Social distancing may have put a stop to community meet ups but that hasn’t meant a break to Scouting for the 16th East Bombay Zoroastrian Bharat Scout Group, where scouts and cubs have gone online to adapt to the Coronavirus lockdown. The 16th East Bombay Zoroastrian Bharat Scout Group (a hundred-year legacy and counting) has been engaging the cubs and scouts daily through WhatsApp groups and on Sundays through meetings conducted on Zoom… conducting daily challenges and activities on the WhatsApp group like Snack Art, Improvise your Chapatis, Safe Hands, Make a Mask, Musical Band with Household Things, etc; and multiple Puzzles/Quizzes to First Aid, Knot Tying and more, during Sunday online Scout meetings. 

The Scout Group successfully conducted a Virtual Entertainment Programme for parents and family members (of Scouts and Cubs) on 1st May, 2020, which included fun activities like Queen of Sheba, Bollywood Buff (guess and sing the song), Antakshari Party, Dumb Charades, etc. Replacing the annual summer camp, originally scheduled from 1 – 5 May, the Zoroastrian Scout Group conducted a one-day virtual camp for the scouts and the cubs on 3rd May, which included prayers, exercises, breakfast preparation and  eating together, First Aid and Disaster Management session; Recreation Activities; Scouting Games and an Online Campfire with family and patrol performances.

“Our Scout group, the 16th East Bombay Zoroastrian Bharat Scout Group (ZBS), was founded on 1st August, 1920 to train our Parsi youth in various physical, mental and other skills to become good citizens and contribute positively to society. We complete 100 years on 1st August, 2020! This has been a unique situation and our Scouts/Cubs/Scouters have risen to the occasion by having Virtual activities over laptop, phone & videos through zoom & other mediums. Besides upgrading skills through web-sessions, demos etc., they have been lending a huge hand in household chores making us & their parents proud,” said Scout Master Freddy Khapoliwala.

The 16th East Bombay Scout Group, under the arch of Young Zoroastrian Society (YZS), welcomes young boys between 5 to 17 years of age, who wish to join the group and grow into responsible, independent adults with a group of good Zoroastrian friends for life.

Meetings are held from 8:00 am to 10:30 am at Gamadia School. The group has also started a Girl Guides Group 25 years ago – the 71st Guide Company (ZBG), which does a good job training girls of age 6 years upwards, in similar skills. The 16th and 71st Scout and Guide Groups look forward to children of Parsi families enrolling and benefitting immensely through these activities.