A couple of years ago, a group of Parsis, under the guidance of Prof. Faredoon Kapadia, established ‘Zoroastrians’ – a Whatsapp group comprising just 8 people then, committed to serving the community with the objective of providing new learning and developing an understanding of our religion. The group has since grown to 114 members.
Last year, Faredoon suggested the idea of helping Zoroastrian parents who face financial constraints in getting their children’s navjotes performed. “My idea (hatched at a Jasan last year) received overwhelming support and spontaneously we collected Rs.12,000/- towards the cause,” said Faredoon. To fortify this effort, a ‘Navjote Committee’ was formed – comprising Managing Trustee of Rustom Framna Agiary – Nasha Jussawalla; Trustee of Ahura Support – Hutoxi Doodhwala; Entrepreneur – Yashna Dadachandji; Legal expert – Dilshad Tavadia; Community activists and theatre personality – Rumy Zarir; and Prof. Faredoon Kapadia – which would scout for deserving Zoroastrian children, having both Zoroastrian parents, and help them overcome the financial challenge of getting their Navjotes performed.
With the support of Yasmin Charna, Superintendent of the boarding section of the Bai Avabai Petit Girls High School, the daughter of Zinobia and Zubin Patel, Friyona Patel – a student of Bai Avabai Petit High School – has been privileged to be initiated into the Zoroastrian faith, tomorrow, 27th May, 2018, at the Rustom Framna Agiary.
With the blessings of Ahura Mazda and the support of the community, the committee is in talks to conduct navjote ceremonies of children from financially weaker families bi-annually.