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SP Purple Cyan Maganta Yellow Black Wáel 15-12-07

HAMAZOR - ISSUE 4 2007

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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

04 265 years of Iranshah - noshir dadrawalla06 Sanatorium at Sanjan08 20th Anniversary of NWZC, UK10 WZOs Gala Dinner-Dance13 WZO Strengthens its International Board14 Joint FEZANA/WZO Team’s Update on baby Ushta16 Zarathushti Entrepreneurship - natalie vania18 Mancherji Edalji Joshi Memorial Trust - Food Scheme19 Glory of Mumbai Awards presented by Times of India22 Against the Classicists - farrokh vajifdar25 Yazamaide - sam kerr27 The Yatha Ahu Vairyo Prayer - dina mcintyre31 ZSO - The Fifth Annual Library Gala - magdalena rustomji34 Honours bestowed to Zoroastrians35 Zar Amrolia - a profile36 Dorabjee Pestonjee Cama - roeinton khambatta38 History Professor earns grant : Nerina Rustomji40 Cowasjee’s Nose - sam kerr42 Glaucoma - mahnaz naveed shah43 Prof Tehemton Erach Udwadia - firoze patel45 Future Stars of the City : Vica Irani45 The Russian Connection - shahin bekhradnia49 Jeroo Roy - Art with a purpose52 99 going on 100 - marzban giara54 Sanobar Pardiwalla - Bollywood’s youngest stunt woman56 CHAL - ongoing report on relief59 Membership Form with details

COVER

“Child Labour in CarpetWeaving Factories”,painted by Jeroo Roy,UK.

Cowasjee’s Nose, p 40

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London, England

Mr Sam HBhiwandiwallaChairmanE-mail:[email protected]

Mr Darayus S MotivalaPresidentE-mail:[email protected]

Mr Dinyar ModiHon SecretaryE-mail: [email protected]

Mrs Khurshid BKapadiaMembership SecretaryE-mail:[email protected]

Mr Dadi B EngineerPresident, WZO IndiaMumbai, IndiaE-mail:[email protected]

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

Mr Rustom Yeganegi233 Saadi AvenueTehran, Iran

Mr Darius MistryAucklandNew ZealandE-mail: [email protected]

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

Mr Russi GhadialiSingaporeE-mail:[email protected]

Mr Keki BhotePresident, WZO USIllinois, USAE-mail:[email protected]

I n t e r n a t i o n a l B o a r d M e m b e r s

Dr Sam KerrUnit 5, ‘Agincourt’10 Larkin Street\RosevilleNew South Wales, 2069Australia

Er Jehan BagliVice PresidentMississauga, CanadaE-mail: [email protected]

Mr Marzi ByramjeeOakville, CanadaE-mail:[email protected]

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

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

Funded by:World Zarathushtrian Trust Fund

Design & layout by:Toxy CowasjeeKarachi, Pakistan

Volume XXXXVII - Issue 4 2007


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rom the EditorFAlthough most of us Parsis associate this time of the year with Christmas,after having grown up in a culture strongly steeped with British overtones,we need to remind ourselves that in fact it is the festival of Yalda that weshould be thinking of - the ancient Persian celebration of the longest night,this year on December 22nd.

The reason the Persians have always celebrated this mid winter solstice(like other Zoroastrian festivals that celebrate the cycle of nature) isbecause after the longest night, the prospect of spring and thereforeNowruz becomes more tangible and is within sight once more. So theIranians stay up all night, bring out as many fruits as they can that theyhave careful ly saved from the summer such as water melons,

pomegranates and grapes and enjoy the company of friends and family.

But then a celebration in the middle of winter is by no means exclusive to the Zoroastrians. It is easy to understandthat people in the northern hemisphere having been plunged into darkness for some months, would wish to havesomething to lighten the monotony of the days and a festival provides the excuse for a bit of merrymaking.

Even now in North West Pakistan the Kalasha (who managed to preserve their own way of life despite the pressuresof the surrounding peoples to change them) celebrate each mid winter solstice by processing out of their respectivevillages in a long line, each person carrying a burning pinewood torch and chanting as they descend to a communaldance ground. The torches are all joined together into several large bonfires and the community spend the wholenight dancing, with men dressed up as women for added spice.

The Romans celebrated the Saturnalia around the mid winter solstice and because it was a festival where classdifferences dissolved, and slaves and masters often reversed roles, a good time was had by all, with the emphasison eating, drinking and being merry. Gifts were exchanged and family visits were made. Houses were decoratedwith wreaths and greenery. The religious significance became secondary to the fun.

Does that sound like Christmas? There is good reason for that since after the Roman emperors became Christian,they merely turned the already existing festival into a Christian celebration. And of course thanks to the influence ofMithraism through the Roman soldiers coming into contact with the widespread and popular cult of the Easternprovinces which they brought to Rome, the Saturnalia had been replaced by the celebration of the birth of Mithra,(Natalis Solis Invicti = Rebirth of the Victorious Sun) with the religious elements becoming more emphasised,hence the rites of Christmas.

And then there are the other festivals that are based on the lunar calendar but nevertheless they tend to occuraround the same time – this year Islamic Eid ul Azha is on December 21st, while the Jewish festival of Hannukahand the Buddhist festival known as Bodhi Day were in early December. Divali the festival of light also occurs inwinter.

All these winter festivals make the point that all people need to find a way to relieve the monotony of winter whichbrings in its wake a shortage of local foods, a shortage of light and of sun. Just as we all crave for light and warmthwhich the return of the sun brings as we turn back towards the spring, we all share a common humanity. We shouldperhaps concentrate on that and try to find our common ground rather than the issues which separate us.

The WZO board joins me in wishing our members and the community a happy and peaceful 2008.

Acknowledgement: Shahin Bekhradnia for the information given for the Editorial.

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265 years of the Iranshah at UdvadaReported by Noshir Dadrawalla

Sunday, 28th October 2007 was trulya historic and memorable day for more than3,500 Parsi and Irani Zoroastrians who hadthe opportunity to pray before the HolyIranshah Fire and participate in the

festivities.

33 buses from Mumbai, sevenfrom Navsari, three from Surat,two from Pune and one fromAhmedabad rolled into Udvadatown on Sunday morning. Manyothers had travelled by privatevehicles and train from far off

destinations. It was probably the largestgathering of Parsis in this otherwise smalland serene town in South Gujarat.

The happiness and glow of devotion thatone could see on thousands of young andold faces was a sight to behold. Everythingwas meticulously planned and executed -from organized queues for paying homage

to Iranshah to travel, food andother logistics. The volunteerforce and the adage - ‘Parsi ThyName is Charity’ showcased itsbest profile.

According to traditional accountsIranshah was first consecrated atSanjan in 721 AD. Thereafter dueto various upheavals of history, theHoly Fire had to bemoved to variouslocations including theBahrot Hills, Vansda,Navsari, Surat, Valsadand finally at Udvada265 years ago. Theamazing co-incidenceis that even 265 yearsago when Iranshah

was brought to Udvada forenthronement, the date wasSunday, 28th October1742.

On Sunday, 28th October 2007 a Jashanled by Dasturji Khurshed Kekobad Dastoorwas performed at the Atash Behram.Thereafter, Parsis congregated at the Sir DM Petit compound opposite Hotel Mek forthe rest of the celebrations.

Dasturji Khurshed led the Hum Bandagiafter which the students of the Bai AvabaiPetit School led by Yasmin Charna andunder the able baton of Marzban Mehtasang monajats (devotional songs) andkhushali na geet (songs for auspiciousoccasions) that made the audience clap andfoot-tap away all through. The songs werenot only appropriate for the occasion butshowcased Parsi culture and values as theyrightly should be.

Noshir H Dadrawala who played master ofceremonies pointed out that according tothe Pahlavi Dinkard, every Zoroastrian isrequired to cultivate five virtues whichinclude ‘Truth’; ‘Charity’ (as demonstratedby virtually scores of generous Parsis whoexclusively funded and supported theevent); ‘Skill’ (as proved by the talentedchoir of the girls of the Bai Avabai PetitSchool); ‘Endeavour’ (as demonstrated bythe organizers of the event) and finally,‘Giving encouragement to others inperforming good deeds’.

Homai andRohinton Engineerwere thankedprofusely for theirstellar role ininteracting withvariousgovernmentauthorities andproviding theirunstinted supportin every possiblemanner. Noshir

Dasturji Khurshed Kekobad Dastur(High Priest) f lanked by othermobedsahebs of Udvada

Dasturji Khurshed Dastur (High Priest) addressing thecongregation.


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Anklesaria and Ervad Navroze B Kangawere also thanked for obtaining exemptionof entry tax for buses at Gujarat borderand obtaining various permissions for thefunction from the CEC Gandhinagar.

Dastrurji Dr Peshotan H Mirza’s messagewas also read out and it was heartening tosee that the function had the blessings andsupport of both the High Priests of Udvadaas also the Udvada Samast Anjuman.

In his welcome address Dasturji Khurshedgave glimpses of the history of Iranshahand the difficulties that the Sanjanamobeds endured for centuries to keepIranshah safe from marauding invaders.

Dasturji said that respecting the code ofconduct for elections and the laws of theland, the formal inauguration of theZoroastrian Information Centre had to bepostponed. He apologized to thecongregation and said that the InformationCentre will soon be inaugurated and thecommemorative brochure and the silvercoins will also be released at the appropriatetime, with due pomp and ceremony.

He also assured the congregation that hehad the whole hearted support of Parsisand all local residents of Udvada to improvethe infrastructure and the overalldevelopment of this sacred place ofpilgrimage.

Chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet,Mr Minoo Shroff said that Parsis are held inhigh esteem by other communities and it isunfortunate that as a community we washour dirty linen in public and make a laughingstock of ourselves in certain newspapers.

Trustee of the Surat Parsi Punchayet,Jamshed Dotivala prayed for the unity andprosperity of the community while pastPresident of the Surat Parsi Pragati Mandal,Rusi Besania, spoke about the glorious pastand the valour and generosity of eminentParsis past and present.

Osta Noshirwan Khurshed Daboo ofAhmedabad spoke about the glory of

Iranshah and the trials and tribulations faced byZoroastrians after the fall of the Sasanid Empire in Iran.

Guest ofHonour,Dr MehrooD Bengaleegave adetailedoverview ofthe work ofthe NationalCommissionforMinoritiesand saidthat as aMember ofthisCommissionshe has

already taken up a number of issues concerning theParsi community. She bemoaned the fact that theproject report on the birthrate of Parsis is extremelylow. She also spoke about her interest and support inrestoration of Udvada village and said that no oneshould oppose programmes or projects initiated forthe welfare and development of Udvada.

Homai N Modi gave the formal vote of thanks and theprogramme concluded with a gusty rendition of Chayehame Zarthoshty and the Indian National Anthem.

Maneck Toddywala boldly stood up to the challenge ofcatering to more than 3,500 Parsis.

L to R: Mrs Mithoo Jesia & Mrs Bachi Tamboly welcomingSir & Lady Jamsetji Jejeebhoy

Girls of Bai Avabai Petit school singing devotional songs

Noshir H Dadrawala has authored books, done research papers, giventalks and conducted seminars at national and international level. He isalso a trustee of various foundations/councils. Professionally he is anExecutive Secretary at the Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy.His research projects have been for John Hopkins and HarvardUniversities as well as for the London School of Economics. He hasalso travelled extensively and earned fellowship/membership ofinternational bodies. He is also an editor of a few publications.

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Sanatorium at SanjanDinshaw Tamboly, Managing Trustee of WZO Trust Funds, India, informs ...

the Sanatorium at Sanjan is the resultof a munificent donation received bythe WZO Trust Funds from thegenerous Trustees of Bai Maneckbai PB Jeejeebhoy Deed of Settlement

Fund. The Sanatorium became operationalon 23rd September 2001 and has over theyears become a popular retreat forcommunity members.

The WZO Trust Funds Bai Maneckbai P BJeejeebhoy Sanatorium at Sanjan is apalatial bungalow, having comfortablerooms radiating with understated elegance,a huge front yard where a beautiful garden,the like of which is rarely seen, is always infull bloom, a backyard that has a plannedmango orchard, coconut tress growingalong the boundary, palm trees and manyothers all combine in harmony to create anambience without parallel. The pollution freeenvironment complements the trees, theflowers and the fauna.

The very name of Sanjan conjures upnostalgia and sentiment in the heart of everyZoroastrian, for it was on the shores ofSanjan in Gujarat that we Zoroastriansreceived sanctuary when our ancestorslanded 1377 years ago to preserve our faith.That we Zoroastrians, proud and patrioticcitizens of Mother India were given not onlysanctuary over thirteen centuries ago, butpermitted to retain and follow our faith in anera when it was not an easy task to retain areligious identity not followed by the rulers ofthe day, is indicative of the warmth andenthusiasm with which visitors to Sanjanhave been greeted since time immemorial.

Sanjan is steeped in history.

Did you know that according to tradition, theholy Iranshah fire was created at Sanjan?

The ‘alat’ for the consecration was broughton foot by Zoroastrian clergy from fourAtash Behrams of Iran.


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Did you know that Iranshah wasconsecrated on collection of 16 differentfires, including one from lightning broughtdown by the strength of mantras and ritualsperformed by Dasturji Naryosang Dhaval?

Did you know that Iranshah was resident atSanjan for 669 years and thereafter toprotect it from external threats in turbulenttimes was shifted to the Bahrot Caves for12 years and thereafter to Vansda Forestfor 14 years?

Holy Iranshah was then taken to Navsari(313 years), Surat (3 years), Navsari again(5 years), thereon to Valsad (1 year) andfinally enthroned at Udvada 265 yearsearlier on October 28, 1742, where it reignsin all its majesty & glory.

Did you know that one of the oldest‘dakhmas’, was professionally excavated atSanjan in 2002 by the World ZarthushtiCultural Foundation with the support of theArcheological Survey of India?

Whilst the structure can be dated to the 11th

century, the bones found have been datedby Oxford University to the period 1410 –1450 AD.

As an aside, we are sure you do not knowthat WZO London assisted the WorldZarthushti Cultural Foundation by partsponsoring the dating process at OxfordUniversity - but now you do know.

The Sanjan Memorial Column standing nextdoor to the sanatorium is a communitysymbol that generates awe in our heartsand reminds us of the farsightedness of ourrevered ancestors, the fruits of which we asa community enjoy till date.

Yes, Sanjan is full of surprises.

We too have a surprise of our own. Wecombine history with the beauty of natureand blend them with comfortable living andsumptuous meals. IRs250 per person, perday, in this day and age is the pleasantsurprise with which we greet our guests.Come, visit Sanjan ... have a great holiday.

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It has been mentioned many timesalready but for the rest of the Zoroastriansthe world over let it be said, throughHamazor, a small group of Parsis andIranians in Manchester, scattered far awayfrom the hub of London, decided twentyyears ago to form a “family of friends”interested in fostering the flame ofZoroastrianism. Thus was born the NorthWest Zoroastrian Community – NWZC inUK. This year we celebrate our 20thanniversary.

After nearly a year of planning, theanniversary was celebrated in great style onSaturday 29 September, 2007. With thehelp of a few young people the HeatonMersey Community Hall in Stockport,Merseyside, was festooned with balloons,ribbons and floral decorations and lookedspectacular. The evening began with theChairperson Zarin Avari and her committeeputting on a grand display of togetherness.A souvenir magazine, professionally editedby one of the founding members of NWZC,Burjor Avari, full of anecdotes and articles ofinterest contributed by members andfriends, was also launched during theevening.

The occasion was graced by the presenceof the Chairman of the London-based WorldZoroastrian Organisation and the Presidentof Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe.Members and friends came from placesacross the North from Liverpool to Leeds,along with a contingent from the Midlands;and one member specially flew in from Italy.

The proceedings were opened with a lovely‘monajat’ by Meher Dastor, followed by ashort talk by each of the two main speakers.Paurush Jilla of ZTFE presented anoverview of the new Zoroastrian Centre inLondon and expressed his wish to see theresidents from the North West community

20th Anniversary of the North West Zoroastrian Community

Report by Shahnavaz Mehta & Eruch Cavasji

arrange a visit to the new premises in thenear future.

Sammy Bhiwandiwalla ofWZO congratulated thefounding fathers, three ofwhom were present on theday for their confidence andpassion for starting theorganisation some 20 yearsago. On behalf of WZO healso offered the NWZC andthe West Midlandscommunity funding towardsarranging a joint weekendseminar with two

international speakers, as WZO’s token ofappreciation for keeping the flame ofZoroastrianism burning bright in the regionsfor our co-religionists. Both Paurush andSammy thanked the Chairperson ZarineAvari and the committee for their warminvitation and wished them well into thefuture.

Two members of theExecutive Committee,Deirius Dastor and ManeckMehta, also gave a briefoverview of the NWZC.Fond memories wererelived, while frank andcritical comments were alsomade. Everyone however,looked forward to aprosperous future for thecommunity.

After the seriousness of the first hour allthose present caught up with old friends orchatted with new faces in the crowd. Peoplerelaxed and mingled, before a sumptuousmeal was provided for all to enjoy.

The evening with its cosy and warmsurroundings was brought to a close by

Chairperson Zarin Avari

ZTFE President,Paurush Jilla

Deirius Dastor

WZO Chairman,Sammy Bhiwandiwalla


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Indian and western music, two melodious songs by Shahnavaz Mehta, a promising opera singer andthe Youth Officer of NWZC, and the presentation of a birthday cake to Amy Chichgar, one of thegreat veterans of our community, on her 80th birthday.

Twentyyears

celebrating

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The charity ball is a black tie event, and theladies were looking absolutely exquisite intheir ball gowns or saris. The guests weretreated to an excellent 4-course dinner withfine wines; were entertained by two magiciansperforming at each of the tables and theguests danced to the music of the BeachedBoys (yes, a Beach Boys tribute band). Inbetween the courses and entertainment, therewere games and auctions helping to boost themuch needed funds for the Gujarat Farmers.The whole evening was humorously heldtogether by the ever popular, Master ofCeremonies, Barry Williams.

WZO chose this event to thank the Trusteesof the Dennis William Richards Will Trust, MrAlex Burns and Ms Jill Ruhomutally, for theirgenerous donation of £400,000 to WZOcharities and to 13 other charities. WZO’sPresident, Darayus S Motivala, made a short‘thank you’ speech [which follows] to someof WZO’s special friends and surprised Alexand Jill by inviting them to the floor where theywere each presented with a singular hand-written scroll recording WZO’s sincere thanksfor their magnanimous donation.

WZO’s Chairman, Sammy Bhiwandiwalla,read one of the scrolls to the audience beforepresenting them to Alex and Jill. Sammy’swife, Ursula, presented flowers andchocolates to Alex Burns and his wife, Valerie,and also to Jill Ruhomutally and her partner,Dr Nader Mahaer. Sammy commented thathe could not think of a more befitting occasionto publicly thank Alex Burns and JillRuhomutally.

The evening came to a close in the early hoursof Sunday morning and was enjoyed by all

WZOs Gala Dinner - Dance

the World Zoroastrian Organisation held its annual Gala Dinner-Dance at theCopthorne Effingham Park Resort in aid of the Zoroastrian farmers in Gujarat onSaturday 17th November 2007. As in the previous years, it was a glittering event,attended by over 200 Zoroastrians and non-Zoroastrians who come to have awonderful time as well as to donate generously to a deserving cause. Each year,

this event raises thousands of pounds for WZO’s Gujarat Farmers’ Fund.

those present, a number of whom have beencoming since its inception, some 16 yearsago. WZO would like to thank Rumi and HildaSethna for their hard work in ensuring itssuccess, once again. We also take thisopportunity to thank all the sponsors andguests to this event for their generosity.

Do make a note in your diary for next year’sGala Dinner-Dance which will be on Saturday,22nd November at the Gatwick Hilton.

Address by WZO’s President, Darayus S Motivala

“Good Evening Ladies andGentlemen. Thank you forcoming today andsupporting WZO which isgreatly appreciated by myfellow board members andme. I want to take thisopportunity to introduceyou to some very specialfriends of WZO.

“First of all, may I introduce to you Behramand Rena Baxter, all the way from San Diego,USA. Behram and Rena have been greatfriends of WZO and, a few years ago, financedthe building of the second Senior CitizensHome in Navsari.1 I do hope that you enjoyedthe wine on your table as this was sponsoredby them for this evening’s event. This is trulyappreciated by us. Thank you, Behram andRena, thank you for coming today and thankyou for your very kind generosity.

“Next, may I introduce you to Mr Alex Burnsand Ms Jill Ruhomutally. Alex and Jill, as


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trustees of the Dennis WilliamRichards Will Trust, werelooking for potentialbeneficiaries who in theiropinion, would do most toimprove the lives of the under-privi leged in India. Alexapproached his long timefriend Rohinton Irani forassistance in this matter.Rohinton introduced Alex andJill to Mr SammyBhiwandiwalla, our Chairman.At the end of last year, Alex,Jill and Rohinton identified anumber of potentialbeneficiaries including WZO.In January of this year, Alexand Rohinton went on a factfinding trip to Navsari and thesurrounding areas, which wasarranged by Dinshaw andBachi Tamboly of WZO, India.2

So impressed were the pair bythe dedication andprofessionalism of theTambolys that the trusteesdecided to allocate £180k ofthe £400k available in the WillTrust to seven WZO charityprojects. Their confidence inWZO was so great that theyalso entrusted WZO with thedistribution of the remaining£220k to their 13 selectedCharity institutions in India.3

Thank you for your confidencein us.

“The WZO projects and fundswhich benefited from thisgenerous donation includedthe Women and Childrens’Fund, the Self-employmentschemes, the Senior Citizenscentre and WZO was able tobuild 25 basic bricks andmortar homes for the poorZoroastrian farmers in Gujarat.The non-WZO charities thatbenefited from this generousdonation included the Masina

L to R: Dr Nader Mahaer , Jill Ruhomutally (Trustee), Alex Burns (Trustee), and Valerie Burns

L to R: Khorshed and Mahinger Sodhi with Rohinton and Pervize Irani

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Hospital in Mumbai, theJai Vakeel Day School& residential home forthe mentally challengedchildren, the SnehaSagar Society whichaims to keep the under-privileged children offthe streets of Mumbai,and the Cheshire Homefor the physicallychallenged.

“Thank you Rohinton,for thinking of WZO andmaking these valuableintroductions. Rohintonand his wife, Pervizehave been true friendsof WZO not only on thisoccasion but they havealso hosted the lastthree barbeques whichhave raised almost£30k for our well-needed funds.4

“Alex and Jill, we are so pleased that you havecome today to this annual Grand Charity Ball,as it gives us a great opportunity to honouryou both in the way we have done in the pastfor some of our other special friends. Wewould like to present each of you with a specialhand-written scroll which records our sincerethanks to you for your magnanimous donation.Could you please come and join me on centrestage. May I also ask our Chairman, Sammyand his lovely wife, Ursula, to bring the scrollsand present them to Alex and Jill.”

[Sammy read the scrolls to the audience andthen presented them to Alex and Jill.]

“The International Board of theWorld Zoroastrian Organisation,London, takes great pleasure inpresenting this scroll to AlexBurns / Jill Ruhomutally, trusteeof the Dennis William RichardsWill Trust in recognition of themagnanimous donation of £400kto 20 charitable institutionsincluding WZO towards the reliefof poverty, sickness andhomelessness in India.”

Presentation of the two scrolls to Alex Burns and Jill Ruhomutally, Trustees

“There is one further couple who require ourimmense thanks and gratitude for years oftireless and selfless service to WZO and tothe community. They are of course our pastChairman Rumi Sethna and his lovely wife,Hilda. This is the 16 th Gala Charity Ballorganised by them. You have to hand it to


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Rumi, when he takes money of you today, hedoes it in style.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for yourpatience in the last few minutes, thank youfor supporting WZO once again and thank youfor your confidence in WZO. I will now handyou back to our genial, our larger than life,our old favourite Master of Ceremonies, BarryWilliams.”

Note:

1. Hamazor Issue 4/2005, pp10-112. Hamazor Issue 1/2007, pp 5-73. Ibid. pp 34-354. Hamazor Issue 3/2007, p 9; Issue 3/2006, p 60; Issue 3/2005, pp 6-7

WZO strengthensits InternationalBoard

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at its AGM in September this year,WZO members elected three newmembers to the International Boardand Dr Jehan Bagli was appointed

Vice-President of WZO.

The three new members have been workingwith WZO’s International Board for some timeand are now rightly taking part in its affairs asfull Board members. They are Mr DariusMistry of New Zealand, Mrs Armaity REngineer and Ms Soonu Engineer of UK.

Mr Sammy Bhiwandiwalla, WZO’s Chairman,commented, “I am very grateful to them for theirpast assistance and am certain that they will playa significant part in shaping the future of WZO. Iwelcome them to the International Board andlook forward to working with them.”

Mr Darius Mistry has been working with WZO fora few years and was instrumental, with Ms FarahUnwalla, in starting WZO New Zealand andobtaining charitable status there. Darius camefrom India many years ago and runs his own ITcompany in Auckland.

Mrs Armaity R Engineer has worked with WZOfor a couple of years and has assisted WZO inthe UK with a number of social events. Nosurprise then that she has been elected as oneof the three Social Secretaries in the UK. Armaityworks for a catering establishment that serves anumber of the major hotels in the Southeast ofEngland. Through her many contacts in this area,she has been successful in getting sponsorshipsand support for WZO’s charity drives andfunctions.

Ms Soonu Engineer has been working in thebackground with Mr Sammy Bhiwandiwalla toraise WZO’s profile, both in the Zoroastrian andnon-Zoroastrian communities. She is a freelancetrainer and consultant in organisationaldevelopment, working with a wide range of publicbodies.

Dr Jehan Bagli has been a Board member of WZOfor many years. Jehan is the current Presidentof the North American Mobed Council and is verymuch involved with his local Zoroastrianassociation, the Zoroastrian Organisation ofOntario, and with FEZANA. Jehan is an ordainedZoroastrian priest through both Navar and Murtabceremonies. Jehan retired as a DistinguishedResearch Fellow of Wyeth / AyerstPharmaceuticals Research and is currently aResearch Consultant.

Dr Jehan Bagli has a hard act to follow as hesucceeds Mr Keki Bhote as Vice-President ofWZO. Keki has made an invaluable contributionin shaping WZO, particularly in North America.Keki, a quiet unassuming family man, ensuredthat WZO achieved charitable status in the USAand is a frequent speaker on Zoroastrian topics.Sammy Bhiwandiwalla, acknowledging Keki’scontinuing role in WZO, stated, “Keki, whilerelinquishing his position of WZO Vice-President,continues to remain a valuable Board Member ofWZO and of course continues as President of WZO(US) Region thereby helping to fulfil theorganisation’s charitable activities.”

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October 10, 2007

where and how do we even beginto thank all the donors for comingtogether so well as a communityto help Ushta Confectioner with

her medical bills and her medical treatment?

Ushta as you know is a 4.5 year old girlsuffering from burns she received when shefell backwards into a large vat of hot milk ina Mumbai shop. She sustained burns on65% of her body, many of these 3rd degreeburns. Ushta received excellent emergencytreatment at the Masina Hospital in Mumbai,where she received initial skin grafts andwas brought into a stable condition byDrs Keshwani and Mullan.

FEZANA and WZO, at the request ofUshta’s parents, Zarir and HootoksiConfectioner, initiated a fund raising drivefor the medical treatment and subsequently,once again upon the request of Ushta’sparents made the necessary arrangementsto transfer Ushta to Shriner’s Burn Hospitalin Boston. Today, thanks to the generosityof donors and the good wishes and prayersof well wishers, Ushta is in Boston, USAreceiving best possible medical care at theShriner’s Hospital for Children.

Since being admitted to Shriner’s Hospitalfor Children, one surgery has beensuccessfully performed on Ushta. Anothersurgery is scheduled for next week. Thegoal at Boston so far, per the head nursethere, has been to provide Ushta goodnutrition, to help her get stronger so that herbody may more easily help heal the newskin grafts. The nurse also goes on to saythat both Ushta and her mom are adjustingwell and that Ushta is becoming a favouriteamong her caregivers.

Although it is still too soon for the medicalteam in Boston to say when Ushta will

Joint FEZANA / WZO Team’s Update on

Baby Ushta Confectioner Medical AppealA further report after the initial information given in the last issue of Hamazor, pp 50-51

recover fully, the very encouraging news isthat Ushta has now been moved to AcuteCare, which means she is “no longer thesickest child in ICU.”

The Zoroastrian Association of The GreaterBoston Area (ZAGBA) has come togetherfantastically to provide support both toUshta and her mother. They have a visitingschedule by which various members visitthe hospital. They have learned that Ushta’sfavourite foods include fish, chicken, egg,veggies, dahi-ni-kadhi, rotlis and tomatoflavoured potato chips and they are happyto take her favourite meals to the hospital.

We thank all donors once again for theirgenerous donations. We would like toinform all concerned at this time there isno longer a need for any more financialcontributions.

The surplus of monies in India will be helduntil Ushta’s return, just in case the fundsmay be needed. If they remain unused WZOwill contact the appropriate donors for fundoptions. The monies in USA will be held untilUshta departs for India. Although yourdonations leave us extremely well placedfinancially in USA, if there is an emergencyand if we need additional funds we will mostcertainly let you know. To the best of ourknowledge and involvement, all the bills inIndia have been paid in full. All her carerelated to burns, while she is admitted to thehospital in Boston, USA is also taken care of.Where we may need to step in is forexpenses once she is discharged; and therewill be expenses related to Ushta and hermother’s return to India. We seem wellplaced to handle those for now.

We are aware that Ushta’s father has put inan appeal for funds to go directly to him.


15

Again, we tell you that to the best of ourknowledge, all Ushta’s expenses have beentaken care of and absolutely no morefunds seem to be needed at this time. Weare only in a position to account for fundsthat have been donated directly through ourorganizations; unfortunately we are unableto answer any questions in reference todonations you may have sent directly toZarir, Ushta’s father.

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! We justcannot say this enough to you! It has beenfabulous to see our community cometogether so well, for the well-being of thislittle girl.

May Ahura Mazda, bless us all and may wealways find our way together to help oneanother!

The Joint FEZANA / WZO Team

FEZANA President:Rustom Kevala: [email protected] Critical Assistance Subcommittee:Houtoxi Contractor: [email protected] Mehta: [email protected] Shroff: [email protected] (Mumbai)

WZO UK, Chairman:Sammy Bhiwandiwalla: [email protected] Trust, India - Managing Trustee:Dinshaw Tamboly: [email protected]

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20 November 2007

“We as FEZANA Welfare/Critical Assistanceare sharing with you below an update sentto us from the President of the ZoroastrianAssociation of the Greater Boston Area(ZAGBA).

We want to let you know that Ushta has beendischarged from the hospital in Boston andhas only about two weeks of physical therapyleft in America. She is already walking a littleon her own. We have been informed thatmost of her wounds have healed and that theremaining ones are coming along well.

The doctors and nurses have been verypleased with her progress and her physicaltherapist is also very upbeat about theadvances she has made.

We thank you all for your continued support;the financial aid you have provided hasindeed helped us serve Ushta both in Indiaand in America. We ask you to please sharethis update with your friends as Ushta hasreceived the support of the globalZarathushti community and we would likethem to know about her progress as well.

We will continue to keep you updated asthings move along.”

UN commissions the restoration of 5000 year oldPersian harp informs CAIS on 1 Nov 2007

The United Nations has commissioned the restoration of anancient Iranian string instrument, a Persian harp, in the city ofQazvin. “The Persian harp dates back to 3000 BC and is goingto be restored after seven years of historical research,” SeifollahShokri, the craftsman in charge of the restoration said. “Theinstrument was first identified by a research team from ChicagoUniversity, while excavating an ancient hill in the southernprovince of Khuzestan, which bore the image of the world’s oldestmusic orchestra,” he added.“The project will be finished by theyear 2009, and the restored harp will be unveiled at the firstInternational Civil Planning Olympiad in Persepolis,” announcedShokri. The four-thousand-year-old “Song of the Creation” will

also be performedduring the Olympiad.This song, which wasfound on an ancientcuneiform plaque, hasbeen transcribed intomodern musicalnotation. The harp(called ‘Chang’ inPersian) flourished inPersia in many formssince its introduction inabout 3000 BC. Theoriginal version was anarched harp, which wasreplaced around 1900BC by angular harpswith vertical orhorizontal sound boxes.

Sasanian floor mosaic from Bishapur, depicting a Persian harp

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with resplendent autumn colours inview, the World ZarathushtiChamber of Commerce (WZCC)conducted a dynamic weekend of

activity on the East Coast this October 27and 28. It was a joint meeting: The weekendincluded a Kick-off for the WZCC-BostonChapter and the New York’s Chapter FallMeeting. Tri-state organizers included EdulDaver, CEO of AccuPowder International,Arnaz Maneckshana, a financial consultantwith AXA Advisors, LLC, Dr Zareen KaraniAraoz, President of Managing AcrossCultures and her Boston team of skilledvolunteers. Boston volunteers includedSecretary Dilnavaz Shroff, Cyrus Mehta,Mehernosh Shroff, and others.

A large group of New York Chapter visitorsjoined the Boston Chapter, an inspiration ofZareen and Edul. The group included youthmembers, Zubin Cateenwalla, his wifeUshta, and her sister Usheen Davar,National Health Director-Ad Sales, MeredithInteractive, and, Hasina and DinshawMaster of Master Miles Co. Sheroo andVispi Kanga, Principal of Cosmet-PharmConsultants LLC, Cyrus Bhote, ChiefAccountant at TCS, Rustam and PhirozeLalkaka, Roshan Mountvala, Principal ofMahwah Florists, and Natalie Vania with herhusband Rusi Gandhi, a WZCC WorldDirector. The Boston Youth Group, led byDaryush Mehta, met with NY Youth.

New York visitors enjoyed tea at theSommerfield Hyatt and proceeded toSaturday evening’s main event, a PanelMeeting and dinner hosted by ZAGBA.Evening activity took place at MIT, theMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Apowerful line-up of speakers discussed thetopic of “Innovation, Entrepreneurship andTechnology”. Speakers included:

Bomy Boyce, President, WZCC; FirdausBhatena, CEO, Relacore; Prof IsaacDelapena, Director, MIT Sloan Nokia

Zarathushti Entrepreneurship - East Coast NotesReported by Natalie Vania

Laboratory; the Mody Family, Print Aspects;Rustom Lalkaka, President, Business andTechnology Development Strategies LLC;and Dr Cyrus Mehta, CEO, Cytel.

Zareen, whose business, Managing AcrossCultures, operates through four continents,chaired the session. She introduced severalPanelists. Arnaz, the New York ChapterChair, gave the Boston Chapter New York’sgood wishes and worked tirelessly inorganizing the weekend.

Bomy Boyce, WZCC President gave amasterful presentation unlike any previousWZCC speech. Going back to India’sindependence and the upheaval of partition,Bomy gave an enlightening view of theParsi experience. His message centered onthe vital task of uniting Zoroastrian peopleworldwide: Had the Zoroastrian’s of the timeof Independence been more fully united,their fifty-year experience would be vastlydifferent and more fortunate.

The Youth especially need to hear thestories of prevailing in times of globaltransition. Bomy explained that throughoutinstitutions such as the Life InsuranceCorporation of India, the Central Bank, andthe Bank of India, “thousands uponthousands” of Parsis were dismissed fromemployment overnight. Despite theastounding contribution of Parsi’s to theirsociety, only five to ten percent were everre-employed. The new birth of Zoroastriansin the West evidence sure entrepreneurialvigor and a way to use remarkableintellectual and cultural strengths. Bomy isespecially interested in bringing success-proved endeavors from overseas into NorthAmerican markets through “BusinessMatrix” connections.

Edul Daver explained entrepreneurship withthe familiar idea of “the pursuit ofopportunity beyond the resources currentlyavailable”. He harkened us to Schumpeter’s


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1934 “Theory of Economic Development” inwhich continual revolution takes place.“Undertakings” occur and thereby, the onewho “undertakes”, ie. the entrepreneur,moves things forward.

Firdaus Bhatena, an MIT Alumni and CEOof Relacore, spoke of his experience insuccessfully launching four high-techstartups. His slide-show “DemystifyingStartups: Do I Really Know Something thatYou Don’t?!” gave audience members the“true or false” insights of a real initiator whowas “been there” when a company goesfrom an initial idea to a real business.

Among insights, Firdaus explained thecriterion for the best investor: The bestinvestor will support you “when your back isup against the wall”. Firdaus credited hisinvestors, both for their firmness and theirsupport. Another valuable insight pointed toresearch claiming that successfulentrepreneurs wishing “to give back” havethis incentive despite their tax burden.Firdaus’s perspective that entrepreneuriallife does not require sacrifice of family life,but instead protection of it, is again avaluable data-point from real-lifeexperience.

Rusi Gandhi, founder of the WZCC-NYChapter and principal of Rusi GandhiRealty, spoke on the importance of buildingthe Boston Chapter through strong memberparticipation. Rusi, a WZCC World Director,collected twenty-five member applicationsand pledges for Zareen.

Prof Isaac Delapena runs the MIT SloanNokia Laboratory and informed WZCCabout tremendous opportunity as the worldadopts mobile technologies. At the cutting-edge of high-technology development,Nokia is committed to open innovationmodels and the use of mobile technologies.Devices will surprise us in the convergenceof functions and their development, but thegrowth in mobility is astronomical: Acrossthe world, cell-phone use exponentiallyoutstrips the use of laptops. Issac receivedan excellent introduction to Zoroastrians atthe Kick-off and this eventually helps the

Zoroastrian Youth who approaches hislaboratory.

Mehernosh Mody, with his founder-parentsKavas and Beroze, of Print Aspects, gavethe audience a deep look at their bravesteps in building the family business.Although trained as a bio-chemist andworking in a hospital, Kavas believeddeeply in himself and wished to reach forthe sky. Mehernosh also acquired a sciencedegree, and as with his friend Firdaus,wished his independence and capacity tohelp his family.

With his own business, Mehernosh canwork with those he trusts. He can be bothrealistic and optimistic while avoidingirrational exuberance. Audience memberslearned that machines in the printing worldcost six-figure sums, and develop today fastenough to rotate in and out of businesses ina two to five year timeframe. Mehernosh isvery grateful for an excellent choice as hiswife joined the business. Her technical andartistic skill is strategically helpful to PrintAspects.

Rustam Lalkaka has business incubationexperience as do few other professionals inthe entire world. To mention just a little ofhis incredible endeavors, he started the firstbusiness incubator in 1987 in China. Hebegan his career in India with Dastoor andCompany. With research internationalized,Rustam also went in an internationaldirection, as have four and one-half millionAmericans of Indian descent. He hasoperated major divisions at the UnitedNations in their Science and Technologyinitiatives.

One cannot talk with Rustam long withouthearing amazing and fine things. There isalways the need to re-invent, he believesand we learned that Rustam was vital in the1950 invention at Stanford of the world’sfirst titanium sponge. He reminded us ofDarwin’s observation that survival of thefittest is not to the strongest or mostintelligent, but to that which is mostresponsive to change.

please turn to p 55 v

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Mancherji Edalji Joshi Memorial Trust - Food Scheme

It is extremely heartening to see that in this age of crass commercialization and ridden with self interest there arestill people out there who not only notice the plight of the less fortunate but, more than that are willing to takea stand towards improving their lot.

In this world, very often, the efforts of an individual are not significant enough to make a difference. Butcollectively, it is possible for a group to do much more than the sum of the individual parts.

Thanks to that of benevolent individuals and donors we are able to tend to their daily meals. But the demand ismuch in excess of the Funds generated and hence this appeal. Your generous contribution helps us in reachingout to our poor brethren.

While I do realize that most donors to the Food Scheme do not ask us to give an account of our activities, we feelobliged to give you an overview of the same if for no other reason than to give an idea of how your funds areutilized. Below is a summary of what we have been able to achieve in feeding these poor.

36 old and infirm Zoroastrians who have no one to turn to: IRs43,200/- per month.8 sons of chasniwalas studying in Mumbai colleges and staying at the Manekji Sett Agiary Hostel: IRs9,200/- per month.17 poor Parsi students of the J B Vachha School for Parsi girls: IRs47,000/- per annum.

Subsidised lunch - Mondays to Fridays30 Khandia, Nassesaleas, Bungli Staff (all Parsis, breakfast only): IRs9,900/- per month.

20 Food Grains and Provisions (These are given to people who are able to cook for their family but are in very low incomegroup): IRs20,000/- per month.Total expenditure per year Rs10,34,600/-.

When we started we were covering only about 21 old Zoroastrians by giving them two meals a day. Today, wehave been able to add more than a hundred new individuals and families from different groups to cover theirparticular needs.

Experience however tells me that anything new always gets a great initial response, but with the passage of time,unfortunately, the response tends to wane and when that happens, the drying up of funds, forces us to curtail andrestrict extending the benefit of our Food Scheme to some of the needy beneficiaries of the same.

I would also appreciate if you could please pass on details of the scheme to other likeminded Zoroastrians oralternatively let us have their reference so that we may contact them directly.

I shall be happy to answer any quries that anybody may have with regards to this scheme. In this connectionplease feel free to contact me directly by phone (24149571/9820982623). Alternatively you could contact us bye-mail at [email protected]

All cheques towards the Food Scheme should be drawn in favour of the Mancherji E Joshi Memorial Trust.

Mithoo Jimi JesiaTrustee, Mancherji Edalji Joshi Memorial TrustAddress: Jesia Building, 797 Jam-e-Jamshed Road, Parsi Colony, Dadar, Mumbai 400 014, India.

As outdated copies of the appeal were being circulated by email, I requested the Trust to send the latest news ontheir Food Scheme. Hamazor has carried this worthy appeal in previous issues. - Ed

“

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19

marzban Giara informedHamazor, “the Mancherji JoshiDadar Parsee Colony won theTimes of India Glory of Mumbai

Award for the year 2007. It was adjudged asthe BEST COLONY in the EnvironmentalManagement Category.”

The Awards event was held at HotelIntercontinental on Sunday 14 October. Theobjective of the awards instituted by the TOIwas to laud the efforts of residentialsocieties in making Mumbai a great place tolive in. This year they received more than1,400 applications from Mumbai, NaviMumbai and Thane. The properties weredivided as: bungalows, apartments,societies, colonies and townships which arethen categorized under Water Management,Security Administration, Entertainment,Community Initiatives and EnvironmentMaintenance.

Marzban Giara in his book Parsi Statueshas written “Mr Mancherji Edulji Joshi wasthe architect of the beautiful garden colonyhaving about 10,000 Parsi residents. ...Toalleviate the housing problems of thecommunity, he founded the Parsi CentralAssociation Cooperative Housing Society in1920 and as a result, an ideal gardencolony with schools, library, gymkhana,recreation grounds, bandstand, physical

Glory of Mumbai Awards presented by Times of India

Mancherji Edulji Joshi2 August 187031 March 1955

culture house, stores, bungli, daremeher,public hall and charitable dispensary wasestablished. This garden colony is namedafter him as Mancherji Joshi Dadar ParsiColony.”

Mr J R B Jeejeebhoy in his booklet on the historyof the Dadar Parsee Colony in October 1951 wrote:

“Three hundred years (before) the locality whichnow comprises the Parsee Colony ... belonged tothe Jesuits who were the owners. ...The vast areaencircling the present Colony site was thenovergrown with jungles, wild flowers and rankvegetation. Roads there were none but only smallpaths infested with robbers, man-eaters andpoisonous reptiles. It remained in this barren stateuncultivated and undeveloped for more than twocenturies. ... To give a faint idea of the wilderness,I quote from the Bombay Courier of December17, 1814 which states that a party of sepoys killeda large royal tiger measuring 9 ft from nose to tailand 4ft in height in that area three days previously.About 40 years later (1853) another tiger mauleda Parsee cart-owner and did other damage and in1863 a third one killed several persons in theDadar environment including a Parsee namedHormasjee Dadabhoy, aged 24. Such was then thecondition of the surroundings of the site of theParsee Colony.

“... In 1906 the Zoroastrian Building Society wasformed with an authorized capital of Rs10 lacs (Rsone million). It was this and the Parsee CentralAssociation Cooperative Housing Society whichin 1919 acquired the portion of land on theImprovement Trust Area at Dadar, now known asParsee Colony. The Dadar-Matunga ParseeZoroastrian Association came into existence in1925 under the able captainship of MuncherjeeJoshi. Muncherjee with the active cooperation ofhis able assistants, clothed the wilderness of Dadarwith the gorgeous mantle of gardens and beautifulstructures now teeming with life and activity. ...year after year houses began to be erected byprivate enterprise through philanthropy of persons

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like Lady Dhanbai Cowasji Jehangir, SirHormusjee Adenwalla and other benefactors ...for the middle and poorer classes of thecommunity. ...128 plots were acquired comprising250,000 square yards and about 6,000 Parsees wereaccommodated in up-to-date sanitary houses.

“... He made the deserts of Dadar blossom into aliving, active, healthy settlement. ... It is gratifyingto note that homage was paid to his life longlabours by his admirers by raising a bust of him atthe entrance of the Colony.”[information sent by Marzban Giara]

Rustam-Faramna Agiari atParsee Colony, Dadar, Mumbai

Email dated 29 Jun 2007 - source unknownShared by Shahrazad Irani of Karachi, Pakistan

Rustam, was a poor youth, who had lost hisfather, when he was very young, and wasstaying with his ailing mother, in PandeyChawl, at Karelwadi, Thakurwad, Mumbai.Due to poverty he was not properly educated.He was dark skinned, thin and very tall, andhad a very shrill voice. Finding employmentwas a problem for him, due to all hisdrawbacks.

Ultimately, he approached one Dadi Thoothi,who had formed a drama company to stagedramas, to employ him as an actor. Duringthat period, cinemas showing silent films hadnot yet entered Mumbai, hence, stageddramas were the attractions for entertainment.During those days, female roles on stage wereperformed by male actors. Due to his shrillvoice, he was suitable for female roles, buthis tall stature was a handicap. Nevertheless,as his luck would have it, this handicap turnedout to be an asset for the drama company,because the audience automatically startedlaughing and clapping the moment he enteredthe stage.

During those days, Parsis were performingdramas in Hindi and Urdu besides Gujarati,hence their dramatic societies performed inother parts of the country too. Native Rajas, q

Maharajas, Nawabs were their main patrons.Once, the Maharaja of Jaipur, invited DadiThoothi’s drama company to perform in hispalace at Jaipur.

Now it so happened that, Rustam-Faramna,besides being an actor, also served as ababarchi [cook] to feed his co-actors. He wasan expert at preparing Parsi dishes like Dhan-sak, Curry-chaval, Khichri-patio.

Once, Rustam-Faramna made bold enoughto offer his dish to the Maharaja and his Indianand foreign guests who had gathered to watcha drama of his company. All of them relishedthe Parsi dishes so much that it turnedRustam-Faramna’s fortune. When his dramacompany prepared to leave Jaipur, to take upsome other assignment, the Maharaja ofJaipur, ordered Rustam-Faramna not to leave,because he wanted to appoint him as a cookin his royal guesthouse.

All the Indian and foreign guests of theMaharaja relished the food of the guesthouseso much, that the Maharaja, started sendingRustam-Faramna to his royal guesthouse atAgra too, because most often, the guests whovisited Jaipur, never failed to visit Agra, to seethe Taj, and other Mughal monuments at Agraand Fatehpur-sikri.

In the good old days, Rustam-Faramna’s co-actors used to tease him, by calling himRustam-Curry-Chaval. Now with his changedfortune, he felt proud of the title awarded tohim by his old colleagues.

Gradually, the Maharaja of Jaipur, helpedRustam-Faramna, in financing the opening ofhis independent Hotel Savoy at Agra, whichcatered to the rich in European style, with hisfavourite Parsi dishes. From then on, hemoved from rags to riches. He gatheredwealth, but unfortunately had no heir to handit over.

Thus, the Dadar Parsee Colony, becamefortunate enough to have its present Rustam-Faramna Agiari, in 1930.


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October 4th 2007 | PINJOREFrom The Economist print edition

IMAGE is everything. Say “condor”, andpeople get dewy-eyed at the thought ofmagnificent birds soaring over mountaintops. That such a species could beallowed to become extinct is inconceivableand, as a consequence, a big, expensiveprogramme to save them is running inCalifornia. Say “vulture”, though, and theimage is of something up to its neck incarrion. Just like a condor when it isfeeding, as it happens. But in the case ofvultures, even in a don’t-hurt-a-fly, Hindu-majority country like India, it has takenuntil now to try to stem what is probablythe biggest avian population crash sincethe North American passenger pigeonwent from 5 billion to zero between 1870and 1914.

In 1990 the Indian vulture population wasestimated at between 20m and 40m,divided between three species. Now it isabout 10,000, and falling by 50% a year.Indeed, one species, the slender-billedvulture, numbers a mere 400. The birdsare victims of a drug called diclofenac.This is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatorythat was developed to treat people butadopted for cattle in the 1980s.Unfortunately, it causes kidney failure invultures and vultures eat a lot of deadcattle. Hence the establishment of theBombay Natural History Society’s vulture-breeding centre at Pinjore, in Haryana.

The centre is intended to create a securebreeding-stock of vultures that mayeventually be released into a diclofenac-free wild. It consists of three giantconcrete-and-wire aviaries, and isdesigned to house 75 pairs of each of thethree stricken species. At the moment ithas 124 vultures, most of them trappedas nestlings in the past two years.

Saving India’s vultures from extinction isnot merely a sentimental cause, for thebirds have a vital role in the country’secology. India’s people share the place

q

Vulture culture

with some 200m cattle and buffalo. YetIndians (Hindu Indians, at least) tend not toeat beef. Until recently, therefore, farmerswould leave carcasses where they fell or atlocal dumps. Within hours, the vultures wouldhave stripped them. With no vultures, thesefarmers are having to burn or bury thecarcasses of fallen cattle either that, or riskencouraging disease by leaving them to rot.

Another cost of the vultures’ decline is thatIndia’s feral dog population is booming - badnews for a country that already has 80% ofthe world’s cases of rabies. One carcassdump in Delhi used to sustain 10,000vultures. In their absence, a similar numberof dogs have moved in not to mention rats.

The vultures also had a third role: clearinghuman carrion. India (and particularlyMumbai) is home to most of the world’sParsees. The Parsees are Zoroastrians, thetheological descendants of ancient Persianfire-worshippers. In Zoroastrianism, theelements are sacred and the body is corrupt.Parsees neither cremate nor bury their dead;rather, corpses are laid out on towers knownas dokhmas for the vultures to eat. Byfeeding their dead to the birds of the air, theParsees profane neither earth nor fire. In theabsence of vultures, they have been reducedto rigging their towers with solar reflectorsto shrivel the corpses.

Fortunately, there is reason to think that thevulture-preservation effort need not be open-ended. The manufacture of diclofenac forcattle is now banned. It is still used, as peoplehave stocks they are unwilling (and notlegally required) to throw away. But there isan acceptable vulture-safe alternative calledmeloxicam, so the hope is that once leftoverstocks of diclofenac are exhausted, peoplewill switch to that. Illegal production ofdiclofenac continues. But the ban hasstimulated meloxicam manufacture and itsprice has fallen by half over the past year.

Even if all does go well, though, it could take15 years for the country to become safe forwild vultures. Meanwhile, the Bombay

Natural History Society is trying toestablish another three centres inIndia, and its counterparts in Pakistanand Nepal may add one each. One ofthe Indian centres, it has beensuggested, could provide vultures fortwo giant aviaries at the Towers ofSilence - the main group of dokhmasin Mumbai.

In March a delegation led by MinooShroff, the leader of Mumbai’sParsees, visited Pinjore. As hewatched the vultures feed, one of MrShroff’s companions expressed a wishthat the meal was of Parsee bodies,not dead goats. But there is a problem:one Parsee corpse containingdiclofenac could wipe out a wholeaviary of vultures and the Parseescannot guarantee that this would nothappen. The vulture-saving ban ondiclofenac does not, of course, extendto people.

Daily Times published inPakistan reported on1 December 2007 ...

“Commission for Minorities (NCM)has come to the rescue of the tinyParsi community, which is worriedover the disposal of their deadbecause of the dwindling populationof vultures. (It has decided to set upa nursery for breeding vulturesaround Mumbai, where most Parsisreside. Dr Mehroo DhunjishaBengalee, a Parsi member of theNCM hailing from Mumbai, has beengiven the responsibility to coordinatewith experts to set up the nursery.The Parsis have always had arepresentative in the NCM, but it isperhaps for the first time that therepresentative is doing somethingthat benefits them, thanks to the issuepursued vigorously by Ms Bengalee.”

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ancient Iran was, in its own right, asuper-power of the sixth to thefourth centuries BC. The firstPersian empire was foundedunder Cyrus the Great (ruled 559

– 529) whose name and fame extendedfrom present-day Italy through to ChineseTurkestan. As a state religion,Zoroastrianism under Darius I and hissuccessors likewise enjoyed immensereputation and exerted its benevolentinfluence upon surrounding cultures.

Our protest is against the blind acceptanceof slanted Greek narratives by Classicistsfor whom western civilization commenceswith Graeco-Roman models and proceedssolely from those foundations, and that thebarbarian Orient contributed little to thatprocess.

It took an Iranologist of the calibre ofW B Henning to remind us of the attitudesof the ancient Greeks towards Iran.

“From the latter part of the sixth century BConwards Iran is not an unknown land. Itsinhabitants were constantly under the eyes offoreigners, foreigners, too, who more often thannot were not well disposed to the Iranians, ifnot downright hostile. ... Any custom that didnot conform to Greek ideas was seized on torevile the powerful Persians, especially in theearly period when the Greeks had good reasonto fear and hate them.” 1

We certainly do not expect classicistswalled up within Graeco-Roman studies or,for that matter, Hollywood, to take note ofsuch careful correctives. For both it isimperative that the non-Hellenic worldremained barbarian, and their agendasdemand an overall conformity to thisdogma: Greece was comprised of free men;Iran of slaves. Half-naked heroes from theWest valiantly contended with over-cladcravens from the Orient. Greek democracy

b y f a r r o k h v a j i f d a r

Against the Classicists

was contrasted with eastern totalitarianismwhose oppressive state apparatus wascontrolled by an effete monarch and hisbrutal minions.

Their idea was to uphold western cultureand values whilst denying civilizedstandards to the ancient Iranians. Historiansfrom George Rawlinson to Albert Olmstead,adhering in the main to classical Greek andLatin texts, emerged with occasional nodsin the direction of the Orientalist students ofIndo-European philology. Archaeologicalevidence was reassessed andreinterpreted. Despite such benigncountermeasures, the older prejudicedviews prevailed.

Those prejudices took hold among somestudents of the historian Herodotus (484 –425 BC). This famed story-teller, himself aPersian subject, was a Greek fromHalicarnassus in the Achaemenid satrapy ofIonia. There he could have personallyencountered the western Magi and gleanedknowledge of their customs and beliefs. Hepersonally never visited Persia and knewnothing of Parsa (Persepolis), theAchaemenid religious complex, and evenless of Zarathushtra of whose socio-religious precepts he remained whollyignorant.

Plato (428 – 348 BC), reckoned among thegreatest thinkers of the ancient world, on theother hand, had intended to visit the Magianhomeland, but the Graeco-Persian wars hadprevented his purpose. He was known tohave conversed with Persian visitors inAthens, for he shows a fair knowledge ofPersian customs and religion. Even morethan Herodotus and the versatile Xenophon,Plato was interested in Persian education.

He knew, for instance, that at age seven theCrown Prince was given horses and trainedin riding and hunting. At fourteen he was


23

assigned four royal instructors, graded as“the wisest”, “the most just”, “the mosttemperate”, and “the most valorous”. Thefirst taught the priestly lore of Zoroastres,son of Oromazdes – implying worship of theyazdan as well as matters dealing withkingship. The second instructed in life-longadherence to Truth. The third inculcatedself-mastery; the fourth trained him infearlessness. Together, these conform tothe Zoroastrian ideal of the union of thephysical and spiritual within man. Plato hadrealized for certain that those Greeks livingunder the so-called “barbarians” indeed hadgreatly benefited from their Persian rulers.The dualism latent in his “Theory of Forms”had been deeply imprinted with the eternalconflict of Good and Evil, Truth versus theLie, as taught by Zoroastres and modifiedby his Magian successors to the west.

But for Herodotus, that inveterate story-teller,the first three Persian emperors werevariously categorized. Thus “the Persians calledDarius the ‘huckster’, Cambyses the master, andCyrus the father; for Darius made petty profit outof everything, Cambyses was harsh and arrogant,but Cyrus was mindful and strove for their well-being”.2 Despite Herodotus’ use of kapelos –“retailer of wares; shopkeeper” – to describeDarius’ character, fresh reappraisals haveassessed the emperor Darius as “not only agreat lawgiver and administrator but, according tohis lights, he was an outstanding financier”. 3 Also,“In fact, Darius thought big and he made thingshum”! 4

Much of our information about the Magicomes from Herodotus who reckoned themto be one of the six Median tribes.5 Heremarks on their particular customs: burialof the remains of the dead only afterexcarnation by raptorial birds and wild dogs;their killing of all noxious creatures.6 Heintroduces the Cambyses consanguinitystory 7 which deserves reassessment, for,“amongst the Persians this had never beforebeen their custom”.

The historian reports some particular andpraiseworthy Persian traits:“But of all men the Persians most welcomeforeign customs. ... Their luxurious practices are

of all kinds and all borrowed; the Greeks taughtthem unnatural vices. Every Persian marriesmany lawful wives, and keeps still moreconcubines”.8 Regarding their education:“They educate their boys from five to twentyyears old, and teach them three things only:riding and archery and truth-telling”.9 ... “Theyhold lying to be the foulest of all, and next tothat debt; for which they have many otherreasons, but this is special, that the debtor mustneeds speak some falsehood”.10

Contrasting the Magian and Persian funerarycustoms, he states: “But this is certain, thatbefore the Persians bury the body in earth theyembalm it in wax”.11 We have evidence fromsome royal Achaemenid tombs in attestation.

The contrast between Greek democracyand Persian dictatorship, however, bearsclose investigation. Democracy as anexpression of rule by popular will needsdrastic modification when speaking of it asan institution in classical Greece. There wasno Greek nation-state, but coalitions anddisbandings of city-state alliances whichmore often than not became suspicious ofone another, schemed against each other,and then fought among themselves. Beforethe Persian invasion democracy was, infact, a rare phenomenon in Greek politics.The myth of endemic democracy is shakensomewhat when we realize that it was aprivilege of class as well as a privilege ofsex. In a modern state democracy thedestruction of privilege is implicit, as is theemancipation of women.

In ancient Greece admission to thefranchise was rarely accorded. To theunprivileged class belonged not onlyforeigners temporarily resident (the xenoi)and aliens permanently domiciled (themetoikoi), but also those native-borninhabitants of foreign extraction. Foreigndoes not mean non-Hellenic, but includesthose belonging to another state, whetherGreek or barbarian. The full citizen wasalone the recipient of established privileges,among which was the isonomia, or “equalitybefore the law”;12 except through a patron,the foreigner had no rights of pleading inperson before a court of law.

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Nor can we gloss over the institution ofslavery in classical Greece. In ancientAthens, so typical of the Greekdemocracies, unskilled labour was entirelyslave-labour; fewer slaves were used inskilled tasks. In the trading andmanufacturing cities the small craftsmenworked on their own account, while themanufacturers largely employed slavelabour. The moral attitude of the Greekworld towards slavery was callous – slavery,having existed from time immemorial, andtherefore morally and philosophicallyjustifiable in the case of inferior races, bywhich was meant even those poorer Greeksfrom the hard-worked provincial farminggroups.

On the merits of the three types ofgovernment is Herodotus’ fantasysequence13 where the Persian conspiratorsOtanes, Megabyzus, and Darius debate thedemocratic, oligarchic, and monarchic formsrespectively. It was monarchy whichprevailed, and Darius who won theAchaemenid throne!

For the Greek notion of democracy and itssupplanting by despotism, we read14

Sosicles of Corinth’s view of the Spartanmanoeuvres: “This is like turning the universeupside-down. Earth and sky will soon bechanging places ... now that you Spartans areproposing to abolish democratic government[isokratias: “rule of equals”] and turn thecities of Greece into slave-states under anautocrat”.

The myth of superior Greek civilizationcrumbles when we note that its people as awhole were very unsophisticated, veryimpressionable, and very superstitious.They were singularly conservative of thesuperstitions of religion, and quite ready tokill anyone who slighted, or seemed toslight, their age-old religious beliefs.Socrates, among the greatest intellectualfigures of the 5 th century BC, was theteacher of doctrines which would havebettered the world and its people ifinterpreted aright. The Athenian massesmisinterpreted them – to the undoing oftheir exalted teacher. Deeply pious, this

great thinker who taught that God was all-wise and all-good ruler of this world, andthat the soul of man partakes of the divine,was himself convicted of impiety andcharged with “corruption of the youth”, and“neglect of the gods when the cityworships, and practice of religiousnovelties”. Imprisoned for a month, he waspermitted visiting friends, many urging himto recant – which he steadfastly refused. Hedrank the hemlock prepared by those self-appointed guardians of justice and morality.Aristotle reported that his forcible death hadbeen foretold by a visiting Magus. To thelast, Socrates had lived a life of integrity andsimplicity, echoing the vidva and driguspiritual qualities of his Iranian preceptorZarathushtra.

Historians of the calibre of George BeardoeGrundy, balancing out some extremeclassicist perspectives, warned: “imaginativewriters of modern times have written Greekhistory in such a way as to convey theimpression that Athens ... was full of potentialAeschyluses and Pericleses”. Of the idealizedsociety of Thucydides, he argued,“Thucydides drew the picture of an ideal, not ofan actuality”.

On the “civilized” Spartans, if civilizedmeans owning slaves and despising themas helots or serf class, and once annually toinitiate their adolescent males by loosingthem upon slaves released to be hunteddown and killed – as their rite of passageinto adulthood – then we reject wholesaletheir norms of “cultured” behaviour. To havetheir women-folk accorded scarcely morelenient treatment than their serfs, deprivedof marital rights, regarded as sexualcommodities and frequently sodomized,seems not at all to have bothered theseheroicized primitives from the Peloponnese.

Lastly, the vast numerical superiority of theinvading Persian armies: the Greekhistorian reckons their number as5,280,000, “who drank rivers dry!”, againstthe patriotic 7,000 Greek defenders led bythe Spartan Leonidas. We will forgo itslogistical implications. This puny defenceforce, including the immortalized 300


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Spartans, supposedly held out againstXerxes’ barbarian hordes!

It took the open-minded assessment of aclassical scholar of Peter Kingsley’s statureto restore much dislocated perspectives.His carefully worded conclusion notes “wecannot afford to minimize the significance ofthe continual exodus of highly intelligent andtalented Greeks to Iran from the 6th century BCthrough to the time of Alexander the Great, insearch not just of career opportunities orpolitical asylum but also of a wisercivilization”.15

[Part II will continue in the next issue of Hamazor- 1/2008]

References:

1 W.B. Henning, Zoroaster: Politician or Witch – doctor? (OUP, 1949, p19)2 Herodotus, The Histories, III.893 A.T. Olmstead, History of the Persian Empire (Chicago, 1948, p185)4 J.M. Cook, ‘The rise of the Achaemenids’ (in Cambridge History of Iran, II (1985) – p2235 I.101; 1206 I.1407 III.318 I.1359 I.13610 I.13811 I.14012 III.8013 III.80 – 8314 V.9215 ‘Greeks, Shamans and Magi’, Studia Iranica, 23/2, 1994, pp196/7

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Farrokh Vajifdar comes from asensibly orthodox priestly family.Life-long student and independentresearcher in Indo-Iraniancultures. Specializes in literatureand languages of pre-Islamic Iran.Focuses on Zoroastrian religiousbeliefs and practices on which hewrites, lectures, and broadcasts(radio and TV). He is referee andreviewer for (as Fellow of) theRoyal Asiatic Society.

the Avestan word, ‘Yazamaide’, quotedinnumerable times in the Avestan texts,is variously translated as ‘Reverencebe to’, ‘I revere’, ‘We revere’; rarely as

‘Worship’.

Comparatively, the term ‘reverence’ is notedonly a few times in the holy texts of othermajor faiths. In the King James Version ofthe holy Bible it is mentioned only 10 timesand in the New International Version only 15times. The Bible Gateway Index interpretsthe word ‘Reverence’ most times as ‘fear ofGod’, once each as ‘knowledge’,‘sanctuary’ and ‘veneration’.

The Vedic equivalent of the word is‘Yazamahe’, which is quoted in the VigVeda only eight times and its derivatives‘Yazamaha’ and ‘Yazamahai’ once each.‘Yazamahe’ in the Vedas has been variouslytranslated as ‘worship’ and ‘worship withreverence’.

Clearly, its interpretation has been overcastby a shadowy intonation. Objectively, ithas, in a subtle sense, been also applied tocivic and civil matters without theimplication, in a reasonable manner, of thedifference between divine and human. Thisoversight often leads to presumptions andeven insistence that the Creator is on one’sside in debatable social situations, thusmaking the appropriate situation extremelydifficult to resolve. The word, in the divinesense, to my mind has no place in politicsand ethics. History has revealed amplereasons why the Pope had to be given aplace of his own to rule, divorced from theinescapable and irascible upheavalsexperienced in the Halls of State.

It has been noted in ancient civilizations thatthe ‘tyrant’ and in modern times the‘dictator’ and even democratically elected(and re-elected) head of State (particularlythe one who has been mandated anabsolute majority) find ruling in a just

Yazamaide

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manner for the general good of thepopulace a matter not much to the liking ofthe masses. The hand-picked followersmaintain the ruler high on a pedestal for themasses to behold him, hopefully, in someform of (irreverent) respect while they enacthis bidding. “Power corrupts. Absolutepower corrupts absolutely,” quoted LordActon, an English historian (1834 to 1902).This mindset invariably leads to anexplosive formula making the groupsomewhat willfully blind to the plight of themasses and willfully deaf to the yearnings ofthe voiceless. Zarathushtra talks about themodus operandi employed by the Gathic‘Kavis’, the ‘Karpans’ and the ’Usigs’.These were groups of priests and localpotentates, who had planned to remain inoppressive power. Their evil intent wasfuelled by conceit, intimidation and furiousagitation - clearly an indulgence in a sort ofgroup egotism and collective self-righteousness in remaining ‘...willfully deafto Mazda’s message and willfully blind toMazda’s glory’ - Gatha Ahunavaiti (Yasna32.15)

Human limitations, in the scheme of things,do promote humility and virtue in thethinking person. This in turn, curbs the urgeto become pompous and pretend to actGod-like. In our scriptures ‘Yazamaide’, in aspiritual sense, is meant really to be a formof heartfelt adoration / praise of the cardinalinner strength, a source of virtuousbehaviour in a meritorious person / Yazata /Fire - clearly worthy of such bestowing. The‘reverence’ may be in the form of individualprayer (Yasht/ Setayash ... etc) or aceremony. The latter is a set of liturgyrituals enacted as meaningful solemn actsof deeply pious values performed by thepriest(s) with feeling. There are, however,some who hold all forms of rituals in aderogatory frame of mind. Rituals really docertainly contribute much reverence to thesolemnity of the proceeding.

It is interesting to note how the bodylanguage varies in the spiritual callings ofdifferent Faiths. Zarathushtra enacted hisdeep feelings with arms outstretched, hispalms partly facing each other and partly

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upwards towards the heavens as hebeseeched Ahura Mazda for ‘divineguidance’. In Gatha Spenta Mainyu (Yasna50.8) the Prophet used the utterances mosteffectively (as in the photo) ‘... With audiblechanting emanating with ecstasy from thevery depth of my being and with my handsuplifted, I beseech thee, O Mazda …’

The Zoroastrians of Iran, to this day followthe same pattern, although the raising of thehands may not always be enacted abovethe level of the shoulders. This gesturewould have evolved through millennia fromthe fact that prayer rituals were oftenperformed in open air environments. TheZoroastrians of the Subcontinent, over morethan 1370 years have adopted the localcustoms of joining their palms together,fingers outstretched in the manner of arespectful ‘namaste’, although there aremany who have retained the gesturesadopted by the Prophet. Among theHindus and Buddhists, in addition to thisgesture, it is not uncommon for a devotee tobecome completely prostrate, facedownwards in front of the deity during anemotional frenzy of ecstasy. The Buddhistsstill continue to adopt this stance repeatedlyas they advance slowly along their waytowards the temple or place of theirpilgrimage. In Buddhism there are alsovarious finger positions described to denotecertain non-verbal messages. TheChristians may use the ‘namaste’ handlanguage and position themselves onbended knees, particularly when in Church.In Islam, whether in the house of worship oroutside, the faithful assume the bendedknee position facing Mecca and then bendthe torso right down to the forehead, thehands forwards touching the earth. Onraising the torso they tend to add asweeping motion to their face with the twohands. We tend to adopt this position, too,when we pay homage to the Fire in anAtash Kadeh. The Hebrew custom has forlong been to bend the upper torso forwardsand backwards with the hands raisedtowards the shoulders or holding their holyBook. Apparently, during Biblical times abow of the head and prostration were alsoadopted as gestures of reverence.

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Having worked in theUniversity Collegehospitals and theUniversity of NSW,Sydney, Australia since1968 as a Surgeon andlecturer, Sam Kerr hasnow been appointed toan Emeritus position.Initiated the formationof the AustralianZoroastrian Associationin Sydney in 1969. Inaddition to hisprofessional writing hehas published papers onthe social, cultural,historical and scripturalaspects of the religion ofZarathushtra.


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The Yatha Ahu Vairyo Prayer

before we discuss the Yatha AhuVairyo prayer, I would like to give abrief explanation of Mazda and Hisattributes, the amesha spenta,

because their meanings are relevant to theYatha Ahu Vairyo.

In referring to the “God” he worships,Zarathushtra does not use the generic wordfor “god” in the language of his day.According to the late Professor Thieme,Zarathushtra’s notion of “God” is Wisdompersonified.1 Specifically, he calls “God”most often “Mazda” which means “Wisdom”,and also “Ahura” which means “Lord”. Andhe sometimes combines these two nounsinto the compound noun Mazda Ahura,which, centuries later, became thecompound name Ahura Mazda. In theGathas, Mazda has certain attributes whichwere later called the amesha spenta.These attributes of Mazda also appear inman.

The first is asha, which literally means“what fits”. It has been translated as “truth”,“order”, and “righteousness”. You well maywonder: How can one word mean so manydifferent things? Well, Zarathushtra seesreality in terms of what he calls theexistences of matter and mind (Y28.2). Inthe existence of matter, “what fits” is what iscorrect, factually accurate, hence factualtruth. It includes the true order of things inour physical universe, the laws that underliethe way our physical universe functions. Inthe existence of mind, “what fits” is alsowhat is correct, what’s right - not apuritanical, judgmental rectitude, but onewhich, in the Gathas, includes suchqualities as goodness, love, beneficence,solicitude, friendship, compassion, justice -all of the values that we consider to be“true” “good” and “right”. So in essence,“asha” means the truth of things, or the trueorder of things, in the existences of bothmatter and mind. So when you hear theword “truth” for “asha” please remember

that it means not only factual truth, but alsothe truths of mind and spirit - all that is goodand right.

The next amesha spenta is vohu mano themeaning of which, according to ProfessorInsler includes, a good mind (theinstrument), good thinking (the process),and good thought (the product)2. Needingto select one, for translation, he translatesvohu mano as “good thinking”. Vohu manois the means by which we search for, andcomprehend, the truth - factual truths, andalso the truths of mind and spirit (asha).

The next amesha spenta is spentaaramaiti. Scholars who are linguists are insubstantial disagreement as to the meaningof aramaiti, which they variously translateas rightmindedness;3 divine wisdom;4 pietyor respect;5 faith and devotion;6 satisfyingintention;7 fittingness, submission andhumility;8 and serenity, stability, tranquility.9

It is clear that linguistics alone has notprovided an answer for the meaning ofaramaiti, although each linguistpassionately believes in his translation. Buta contextual analysis is helpful. The wayZarathushtra uses the word in the Gathassuggests that aramaiti means the realization(or making real) of truth (asha) with ourthoughts, words and actions of truth - theproverbial good thoughts, good words andgood actions which are a fundament ofZarathushtra’s thought. For example, hesays: “But to this world He came with the ruleof good thinking and of truth, and (our)enduring [aramaiti] gave body and breath (toit)...” Y30.7.10 How do we give “body andbreath” to the rule of truth and goodthinking? We cannot do so withrightmindedness, or piety, or respect, ordevotion or serenity alone. We can onlygive the rule of truth and good thinking“body and breath” - give it life - with ourthoughts, words and actions. Similarly, inY44.6 Zarathushtra says: “...Through itsactions, [aramaiti] gives substance to the

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truth...”, indicating that actions are includedwithin the concept of aramaiti. And hedescribes a person of aramaiti as follows:“[Spenta] is a man of [aramaiti]. He is so byreason of his understanding, his words, hisactions, his conception [daena]...” Y51.21,indicating that the concept of aramaitiincludes all these things - understanding,words, action, vision. 11 There is no oneEnglish word that adequately translatesaramaiti, so I leave it untranslated.

The fourth amesha spenta is vohuxshathra, which means good rule. In theGathas it is often called the rule of truth andgood thinking12, and on one occasion, therule of aramaiti.13 Good rule is the use ofpower, not for self-aggrandizement orcontrol, but to advance the truth, and theresulting good society.

The fifth and sixth amesha spenta - oftenfound together in the Gathas - arehaurvatat which means completeness orperfection, and ameretat which literallymeans “non-deathness”, although it isuniversally translated as “immortality”. I donot think “immortality” bears the weight of acontextual analysis, but I will not get intothat here.

The seventh concept, spenta mainyuis a benevolent spirit or way of being - away of being that is in accord with truth(asha) - that chooses the truth14, and thatderives its “spenta” quality from truth15.Insler, translates “spenta” as virtuous, morerecently as benevolent, and he translates“mainyu” as spirit. Jafarey translates“mainyu” as mentality, and manyZoroastrians have come to prefer“mentality” as the correct translation for“mainyu”. But with due respect, this doesnot accord with the way in whichZarathushtra uses the word in the Gathas.For example: In Y30.3 Zarathushtra says:“Yes, there are two fundamental [mainyu], twinswhich are renowned to be in conflict. Inthought and in word, in action, they are two ...”Y30.3. If the two mainyu manifestthemselves in thought, word and action,then all three activities would have to beincluded within the concept of mainyu, not

just mentality. Similarly, in Y45.2,Zarathushtra describes a hypotheticalconversation in which the spenta mainyusays to its opposite: “... Neither our thoughtsnor teachings nor intentions, neither ourpreferences nor words, neither our actions norconceptions [daena] nor our souls are in accord...” Y45.2, indicating that the concept ofmainyu includes all those things - ie. the fullspectrum of a way of being, of whichmentality or thought is only a part. Itherefore take mainyu to mean “spirit” as ina “way-of-being”, like the spirit of liberty, thespirit of independence, the spirit offriendship, et cetera.

There is some dispute as to whether spentamainyu is, historically, an amesha spenta,but the debate is not relevant for ourpurposes, and I include spenta mainyuwithin my use of the term amesha spenta.Let us turn to the Yatha Ahu Vairyo prayer.

yatha ahu vairyoatha ratush ashat chit hachavangheush dazda mananghoshyaothananam angheush mazdaixshathremcha ahuraiayim dregubyo dadat vastarem

This prayer appears in Yasna 27 verse 13.It is called the Ahuna Vairya (or theAhunavar) in ancient Zoroastrian texts. It isin Gathic Avestan, and in the same poeticmetre as the Ahunavaiti Gatha. Manyscholars believe that it was composed byZarathushtra himself. Unfortunately,translations of this prayer vary widely. Thetranslation I use is from that of ProfessorInsler of Yale University.16 The words insquare brackets have been inserted by me,by way of explanation, or to show you theapplicable Gathic word (but without itsgrammatical inflections and variations).Here is the translation.

Just as the Lord [ahu] must be chosenSo also the judgment [ratush] in accord with truth [asha]In consequence of (this) good thinking[vohu mano, the comprehension andchoosing of asha]establish the rule [xshathra]


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of actions stemming from an existence of good thinkingfor the Wise One [mazda],and for the lord [ahura] whom theyestablished as pastor for the needy-dependents.

As you can see, the Ahuna Vairya prayer isnot addressed to Mazda, as prayer normallyis. Nor is it a hymn of praise. It is amanthra, a nugget of wisdom, the purposeof which is to remind us of certain truths, aswe recite it and meditate over it. So whatdoes this manthra, this nugget of wisdom,teach us. It teaches us some very powerfuland beautiful things. Let us consider them.

In the long history of Zoroastrianism, thisprayer, the Ahuna Vairya, has beenregarded as something of a talisman, a verypotent charm, capable of producingextraordinary effects. In a Younger Avestantext, Yasna 19 verse 10 (which is not a partof the Gathas), we are told that AhuraMazda said that:

“... this utterance is a thing of such anature, that if all the corporeal andliving world should learn it, andlearning hold fast to it, they would beredeemed from their mortality!”17

And a later Pahlavi text, the Bundahishn,(written some time after the Arab invasion)describes it as a formula for defeating evil,stating:

“... even so as is declared in revelation, thatwhen one of its [the Ahunavar’s] three partswas uttered, the evil spirit contracted hisbody through fear, and when two parts of itwere uttered, he fell upon his knees, andwhen all of it was uttered he becameconfounded and impotent as to the harm hecaused the creatures of Ahuramazd ...”18

It is significant, that even after thedevastation wrought by Alexander and bythe later Arab invasion, the idea survived inwhat remained of the Zoroastriancommunity, that the Ahuna Vairya is sopowerful, that it not only enables us totranscend our mortality, as stated in Yasna19, but also enables the defeat of evil, as

the Bundahishn states. A potent talismanindeed.

Naturally, one wonders: How? how doesthe Ahuna Vairya defeat evil? How does ithelp us to transcend our mortality?

To answer the first question (how does itdefeat evil) we have to rememberZarathushtra’s idea of evil. In the Gathas,every descriptive reference to evil, is theproduct of wrongful choices. Zarathushtradescribes evil as a primordial way of being[mainyu]. He does not specify its origins.But he suggests that in our existence, webring it to life, we give it substance, wemake it real, when we choose it with ourthoughts, words and actions. Therefore akey to the destruction of evil and thesuffering it causes, is making the rightchoices, which brings us back to the AhunaVairya prayer - the prayer of choices.

This prayer specifies three things that are tobe chosen: the lord [ahu], the judgment[ratush], and the rule [xshathra].

A word of explanation. The verb “vairyo”which means “must be chosen” and whichappears in the first segment, also applies tothe second segment. Similarly, the phrase“ashat chit hacha” which means “in accordwith truth” which appears in the secondsegment, also applies to the first. This kindof ellipsis is typical of Zarathushtra’s poeticstyle, and appears frequently in theGathas.19

First choice: yatha ahu vairyoJust as the lord [ahu] must be chosen[vairyo] [in accord with truth, asha]

Second choice: atha ratush ashat chit hachaso also the judgment [ratush] in accord withtruth [asha] [must be chosen]

Third choice: vangheush dazda mananghoshyaothananam angheush mazdai xshathremchaahurai.a yim dregubyo dadat vastarem.As a result of this good thinkingestablish therule [xshathra] of actions stemming from anexistence of good thinking,for (the sake of)the Wise One, and for the lord whom they

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established as pastor for the needy-dependents.

In Part 2, we will consider these three choices ofthe Ahuna Vairya prayer, and how they generateits talismanic powers in Hamazor Issue 1/2008.

Notes:

1 Thieme, Reflections on the Vocabulary of Zarathushtra’sGathas, in the Proceedings of the First Gatha Colloquium,(WZO 1993, published in 1998), p 201.

2 See Insler, The Gathas of Zarathushtra, (Brill 1975)page 118. For a more detailed discussion of thedefinition of vohu mano see Harmony in Paradox: TheParadox of the Material and the Spiritual, onwww.vohuman.org, initially published in Hamazor Issue1/2005, p81.

3 Humbach translates aramaiti as “rightmindedness”,See Humbach, The Gathas of Zarathushtra and OtherOld Avestan Texts, (Heidelberg, 1991), p 13.

4 Sethna translates aramaiti as divine wisdom, Sethna,TheTeachings of Zarathushtra, (1978), p 17 et seq.

5 Insler translated aramaiti as “piety”, in The Gathasof Zarathushtra, (Brill 1975), but more recently, he hasexpressed a preference for “respect”. See Insler,Zarathushtra’s Genetic System, which may be viewed onwww.vohuman.org and initially published in HamazorIssue 4/2004, p43.Hanns-Peter Schmidt states: “For armaiti and taremaitiI have substituted ‘respect’ and ‘disrespect’ for theawkward ‘proper thought’ and :’perverse thought’ I usedpreviously (1974). ‘Respect’ is less specialized than‘devotion’ and ‘humility’ and lacks the overtones ofthe present day usage of ‘piety’ (Insler) and the negativeconnotations of ‘conformity’ ...” Hanns-Peter Schmidt,The Form and Meaning of Yasna 33, (American OrientalSociety, 1986), p 4.Moulton translates aramaiti as “Piety” or “Devotion”,Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism, Lectures delivered atOxford, 1912, AMS Press reprint, p 344.

6 Taraporewala translates aramaiti as “Faith andDevotion”. Taraporewala, The Divine Songs ofZarathushtra, (Hukhta Foundation, reprint, 1993), p 100.

7 Thieme, rejecting such translations as ‘fittingness,‘submission’ and ‘humility’, suggests that aramaitimeans an attitude “characterized by satisfyingintention” and that as an attribute of Mazda, it ischaracterized by care/solicitude, and as an attribute of

man, by loyalty/devotion. Thieme, Reflections on theVocabulary of Zarathushtra’s Gathas, in Proceedings of the FirstGatha Colloquium, (WZO 1993, published in 1998), pp 206 -208.

8 See Thieme’s discussion, ibid.

9 Jafarey translates the word as “serenity, stability, tranquility”,Jafarey, The Gathas, Our Guide, (Ushta Publications, 1989),p 116.

10 All quotations from the Gathas in this paper are from thetranslation of Professor Insler in The Gathas of Zarathushtra,(Brill 1975), unless otherwise indicated, although ProfessorInsler may or may not agree with the inferences I draw fromhis translation. Round brackets ( ) appearing in a quotationare in the original and indicate an insertion by Professor Insler,usually to aid understanding. Square brackets [ ] indicate aninsertion by me. Such insertions by me are provided to showyou applicable Gathic words (although not with theirgrammatical variations) or by way of explanation. A stringof dots in a quotation indicates a deletion from the original.Often a verse contains many strands of thought. Deletingfrom a quotation those strands of thought that are not relevantto the discussion at hand enables us to focus on the strand ofthought under discussion.

11 For a detailed contextual analysis of the meaning ofaramaiti, see Harmony in Paradox: The Paradox of Service andRule, on www.vohuman.org

12 “... the rule of truth [asha] and of good thinking [vohumano]...” Y29.10 and Y50.3; “... the rule of good thinkingand of truth... “Y30.7 and Y33.10.

13 “... Grant thou [aramaiti] your rule of good thinking ...”Y51.2.

14 “... the very virtuous spirit [mainyush spenishto] ... chosethe truth ... Y30.5.

15 “... the spirit [mainyu] virtuous [spenta] through truth ...”Y28.1, see also: “ ... For such a person, virtuous [spento]through truth ... is ... Thy ally in spirit [mainyu] Wise One.”Y44.2.

16 See Insler, The Ahuna Vairya Prayer, as it appears inHommages et Opera Minora Monumentum H.S.Nyberg, ActaIranica, (Brill, 1975), p 409 et seq., 419 - 420.

17 Y19.10, as translated by Mills, in Sacred Books of the East,(Motilal Banarsidas reprint) (“SBE” hereinafter), Volume 31,p 262 — 263.

18 The Bundahishn, as translated by E. W. West, in SBEVolume 5, Chapter 1, verse 22, p 8 - 9.

19 See the examples collected in Humbach, The Gathas ofZarathushtra and Other Old Avestan Texts, (Heidelberg,1991), p 105 - 106.

Dina G McIntyre, is aZoroastrian, born in Indiaand came to USA in 1956.She earned a law degreefrom the Univers i ty ofPittsburgh, School of Lawand practiced law in theUnited States, since 1964.Prior to her retirement shewas a member of the bar ofall federal and state courtsin Pennsylvania, and theUnited States SupremeCourt. She has been astudent of the teachings ofZarathushtra since the early1980s, and was the Editorof a 12-lesson course on theGathas called AnIntroduction to the Gathasof Zarathushtra, which shedistributed world-wide in1989-90. She has lecturedon the teachings ofZarathushtra at variousconferences and seminars inthe US, Canada, Englandand India. Her writings onthe teachings ofZarathushtra appear onthese websites:www.vohuman.org and

www.zarathushtra.com

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Paul Kriwaczek was born in Vienna and,with his parents escaped the Nazis in 1939,fleeing first to Switzerland and then toEngland where he grew up and where hestill lives with his wife, Jeannette. Hegraduated from London Hospital MedicalCollege. For several years, he worked andtravelled in the Middle East, Central Asiaand Africa. He then joined BBC as aprogramme producer and film-maker. MrKriwaczek has a twenty-five year career inwriting, producing, and directing drama,music, science and documentaryprogrammes. He has written three books,Documentary for the Small Screen, YiddishCivilisation: The Rise and Fall of aForgotten Nation, and In Search ofZarathustra. His writing credits also includescreen plays and short stories. Hisdocumentary, The Last Exodus won gold atthe New York festival.

On October nineteenth, Paul Kriwaczekenchanted the audience of about hundredpeople with stories about his travels. As ayoung man, he was traveling in a VW van,with a destination in mind, but stoppingalong the way. Since then he has travelledfar and wide, learning that always, there hasbeen a reason for the journey, always therehave been discoveries. And always, thecountries he has visited have evoked strongfeelings and connections. On that very first

by magdalena rustomji

The Zoroastrian Association of Houston -The Fifth Annual Library Gala

“Zoroastrianism helped shaped our world that is with us still.” - Paul Kriwaczek

the Zoroastrian Association of Houston (ZAH) held its Fifth Annual Library Galaon October nineteenth and October twenty-first at the Zarathushti Heritage &Cultural Center in Houston, Texas. The special guest for the event was theIllustrious writer, producer, film-maker, and explorer of places and times, PaulKriwaczek. Mr Kriwaczek was presented a ZAH Library Lecture Series award

in appreciation of his contribution to the increased awareness of the Zoroastrianreligion, and his efforts in creating a dialogue about the influence the Zoroastrianreligion had and continues to have in the world.

trip, there was something going on that hedid not understand. At that time, he wasonly vaguely familiar with the ProphetZarathushtra, however, somethinghappened in that journey which he came tounderstand, in later years, as the force thatled him, In Search for Zarathustra.

“Not only ours, but indeed every age has, in itsown way, recognized the wisdom of Zarathustra’smessage.” In Search of Zarathustra.

Mr Kriwaczek’s third journey to Iran was forthe purpose of research for his book. Thisjourney, he says, was a “voyage of personaldiscovery to explore the many guises inwhich the teachings of the first and greatest

Signing of books by Mr Kriwaczek

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sage of ancienttimes lived onafter his earthlylife was over”.He discoveredthat Iranians arejust as proud ofwhat they werebefore theywere Muslimsas they arepassionateabout theirIslamic faith. Inhis travels hemet manypeople who would like to revert to theZoroastrian religion, who are yearning forZoroastrian roots. And, beneath the layers,he felt an undercurrent of Zoroastrianism;he found all kinds of observances that areZoroastrian. The Zoroastrian influence iseverywhere and it is in the psyche of thepeople. There was, he said, a “hiddenstratum of belief, something understood” butnever spoken and that something, hebelieves, is the spirit of Zarathushtra, stillpowerful, and still alive.

Zarathushtra’s Message – Its Past andPresent Power

“Every writer, journalist or film-maker, everycreative artist or scientist, every worker,business person or professional, indeed everyindividual can feel personally addressed by theperception that truth supports what is good,positive and creative, while falsehood leads to whatis bad, negative and destructive.” In Search ofZarathustra

On October twenty first, the guest speakeraddressed about one hundred twenty-fivepersons from the Zoroastrian communityand from the greater Houston community,for the Library Gala featured lecture, and hebegan by saying that he has a keen interestin the way religions have evolved. TheZoroastrian religion, he believes, hasproven to be a modest, self-effacing faithbut a most unique one. It is unique becauseit is greatly valued by those outside of the

faith and treated with greatrespect by other religions andcultures. It was respected byteachers of ethics and by thegreatest minds of ancient times,including Herodotus, Plato,Voltaire, and Pythagoras. And itis also unique because it holdsthe concept that there is realvalue in the measure of things aperson has done. †MrKriwaczek mentions that inancient Iran, those whoencountered Zoroastrians notedthere was “something about theway Zoroastrian followers

behaved, spoke, and thought.”He discussed the great impact thatZoroastrianism has had on the Jewish faith,as well as on Christianity. The West was“Zoroastrianized” in ideas and inphilosophies. Zoroastrianism is credited, forexample, as first to consider human rights.The Cyrus Cylinder, which is on display atthe United Nations, is inscribed with thevery first declaration of human rights.

The Zoroastrian religion has influencedworld thought with some of the conceptswhich are now widely known:

Life after deathResurrection of bodyJudgment after deathThe coming of a Zaoshyant (savior)Concept of Light, enlightenmentSun based calendarEqualityWomen’s RightsHeaven and hellExistence of angels, guardian spiritsFree willDoing good, fighting evilHuman RightsEthics, values, moral philosophy

Mr Kriwaczek also discussed the SasanianEmpire and the revival of the Zoroastrianreligion under that empire. During this time,the sacred texts were collected but therewas a kind of rigid orthodoxy, heresy anddoctrinal tyranny. However, the ordinarypeople held on to the true Zoroastrianbeliefs. True Zoroastrianism is of free will;

The Works ofPaul Kriwaczek

Plays:The Silver Thali (stage)Bengal Tiger (stage)In Harajuku (radio)The Simurg (stage)One Week in the Life ofMoishe Rabinovitch(radio)Singh 171 (TV)Sufi Laughter (radio)Fred Barker Goes toChina (TV)The Young Offender(TV-Japan PrizeNomination)

Short Stories:In the MountainsAn Odessa TaleThe PortraitDad’s MujahedinGhostHave You Laid TefillinToday?

Screenplays:The WellThe Pedalo IncidentYaltaHenryk’s Messiah

Paul Kriwaczek addressing his audience using the podiumdonated by the Library Committee and a plaque placedto honour Librarian, Aban Rustomji


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it opposes evil and is against warfare. It isagainst the mistreatment of women, cruelty,and against tyranny and abuse of power.

Paul Kriwaczek spoke about the variousfestivals in Iran with an interestingobservation about the Festival of Ashura.He believes that this festival is a realdefining event with a deeper meaning; thatperhaps it represents a deep mourning andtrue sorrow for the history of Iran, for theloss of religion and loss of the past, alongwith a yearning for the message ofZarathusthra.

Certainly, the Fifth Annual Library Gala wasinspirational and uplifting. Paul Kriwaczekgave us an appreciation of the influence ourreligion has had in ethics, in philosophy, andfor the relevance that it continues to have inmodern times. The challenge before us isto so internalize our Zarthushti way of lifethat perhaps once again, people will say ofus there is “something about the wayZoroastrian followers behave, speak, andthink.”

“The message of Zarathustra has never beenforgotten.” Paul Kriwaczek

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Magdalena Rustomji was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexicoand immigrated to Texas as a young child. For over 20years she has been a licensed professional counselor(psychotherapist) working with “recent arrival” immigranthigh school students, in group and individual sessions.Magdalena’s other interests include gardening, poetry andthe cinema. She is the coordinator of an annual WritingFestival for immigrant high school students that celebratesPoetry Month and has also written a poetry module for usein Group work with adolescents.

Published 1997 Published 2005Published 2002

Iranian temple underexcavations

a joint Iranian-Polish team hasstarted excavations at the site ofthe Azar Barzin Mehr fire temple

in Sabzevar, northeastern Iran.

Iran’s Archaeology Research Center anda team from Warsaw University arestudying the temple, a quadric-arch.

Archeologists will work to figure out theplan and elevations of the building as wellas the cultural elements of the area.

Early studies led to the discovery of adual-purpose space built in the heightsnear the temple and used as an ablutionroom.

The group is also studying the firebox andthe main hall, in which worshipperscircumambulated the sacred fire.

Azar-Barzin Mehr is one of the threeimportant Zoroastrian fire templesbelonging to the Sasanid era and wasused by farmers and villagers. ...

[source: www.presstv.irdetail.aspx?id=27903&sectionid=351020105]

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the Tatas, one of India’s leadingindustrialist families, have beenhonoured with the Carnegie Medal ofPhilanthropy that is considered the

‘Nobel Prize of Philanthropy’ at Pittsburgh inPennsylvania.

Ratan Tata, Chairman of Tata Sons,accepted the medal on behalf of the familyin the presence of former President of India,A P J Abdul Kalam. The Tata family is one ofthe four recipients of the honour given everytwo years since 2001 in memory of AndrewCarnegie, an American industrialist andphilanthropist. It is given to those ‘who havededicated their private wealth to the publicgood and who have sustained impressivecareers as philanthropists.’ The award’scitation said the Tata famly gives away eightto fourteen percent of the net profits from itscompany each year to science, medicine,social services, performing arts andeducation. Funding from them has alsoestablished pioneering institutions in socialsciences as well as cancer research andtreatment. The family’s philosophy of‘constructive philanthropy’ has played a rolein changing the traditional concept of charitythroughout India, the award citation noted.

ayoung Indian has made a dazzlingdebut in the international musicmarket, whizzing to the top ten ofBritain’s popular TV Airplay Music

Chart even before his album is officiallylaunched. Hyderabad-born Shayan Italia’s‘Reflection’ is fourth on the list, ... The 28-

Tata Family was honoured with Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy

Parsi Zoroastrian, Shayan Italia reaches Top Ten of Music Chartin Britain

The Parsi pioneered Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology made itto Time magazine’s “Heroes of Environment” list

Maneck Bhujwala, USA, informed in the ZNA Digest No 474, the news carried by the India Journal Weekly ofOctober 26, 2007. The following is an excerpt.

year-old musician held an exclusive liveperformance for a select gathering at thefamous Mint Leaf Restaurant here October10 night where Lord Karan Bilimoriadescribed him as a budding musicsuperstar. ‘He will be the third greatestZoroastrian musician after Zubin Mehta andFreddie Mercury,’ Lord Bilimoria said.

A superb vocalist, Shayan also writes hisown songs. Many music experts interprethis album as a mixture of light rock, funk,soft jazz, disco, pop and anything inbetween. Shayan says his music‘incorporates the three best elements ofIndian music into his work - poetic lyrics,simple yet powerful music arrangementsand crystal clear vocals.’ ...

Born and brought up in Hyderabad, thebaby-faced musician came to London in1999 after tragically losing both his parentsat a young age. Shayan with the littlesavings he had, got on a plane and came toLondon in an attempt to crack the hardestmusic market in the world. Upon enteringthe UK Shayan sought loans from variousbanks and educated himself over two years,attaining two well recognized post-graduatedegrees in the process - a Bachelor’sdegree in Audio Engineering and a Master’sdegree in Music Business Management.During that time Shayan became the firstperson in history to auction a portion of hislife’s earnings in music on EBay. He raised9,000 pounds in seven days. If that wasn’tenough, he then went on to raise onemillion dollars through private investors to


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fund his debut album. He haseven got the biggest major -Universal - on board todistribute the record nationallythrough the UK. He has alsosigned a worldwide digitaldistribution deal to have thealbum distributed online in over25 countries.

Drawing inspiration from real lifescenarios, Shayan haseffortlessly created a catalogueof over 150 songs since 1998and his second and third albumshave already been written. Hewill have the distinction of beingthe first Zoroastrian to everrelease a mainstream musicalbum on international waterssince Freddie Mercury did over25 years ago.

domestic wind power firmSuzlon Energy chiefTulsi Tanti, along withWadia Institute of Himalayan

Geology’s D P Dhobal, have made it to a listof global environment champions preparedby the Time magazine ... The magazine hasdescribed Dhobal as one scaling ‘theshrinking glaciers of the Himalayas to trackthe globe’s warming in real time.’

Dhobal, a glaciologist at Wadia Institute ofHimalayan Geology which studies theHimalayan glaciers, makes use of bamboosticks to measure the rise and fall of glacialmass. His work is all the more importantsince Himalayan glaciers have been studiedby less scientists compared to that ofglaciers in Alps, the Rockies and the Arctic,points out the report. ‘You don’t have to bean environmentalist to be a hero of theenvironment. The threats that face theplanet are so varied - from widespreadspecies extinction to dwindling naturalresources - that we’ll need front-lineactivists and boardroom tycoons in equalmeasure,’ says the magazine. (PTI).”

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Shayan writes:It gives me great pleasure toinform you that I, will beperforming live on November23rd at 7:30pm at The SohoRevue Bar, London.

If you haven’t been to The SohoRevue Bar, then you’ve probablymissed the best of the bestperform. Everyone’s played therefrom James Blunt to Tom Baxter,Coldplay to Norah Jones and thelist goes on ... (To be honest Ihaven’t a clue why I’ve beengiven this amazing opportunityto perform there as I’m nowherein the league as these amazingartists!!!)

This year The Soho Revue Barwas voted “Live Venue of theYear” in the UK and criticsdescribe the sound andatmosphere as very “high end”and simply “astounding”.

zar Amrolia was educated at StPaul’s school. Though he had greattalent for classical languages (Greek& Latin) he chose to pursue science.At 17 he went to the Imperial CollegeLondon to study Physics andgraduated with his Bachelor’s degreeat 20. He then went to Christ ChurchCollege, Oxford and obtained hisMaster’s in Mathematics the followingyear, and continued to do a PhD inParticle Physics. He was extremelypopular at Oxford and becamegraduate President at his college. Zarreceived his doctorate in July 1989.His mathematical abilities andleadership skills were recognised by“head-hunters” from the city and wasrecruited initially by Morgan StanleyBank and then Credit Swisse. At boththese banks he turned around failingderivative groups to make themamongst the most profitable in the

sector. In 1995 Zar joined Deutsche Bank asManaging Director (Global Currencies &Commodities). His ‘Midas touch’ was recognised bythe Investment Bank Goldman Sachs where he wasGlobal Head of FX Sales & E-Commerce. Herejoined Deutsche Bank as Managing Director(Global Head of FX Sales). Successful in this fieldfor three consecutive years with 19.3% of worldmarket the bank was awarded Global award.

Besides his work, Zar is a dedicated family man withhis wife Caroline and three children. He maintains apassionate interest in Zoroastrianism and ancientPersian History (and his Sunday Dhansak). Last year

he did a part-timecourse inA k k a d i a nlanguage.

Zar Amrolia- a profile

Deutsche Bank’s Foreign ExchangeBusiness has been awarded theprestigious Euromoney award for havingthe largest market share in the FXmarket for the third year running. TheFX market is the worlds largest financialmarket with over $2 trillion of dailybusiness. The FX business at DeutscheBank is run by Zarthustra Amrolia.

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With the spreadof the Empire,Freemasonryarrived in thefurthest cornersof the world,either underEnglish, Scottishor Irish GrandLodges. TheLodges formedin India wererestricted mainlyto Europeans.However, owingto the persistentendeavour ofanother Parsi,ManeckjiCursetji, LodgeRising Star ofWestern Indiawasconsecrated inBombay in1843, under theGrand Lodge ofScotland.Muslims, Parsisand Sikhscontinued to beinitiated andsoon, Hindusfollowed.

As theintercourse

by r o ei n ton kh am ba t ta

Dorabjee Pestonjee Cama – Grand Treasurer of theUnited Grand Lodge of England (1886 – 87)

dorabjee Pestonjee Cama was elected Grand Treasurer of the United GrandLodge of England in 1886 thereby having the unique distinction of being thefirst Parsi and the first Asian to hold active Grand Rank in the Grand Lodge.Freemasonry had existed in England as a formal body since the early 18th

century. When the two English Grand Lodges – the Antients and the Premier GrandLodge united in 1813, the United Grand Lodge of England was formed.

between Parsis inWestern India andthe Britishimproved, variousvalues came to beappreciatedfurther. Thegreatest of thesewas HigherEducation asavailable at theElphinstoneCollege inBombay. Seekersof knowledge likeDadabhai Naorojiand KhurshedjiCama took fulladvantage ofthese facilities.Indeed, thechildren ofDossabhai andKhurshedji Camawere attendingschool in Liverpoolstudying “classics”under the famousDr Ernst.

KhurshedjiRustomji (K R)Cama wasinitiated in LodgeRising Star ofWestern India and

Dorabjee Pestonjee Cama - Grand Treasurer. Copyright and reproducedby permission of the United Grand Lodge of England


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he took active interest in Freemasonrywherever his business took him – inCalcutta, Singapore or China. Now K RCama and his uncle, Mancherji HormusjiCama arrived in Liverpool to commencetheir “cotton” business in this city. AtElphinstone College in Bombay, K R Camahad come under the spell of “Orientalist”teachers. Now in England, encouraged byMountstuart Elphinstone himself, hedecided to leave the field of commerce, andto enter the portals of Oriental learning. Toreplace him and Dadabhai Naoroji (who leftto form his own business firm in England),another Cama relative – Pestonji HormusjiCama came to England, and Cama & Cowas established in Liverpool. (It wasPestonji who went on to found the CamaHospital for Women in Bombay). Pestonji’sson was Dorabjee, born in Bombay in 1833.Married to his cousin Bhicaijee (not thefamous nationalist, but his and her cousin),they had no children. Now, Dorabjee joinedhis father in London.

Dorabjee Cama had been initiated inFreemasonry in 1869 in Lodge Couragewith Humanity No 392 (ScottishConstitution) in Calcutta. On arriving inLondon, he was invited to join the veryprestigious Marquis of Dalhousie Lodge No1159 in London (where Dadabhai Naorojiwas the first Secretary). After he had servedas Master, Dorabjee was invited to joinother very select Lodges as well.

The aristocrat members of the Marquis ofDalhousie Lodge were so impressed byDorabjee, that they constituted Cama LodgeNo 2105, with Dorabjee Cama as theFounding Master. Originally, this Lodge metbetween April and October each year, atHampton Court. River trips and open-airsummer banquets with their ladies, were therules; and, Dorabjee and his wife Bhikaijeetook their full part in these activities with thehigh aristocracy of England. Dorabjee hadnow progressed through many Provincialranks in Middlesex.

The United Grand Lodge of Englandproclaims an honorific office – that of GrandTreasurer. Apart from the Grand Master who

is elected by Grand Lodge members on anannual basis, this office of Grand Treasureris the only other office where an individualMason is elected by Grand Lodge. (All theremaining officers are appointed by theGrand Master). Between 1813 and 1870,there had been only four Grand Treasurers(an average holding of office for 16 years ata time). In 1883, Col Creaton had held theoffice for three years; and, many membersfelt that a different Mason should be electedevery year. In March 1885, three nameswere proposed – the winner polled 749votes, whilst Dorabjee Cama received only89 votes. However, in 1886, DorabjeeCama was elected Grand Treasurer, polling599 votes against his opponent’s 150. Hehad become the first Parsi, the first Indian,the first Asian, the first non-British-born toachieve high rank in Masonry – not byappointment, nor as “grace & favour”, but bythe admiration and respect of his fellow-members. He was most regular in theperformance of all his duties not only in hisyear of office, but for many yearsafterwards. He continued to be active inmany other Orders in Freemasonry.

However, he found time and energy to beone of the founders of the Zoroastrian TrustFunds of Europe with Dadabhai Naoroji,Muncherji Bhownagree and a few others.

An ancient manuscript was discoveredwhich turned out to be an “Old Charge”. Theowning family put a price on it. DorabjeeCama paid the price and secured thismanuscript for the Quatuor Coronati Lodge– the premier lodge of Masonic Research inthe world, with a membership restricted to40 (and, where the author of this paper hashad the great honour of being Master). Thismanuscript was named the “CamaManuscript”. The Q C Lodge has placed iton deposit at the Library and Museum ofFreemasonry in London, and has been amatter of study by Masonic scholars from allover the world.

Dorabjee Cama died on 23 November 1910and lies buried at Brookwood Cemetery inSurrey. There his remains lie in his belovedBritain, in a grave prominently marked with

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Masonic symbols. (the grave of my great-grandfather, Cowasjee Variawa inBrookwood, is also so marked). He leftbehind a grieving family and friends. Themagazine, The Freemason in its issue of 26November 1910, pp342, said:

“... Bro Cama’s candidature (for Grand Treasurer)was so exceedingly popular that he was electedby an overwhelming majority ... it is clear thatGrand Lodge, when they elected our worthyBrother to the Grand Treasureship, made asplendid choice.”

Acknowledgement1. The preparation of this paper owes a great deal tothe research of Susan Snell, Archivist and RecordsManager of the Library & Museum of Freemasonry.Susan has been most generous in allowing me to accessher work.2. Much of the research into the ramifications of theCama family has been done by Peter Aitkenhead (ofthe Library & Museum), who has been equally generousto me.3. I am grateful to Diane Clements (Director) andMartin Cherry (Libriarian) for allowing me to researchthis subject in the Library.4. The photograph of Dorabjee Cama in the regalia ofGrand Treasurer, taken by the Royal photographer,Walesy of 164 Regent Street, London, is copyright andreproduced by permission of the United Grand Lodgeof England.

References1. Relevant Proceedings of the Communications ofthe United Grand Lodge of England.2. Various issues of the “Freemasonic QuarterlyReview” and “The Freemason”.

Roeinton Khambatta is acardiologist (though partlyretired) and with a good deal ofspare time, indulges in writingvignettes about people’s lives. For25 years he worked in London.

Having graduated from the GrantMedical College in Bombay(1946), and being brought up inthe happy atmosphere of Karachi,and the wisdom of DasturjiManeckji Nusserwanjee Dhalla,

he has, he feels a good appreciation of the Parsi Community.

assistant Professor of History NerinaRustomji, PhD, has won a $30,000fellowship grant from the ACLS(American Council of Learned

Societies) to launch a one-year project thatwill explore historic and contemporarynotions of the houri, the female companionawarded to a Muslim male upon his entryinto paradise, according to Islamic tradition.

Rustomji’s project also earned a grant fromthe American Center of Oriental Research,a branch of the American Council ofOverseas Research. This grant will allowher to extend her project through nextsummer while researching in Amman,Jordan.

An expert of Islamic societies, Rustomji ison leave this academic year to work on herproject, which is a direct extension of herrecently written book, The Garden and theFire: Heaven and Hell in Islamic Culture,which she hopes to publish next year.

The ACLS is a leading organization set forthto advance the fields of the humanities andsocial science. According to the group’swebsite, Rustomji was one of 65 fellowsselected this year from a pool of 1016applicants.

The fellowship will allow Rustomji to “toinvestigate the place of female companionshipin paradise,” she says. “Within Islamictradition there’s a place for wives, and there isanother category for houris, who I call ‘pure’female companions.”

Rustomji says that there are manymisconceptions about the houri, particularly inAmerica and Europe, and often promulgatedby the media. One of the false claims herstudy will attempt to refute is that the hourican be directly interpreted as “virgin.”

History Professor EarnsGrant to Explore Traditional& Contemporary Notions ofIslamic Houri


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[courtesy - http://stjohns.edu/academics/pr_aca_071005d.stj]

“There’s a debate within the global Islamicworld about what ‘virginity’ means,” saysRustomji, noting that several Muslim writersdon’t limit the term to its sexualconnotations. “Many think the term is moreabout honour and purity.”

Rustomji says that another commonlyespoused falsehood is that Muslim menmust engage in Jihad in order to haveaccess to houris in the afterlife.

Rustomji’s project will delve deeply into thepolitical arena and attempt to explain why areligious phenomenon such as the hourihas drawn catcalls from various critics whoassociate it only with violence. Shereferences the 2005 Danish cartoons thatso famously came under fire for lampooningits Islamic prophet Mohammad. (One of thecartoons took an unflattering poke athouris.)

“There’s a strong polemic within Europe andAmerica, and I want to look at the politicalangle of how people understand this trope of afemale as a way of understanding Islam,” saysRustomji. “There’s no one coherentunderstanding of what the houri is. The way inwhich people explain it reveals more abouttheir politics than it does about Islam.”

The debate over interpretations of the houriextends to Islamic cultures as well. Rustomjisays that some texts seem to suggest thatthe houri is a celestial transformation of aman’s earthly wife, while others distinguishhouri and wife as two separate beings.Even the Koran is ambiguous, she notes.

Rustomji, who is fluent in Arabic and hasresearched manuscript collections inLondon, Paris and Syria, says she is“driven” by primary sources such as theKoran, Koranic commentaries and mystical,scatological and colonialist texts. “They areall so alive,” she enthuses, noting thattoday’s globalized world has made thestudy of historical Islamic texts imperativeamong scholars.

“The field of Islamic history is really new insome ways,” she says. “There’s a whole field

out there waiting for professors andstudents to discover. That’s whatmakes it so exciting. And many ofthe things you study in medievalIslamic history really do have aresonance in contemporary times,especially in today’s politicalenvironment.”

Rustomji received her doctorateat Columbia University and is amember of the Middle EastStudies Association. She teachesan assortment of undergraduate-level Middle Eastern historycourses.

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34-year old Nerina is married to ShehriyarAntia and lives in New York, USA. Shegrew up in Quetta and her interest in theMiddle East stems from the early days ofattending and speaking at WZOs FirstGatha Colloquium held in UK, in 1993.

In his newest film, Iran: Seven Faces of a Civilization, award winningdocumentary film-maker Farzin Rezaeian traces the evolution of Iranianculture across 7,000 years. Dr Rezaeian masterfully pieces together thisimage of Iranian culture with the contributions of over 70 world-renowned scholars.

Briefly about Farzin Rezaeian: He is an award-winning documentarianand educational film producer and director. He studies sociology,political science and communications at the University of Illinois atChicago. For the past twenty years, he has researched and written formany educational and documentary films that he has produced ordirected. Persepolis Recreated which was reviewed in Hamazor Issue 4/04 pp28-29, was his last documentary.

Kersi Meher-Homji of St Ives, NSW, is quoted in theManashni, November 2007, newsletter of AZA,Australia: “We know that Luciano Pavarotti was anavid football fan,” Kersi writes, “but a cricketer? Hewas passionately fond of cricket according to SirGeorge Trotter. Touring Italy with the ‘British On Tour’team in the 1860s, he met Luciano when playingagainst an Italian cricket team. When English batsmanTrevor Askwith played and missed, Luciano, fieldingat slip, appealed loud and long for LBW. He sang theword ‘Howzaaat!’ in operatic fashion for sooooo longthat the umpire changed his mind and lifted his finger.”

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i came across this fascinating article ‘Anose by any other name’ by StephaniePain in a magazine, New Scientist. Ihave quoted only relevant parts of the

history and added my own medicalcomments.

A ZoroastriannamedCowasjee, atransportmerchantwhile cartingsupplies forthe BritishEast IndiaCompany in1792 wascaptured bymen of thegreat TippooSultan, rulerof Mysore insouthernIndia. Tippoohad beengiving a roughtime to theCompany,which wasmanoeuvringto acquireMysore. Aspunishmentfor aiding theenemyCowasjee hadone of hishands and hisnose cut offbefore beingsent back tothe British.

A letter in the Gentleman’s Magazine dated9 October 1794, written by “B L”, a Britisharmy surgeon in India, described howCowasjee had a replacement nose created

b y s a m k e r r

Cowasjee’s Nose

from a flap of skin cut from his forehead andgrafted onto the stump of the old one by anIndian Surgeon. It was a brilliantly simplepiece of surgery. Reported B L “Anappropriate nose to suit Cowasjee’s face was

created as atemplatefrom waxand laid onCowasjee’sforehead.Then, anexact area ofthe skinmeasuredfrom thewaxspecimen, tocreate a skinflap wasraised fromhis forehead,based on astrip of skinor pediclestill firmlyattached tothe foreheadabove andbetween theeyes (seediagram).After paringall the scartissue fromthe remainsof the oldnose thesurgeontwisted theflap over thestump, andinserted the

edges into a series of neat incisions. The newnose was secured with slips of cloth soaked in aplant extract that tried to form a sort of cement.The pedicle allowed blood to flow into the flapto nourish it until the graft had taken after some


41

days, at which point the pedicle skin wassnipped off. The artificial nose was secure andlooked nearly as well as the natural one.” Fouryears later, writer and traveller, ThomasPennant reported in The View ofHindoostan that Cowasjee’s nose wasbearing up well. He wrote, “It could sneezesmartly, distinguish good from bad smells, bearthe most provoking lug, or being well blownwithout danger of falling into thehandkerchief”. Joseph Carpue, a Londonsociety surgeon, after reading the articleshad been pondering the possibilities ofembarking on the surgery. All he had to dowas to find someone willing to be his firstpatient.

Noselessness, in India was, indeed,common. Nasal amputation was a time-honoured form of punishment for thieves/criminals/ adulterers intended to humiliatethem and to deter others. The noselesswere shunned by society. It is still verycommon for a parent to admonish a child bysaying, “You should have your nose cut off”instead of saying, “You should be ashamed.”In Europe the disfigurement was assumedto be a punishment for the unfortunateperson’s sins. In late 18th-century Europenasal amputation was rare. Occasionally aman might have his nose sliced off in battleor during a duel, but diseases like cancer,syphilis, leprosy were the more commondestroyers of noses.

This early form of reconstructive surgery, infact, had been practiced and perfected inIndia from time immemorial. The pressingneed for new noses had led inevitably to thedevelopment of a highly effective techniquefor replacing them. Building new noses thisway had been common practice in Indiasince around 600 BC. The great Indiansurgeon, Sushruta (c 600 BC) reconstructednoses and documented instructions forrepairing noses using a flap of skin from thecheek. He illustrated his techniquestepwise in drawn diagrams showing themethod of raising forehead skin pedicleflaps. His skin pedicles were on one side ofthe forehead (not in the midline, as above)to obtain maximum nourishment from thetemporal artery (which can be felt pulsating

about two cms. lateral to the eyebrow) isbeing practiced by modern ReconstructiveSurgeons. His method of sterilizing surgicalinstruments by boiling them in water wasused in modern times as late as my earlysurgical days, at least in the minoroperations rooms. It was after the advent ofthe disease, ’HIV Aids’ the use of pressuresterilizers became obligatory in all operatingrooms.

Skills developed in India spread to ancientGreece and Rome, where many gladiatorswere grateful for the new noses. TheByzantine Emperor Justin II (ruled AD 567-578. The name, Justinian II and the date,AD 695 given in the article are incorrect)had his nose amputated during a battle inMesopotamia against the great Khusru I -Anoushi Ravan e Adil’s army (ruled AD 531-579). Justin had tried to sneak intoSasanian Airan through the backdoor - theStraits of Eritrea (to this day a strategic partof Africa closest to Asia). Khusru allowedJustin’s army to struggle through the hostileArabian Desert before apprehending theByzantine army head-on in their tired state.(see my ‘The Sasanian Dynasty’ on ‘AvestaServer’ link of the FEZANA website). It tookJustin nine years before he could gethimself a new nose and make a comebacklater.

The practice of replacement noses came toEurope in the 5th-century Sicily, where afamily of barbers had a sideline in nasalreconstruction (to see more of the history ofplastic surgery visit the ‘Science of SurgeryGallery’ at the Hunterian Museum, London).In the late 16th century another Italian,Gaspare Tagliacozzi wrote a book outlininghis version of the Italian ‘nose job’. Hegrafted pedicle skin from the inner arm, aprocedure that required patients to haveone arm strapped to their face for months.This practice quickly died out when thechurch disapproved of it and there weremalicious, but unfounded, rumours that aTagliacozzi nose had a tendency, to dropoff.

Carpue had such confidence in the Indian(Sushruta) technique of raising the lateral

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skin flap he had begun to teach it to his students - even though he had yet to try it out himself. Hemay have expected a great rush for new noses but he was disappointed. He waited patiently, and inSeptember 1814, after a wait of almost 20 years, a Captain Williamson finally came along.

Reference:

Pain Stephanie, A nose by any other name, New Scientist, Magazine issue 2566, Vol 191, pp 50 - 51, 26 August 2006.

Sam Kerr’s profile appears on p 26.

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glaucoma is the second leadingcause of blindness worldwide and iscaused by several different eyediseases which in most but all

cases produce elevated pressuresin the eye. Over time, this causes damageto the optic nerve, the cable through whichall information is relayed from the eye to thebrain and results in progressive andirreversible damage to the visual fielddefined as the area in which a person cansee. Uncontrolled glaucoma results inprogressive restriction of visual field andeventually in blindness.

The eye produces a fluid called aqueoushumor which is essential for the transport ofoxygen and nutrients within the eye. Thisfluid constantly exits the eye. An imbalancebetween the production and drainage ofaqueous leads to glaucoma. Glaucoma canarise at any age but is more commonlyseen in individuals forty years and older.

The most common type is open angleglaucoma in which eye pressure risesgradually allowing the eye time to adapt tohigher pressures. It is often painless andindividuals may not notice they are losingtheir field of vision until much later in thedisease. Normal intraocular pressureranges from about 11 to 21 mmHg.However some individuals may developdamage to the nerve at pressures well

by mahnaz naveed shah

Glaucoma

within this “normal” range. Such patientssuffer from a variant of glaucoma called“normotensive glaucoma”. The risk ofdeveloping glaucoma in those who have afamily history of the disease is increasedmanifold, however, lack of a family historydoes not entirely eliminate risk.Intermarriages within families who have astrong history of glaucoma further increasethe risk. Diabetes and nearsightedness alsoincrease the likelihood of the disease as dosome types of medication particularly theprolonged use of steroids.

Another common type of glaucoma is acuteangle closure glaucoma in which thepressure may rise within hours. This rapidchange does not allow the eye to adapt andthe patient experiences eye pain andheadaches involving the brow area.Disturbance in vision described as haloes orcolored rings around lights may also beseen. Pain can be severe with nausea andvomiting. Individuals may experience aseries of less severe, self resolving attacksprior to a major attack. Acute glaucoma isan emergency requiring urgent medical,laser and in some cases surgicalintervention to prevent irreversible loss invision which can occur within hours.

Rarely children can also be born withglaucoma, or develop it early in life. Signsthat a child may have glaucoma are larger


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than average eye size, cloudiness or hazeof the cornea or front portion of the eyeleading to a bluish grey hue to the eye,constant tearing or unusual sensitivity to thelight. These symptoms may be present inone or both eyes. Such children must beevaluated and treated urgently with surgeryto prevent permanent loss in vision.

Injury to the eye, inflammation or complexsurgery to the eyes can also result inglaucoma. The diagnosis again rests onclinical examination. All patients forty andabove and especially those who have afamily history of glaucoma, gradualdecrease in sight, a history of injury to theeye, diabetes, severe near or farsightedness or any of the signs andsymptoms described above should beexamined by an eye specialist. Earlydiagnosis is crucial in the preservation ofvision.

The diagnosis of all types of glaucomadepends on a thorough clinical examinationof the eye. Tests such as visual fieldexaminations and nerve fiber analyzers alsoassist doctors in the diagnosis, treatmentand follow up of the disease.

There are three primary means of treatmentin glaucoma. Eye drops or pills, laser andfinally more invasive surgery to createmeans for additional drainage of fluid fromthe eye. Whether one or a combination ofthese is needed varies between patients.The important point is that glaucoma can becontrolled which leads to an arrest indamage to the optic nerve and thereforeresults in preservation of vision. It must beremembered that vision in a glaucomapatient who is appropriately treated can besafeguarded for life.

Dr Mahnaz Naveed Shah received herundergraduate degree from Rice University andher Doctorate in Medicine from Baylor Collegeof Medicine, both at Houston, Texas,completing her internship at the same hospital.She completed her residency training at theCullen Eye Institute-Baylor College of Medicineand subsequently a sub-specialty fellowship inMedical and Surgical Glaucoma. She has beenpracticing at the Aga Khan University Hospitalin Karachi since December 2002 as Assistant

professor Tehemton Erach Udwadia,perhaps the most decorated of allIndian Zoroastrian doctors, with aline of degrees to boast, started his

schooling at St Mary’s High School,Bombay. He then joined Wilson’s College,and went on to Seth G S Medical College,Bombay, from where he completed hisMBBS in 1956. He acquired thepostgraduate qualifications of MS andFCPS from the University of Bombay andthe College of Physicians and Surgeons,India, respectively in 1960. Not satisfied, heearned his FRCS degrees from both, theRoyal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburghand England in 1963. He was alsoconferred with a FACS, FICS (Hon), FAMS,and FARSI (Hon). Needless to say, he wasawarded many academic distinctions rightfrom his school days to his post graduation.

Tehemton’s academic accolades were aprelude to the great advances he achievedin Indian surgery. This dynamic, innovativeand great surgeon was the first to introducelaparoscopic surgery and Minimal AccessSurgery in India in 1972 and the first toperform laparoscopic surgery in thedeveloping world. To date he has conducted48 workshops all over India, with more inNepal, Mexico, Brazil, China, Myanmar,Bangladesh and other developing countries.His motto was to ensure that the benefits ofsurgical advance be made available to allpeople, in all places, irrespective of theirsocio-economic status.

A teacher par excellence, he has beenProfessor of Surgery, Grant Medical College& J J Hospital, Bombay 1963-1994.Following retirement, he was made life timeEmeritus Professor of Surgery in theseinstitutions. He is a Visiting Professor tovarious Universities in India and abroad andhas the honour of being an Examiner inSurgery for the Universities of Bombay,Gujarat, Madras, Osmania, Baroda,Nagarjuna and Banaras, All India Institute of

b y f i r o z e p a t e l

Prof Tehemton Erach Udwadia

Dr Firoze Rustom Patelcompleted his schooling atKarachi, went on to studyat the D J SindGovernment ScienceCollege and later joined theSind Medical College,graduating with the MBBSdegree from the Universityof Karachi in 1979. Hethen proceeded abroad andcompleted the MMS degreefrom the NationalUniversity of Ireland in1990. Since then he is inGeneral Practice atKarachi.

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Medical Sciences (New Delhi),Postgraduate Instituteof Chandigarh,Tribhovan University(Nepal) and TheNational Board ofExaminations, India.He is also an examinerfor MCh examination inGastroenterology andProctology, Universityof Madras. Thisillustrious son of Indiahas the distinction ofbeing an Examiner inSurgery, final FRCSexamination and aMember of the Councilof Examiners of TheRoyal College ofSurgeons, Edinburgh.Tehemton is a facultymember of over 60workshops onDiagnosticLaparoscopy andSurgicalEndoscopy inIndia, Singapore,Nepal, Sri Lanka,Pakistan, Kenya,Spain, Russia,Georgia, HongKong, Mexico,Egypt, Japan,China, Myanmarand Bangladesh.

ProfessorTehemton has tohis credit 180KeynoteAddresses,Plenary Speechesand paperpresentations in various National andInternational Conferences since 1960. Hehas presented papers at many National andInternational Conferences over the last 45years. He has to his credit 76 publications inNational and International Journals coveringalmost the entire field of surgery. He is alsothe author of two medical books and acontributing author in seventeen books onSurgery.

Awards have always poured in for this greatsurgeon from different forums.The Royal College ofSurgeons made him theHunterian Professor for 1984-1985. The Association ofSurgeons of Great Britain andIreland made him the SurgikosLecturer of 1988. He wasmade the Sir James RossLecturer for 1992 by TheRoyal College of Surgeons,Edinburgh. An Award forExcellence was presented tohim by the Indian Associationof Gastrointestinal Surgeonsfor pioneering and ensuringspread of LaparoscopicSurgery in DevelopingCountries (1998). TheMillennium Award wasconferred on him by theAmerican GastrointestinalEndoscopic Surgeons for hisKarl Storz Lecture, “One

World-One People-OneSurgery” (2000). ThePresident of India awardedhim the Dr B C RoyNational Award fordeveloping the Specialty ofLaproscopic Surgery inIndia (2000). The IndianAssociation ofGastrointestinal Endo-Surgeons honoured himwith a LifetimeAchievement Award in2004. Apart from theseProfessor Udwadia hasreceived many Orationsduring his lifetime. To addicing to the cake, Her

Majesty Queen Elizabeth II conferred on this greatdoctor the Order of Knighthood of the MostExcellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in2006. It was in the fitness of things that theGovernment of India awarded her illustrious sonwith the Padmashree Award in 2006. This wasaccompanied by a special Gold Medal and citationfrom Dr Abdul Kalam, The President of India.

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Receiving the Padmashree Award from Dr Abdul Kalam

Prof Udwadia receiving the OBE


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Quite simply the best up and comingassociate I’ve ever seen.” That’s howRussell Carmedy, Jones Day’s partner-in-charge in London, describes Vica Irani, amergers and acquisitions and securitiesspecialist. Irani joined Jones Day in 1998 asa trainee straight from the College of Law,eschewing a gap year, after previouslycompleting a law degree at BristolUniversity. Praised for her commercial nousand people skills in addition to her brain,Irani has risen rapidly through the ranks.The lead lawyer for New York-based privateequity firm J F Lehman & Co, whom shehas advised on a number of acquisitionsand disposals, Irani also regularly adviseson IPOs. Recently, she acted as part of theteam that represented Inion Oy, the firstFinnish company to ever list in London. Sheis currently advising Nomura, the financialservices group, on two potential strategicinvestments.

Future Stars of the City

Alex Aldridge highlighted ten lawyers worthwatching, all under 35 years of age, working inLondon, UK, on 15 October 2007, Times on Line,http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/corporate_law/article2665860.ece

Vica Irani, a Parsi Zoroastrian, is one of theselect ten. Ed

those familiar with Iranian pre-Islamichistory or ancient Greek history willknow that the Sakas (or Scythians asthe Greeks called them) were a nomadic

horseman tribe of Iranian peoples whoseterritories were perforce vast given that theywere nomadic and moved around with theiranimals. They are considered to be one ofthe sub-groups that came from an earliergroup of Indo-Europeans.

It is also accepted that no-one can honestlypinpoint the homeland of the early Aryanpeoples who eventually moved into what istoday Iran and India. However it is thoughtthat the movement of the early Aryan peoplesinto Iran came from the North which makessense as there are no mountain barriers atleast over the North Eastern side of thecountry.

Meanwhile there is archaeological evidencein today’s Russia which would suggest thatthe early Aryans may have initially had at leasttemporary residences in Western Siberia andKazakhstan, and some of them would havebeen more lasting settlements associated withthose who came to Iran and already knew thearts of agriculture and animal rearing.

While there is a lot of debate surrounding thisvery early period known as the Andronovoculture (see the Wikipedia internet entry foran introduction), frozen graves and excavatedtombs have yielded artefacts such as chariots,fabrics etc suggesting a culture of somesophistication. One such place in Russiaassociated with this is called Arkaim (to thesouth of the Ural mountains) andarchaeologists in Russia have attached someimportance to the discovery of this site. Thesite was even visited by President Putin whichshows that at least the Russians are showingan interest in their ancient Aryan past. Thesearch engines of the internet will reveal 10pages of references to this place but to givethe flavour of what Arkaim represents here isa quote from the Pravda website:

The Russian Connection by shah in bekhradn ia

“

”

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“Archaeological excavations showed that thepeople, who inhabited Arkaim, represented oneof the most ancient Indo-European civilizations,particularly the branch, which is referred to as theAryan culture. Arkaim turned out to be not onlya town, but also a temple and an astronomicobservatory. A flight above Arkaim on board ahelicopter gives you an incredible impression. Thehuge concentric circles on the valley are clearlyvisible. The town and its outskirts are all enclosedin the circles. We still do not know, what pointthe gigantic circles have, whether they were madefor defensive, scientific, educational, or ritualpurposes. Some researchers say that the circleswere actually used as the runway for an ancientspaceport,” Vadim Chernobrovy said. Researchersdiscovered that the ancient town was equippedwith the storm sewage system, which helpedArkaim’s residents avoid floods. The people wereprotected against fires as well: timbered flooringsand houses themselves were imbued with fireproofsubstance. It was a rather strong compound, theremnants of which can still be found in the ruinsof the town. Each house was outfitted with “allmodern conveniences,” as they would saynowadays. There was a well, an oven and dome-like food storage in every house. The well wasbranching out into two underground trenches: oneof them was directed to the oven and the otherone ended in the food storage. The trenches wereused to supply chilly air to the oven and to thefood storage. The cool air from the trenches wasalso creating a very powerful traction force in theAryan oven, which made it possible to smeltbronze there. The central square in Arkaim wasthe only object of square shape in the town.Judging upon traces of bonfires that were placedin a specific order on the square, the place wasused as a site for certain rituals.

Arkaim was built according to a previouslyprojected plan as a single complicated complex,which also had an acute orientation on astronomicobjects. While archaeologists are meticulouslybrushing dust off ancient stones trying to recreatethe lifestyle of Arkaim’s residents, ufologists studymysterious phenomena, which they register in thetown: inexplicable fluctuations of voltage,magnetic field tension, temperatures and so on.Natalia Leskova”

It is therefore not that surprising that PresidentPutin should be fully aware of the legacy of

Aryan culture in Russia and it is also not acoincidence that Russian (an Indo Europeanlanguage) is in many ways very closely relatedto modern Persian (Farsi) in terms of wordroots demonstrated by two quick examples –the word for God is Bog – compared with theold Persian Baga (and indeed Sanskrit textBhagavad Gita) or the word for woman or wifeis Zhena compared with the word Zan in Farsior Zyuna in Dari (mainly preserved today byYazd’s Zoroastrian population).

Putin’s recent visit to Iran in October 2007therefore allowed him the perfect opportunityto demonstrate his knowledge of Russia’s pastancient connections with Iran’s past quotedabove, nor was he slow in referring to othercommon ground. This of course related to

Bird’s eye view of the city of Arkaim

A section as a photograph and plan of Arkaim


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the expanse of the three ancient Iranianempires (Achaemenid, Pathian and Sasanian)all of which stretched right into the heart ofCentral Asia via Turkmenistan, Tajikistan andUzbekistan which from the mid-1920’s until1992 were fully integrated republics of theSoviet Union. Of course Azarbaijan (the landof Azar/Atar = Fire)should also bementioned in thiscontext and it isnoteworthy that evenbefore the Soviet Era,some educatedRussians such as thetheosophist MmeBlavatsky were fullyaware of the relationshipof the presence ofnatural gas and thelocation of our firetemples which sheconsidered to beinspiring and aboutwhich she wrote anarticle in 1879 (seewww.blavatsky.net /b l a v a t s k y / a r t s /PersianZoroastrianismAndRussianVandalism).

Because of the sensitive issue of Iran’s currentnuclear programme and the cooperationbetween Russia and Iran over this, Putin gavean extensive interview to the Iranian RadioNews Agency and also to the state TV service,the entirety of which can be found via aninternet trawl. The relevant parts are quotedbelow and reveal that the president of Russiais fully conversant with the fact that Iranenjoyed a rich and influential culture beforethe advent of Islam:

Questioner (Abbass Ali Haji Parvane): If youpermit, I would like to ask a personal question.So far, all the questions have been about politics,and I would like to ask a question that is notrelated to politics.Over these last few years you have succeeded intaking important steps that have changed Russia’sposition in the world, and here in Iran you arereceived well and are a popular figure. Iranianswould like to hear about the President of Russia

from the President himself. We know here thatyou still keep up your sports activities, and we alsoknow that you are interested in Persian literature,especially in the poetry of Omar Khayam. In thisrespect, could you please tell us what role sportplays in your working life, how you fit it in to yourlife, and what kind of influence does it have? And

also, could you tell uswhat you think of OmarKhayam’s poetry?

Vladimir Putin: I willstart with the secondquestion. I do notconsider myself anexpert on Persianliterature, to my greatregret. I have onlyfragmentary knowledgeof Persian literature, butwhat I have read andheard has alwaysinterested me greatly.The same goes forIranian history. This ispart of the world’shistory. Iran is a worldpower. Its territoryoriginally stretchedfrom the Middle East to

India. Even part of the former Soviet Union waspart of ancient Iran’s territory. Iran is the home ofearly religions, of Zoroastrianism, and somespecialists think that this was the source fromwhich Judaism, Christianity and Islam would laterspring. But now there is evidence suggesting thatZoroastrianism first emerged on Russian soil - inthe southern Urals - and that populationmigrations took this religious culture to otherplaces, including to Iran.

What I want to say is that the history of ourcountries and the interaction between our culturesgoes much deeper and has much deeper roots thanspecialists sometimes think. This is the guaranteethat we will always find a way of solving anyproblems that arise, because we understand eachother.

As for Omar Khayam, I simply love his work, Ilike his poetry. I know that not everywhere in theMuslim world do people like his work as much asI do, but that does not make his poetry any worse.”

The complete plan of Arkaim

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Now here Putin may have taken matters a littlefurther than the evidence allows, for there isno suggestion that at the time of ArkaimZoroastrianism was being practised andindeed the only evidence to help us get thetopography of the home of Zoroaster are thefew geographic references and the languageof the Gathas. As an East Iranian language,more similar to the languages of the Pamirmountains in Tajikistan and with a reasonableparallel in toponyms, it is unlikely that theSouthern Urals were the birthplace of ourprophet.

The Hermitage in St Petersburg has beenhome to most of the ancient artefacts fromthe pre-Islamic past found in lands of theformer Persian Empires (particularly Marv,Samarqand, Bokhara and Panjikand), and thekeeper of the priceless collection of the muralsand exquisite silverware there was until hisrecent death, Boris Marshak. Boris, whosetomb is located at the site of his excavationsin Panjikand spanning 50 years wroteextensively about the origins of the collection.Putin, himself from St Petersburg must haveundoubtedly seen the collections and becomeaware of the lofty culture that was the productof a Zoroastrian ethos.

If Putin has learnt about Zoroastrianismbecause of his exalted position, many othershave embraced the religion in Russia afterdiscovering its respectful philosophy andmorality. Russians of some intellect havebeen particularly receptive to this religion.

Thus we need to keep our minds open to thefact that our religious heritage was not and isnot limited to the confines of the Indian sub-continent as some of our co-religionists seemto think if we were to judge by their belief thatthe terms Zoroastrian and Parsi are co-terminous. While it may be true that all Parsisare Zoroastrian, it does not follow that allZoroastrians are Parsis, and therefore thosewho are not do not understand nor wish topractice Parsi Panu. Other Zoroastrians suchas those from Iran have as much if not morehistorical justification to claim their right topractise and believe somewhat differently. Allof us however should celebrate the fact that

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the once great Iranian Empires have left somany eloquent sites, monuments andartefacts as well as inscriptions and textualreferences to the superior moral andphilosophical climate in which they onceflourished. And we should not be deprecatingnor scathing about the desire of once-Zoroastrian peoples to return to their roots.Why should they not?

Illustrations are courtesy of Jamshid Zartoshti,Belarus, sent to the Editor for Hamazor Issue 3/2003p 126.

Shahin Bekhradnia,grand-daughter of arenowned Yazdi priest/poetdid her undergraduatestudies at Oxforduniversity in modernlanguages and thenanthropology, focusing on20 th century IranianZoroastrian identity. Shehas published and lecturedon Zoroastrian matters

regularly. In her day to day life, she teaches, interprets forthe immigration appellate, is a legal consultant for a touroperator, and sits as a magistrate. She set up the PourchistaFoundation in Yazd to teach skills to young Zoroastrians sothat they can earn a living.

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Parthian bridge demolished in Iran

Iran’s Ministry of Road & Transportation has demolished a 2200-year-old Parthian era bridge in Masjed Soleiman, despiteopposition as mentioned on www.presstv.ir on 6 December, tobuild a new one.

The Negin Bridge was one of the few Parthian structures tohave survived in Khuzestan Province. Iran’s Cultural Heritage,Handicrafts, and Tourism Organization had prohibited anyc o n s t r u c t i o nactivity within 700meters of thebridge in 2005,which was laterreduced to 100meters in 2006.


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jeroo Roy is a Parsi from Mumbai. Shefirst studied art at the JJ School of Art atBombay and continued at the LondonCollege of Printing. She went on to workas a designer on part-work magazines

and as an illustrator of children’s books,two of which were both written andillustrated by her.

In 1982, Jeroo became involved in thebuilding trade. This meant that the paintingaspect of her life was put on hold, whilst shetook on the demanding task of establishingherself as a female contractor in what was atough world to break into.

In December ’00, at the height of herbuilding career, she retired from the trade toget back to painting. She displayed herwork in a group exhibition Indian Painters inthe UK and India in September 2001 andthe following year had a very successfulone-person show at the Nehru Centre incentral London. In 2003, she exhibited at agroup show at Bharati Vidhya Bhuvan andin March ’05, two of her paintings were partof a group show at Cork Street Gallery,organised by Visual Art.

2004 - the year of the Girl Child in India

In January of 2004, Jeroo met threewomen’s groups in Kolkata, all of whomwere involved in helping emotionally andphysically battered women. She was shownmountains of case files and photographs.That moment was an important turning pointfor Jeroo, as it was when “she did notchoose the subject, but the subject choseher.” It got under her skin and she knewthat with the one talent she has – painting,she would henceforth do her best to bringawareness to others regarding the plight ofmillions of women and children everywhere,as ‘violence’ knows no boundaries.

In April of that year, Jeroo had a one personshow at the Light Gallery, titled ‘When MoreIs Less’. The issues painted were aboutdowry related deaths, torture and suicides,

Jeroo Roy - Art with a purpose

female infanticide and foeticide, FGM(female genital mutilation), selling of the girlchild for prostitution, and honour relatedviolence.

This exhibition was very successful from theawareness point of view and continued atthe Nehru Centre in September, with addednew paintings, titled ‘What Honour, WhoseHonour’. Here she was interviewed by BBCradio and also did a BBC Online article titled‘Prick the viewer’s nerves’. This article gotthe attention of the New Scotland Yard/Home Office, and Jeroo was invited toexhibit her paintings at their conference onHRV (Honour Related Violence); inOctober, she was invited by Kvinnoforum, toexhibit at their International conference onHR in Stockholm.

In February of the following year, sheexhibited relevant paintings for theMetropolitan Police/ Home OfficeConference on ‘Forced Marriages’, and inMarch, exhibited at their InternationalConference on HBV (Honour BasedViolence) at the Victoria Plaza Park Hotel.She has been invited to exhibit her works attwo events of Amnesty International, one atthe Oxo Tower South Bank, and at theirheadquarters in London.

Articles about her work have been printed inmagazines and newspapers, both here inthe UK, Europe and in India.

In 2005, she was approached by ZerbanooGifford of the Asha Foundation, to paintportraits of 208 women for the book jacketof her recently published book –Confessions to a serial womaniser, secretsof the world’s inspirational women [seeHamazor Issue 3/07]. The book launch tookplace on 20 th September of this year at theNational Portrait Gallery, where a largeframe 9’ x 4’ consisting portraits of 208women was on display the whole week. Thewhole event was very successful and muchacclaimed. Thereafter this frame wasdisplayed at various galleries till early

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“Born, bought, broken & groomed” is about the girl child sold into prostitution

Above: “Outsider”. Below L: “Window Dressing”. Below C: “How many more?” Below R: Illustration for children’s book “Peacock Garden”

“Child labour at quarry and building sites”


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November and from endDecember to May 2008 will betravelling worldwide toaccompany Zerbanoo’s booksigning.

At present, Jeroo is working on aseries of paintings titled WorkingChildren and Children underSiege. With regard to herpaintings related to Violenceagainst Women and the GirlChild, she would like to work withthe younger generation to createawareness, as today’s little girlsand boys, will be tomorrow’syoung women and men.

Jeroo says, “After realizing theeffect my paintings on ‘violencetowards women and children’ hadon the viewers, and when threewomen privately approached me tothank me for having made theseatrocities public and not havingkept them behind closed doors, as itgave them the courage to be morepositive about their own lives andlong needed changes. This made merealize I was doing something verypositive and I have been determinedto have a ‘travelling exhibition’ invarious Indian cities. Earlier thisyear when I travelled to Mumbai,Ahemdabad, Delhi, Kolkata,Chennai, Bangalore and Pune, mywork was well received by thegallery owners. Now I am trying toarrange funding for this project.

“One could say that many of theseatrocities don’t pertain to the Parsis.True, and though I am born as aParsi, I consider myself firstly as anIndian and secondly as a Parsi.

“Any interested readers can see mypaintings in colour on my websitewww.jerooroy.com and get in touch with me ifthey wish to get me involved in any projectsregarding ‘violence against women andchildren’ and ‘child labour’. This is veryimportant for me.”

International Day for theElimination of ViolenceAgainst Women

It originated in 1960 whenthree Mirabel sisters fromthe Dominican Republic wereviolently assassinated fortheir political activism. Thesisters, known as the“Unforgetable Butterflies”,became a symbol of the crisisof violence against women inLatin America. November25th was the date that waschosen to commemoratetheir lives and promote globalrecognition of genderviolence and has beenobserved in Latin Americasince the 1980’s.

In December 1999, the 54thsession of the United NationsAssembly adopted Resolution54/34 declaring November25th be International Day forthe Elimination of ViolenceAgainst Women.

Two million girls between theages of 5 and 15 aretrafficked, sold or coercedinto prostitution each year allover the world – informationsent by Dolly Dastoor, EditorFEZANA Journal

“Pregnant woman’s agony”

Above: “Mother & Child”. Below: “Too many Religions”

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longevity is in the genes of the Parsis butfew live to be a 100. Fewer still retain goodhealth and are active at anadvanced age. One such rareindividual is Ervad JalSavakshah Pestonji Kuka whocelebrated his 99 th birthday on9th October 2007. He was bornat Tehmulji’s Parsi Lying-inHospital, Mumbai, did hisschooling at Sir J J School fromclass IV to Matriculation andthereafter for seven yearsstudied at Dadar AthornanBoarding Madressa where heenrolled in the first batch ofstudents. Jal Kuka was ordainedas a navar-maratab at the ModiAtashbehram, Surat.

His family members thought hewould not marry but met his wifeto be, Piroja (Piloo) HormusjiMistry, in 1965 whilst holidayingin Kashmir and married her some13 years later at the age of 57.

Ervad Kuka served as a priest atthe prayer hall at Shanghai from1931 to 1946 for 15 years. From1946 to 1962 he served as astorekeeper at Taj Mahal Hotel atApollo Bunder and in 1963 hewas invited to Hong Kong toserve as a priest for 17 years,retiring in 1980.

In 1991 he was elected to theAnjuman committee with the highestnumber of votes from Dadar. His hobbiesare reading and travelling. Both husbandand wife have travelled extensively in Asia,Europe, Canada, Africa, USA and Australiaand love being outdoors.

b y m a r z b a n g i a r a

99 going on 100

Being popular with all at Hong Kong andthough retired, he and his wife were invitedfor the inauguration of their new Zoroastrianbuilding. On 9 th October 2007 the ParsiZoroastrians at Hong Kong celebrated his99th birthday by arranging a dinner function.


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Ervad Kuka is a man of few words and a good listener. Thrifty by nature, he believes in simple livingand high thinking. He is a philanthropist who regularly contributes for noble causes.

When asked about the secret of his long and useful life, he modestly replied: “simplicity, regularhabits, walking.” His wife added: “He never overeats.”

May Ahura Mazda bless Ervad Jal Kuka with good health and may his example encourage ourcommunity members to lead a simple, useful, healthy industrious life.

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Marzban Jamshedji Giara is author, publisher and distributor of books on Zoroastrian religion and Parsihistory. He has authored the first-ever illustrated Global Directory of Zoroastrian Fire Temples, The ZoroastrianPilgrim’s Guide, Parsi Statues and a dozen other books. His father ingrained in him the idea, “Son, be acreator and not a spectator in life. We must give back to society more than what we have received from it.”

Grandmother celebrates 100th birthday by becoming world’s oldest paraglider

source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk 31st October 2007

On the other side of the world, a centenarian celebrates with aplomb. “British grandmother Peggy McAlpine celebrated her 100thbirthday by becoming the world’s oldest paraglider. Peggy floated into the record books just three years after moving to ‘start a newlife’ in Cyprus. She had already bungee-jumped with members of the Royal Parachute Regiment as an 80-year-old ‘youngster.’ Butcracking open a bottle of champagne after a safe landing, Peggy was already planning her next adventure.

“Fortified by a breakfast of cornflakes, she floated gently back to earth after taking off from a 2,500ft peak in a craggy Cyprusmountain range with spectacular views over the Mediterranean. ‘It was the most wonderful, pleasant experience and I’m ready to doit again anytime,’ said Peggy, who has four grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Strapped into the front seat of a tandemparaglider with experienced pilot Ozgur Gokazan, 34, at the helm, Peggy deemed it ‘far superior’ to her bungee jump.

“Peggy, who is partially sighted, broke the record held by a 95-year-old Dane. The oldest Briton to paraglide before yesterday’s flightwas Reg Rose-Innes, 91, from Beddingham, who flew above the Devil’s Dyke in Sussex last December for 20 minutes at a height of800ft.

“Two volunteers monitored Peggy’s 15-minute flight for the Guinness Bookof Records.” q

Be fitted for the flight on the left, and flying tandem with the experienced paraglideron the right

54


20-year old Sanobar Pardiwallaflirts with death every single workingmoment and she loves it. She happens tobe Bollywood’s youngeststuntwoman. She says, she hasplayed double for almost everytop heroine in the industry andmentions in particular the bikestunt she did for Aishwarya Rai.“Normally when I do stunts foractors, they don’t bother aboutmy well-being. Ash is anexception. I was supposed toride a bike for her at very highspeed and a couple of otherrisky shots. Ash made it a pointto check on me after every shot.”

‘Speed gives her the thrills. “Ifind peace when I am free fallingfrom a height of 80 feet! I closemy eyes; I feel alive. Then I feelthankful to God and the wholeuniverse,” this is what she has tosay of a stunt she did for a luxurycar ad where she jumped 80 feetfrom a chopper flying at 80 km per hour intoa car driving at the same speed as thechopper. “Its all about timing andconcentration.” says Sanobar’

When Banerjee asked Sanobar, doesn’tdeath scare her? “In my profession, rightcommunication, right reflexes and righttiming are all that matters. I concentratehard on the shot, and not on danger anddeath. It works for me that way,” she says.

‘One death-defying plunge she remembersis the one where she had to jump off a 20-storey building. “those who were at theshoot kept saying it was risky, but I was notat all jittery. One little error of judgment

Sanobar Pardiwalla – Bollywood’s youngest stuntwoman

Indrani Rajkhowa Banerjee wrote an article in the Times of India, from which excerpts and information have beenused after acquiring permission from both parties.

could have sent me crashing face down.But thank God, everything went smoothly,”she recalls.’

Sanobar is trained in ‘gymnastics, martialarts, paragliding, bike stunts, skydiving,driving, bungee jumping and swimming.Armed with these skills, Sanobar makesimpossible stunts look like child’s play. “I’velost count of the number of films andcommercials I’ve appeared in. Somemoments, however, remain close to myheart.”’

Courtesy, Times of India

q

The tragedy of life is not that itends so soon but that we wait toolong to begin it.- W M Lewis


55

And, Dr Cyrus Mehta, Cytel’s CEO,explained that his company improvesefficiency for medical clinical trials. Withseventy-five employees, the companyexcels at the statistical design and datamonitoring of clinical trials. About thirtyemployees are in Cambridge and aboutforty-five employees are in Pune. Theefficiency gain his company provides getsexciting with the notion of adaptive trials.

In adaptive trials, incoming data affects theremaining structure of the trial itself. As wego forward on the bio-tech frontier, this kindof testing can only grow with our newmetrics, new data collection methods andnew analyses. Cyrus explained that inbusiness one must constantly re-definestrategy.

Attendees and volunteers included Farokhand Gool Patel of Pegasus Products, Inc,and others. Niloufer Daver was creditedwith the magnificent WZCC banner, andSheroo provided fine picnic food for the trip.Zareen’s son, Farokh, her daughter-in-law,Rashna, and her husband, Alberto, assistedwith industry and kindness throughout theweekend.

Boston area residents, Prof FirozeJungalwalla, the Mistry’s and the Aroaz’s,graciously hosted New York visitors. TheBoston Chapter thanks the NY Chapter,ZAGBA, individuals such as YasminBhumgara, and others for their assistance.Sunday activities included visits by theWZCC-New York Chapter to the historictown of Rockport, Massachusetts, HalibutState Park, and Woodman’s in Essex. APicture Album of the event is posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/nvania/BostonTripWZCC.

Continued from p 17

Copyright, Natalie Vania,November 2007

q

Natalie Vania is the Research Directorfor FSO Knowledge Xchange and thewife of Rusi Gandhi.

q

for the second year running, Farita, is thewinner of Best Female Solo ArtistAustralia in the International Music Aid

Awards 2007.

Over 16,000 votes were cast in 29participating countries in the competitionjudged by music industry peers. Music AidInternational was originally formed in 1998 tosupport children in need. Since 2007, it hasalso become committed in helping combat thecurrent climate crisis.

For more details visit www.musicaid.org[Hamazor Issue 2/2007 pp 60-62 carried an exclusiveinterview with Farita]

Farita - Best Female Solo Artist 2007

Raiomond Mirza - composer, writer

u K-based, Canada-raised music composer Raiomond Mirza just finishedwork on his first Bollywood film,

Manorma - Six Feet Under. At the end of Sep-tember, Raiomond was in Mumbai for the pre-mier of this film.

The music review of Manorama - Six FeetUnder at Smashhites.com says “... Newcomposer Raiomond Mirza makes his firstdent in the marquee with intimidating spine-chilling soundtrack Dhokha . ... Bothcomposers (Jayesh Gandhi and RaiomondMirza) have shown their skills with great zestand all numbers have materialized toperfection in this crime thriller. ...”

"...Fresh composer Raiomond Mirza deliversa penchant background soundtrack. ...Raiomond Mirza has Sufi surprise inmelancholically arranged and delectablyemoted soundtrack Dhundla Jo SamaBandha..." says cafepixie.com

Raiomond is also an ethnomusicologist,whose dissertation was on the musicology ofZoroastrian prayer in India and Iran.

[Hamazor carried The House of Song, a 3-partseries in Issues 3/05, 4/05 & 1/06] q

56


CHAL- Ongoing assistance given to the survivors of the Pak Earthquake

CHAL literally means to walk – and thisis being accomplished for the amputees whosuffered during the earthquake of October2005 in Northern Pakistan. CHAL is a networkof existing rehab institutes and professionalsdesirous of helping rehabilitate the physicallychallenged persons in the earthquake affectedareas. It is anchored in Murshid Hospital andHealth Care Centre, an existing registeredNGO serving the under-privileged persons.This has helped avoid duplication and waste.

One of CHAL’s initiatives in collaboration withits network partners is to ensure that thechildren have mobility enabling them tobecome active contributors instead ofremaining passive receivers and to beincluded in all activities instead of beingpushed into isolation.

Besides fitting the children who are under 10years of age, if donors wish, they see thatthese children benefit from education andmonitor their progress till the age of 16 years.30 children are already sponsored and havepledges of another 20 children to completetheir schooling including receiving prosthesisas they outgrow their present ones. Feed theChildren, UK, are supporting some of thesechildren. CHAL have employed a projectcoordinator who is herself a polio victim andin a wheel chair, who goes regularly to checkon the progress and welfare of the childrenwho are being assisted.

By chance, I came across CHAL at the end ofSeptember and after meeting Mr HaamidJaffer who is a Board Director of MurshidHospital & Health Care Centre, and beingmore than satisfied with what they areachieving; on WZOs behalf from the fundsheld by me for the betterment of theearthquake survivors, donated a sum ofRs300,000 on 4 October 2007.

This contribution will assist nine children, fourgirls and five boys, with functional artificial

Siraj Khan - 8 years

Munavor - 6 years

Report from Toxy Cowasjee


57

limbs of good quality. Order of prostheticcomponents has been placed by PIPOS(Pakistan Institute of Prosthetic & OrthoticSciences) with the German supplier, OttoBock. On arrival of these components, PIPOSwill do the limb fitting by mid January 2008.The actual limbs are made in Pakistan to keepthe price manageable and the componentsare reused once the children outgrow theirlimbs for the next set of younger individuals.

‘Our’ children who are being fitted are: Adnanwho is 5 years old, Munavor and Naveed both6, Dilnaz – 7, Rabia Gul and Siraj Khan – 8,Mohsan Iqbal – 9, Naureen – 11, and SoniaBibi – 12. Seven of these children are beingfitted with a transtibial prosthesis, one with atransfemoral prosthesis and one with a kneedisarticulation prosthesis. A few of the abovementioned children already have prosthesisbut the new limbs with components underorder will give the kids greater flexibility ofmovement with confidence, being lighter yetstronger thus resistant to ‘childplay’ andmountainous terrain wear and tear.

As you have been informed in the past I dohave funds donated by you, but till such timethe two projects in hand with the OAKDF arecomplete, no ongoing commitment can begiven to CHAL much as I would love to.

Children are the future of any nation and ifwe can assist these young amputees throughCHAL for the completion of further upgradingof their prosthesis and education, we will haveachieved. I am informed that if we carry onassisting the nine children mentioned aboveit will be approximately a further Rs67,000 perchild, which hopefully we may manage for atleast three.

If any person/group would wish to ‘adopt’ achild from inception, that is, component parts,prosthesis throughout the growing stage andeducation, the sum is Rs100,000 orUS$1,640. A regular update will be receivedfrom CHAL for ‘their’ child. You may contactme on [email protected] or by mail at 2AMary Road, Bath Island, Karachi 75530,Pakistan, if you wish, and this donation willbe kept specifically for the amputee children.

Mohsan Iqbal - 9 years Sonia Bibi - 12 years

An update of the two ongoing projects with

OAKDF

At Sirla where the WFS is being built:

Work is progressing, a bit slow as labour hasbeen a problem but at least it has come outof the ground and is presently at lintel level.

58


Khorikhetar, Union Council Nammal, District Abbottabad, where piped water is being laid:

Work on the source development which includes tanks has been completed in village Majhot. Themain pipeline of 16,000 RFT has been installed, and the storage tank has been built near thehamlet, Bari. The remaining work (about 10%) includes installation of the distribution network, whichis in progress. This work refers to the water supply to Khorikhetar which is underway and progressingvery well.The community is highly mobilised and is moving full speed ahead. They want to finish thedistribution system, which is what your donation has financed, within the next 30 days, which is earlyJanuary ‘08.

The water supply in Sirla, however, has been a problem. The handpump installed by OAKDF has rundry and they are having to relocate it. The contractor thus, does have an excuse. Work will have to besuspended until March (once the snow falls) and OAKDF have now informed the completion date willhave to be moved to June.

This is a further disappointment as far as the Women Friendly Space (WFS) project undertaken byWZO is concerned.

q

Water Source Development (collection and water filtering tanks) at Majhot for onward distribution to Khorikhetar

Author and lecturer, Leo Buscaglia, once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. Thepurpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was:A four-year-old child, whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman, who had recently losthis wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed on tohis lap, and just sat there.

When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbour, the little boy just said, “Nothing,I just helped him cry.”


59

The Joint Honorary SecretariesThe World Zoroastrian Organisation

Dear Sirs,

As I desire to become Grand Patron / Patron / Life Member / Ordinary Member / Student (delete as appropriate), I request you to submitthis application to your Committee.

I confirm that I am (Tick as appropriate):(a) person born into and confirmed into the Zoroastrian faith(b) non-Zoroastrian spouse married to a Zoroastrian(c) a child of marriage as described in (b) above

I note that the annual subscription for Ordinary Membership is payable on 1st January of each year. In case of arrears, I understand thatmy membership will be terminated after three months of sending the reminder.

Yours truly,

Block Capitals please FULL NAME

PROFESSION/OCCUPATION

IF STUDENT DATE OF BIRTH

ADDRESS IN COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE

TEL: RES

Proposed by Seconded by

Note: The Proposer and Seconder must be WZO members. For subscription fees please check overleaf.

FOR OFFICE USE ONLY

OFF

E-MAIL

Signature

Date Amount Received Date of Membership Register of Members Mailing List

20

The Wor ld Zoroast rian Or ganisation135 Tennison Road, South Norwood, London SE25 5NF

Registration No 1510380 Cardiff, England A Company Limited by Guarantee

Incorporated 1980

A P P L I C A T I O N F O R M F O R M E M B E R S H I P

MOBILE

It may be more convenient for you to apply for or renew your membership of WZO throughour website, www.w-z-o.org, and paying by a Credit or Debit card.

60

HAMAZOR - ISSUE 4 2007Membership Fees

For Indian residentsGrand Patron Rs10,000 Patron Rs5,000 Permanent Assoc Member £ 150

Ordinary Assoc Member £10 pa Life Member Rs2,500 Student Gratis

Ordinary Member Rs450 for 3 years till 21 years of age

Please send application form to: The World Zoroastrian Organisation (India) to Union Press,

13 Homji St, Fort, Mumbai 400 001. Tel: (022) 2660357 or 2665526

For UK residents & other countriesGrand Patron £ 500 Patron £ 250 Permanent Assoc Member £ 150

Ordinary Assoc Member £10 pa Life Member £ 100 Ordinary Member for 3 yrs £ 30

Student Gratis till 25 years of age

Please send application form and cheque payable in Sterling to WZO, London to:

Mrs Khurshid Kapadia, 217 Pickhurst Rise, West Wickham, Kent BR4 0AQ. Tel +44 020 8777 5778

For USA residentsPermanent Assoc Member $ 225 Ordinary Assoc Member $ 25 pa

Life Member $ 150 Ordinary Member for 3 yrs $45


Please send application form and cheque payable in US Dollars as “WZO US Region” to:

Mr Keki Bhote, 493 Woodlawn Ave., Glencoe, Illinois 60022. Tel: (847) 835 1984

For Canadian residentsPermanent Assoc Member C$ 325 Ordinary Assoc Member C$ 30 pa

Life Member C$ 200 Ordinary Member for 3 yrs C$ 60


Please send application form and cheque payable in Candian Dollars as “OZCF, WZO Fees” to:

Mr Marzi Byramji, Regal Press, 3265 Wharton Way, Unit, Mississauga, Ontario L4X 2X9. Tel: (905) 238 8005

For Pakistani residentsGrand Patron Rs10,000 Patron Rs5,000 Permanent Assoc Member £ 150

Ordinary Assoc Member £10 pa Life Member Rs2,500 Student Gratis till 25

years of age

Please send application form and cheque payable in Pak Rupees as “WZO” to:

Mrs Toxy Cowasjee, 2 A Mary Road, Bath Island, Karachi 75530. Tel: (021) 5867088

For New Zealand residentsGrand Patron NZ$1,500 Patron NZ$750 Life Member NZ$300

Ordinary for 3 yrs NZ$90 Student Gratis till 25 years of age

Please send application form with your cheque payable in NZ Dollars as “WZO, New Zealand”, to:

Mr Darius Mistry, 134A Paritai Drive, Orakei, Auckland 1005. Tel: 64 9 5291993

SP Purple Cyan Maganta Yellow Black Wáel 15-12-07

sp purple cyan maganta yellow black wáel 15-12-07 · with wreaths and greenery. ... to various...

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