add their request ofinterest and voice their views.A few days of Congress not much can bedecided on various topics. So to overcomethis, we have launched it digitally on ourwebsite. Anyone can add in their views,concerns and ideas which will be read andreviewed by people from all parts of theworld.Its not just the Congress. We are alsooffering delegates a once in a lifetime


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opportunity to visit and sightsee Australiaand New Zealand. Special discountedpackages have been offered to cater tovarious interest groups and budgetaryconcerns.

• Those who want to attend the Congressonly may do so, with optional tours to join inif desired.• Pre and post congress tours are availablein our region. Delegates can enjoysightseeing in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne,Gold Coast, Adelaide as well as NewZealand.www.aussieperthtours.com.auwww.aussiedestinationtours.com.auor Zoroastrian Travel Agent at+61 08 9221 2400.• We will also try and arrange formultilingual people to assist our brethrenfrom Iran, India, Pakistan etc for whom theEnglish language may be a concern.• Special emphasis on entrepreneurs andthe business community to highlight theirsuccess stories and struggles.• Arrange to have site visits to engineeringfactories, hospitals, educational institutionsetc, if required by our foreign delegates tonetwork with their local counterparts.

We have released Stage One of theCongress on the website and it has beenpositively received by all. It showcases mainpoints of interest to people. We have tried tohighlight the major events leading to theCongress. A very brief idea on programmesduring the Congress is highlighted. Mosttours being offered are also highlighted.Stage 2 : Will showcase the majorspeakers, more detailed information andsynopsis of what to expect. Forms anddetailed immigration information will bereleased.Stage 3 : Release Congress pricing andbooking options.

Delegates may make their own choices online or visit their trusted travel agents locallyto book the Congress and tours.

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In Part II, I’m going to shine a light onsome of the current bigwigs of Bollywood.People whose contribution has been madein the last few decades, and whose namesare more familiar to most of us. Theycontinue to bring a freshness to thisconstantly evolving industry. New themes,new principles, new viewpoints and newtechniques. Many of them have wonnational and international awards for theirfilms and for their contribution to film-making. I should reiterate that this list is byno means comprehensive. It is too long aone to be addressed in its entirety. Some ofyour favourites may indeed have been leftout, and the coals for that must be heapedon my head.

Let me start with the gorgeous and beautifulPersis Khambatta who holds a distinctplace of her own in Parsi film history. Shestarted as a model for Rexona soap at age13, flowered into a beauty who won theFemina Miss India, and Miss Photogenic atthe Miss Universe the same year. Sheimmediately got her Bollywood debut, buther most memorable role was in Hollywood– that of Lieutenant Aliea in Star Trek theMotion Picture, in which her bald look was abrilliant statement of beauty and boldness.She became an icon in a world ofwannabes. She was also the first Indian topresent an Oscar award, even though shenever earned one herself.

Another actress who gets an honourablemention despite her lack of Bollywoodsuccess, is Katy Mirza. Her one majorfilm hit political choppy waters and wasderailed at the station itself. But she wasbest known for her magnificent twin assets,and she hit stratospheric levels of fame andpopularity when it came to be known thatshe had actually had them reduced by anincredible 10 inches! Even in this reducedstate, they facilitated her entry into thefamous Playboy Club as a Bunny, which

Bombastic Bollywood - Looking Back with Pride

by tehnaz bahadurji

Part II - The Moderns

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added further gloss to her reputation, andmust be chalked up as a Parsi First.

Farooq Sheikh, whose mother was aParsi, was a relevant player in themeaningful cinema trend known as Art filmsor Parallel Cinema. His route to cinema wasthrough TV, where he got noticed as aquizmaster on Doordarshan. He filmed withIndian film greats like Satyajit Ray,Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Shabana Azmi andRekha, and even won a Best SupportingActor Award. He once rued that though hehad never received proposals written inblood or any such fantastic thing, it was notthat aspect of super-stardom that hemissed. It was not being able to commandthe kind of work he wanted. He was asensitive soul in a beating drum industry.

Aruna Irani started her Bollywood careeras a child artist, aged only nine years. Shewas the eldest of eight siblings, and gaveup studies in the sixth standard to helpprovide financial support for schooling forthe younger ones. With her alluring facialmole and her seductive gyrations, shedanced her way into many a heart. Shewent on to get as many as 10 nominationsfor Best Supporting Actor, yet she nevermade it to the Super League. In her lateryears, she changed her focus to television,but the film fraternity finally acknowledgedher contribution by awarding her a LifetimeAchievement Award in 2012.

Mickey Contractor is one who made itto the top in a distinctive Bollywood field.He’s the topmost make-up and hair artist inthe industry. Though he had to fight everystep of the way up in the early days, he’snow in a commanding position and candictate whom he will or will not work with.International fashion magazines like Voguebow before him, and he’s a star andcelebrity in his own right, with a MickeyContractor line of MAC cosmetics speciallyformulated for Indian skin and weather. Inan unusual twist, men were not seen as fitcandidates for this line of work. It wasconsidered a women’s specialty for skill andfinesse. Mickey proved himself a BollywoodGreat in a hostile environment and created

a name and reputation for himself, pickingup many awards along the way.

Sooni Taraporevala is a multiple award-winning screenwriter,though not an Oscarwinner yet. She’s alsoa photographer ofsome repute havingshown her exhibit ofParsi family photos ingalleries around theworld, including theTate Modern. She’sturned her hand todirecting too, and isalso the author of afew books connectedwith Parsis and Parsipanu. Little Zizou, afilm she both wrote and directed, and inwhich her two children played importantroles, is a charming little family drama whichwon an Indian National Award for Best Filmon Family Values and as many as teninternational awards. She’s a recipient ofthe Padma Shri, a high level civilian honourin India, which she treats with typicalmodesty, saying irreverently that the onlything it has changed for her is that she’sbeen informed that if she ever goes to jail,the award will get her a better class of cell!

Shernaz Patel has been inthe film industry for threedecades now and worked withmany of the big names inacting and direction. She isacknowledged as a sensitiveperformer who carries a brightinternal light, and has shone inmany a niche with memorableroles. She likes to keepchallenging herself with avariety of roles andperformance media.

Astad Deboo isrenowned as the Father ofContemporary Dance inIndia. He’s danced beforemore kings and queensand presidents all overthe world than one can

Sooni by Sooni. Hamazor archives


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shake a stick at. And he’s extremelyinclusive in his choreography, working withmany groups of differently abled kids, andteaching them skills that often lead to viablecareers for them. India has recognised hisachievements in contemporary dance athome and abroad by decorating him withthe Padma Shri. However, hischoreographic interaction with Bollywoodhas been only a few movies, one directedby the renowned painter M F Hussain.

Penaz Masani’s goldenvoice has also carried herall the way to the PadmaShri. She’s a classicallytrained singer, who hassung playback for morethan 50 Bollywood films.She is from a musicalfamily and was a childprodigy, releasing her firstprofessional album at age12. She made her mark asa singer of Ghazals,traditionally a male-dominated field. Withher petite appearance, her halo of darkcurls and her ethereal voice, she hasmesmerised audiences across the world.

John Abraham, alsowith a Parsi mum, enteredBollywood throughmodelling, andimmediately got himself aBest Debut nomination.But John is mostrecognised for his smokinghot bod, his love ofmotorbikes, and his long-standing relationship withBipasha Basu that alwaysseemed on the lip ofmarriage but never actually got there. Hisfirst film production was a hilarious movieset in the sperm donor industry, and broughtthe otherwise taboo topic into middle classliving rooms across India, for which the filmwon an award for Best Popular FilmProviding Wholesome Entertainment.

Cyrus Broacha did his first Hindi film atage 12 and his first professional play the

next year and was immediately hailedas a child prodigy actor. But his fameand popularity have really been in TVwith the MTV Bakra show and nowThe Week that Wasn’t, a political satirethat fearlessly takes on and mockspolitical and other pashas. Thisirreverent insouciance has been quitepath-breaking in India. He’shyperactive, and his wheels arealways spinning, spinning, spinningacross TV, theatre, podcasts, radioand even a book. But he does have aserious wish-list – “a unibrow, a largemole, a third nipple or an extra finger... itwould give a distinct edge to myappearance.” Inspirational stuff! And thattoo, on a Proust questionnaire. Oh, but heloves dogs, which cancels and overrides allidiosyncrasies.

Shiamak Davar, nephew of Homiand JBH Wadia, is renowned as theGuru of contemporary Bollywooddance. He modernised and radicallytransformed the Bollywood dancescene. His sleek, stylish and sexybackground dancers and zanychoreography replaced the clunkystuff of yore, and the man in thestreet was heard wistfully asking –“who’s the girl behind Katrina? I wanther phone number.” Many Bollywoodactors got their entry into filmsthrough his dance classes. He’s theIndian Government’s go-to guy for anycontemporary dance showcasing, and haswon innumerable Indian and internationalawards. He’s performed with internationalgreats like Sting and Bryan Adams andJohn Travolta. He says he was a legend inhis living room before he made it anywhereelse, and now runs a foundation to giveunderprivileged and handicapped kids thesame opportunity. For all his achievements,his mad Bawa-ness reveals itself in hissincere claims to have seen UFOs. He’s notthe first name you’d think of, but he really isone of the modern Bollywood Greats.

Boman Irani is a well-loved andrespected actor in Bollywood today. Hecame to Bollywood almost in middle age,

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via a family chip shop, photographyand a very supportive mother. Helikes to sing and is handy with aguitar, and is personally anextremely charming chap. His truecalling is comedy and villainy, andhe has had some major filmsuccesses here. And while he canrun with the boys like any trueblooded Parsi, he is a gentleman atheart, with a whacky sense ofhumour, but also a kind andconsiderate nature. He credits hismum for her perseverance and

patience with him, and Shiamak Davar forpointing him in the direction of films.

Ronnie Screwvala is the founderof UTV, which was subsequentlytaken over by The Walt DisneyCompany India, and Ronnie is apath-breaking film producer. Heeffectively changed the formula forBollywood films – great content, butalso packaged well enough to dotop dollar commercially. High-levelscript and production work, resultingin a slick, smooth product. And hugesuccess has attended his films.Having made his buck, he re-invented himself as a major player

in the field of philanthropy where he and hiswife are India’s version of the Gateses. He’sa best selling author, frankly describing hisroute to success via many failures. And likeBoman, he’s popular in the film fraternityand well-liked.

Farah and Sajid Khan are thedaughter and son of Menaka, eldersister to Honey and Daisy Irani. Sajidhas had some directorial success, butFarah is the Big Cheese! She startedoff in Bollywood as a choreographer,at which she was an outstandingsuccess, winning the Filmfare Award asensational six times! Her directorialdebut was with her best buddyShahrukh Khan, and was the first ofmany grand successes in that arenatoo. Then a successful acting debutand several celebrity performances on

TV, where she is extremely popular for her

very Parsi candour andwillingness to answer allquestions, fair or foul. HerBollywood career has beenone of many excesses, sotrust her to carry that into herprivate life as well – she’sthe mother of triplets!

Farhan and Zoya Akhtar,cousins to Farah andSajid, are the children ofHoney Irani and JavedAkhtar. Their careers arestill flowering and whatheights they will reach areas yet unknown, but bothhave given early promiseand received notablenational and internationalawards. Zoya is bold andcontemporary in herscriptwriting andfilmmaking, and hasalready been dubbed oneof the most influentialdirectors of the generation.She has a feminist bentand promotes strongfemale lead characters,reflecting the times we livein. Farhan is moremultifaceted, being actor,director, singer, producerand writer, and is creditedwith starting a New Wave inIndian cinema. Audienceslove his gorgeous looks,and he has an Elvis effect on them with hissensitive, soulful performances – makinggirls scream, cry and swoon with delight.And all this shining star career startedbecause he was a layabout, and his mum,Honey, threatened to throw him out of thehouse if he didn’t do anything with his life.He’s a man with a heart, actively involved inAIDS awareness and the founder of MenAgainst Rape and Discrimination. But, weare reliably informed, he is afraid ofcockroaches!

Sanober Pardiwala is a young womanengaged in one of Bollywood’s few really


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dangerousoccupations. Thisbold fitnessexpert is aprofessionalstuntwoman, oneof only five or sixin the industry,compared to 5-600 stuntmen.She’s had to fallthrough glasspanes, and down300-footwaterfalls, and off16-storey buildings. She’s done fire stuntsand bike stunts and sword fighting andmartial arts for all themodern big name femalestars. She’s continuouslyextending her repertoireby skydiving, bungeejumping, learning differentmartial arts, and is quiteunique in this aspect. Sheusually accepts all offers,except when the securityarrangements areinsufficient, as in such adaredevil occupation,accidents are bound tohappen even with everysafety concern addressed. She says it’s asource of pride to her to excel in this male-dominated field. Her Parsi predecessor inthis uncommon profession was JohnCawas, a professional body builder whotransferred into Bollywood as stuntman inHunterwali and actor in many Tarzanmovies made by the Wadia brothers.

Jim Sarbh is a young actor who’s made astellar performance as a terrorist in a recenthit film, and has been marked out as havingpromise. Amyra Dastur is alsoconsidered an actor of talent, one to lookout for, winning a debut award in Tamilcinema. Diana Penty is described ashaving a refreshing loveliness, and receivedkudos for her debut performance. In thedirectorial field, Homi Adajania hasmade some sensitive and successful filmswhich have received both audience and

critical acclaim. Darius Chinoy has a day job as adirector, of the business kind, and an alternative career as ascreenwriter and director of the movie kind. KaizadGustad has also made a few excellent films directingactors like Naseeruddin Shah, Amitabh Bachchan andZeenat Aman. We’ll have to watch to see where all thesefledgling careers take off to in Bollywood.

These are just some of the big Parsi names of Bollywood –people who are making an impact in modern times. A fewfilms were made about the Parsi community, none of whichwere either authentic or successful, and the silver screenParsi often found himself trapped in a sola topi and dagli,cleaning his old car or being a bit of a fool. But the realParsis of Bollywood, male and female, have been quitepopular, one would almost say loved. They’ve mostly beensincere in their work ethic, dedicated to their craft, diligent intheir role and yet fun to hang out with. Looking back on thislong liturgy, one realises how magnificent their contributionto Bollywood has been, considering the community’s smallnumbers. One cannot help but feel quite proud.

Jim Sarbh.Harmazor archives Amyra Dastur

Diana Penty Homi Adajania Darius Chinoy

Kaizad Gustad

q

Tehnaz Bahadurji is convinced that lifelonglearning is a window through which onelooks upon the world.Believe that one should keep an open mind,but not so open that one’s brains fall out.Agree with Shakespeare that there is nothinggood or bad, but thinking makes it so, andwith Picasso that art washes away from thesoul the dust of everyday life.Love to read,travel, help and empower people, and torejoice in family, friendship and the manysplendours that life has to offer.

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Kawas Nanavatiwas my first cousin –our mothers weresisters. He was sixteenyears older to me and Ibarely knew him.

At the time I was newlymarried and was livingin Bombay. On thatfateful day of April 27,1959, my mother-in-law showed me asmall paragraph in theTimes of India sayingthat Kawas Nanavatihad shot Mr PremAhuja, the presumedlover of his wife Sylvia.My mother-in lawsuggested that Ishould visit my aunt.The car was ready forme and I went straightto my aunt’s house inColaba.

Sylvia had moved into her in-law’s home.She and my aunt were in the kitchen. Sylviawas busy conveying food to her threechildren in the next room. Mehra Aunty wascooking. There was nothing to indicate thatthe news had affected their relationship.

The driver suggested we go to the FloraFountain. The large square, surrounded bycommercial banks and high-end shoppingstores, was filled with Gujrati men in whitedhotis carrying platters of sweet ladoos andbarfi – fudge. An elderly man popped a bitof a ladoo into my mouth. The air ofjubilation was palpable. CommanderNanavati was their hero – he had killed aSindhi – a member of a hated migrantcommunity from Pakistan. The Gujratiswere accustomed to do billions of rupeesworth of business by word of mouth, butafter the influx of Sindhi refugees they felt

A Personal Memoirby bapsi sidhwa

compelled to draw upofficial documents.

For the next few dayswe were glued to thenewspapers, andphotographs. Nanavatistood in his gleamingwhite uniform, in anopen Jeep led by acovey of navalmotorcycles followedby an escort of blacklimousines. It was aglamorous spectacle –until the presidingjudge put a stop to itsaying, “This is not aHollywood parade!”

Kawas was showeredwith hundred rupeenotes with imprints oflipsticks sent by hisdoting women fans.Bachi Karkaria, arespected journalist

and popular columnist of the Times of India,writes with a flair and zest that draws out allthe dramatic possibilities of the incident.She gives a blow by blow account of thecourt case, which is captivating to readeven by a lay person like myself.

I barely knew Sylvia or Kawas because theywere so much older to me and lived in ararified atmosphere at the topmost crust ofsociety. India’s Prime minister JawaharlalNehru took a personal interest in the caseat the behest of the Admiral of the Navy. Asdid the famous Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit,Nehru’s sister, who was as avid a fan as thewomen who showered Nanavati with lipstick– stained notes. After the trial ended theNanavati family migrated to Canada.

The few times that I saw Sylvia in Bombay, Iwas taken by her fresh English beauty. Her

All imagesand excerptfrom thebook,courtesy ofthepublishers -Juggernaut,India.

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It’s spooky. Every year on the 27th AprilI find myself thinking, “This was the day.”What I’m remembering is a murder thattook place when I was seven years old,nearly half a century ago. And the strangepart is it had absolutely nothing to do withme personally.

I’m evidently not the only one of mygeneration on whom the Nanavati murdercase had such a deep impact. Othercontemporaries of mine, who wereprobably as young as five and six at thetime, also remember it vividly. One ofthem recalls how he made his mother buyhim a little sailor suit, and used to strut upand down wearing it and pretending to beCommander Nanavati. Other little boys –now in their sixties – tell me how theyused to heatedly debate over whetherNanavati was innocent or not, debatesthat often ended up in schoolboy scuffles.

Another little boy at the time was SalmanRushdie, and when he wroteMidnight’s Children, based on theBombay of his childhood, the Nanavatimurder case inevitably found its way intothe plot. Rushdie turned CommanderNanavati into ‘Commander Sabarmati’,and Sylvia Nanavati and Prem Ahuja into‘Lila Sabarmati’ and ‘Homi Catrack’,respectively. His famously magicalimagination then proceeded to interweavefact and fiction, so that it is the book’sprotagonist, little Saleem Sinai, whosemachinations turn out to be the trigger forthe murder.

When kids as young as five remember along ago murder so powerfully, you reallyknow how deeply it has impacted thepsyche of the society. The reason,perhaps, is that it involved mythical story-telling archetypes and themes that thehuman brain is hard-wired to light up for:

Three shots rang out from the bedroom. And then ...

A review of In Hot Blood by Bachi Karkaria

by anvar alikhan

the heroic, honourable husband; theexotic foreign wife who has been ledastray; the sleazy, wealthy, hard-drinkingseducer, aided and abetted by hisscheming sister; the conflict between therealms of sordid commerce and the nobleArmed Forces, the upright Parsicommunity and the supposedly deviousSindhi community. It’s surprising thatnobody has written a book about the caseuntil now – although it has inspired a PhDthesis and three Bollywood movies, aswell as two works of fiction, Midnight’sChildren and The Death of Mr Love byIndra Sinha. But now Bachi Karkaria hasset the record straight with herwonderfully researched In Hot Blood.

Karkaria has done a great job of puttingtogether a detailed narrative of the case,as well as the cultural factors that formedits backdrop, for the very first time. Sheexplains, for example, the case’s greatlegal significance, involving a battle ofwits between some of India’s greatestlegal brains of the time, and ultimatelyresulting in the dismantling of the jurysystem in India. She also explains howthe case was distorted by a rare degreeof interference from the media, as well asfrom the highest political quarters.

It was obviously a daunting task forKarkaria to collect all the material for thisbook after nearly sixty years had passed,because most of the first-hand sourceswere now dead. Indeed, it is instructive tolearn what a large part serendipity playedin Karkaria’s research process. Forexample, in order to learn more about thereal Prem Ahuja, she apparently spreadher net wide among the Sindhicommunity, especially among the 80+age group, but drew a blank. And thenone day she went to interview socialactivist Gerson DaCunha on the subject

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q

Editor of the Bombay weekly Blitz, whoplayed a shockingly partisan role in hiscoverage of the trial. If the book has aflaw it is that Karkaria tends to judge thedramatis personnae by the liberal valuesof our own times, rather than the strait-laced values of the long-ago 1950s.

Reading the book, one would think thatKarkaria’s presentation of the scandalmight ruffle Parsi feathers, and please theSindhi community, by presenting thedramatis personae – especially PremAhuja – in a rather different new light.But, ironically, the person whose feathersseem to have been majorly ruffled is RamJethmalani, the leading Sindhi lawyerwho played a key role in the trial, who hasaccused Karkaria of being ‘anti-Sindhi’ inher point of view. It is a reminder,perhaps, of how very sensitive ourcultural identities have become in today’scontentious world.

So what happened to CommanderNanavati finally? That is a question manypeople have wondered about. Karkariatells us that he was pardoned in a dealdeftly brokered by the Indian Governmentwith Ahuja’s family (and the Sindhicommunity). He then migrated with hisfamily to Canada, where he became asuccessful insurance salesman. A curiousdestiny for someone who would almostcertainly have become India’s Chief ofNaval Staff in the late 1970s.

The Nanavati case has inspired no lessthan three Bollywood films over the years– Yeh Raaste Hain Pyar Ke, Achanak and,more recently, Rustom – all of them typicalmasala movies. Some time ago the verytalented Sooni Taraporevala was said tobe working on a film on the subject, but theproject was put aside for some reason.One hopes that Bachi Karkaria’s book willnow make her reconsider, and take up thatproject once again.

Anvar Alikhan is anadvertising professional andsocial historian

From the time he reported the incident to DeputyCommissioner Lobo on 27 April 1959 till the Supreme Courtsorted out the limits of the powers of executive and judiciaryon 5 September 1960, Kawas Nanavati had remained in thecomparative comforts of naval custody.

When, finally, the long arm of civil incarceration caught upwith him, it too wore the kid gloves ordered by his friends inhigh places.

At Arthur Road Jail, he was assigned a special cell, andallowed several concessions such as food from home. Allthings considered, this was not exceptional. Neither was thespecial treatment he was given when – like all celeb prisoners– he needed to be hospitalized. Friends remembered it as afancier ‘chest pains’. Blitz, which claimed to be answeringthe ‘hundreds of queries’ sent to the paper, put it down to thelowlier ‘piles’, brought on by his ‘anxieties over his ownfuture, that of his family and his concern for his aged parents’.

At JJ Hospital, he was attended to by Dr Jamshed ‘Jissa’Moos. He was the one who had firmly forbidden his wifefrom joining the frenzied throng of Parsi women at thesessions trial in 1959. Jissa and Jean had first met Kawasand Sylvia at an infant’s funeral in London way back in1953.

Now at ninety-two, Jean’s sight is seriously impaired, but herbearing remains stately, her voice strong and her memory sharp.She sits in an elegant kaftan in her leafy flat off Mumbai’s swishPedder Road, embraced in the warmth of family photographsin silver frames. She recalls that poignant gathering: ‘The strikingKawas was the centre of attention, while Sylvia, somewhatmousey, kept quietly to herself.’

Her maid, in a considerably less stylish kaftan, serves tunacanapes with litchi squash while Jean describes the secondcloser encounter which had put the distinguished Dr Moosin a bit of a spot. ‘My husband was an honorary physician atJJ Hospital, and Kawas was brought there from prison. I don’tknow for what because Jissa never discussed his patients withme. What I did learn was that he decided to keep Kawas in asmall anteroom because conditions in the ward were terrible,with patients sometimes having to be accommodated onmattresses on the floor. Besides, Kawas, by then, was a veryfamiliar figure, and would attract untoward curiosity.

‘The room had no fan, so my husband asked if one could beinstalled. When the authorities refused, he got a friend to donateone – permanently. I don’t know if Jissa kept him longer thanhe should have. There was some backbiting that these specialconcessions were being made Parsi to Parsi. But the hospitaldidn’t object. And these facilities were a kind gesture.’ ...

An excerpt from the book ...


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Parzor in collaboration with TISS (TataInstitute of Social Studies) recently releaseda 4-volume series Parsis of India:Continuing at the Cross-Roads at theMax Mueller Bhavan, Mumbai.

Max Mueller Bhavan director, Dr MartinWalde, in his warm welcome to the audiencenoted the enduring value of the Zoroastriandictum Good Thoughts, Words and Deeds.Welcoming the Minister for Minority Affairs,Mr Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who had travelledfrom Delhi, especially for the Launch, TISSDirector Dr Parsuraman praised thecontribution of Parsis globally and theirpresence in every field while mentioning thatseveral Parsi students, from generations ofTISS, were seated in the audience.

The Honourable Minister of Minority Affairs,Shri Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who releasedthe books said that the four volumes willserve as a credible source of information onthe Parsis. Emphasizing that the decline inParsi population was a matter of concern forthe Government of India, he said, “In thecontribution to the country, the Parsis areahead, they now need to move ahead intheir demographic figures too.” And hepromised the community his government’scontinued support and pledged an increasein the scope of the Jiyo Parsi Programme.

The Chief Guest, Art Historian and Curator,Dr Pheroza Godrej, lauded the research, asvery informative with lots of intellectual andreligious points which the community mustpay heed to. She pointed out how the Parsiquality of being self-critical is vital for self-growth and acknowledged the presence ofErvad Dr Parvez Bajan, Advisor for Avestanstudies at Bombay University, and DrRustom Soonawalla eminent gynaecologistwho has been an Advisor to the Parzor-TISS Demographic Module.

Professor Armaity Desai, Advisor to theParzor Demographic Project and co-editor

Parzor -TISS Book Launch: The Parsis of India - Continuing at the Cross-Roads

by binaifer sahukar

of the Series was unable to attend and hermessage read out by Dr Shalini Bharatstated:“The release of the four volumes on ‘TheParsis of India – Continuing at the CrossRoads’ has had a long journey, startingalmost one and a half decades ago. DrShernaz Cama, of PARZOR Foundation, inher work on the preservation of the tangibleand intangible heritage of the Parsis, realisedthat the loss of the heritage was closelyrelated to the demographic decline of thecommunity, which also needed to be studied.The focus of these studies was to explorethe reasons for the decline by understandingthe implications of the psycho-social andeconomic factors reflected in the responsesof the participants of the study. In theprocess, four volumes have emerged. All thestudies covered Parsis living in various areasof Maharashtra and Gujarat as well as someof the more Parsi populated locations inother parts of India.”

The four volumes cover the flash points thathave preoccupied the Parsi community overthe years :1. The Parsis of India: Continuing at theCrossroads - The Indian Parsis: ThemesOld and New edited Shalini Bharat &Armaity S. Desai.2. Contemporary Parsis: Marriage,Family and Community edited ShaliniBharat.3. The World of Indian Parsi Youth:Status and Perceptions edited LataNarayan.4. The Parsi Elderly: To Live with Dignityedited S. Siva Raju.

The topics ranging from family, marriageand geriatric population data gathered byinterviewing samples across India led ProfDesai to state that: “The data thatemerged on common themes of thestudies showed that some of theopinions current in the community were,in fact, myths and the reality was

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different as evidenced by the data. It alsobrought to the fore current issues in thecommunity.”

The four National Studies have coveredboth urban and semi urban areas, while theFamily Study also covered rural villages inGujarat. Desai mentioned that severalmyths were exposed:“One myth which has been affecting ouryouth is that girls do better educationallythan boys. Even in the youth study focusgroup discussion, this view was voiced.However, the survey data showed otherwise.Boys were more apt to go for professionalcourses in medicine, engineering, law,chartered accountancy, while girls were moreapt to proceed to post-graduate studies inthe humanities and the social sciencedisciplines, but science was less favoured byboth. A large number desired to study further,an aspiration which belies the myth thatParsi youth are not serious about theiracademics.

Another myth has been that Parsis are laidback and tend to go for white collar, clericaljobs. However, the data do not support thismyth. The largest percentages wereworking in the professions, followed byentrepreneurs and the least were inadministration or clerical jobs.”

Another significant find according to Desaiwas that “not all Parsis wished to live inbaugs. Men and the youth preferred to livein cosmopolitan neighbourhoods while itwas older persons and women whopreferred baugs, perhaps, being viewed assafer places to live.

A significant number wanted to own their ownhomes and outside of Mumbai many werehome owners. The demand for Parsi baugswas more in Mumbai (56%) where housing isa challenge. Some in Gujarat villages alsolooked for housing to be provided.

Interestingly, it was also found that whileliving in a baug helped perpetuate the Parsiculture and observance of religiousfestivities, in fact, it was not a means forpromoting marriage within the community.

Moreover, while the myth that more housingis needed was reflected in some focus groupdiscussions, in fact, not a single respondentin all three studies said they postponedmarriage or did not marry due to lack ofhousing. Rather, several did not marry inorder to look after their aged parents.”

About the questions of Identity, it was seen“While expressing that they were Indiansfirst and Parsis next, they were also veryproud to be Parsis. While most youthproclaimed that Zoroastrianism was areligion that showed the right path to livingin its dictum of good thoughts, good wordsand good deeds, most were apt todownplay rituals.”

For most, the navjote ceremony was asocial or a socio-religious function ratherthan a religious function. The criticism foundin all the studies was that “Priests playedlittle or no role in teaching the religion andthat though they could teach prayers, theycould not explain them.”

In the Panel Discussion Dr Shernaz Cama,explained that it was precisely for thisreason, a programme with priests wasinitiated by Jiyo Parsi at the Masina hospitalon 13th May 2017, with a team of mentalhealth experts to orient our Mobeds to theJiyo Parsi scheme, develop leadership skillsand impart family life education and to trainthem to become like pastoral counsellors,initiating dialogues with the laity in need ofemotional and spiritual succour. In thePresentations it was seen that a sizeableportion of respondents were strictly againstconversion but at the same time most didexpress the need for gender equality.

Balancing multiple identities like Indian,Parsi and work designation is a norm. Theyouth are comfortable balancing differentfacets of these identities, as there is greaterporosity seeping into personal boundaries.As Prof Desai noted “Most said they wouldrather prefer to marry within the communityif they found a suitable partner for which themost important attributes werecompanionship and compatibility. However,45% said that if they did not find a suitable


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partner within the community, they wouldmarry out of the community.”

It was also noted that although there wasgeneral recognition that the populationis in severe decline but generalconversion was not favoured “at all ”.

Among the elderly, loneliness anddepression were two strong reasons for DrShalini Bharat to advocate that single menand women should also be provided withparenting opportunities. This has becomepossible with the introduction of ART,(Artificial Reproductive Techniques), nowavailable. But as Prof Bharat stated, at thetime of youth,“Messages to marry early andprocreate are resented by single youth”.

Prof Desai noted that the Elderly felt that“Services for the elderly at their doorstep isa requirement in an expanding elderlypopulation that cannot be catered to bybuilding institutions which should primarilybe for disabled, bed-ridden or very elderlypersons. Others could be served at homethrough services such as help who come into give personal care for bath and dressing,para-medical and medical help, foodpertinent to their requirements, assistancewith finance and income tax etc. Youngerretired elderly, who are looking for activity,could be drafted as volunteers. Day carecentres for the elderly are also required asboredom is a problem with them. If situatedat the same site as for children, each wouldreceive stimulation from the other.”

Dr Lata Narayan who conducted the Studyon Youth, felt that loneliness andunhappiness in old age with no children wasonly understood at a stage too late tochange matters and added that themessage of marriage at the right ageneeded to be given in a supportive and non-directive way.

It is an important finding that while 70%respondents desired children but only 55%actually had them. The economics of onechild versus two was the reason cited forsmall family size of just three. Therespondents, while concerned about

demographic decline, did not let it influencetheir decisions, if it was not in alignmentwith their personal growth and aspirations.Desai noted that “at least 12% hadexpressed a need for creches and severalhad said that couples did not have elderlymembers of the family living with them tooversee child care while mothers worked.Hence, developing a chain of day-carecentres for babies and under sixes isnecessary with some parents requiring careof their primary school child before and afterschool.”

Desai added that “Medical and IVF servicesare necessary to augment the population asa substantial number of women wereunable to conceive or had miscarriages.Expansion of population is more possiblethrough bringing in couples with primary orsecondary fertility problems than trying toget couples to increase the number ofchildren.”

Specialising in geriatric demographicsegments of the Indian population of Parsis,Dr Siva Raju found that an unbelievable,31% of the Parsis, perhaps the highest suchpercentage of aged in the world, are in the60 plus percentile. From the samplesassessed, in the five Parsi Old Age Homesas well as in the larger population, therespondents, even many decades ago, hadonly two children in their reproductive years.

Raju’s study reported that whilst thecommunity provided good quality of life ininstitutional care, home based support wasthe best. Low quality of life among the agedwas associated with loss of confidence aswell as loss of income and he stressed theneed for elderly day care programmes,recreation and for medical, paramedicaland financial assistance.

Prof Desai noted “State intervention isnecessary to assist all communities in Indiawhich are in danger of facing extinction,which is today only for certain tribalcommunities. The Jiyo Parsi Scheme of theMinistry of Minority Affairs, Government ofIndia, is an excellent example of stateintervention in increasing the Parsi

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population. Giving a tax rebate on everychild born in such communities would bemore welcome than charity funds foradditional children.”

Prof Desai ended on a personal note “Thefour volumes have yielded very rich datathat need to be studied not only byacademicians and researchers but by theleaders of the community, and the realitiesof the current perceptions of the Parsicommunity taken into account for a moreinformed decision-making process.” Shestated that her “ late father, Sapur F Desai,wrote the ‘Community at the Cross-Road’ in1948 when little was known of thedemographic decline. The leadership failedto reach out and take necessary action. Asa result, the Parsis are in a worse situationtoday than in 1948.

“Solution for today’s problem of diminishingnumbers has to be in the context of thelifestyle of Parsis in the 21st century. There isno reason why Parsis, an educatedcommunity, cannot move forward to savethemselves from extinction. There is ampleevidence in the studies that change is takingplace in the thinking of the Parsis who are notits spokespersons or leaders. It is necessaryto recognise this change that is taking placeand evolve a positive dialogue to address thedifferences. These four volumes dedicated tothe community are for serious study andfollow up of a way forward in the next severaldecades of the 21st century.”

In the Panel Discussion, demographerLeela Visaria spoke of a steady decline ofParsis and referring to Sapur Desai’s Study,she noted that even in 1949 there was adeclining trend. Visaria projected that by2030 Parsis would drop to 40,000 and theytherefore, needed to plan quality care forthe population. However, extinction shefelt was out of question . At the mostcritical decline, the Parsi status willchange “from a community to a tribe”. Apoint to be noted from her statementwas, “that opening the doors, assuggested by previous speakers, will nothave any significant difference innumbers.”

Shernaz Cama, of PARZOR corroboratedthe points made by Visaria. She pointedout that in three decades of the ParzorFUREC Study of Parsis in Delhi, only 5%of mixed-marriage progeny come backinto the fold. Commenting on the JiyoParsi Scheme which has produced almost100 babies, she talked about an attitudinalchange, gradually seeping into Parsiconsciousness, through media and mentalhealth and Counselling Programmes.Pointing out to Sam Balsara, CEO, MadisonAdvertising, in the audience sheannounced that a second wave of printadvertisements of Jiyo Parsi would bereleased and she invited one of the JiyoParsi Facebook page editors, BinaiferSahukar to share her experience.

Binaifer Sahukar took the audience throughthe genesis of the Facebook Page, whichwas resorted to as a medium used for freepublicity. Celebrities, scholars and othershave shared a slice of their life on thisPage. She said that there has deliberatelynever been a face associated with thecampaign, as “Jiyo Parsi belongs to eachone of us” she said. “Eight months ago theeditors had to chase people and beg themfor stories. Today, people are leaving theirstories of achievements and celebrations forbirth announcements, love stories andanniversaries with family photos to beuploaded from the message box.” Thesession ended with a vote of thanksfollowed by high tea.

Binaifer Sahukar has post graduatedegrees in Psychology and Social Work.She is a Counsellor at Prafulta Clinic,Viacom 18, Khalsa College, and J BVachcha School. She is a part of the JiyoParsi team.

“The Girl from Matunga”is Anu Aga.

Reference page 42

Documents

HAMAZOR - ISSUE 3 2017 · 20 “Like Sugar in Milk ... Dinshaw J Irani’s booklet called ‘Understanding the Gathas - The Hymns of Zarathushtra’ which was printed by Kaikhosrov