A Parsi is an epicure. He enjoys all the fruits of life, and always has an excuse to celebrate, be it a birthday or an anniversary, a success at exams, promotion at work, or a festival… it matters not whether it is a Parsi festival, or Hindu, Muslim or Christian festival. Had Hanukkah been celebrated […]
Three cheers, rah-rah-rah, Hip hip hurray and all that sort of thing. It is 19th November and this is one time of the year since 1993 that we are celebrating the International Men’s day. Normally this day is not celebrated with the same zest and a zing that the Women’s Day is celebrated . My […]
This is the season of Vohu avi re avi, vohu bhale re avi, or if you please, it’s ‘Here Comes the Bride’ time! The caterer has been appointed and menu settled. New jewelry purchased and the old gold, as also the old pagrees polished, and old phetas brushed. Finally it has been decided who will […]
This is the season of Vohu avi re avi, vohu bhale re avi, or if you please, it’s ‘Here Comes the Bride’ time! The caterer has been appointed and menu settled. New jewelry purchased and the old gold, as also the old pagrees polished, and old phetas brushed. Finally it has been decided who will […]
Parsis have a penchant for music, as a result of which such a small community has given so many fine musicians. Be it Western or Indian, rock, pop or classical, vocal or instrumental, the twinkle-toes Bawas cover the whole gamut right down to the bathroom singers. I remember myself going the whole range of arias […]
Spitman Zarathushtra came into this world smiling. He grew up to be a poet and a prophet, and he wrote the poetic epic – the Gathas. His message to the world was ‘Pure Morality’. The Gathas have survived the tyranny of time and history, and even today, they show us the path to good living […]
Khosrow I, (Chosroes I or Kaswra), better known as Anushirvan, “the Immortal Soul” or Anushirvan-e-dadgar, Anushirvan the Just, or Naushirvan the just, the twenty-second Shahenshah of the Sasanian empire was born in AD 501 (Some historians say he was born in AD 498). He was known as one of the greatest emperors of Persia for […]
Eggs are God’s gift to Parsis. This beautiful gold in white glob enwrapped in a cocoon of calcium carbonate, gives us good nourishment, and pleasure at the same time by titillating our gastronomic senses. It is one of the most versatile culinary wonders which helps churn out some of the quickest and most pleasurable dishes. […]
‘Ahunavaiti’: This is probably the oldest poetic literature in the world today, with the words of the poet himself intact. From Ahunavaiti Gatha we learn that Asho Zarathushtra was chosen as the Lord and Leader to bring relief to the tumultuous world which had fallen prey to chaos. It was a time of strife, violence […]
Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, the first Knight of Bombay, the first Indian Baronet, the pride of Parsis, and the first to delve deep into his pockets to bring succor to those in distress, was born 233 years ago on 15th July 1783 in Bombay, to Jejeebhoy and Jeevibai at Yatha Ahuvario Mohlla, somewhere near where Crawford […]
There is one concept we are enjoined to follow, which one finds difficult to believe, that our Prophet Asho Zarathushtra, the first and one of the greatest rational thinkers of all times could or should have propagated… that is the belief in ‘Khvaetvadatha’ or the practice of the next-of-kin marriage. In Yasna 12.9, from where […]