HPY’s sweet seventeen

"Who says Parsis are a dying race — look over here!” remarked guest of honor and eminent orthopedic surgeon Dr Kekoo Kavarana, sweeping his gaze from his vantage point on stage over a hall full of Zoroastrians in the springtide of life. "It may be quite a while before we become Jurassic Baug!” he quipped.

Confessing at the inaugural function on April 26, 2003 that he was "totally unaware that such a program existed,” Kavarana said "his eyes popped” when he saw the Holiday Programme for Youth (HPY) booklet” with its mosaic of activities — from the academic to the athletic, educative to entertaining, pleasurable to philanthropic. Under the auspices of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), the mettle detector HPY assembles Parsi lads and lasses fresh out from school from all over India. Conducted in the month of April — in Bombay’s dog days of summer — the challenge for chief co-ordinator Diana Marfatia and her dedicated band of young organizers is not only to stimulate brain and brawn, turn the dawdler into front-runner, but also to prevent the 27-day program from descending into the lap of Morpheus (the god of dreams) and to reignite the spark in teenagers suffering from post-standard X languor and enervation!

"There is no program in the community which is parallel to ours in volume, magnitude, scope and quality,” Marfatia told the parents, students and invitees in the high-raftered BJPC (Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Parsee Charitable) Institution hall. Marfatia is also the principal of the BJPC school. "This year HPY’s 220 participants (121 boys and 99 girls) have come from 91 schools (71 schools of Bombay and 20 from other parts of India). In a dwindling community our numbers are swelling!” she smiled.

The 26 outstation participants this year traveled from places as distant as Jammu, Ajmer, Mhow, Nagpur, Baroda, Surat , Ahmedabad, Ankleshwar, Navsari and Poona with the BPP providing accommodation at the F. S. Parukh Dharamshalla for those who needed it. Like its predecessors, HPY’s 17th edition this year charged but a token registration fee and included workshops and talks on a gamut of careers — from media to medicine to new millennium callings like jobs in a call center, or the introduced-this-year skill-based hobbies like fabric painting, candle and chocolate making. Sundays were put to good use with a blood donation drive through St George Hospital’s Blood Bank and the navjote of a Parsi child. Visits to the Braille Press, the cleaning of agiaries and the staging of the play Black Comedy by previous years’ HPYites (the proceeds being donated to charity) contributed towards the goal of transforming callow youth to mature individuals. Tough and fiercely competed events like talent and personality contests, debates and JAM (Just-a-Minute) encourage quick-wittedness and thinking on one’s feet. Keeping the ball rolling with their days in the sun are the football, cricket, basketball matches, swim­ming competitions, etc.

"HPY is your life insurance,” last year’s HPYite Kaiyan Mistree told his fellow students. "You are trained and counter trained to handle any encounter! Omniscient Diana is the super glue, the cementing factor holding us together. But... if she offers to give you a lift in her zippy, turbo-charged Santro, kusti-busti kareené bèsjo (say your prayers before you get in)!” From the expansion of the mind, the exposure to new ideas, the exaltation of achievement to the joy of watching the "fatakari (good looking) Parsi girls” walking the ramp, HPY provides an "enduring, learning experience and sheer fun with Zoroastrian youth from all over India,” eulogized Mistree.

Chairing the inaugural function, BPP trustee Dadi Engineer’s piquant humor surfaced on many an occasion. Introducing the guest of honor (Kavarana), Engineer quipped: "The seller of bananas and the orthopedic surgeon are the best of friends!” Eminent author and lawyer Armin Wandrewala’s presence as chief guest brought forth the following story from Engineer: "‘If you make a mistake, your client hangs seven feet above the ground,’ says the doctor to the lawyer. Retorts the latter: ‘And if you make a mistake, the man goes seven feet below and no one even knows about it!’”

"I knew I was running a major risk being introduced by Dadi Engineer,” smiled Wandrewala. Recalling that she was among the first batch of students over 20 years ago at what was known at that time as the leadership training program (which blossomed later into the full-fledged HPY), Wandrewala traced her progressive association with HPY — from young achiever, to eminent Parsi to chief guest!

Stating that taking risks is very much a part of life, Wandrewala briefly mentioned the love of adventure which saw her trekking the Indo-Tibetan border completely alone — without planning or bookings, encountering high ridges, valleys and streams and she did not even know how to swim! Wandrewala encapsulated her experiences in the Himalayas in a book Alone in the Valley of the Gods. Her crime fiction The Turning has been translated into German and Engineer announced that her third book will be published soon. "But happiness does not necessarily come with money, success or fame,” Wandrewala told the assembled youngsters. "If there are two roads which seem equally attractive, you have to take the right one — what you are comfortable with and what God will be happy with... When your career goes for a toss, when you lose your partner or your company closes down, you have to overcome obstacles and grow as a person. The slapped cheek can also smile,” she said.

Whether you are in a humble position or at the top, strive for excellence, advocated Engineer, quoting Oliver Goldsmith: "If I am a cobbler the best cobbler, I will be, if I am a tinker, no tinker can mend a kettle like me.”

"The BPP has been blamed, chastised, criticized for many things. But for HPY there is no flak — just universal appreciation,” stated BPP chairman Minoo Shroff, conducting the proceedings at the valedictory function on May 22. Getting on with people is a vital ingredient in life, he told the youngsters. "So either convince or be convinced — else you’ll be just a disruptionist,” he remarked. Commending the value of time Shroff stated: "We ourselves hate to wait but we don’t bat an eyelid if we keep other people waiting.” The Japanese as a nation exhibit this exemplary quality. "They are very irritated if you are even a second late,” said the chairman, who was honored by the Japanese in December 2000 with The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon for promoting Indo-Japanese trade and friendship.

The prize distribution witnessed an effervescence of energy, with many a small town lad or lass giving the city guys and gals a run for their prizes! "As I was distributing the awards, it was pleasant to notice the dominance of girl prize winners!” remarked guest of honor Dr Nawaz Mody, Sir Pherozeshah Mehta Professor of Civics and Politics, University of Mumbai.

"The community is not dying,” she observed. "It is active, but where are the Parsis in the revenue and administrative services, police and defense services (save in small numbers), or in decision-making bodies of the government?” Hitherto Parsis were in the forefront of education; today established Parsi schools have but few Parsi students. "Other communities are providing for their own kind, but our community is lagging behind,” she noted, exhorting the BPP as well as Parsi philanthropists to "invest a little bit more in setting up colleges or sponsoring brighter students in specialized courses.” The BPP can help the BJPC Institution, for example, to introduce first the bachelor’s then the master’s degree in management studies. For youngsters, more and more avenues are opening, particularly in new fields, she asserted.

"Standing here, I feel I am back in my office,” smiled chief guest Hoshang Sinor, (then) joint managing director, ICICI Bank. "ICICI Bank is a very young organization. Youngsters surround me all the time and my last six years with this Bank have changed me completely! Today 34-38-year-olds hold senior executive positions. I have learnt a lot from them!”

Khorshed Daboo (left) receives felicitations from Bhujwalla as organizers look on

"For a job in the old days, you applied on a postcard,” narrated the banker who started his career with that bastion of Parsis — the Central Bank of India! When the call for an interview came, the fatherly interviewer ushered him in: "Aav, dikra, bess (come in and sit down, son).” A few questions later came the appointment: "Dikra, will you start from tomorrow?” Today, cutthroat competition compels students to face the rigors of written tests, a series of interviews, group discussions, etc. The environment has so changed that presently parents and grandparents rely on their five-year-old to set right the TV, video or mobile that is foxing their technological abilities! "Expose your children to the advances in the world. If you have to choose between a new fridge, washing machine or computer for your child, the computer should be your first choice,” counseled Sinor. "Encourage your children to travel. Even if you cannot afford to go far, go to Karad, go to Kerala, meet people and understand different cultures.”

Honoring the HPY this year with her presence as invitee was Basanti Roy, the education inspectress of Bombay’s south zone with almost 500 schools in her jurisdiction, who was described by Marfatia as "a perfect role model for all of us principals.” Also present was the principal of the Anjuman-Islam Girls High School and Junior College Najma Kazi who had just a week earlier been honored with a national award for best teacher and administrator.

Commending HPY’s talented team of 12 co-organizers and groups-in-charge, master of ceremonies at the valedictory function Dilber De Vitre touched upon the "understanding, dedication and patience” required to control 220 noisy 15-year-olds for four weeks and implement the day-to-day activities of the Programme. "They (the organizers) are at my house every single Tuesday evening for the last six months,” announced Marfatia. Receiving lusty applause was sports-in-charge and senior­most HPY alumnus Khorram Siodia who has been on the organizing team for eight years, Fabian Panthaki, the literary events-in-charge, Shirzad Khory, performing arts-in-charge, organizer Priya Bhujwalla who compered the inaugural function though she is Poona-based, as well as group heads Kaynaz Dadinath, Raika Gazder (back with HPY despite being in the Intensive Care Unit during the pendency of the Programme), Pearl Mistry, Khursheed Mistry, De Vitre, Scherezade Palkhiwalla, visually impaired Shireen Mowdawalla and the youngest at 17 years Hoshaang Gotla. For the production of Black Comedy, the cast would rehearse from 9 p.m. to midnight, stated Marfatia, eulogizing the commitment of on-stage and off-stage HPYites.

Marfatia completes an amazing 17 years with HPY, the first two as facilitator and 15 years as chief coordinator and bedrock of the Programme. With BPP chief executive Behram Dastur and senior executive Sheroo Master on the organizing team, BPP office assistants Bakhtawar Dastur and Persi Mistry shoulder much of the administrative burden.

Wearing the crown this year as Mr HPY and Ms HPY were Arshish Dastur and Zenia Vajifdar, with Taronish Bharucha and Anahita Mehta the respective runners up. Picking up the trophy for best participant in each group were Mehta, Vajifdar, Azmin Mistry and Delaviz Gazder. At the popular and packed-to-capacity fashion show competition, Zahan Batliwala and Zenia Tafti were adjudged the best male and female models, with Arzaan Polishwala and Ayesha Billimoria the best male and female catwalker. Displaying prowess on the playfield was Danesh Irani who lifted the Best Sportsperson trophy.

"I came (for HPY) from Lourdes Convent, Surat, and staying away from family and friends for a long span of four weeks seemed to be very tedious initially,” participant Shahenaz Kapadia told Parsiana. "However the support and encouragement of the HPY team indeed helped me greatly to unravel my talents. I am returning with lots of information, a few certificates and memories of friends.” Added Dilshad Contractor of St Mary’s Convent, Ajmer, with its tiny pocket of Parsis: "It was absolutely fantastic meeting so many youths of my own age and forging friendships.”

"In a sense, this is not the end but only the end of the beginning, because these participants have now become members of the BPP Youth Club and we will continue to mail them our newsletter and will be planning and organizing activities for them right through the year. We will continue to monitor their progress and guide and assist them as and when they need our assistance,” stated Marfatia. "Make perseverance your bosom friend and hope your guardian angel,” Abban Patel, principal of Sir C. J. High School told the students. "Absorb this enriching and enlightening program known as HPY for you will not pass this way again, except as organizers!”