London calling

The association’s application for permission to construct an atash dadgah on its car park area behind the New Zoroastrian Centre in Harrow has not been accepted by the Harrow Council, notes the association’s annual report 2002-2003. "The Council have advised ZTFE (Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe) to withdraw the application for the present, pending agreement with the Council on travel and management arrangements for the New Zoroastrian Centre. Once these have been agreed in the shape of a travel and management plan, a new application will have to be submitted for the atash dadgah. In the meantime, the ZTFE have been advised to use the Centre regularly and build up a track record of sustainable usage on the site,” states the report.

The long narrow piece of land where the association wishes to construct the dadgah was a challenge to veteran Zoroastrian architect Shahrokh Shahrokh and the innovative young Oliver Perceval of the award winning architect firm Burrell Foley Fisher. They have conceptualized an Achaemenian style building based on their research in the Zoroastrian House Library and inputs from Dastur (Dr) Firoze Kotwal and Khojeste Mistree of the Bombay based Zoroastrian Studies.

Earlier the ZTFE had been granted Change of Use and Listed Building Consent to refurbish the Centre, a grade II heritage structure that in its earlier avatars was a cinema house and a club. The ZTFE’s plans were drawn up by Burrell Foley Fisher. For four weeks the Centre, a magnificent art deco structure, was selected by the BBC for filming its six-part sit-com Eyes Down which hit the London TV screens last August. A second series may be commissioned, the report informs us. In the meantime events and functions to raise the requisite funds proceed apace.

The first public function celebrated in the Zartoshty Brothers Hall after the refurbishment was the Shahenshahi Navroz on August 21, 2003 where the chief guest was the mayor of Harrow. It witnessed its first local navjote when Roxanne Mistry was initiated into the faith on October 5, 2003.

A source of pride for the ZTFE is its ZET (Zoroastrian Educational Trust) Bookstall which the report claims is "the largest stockist of Zoroastrian books in the world.”

The celebration of Jamshedi Navroz had been introduced in India by scholar K. R. Cama in 1906, states the newsletter. The oldest photograph in the ZTFE archives is that of the Jamshedi Navroze banquet of 1906 and 97 years later it was celebrated with the usual elan in the presence of the Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald and parliamentary private secretary and MP for Harrow West Gareth Thomas, the deputy leader of Harrow Council, councilor Navin Shah and ex mayor of Harrow Council, councilor Keeki Thammaiah. On the same occasion Thomas launched the UK chapter of the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce with beer baron Karan Bilimoria as its first chairman and Jimmy Contractor of Tata Limited as vice chair. Others on the committee include restaurateur Cyrus Todiwala, Dorab Mistry of Godrej, Perses Sethna and Dynshaw Italia of Cobra Beer.

Clockwise from top left: Mistry, Bhedwar, Deboo, Buhariwala, Dalal, Sorab, Khorshidchehr, Cooper, Avari and Jila

Bilimoria, who had been adjudged the Asian of the Year 2002, became the first Entrepreneur of the Year — an award newly instituted by the London Chamber of Commerce, as per a report in the Afternoon Despatch and Courier dated November 10, 2003. A panel of judges that included Lord Marshall of British Airways and Sir Peter Davis of the supermarket chain Sainsburys chose Hyderabad born Bilimoria from among the four entrepreneurs shortlisted. Those he pipped in the race were Sally Preston who remortgaged her home to launch Babylicious Frozen Baby Foods that clocked up sales of over UK £ 5,00,000 in its first full year; Chris Carey of Chris Carey Collections, a Deptford-based recycling business and Ian Rickwood, head of the sandwiches retailer Benjys, notes the ADC.

According to the ZTFE report London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS — the only institution with the Mehraban Zartoshty chair for Zoroastrian Studies) estimates that an overseas doctoral student in London needs an annual budget of £ 20,000 to cover fees, rent, purchase of books, travel, food and other basic requirements. Since 2001 ZTFE has been the custodian of the Zartoshty family’s donation of £400,000 interest on which is meant to be utilized for medical relief and educational awards for Zoroastrian students from Iran or India pursuing studies in aspects of the Zoroastrian faith, history etc. Accordingly the ZTFE chose, Mandana Khoda-yar Moavenat, a masters student in Zoroastrian and Avestan studies in Tehran with Prof Ketayoun Mazdapour, to undertake PhD studies at SOAS under Dr Almut Hintze and Dr Sarah Stewart. The selection has been endorsed by philanthropist Mehraban Zartoshty. ZTFE is committed to a minimum annual provision of £ 9,000 for Moavenat’s four-year course, notes the report.

The Eighth World Zoroastrian Congress has been scheduled over the July 4 weekend of 2005, states the report. Mistry will chair the event assisted by vice chairs Rusi Dalal and Malcolm Deboo. The Congress will probably be held in London as a large enough facility may not be available elsewhere, Dalal informed Parsiana.

The ZTFE’s annual general meeting on November 23, 2003 reelected Ervad Rustom Bhedwar and Kobad Avari to the managing committee, as per the ZTFE website. Dorab Mistry continues to lead the team as president, Bhedwar as vice president Paurushasp Jilla as treasurer and Malcolm Deboo as secretary and Young Zoroastrians coordinator. Other members of the managing committee include Erach Amaria in charge of fund raising, Kobad Avari and Roshan Khor­shi­d­chehr as joint social secretaries, Ratan Buhari­wala as house secretary, Keki Cooper as coordinator of the new premises project, European coordinator Rusi Dalal, Faroukh Sorab in charge of external relations and Behram Kapadia overseeing investments and bequests.

Site for proposed atash dadgah in London

A two-volume compact disc (CD) of The Gathas of Prophet Zarathushtra as recited by Bhedwar was launched as part of the UNESCO celebrations of the 3000th anniversary of Zoroastrian Culture. The recording was done in Zoroastrian House by senior classical music engineers from Warner Brothers, digitized in their studios in Europe and manufactured at a plant in the US that produces CDs for Sony.

Bhedwar has been serving the Zoroastrian community in UK and Europe as a priest since 1966. Active in interfaith matters, he has represented Zoroastrianism at interfaith meets in Assisi at the invitation of Pope John Paul II.

The Gatha CDs will be accompanied by a transliteration and translation. The package is priced at £ 47 plus UK postal insurance of nine pounds. Of the proceeds seven pounds will be donated to the ZTFE Atash Dadgah Fund and seven pounds to the ZTFE New Centre Fund. Contact Deboo at ZTFE (e-mail: library@ztfe. com) to order.

The 12 "Best Bosses in the UK” were identified in a competition which attracted entries from the private, public and voluntary sectors, notes the ZTFE newsletter (October 2003). One of these was Farida Gai, vice president of J. P. Morgan Chase Bank who was nominated by her own staff. They highlighted her mindfulness and support of the staff in personal crises, an attribute much appreciated by working parents. Gai’s encouragement of flexible work arrangements and an accommodating environment has sparked creativity, encouraged leadership and exceptional performance, heightening the productivity of the team, notes the newsletter. At a televised interview on BBC Gai said, "It’s a two-way process between the employee and the manager... it’s a question of sitting down with them, trying to work out an arrangement — what works with regard to the job. How it works is that you set out the expectations and objectives that we need to have.”

Shernaz Engineer, vice chairman of Charlotte Sharman Primary School in West Square, London, received the London Day Business Award for making a difference to life in the British capital, notes the newsletter. "It feels great to win, but I think there are lots of other women like me,” she noted in her acceptance speech. The function held at City Hall on July 3, 2003 marks the anniversary of the mayor and the London Assembly formally taking office.

Engineer, who provides mentoring for black businesswomen as part of an Equal Partnership program, is also a member of the Bank of England advisory board. Among other prestigious awards that she has received in the past is The Black Business Woman of the Year, notes the newsletter.

The Bulletin of Asia Institute based in Michigan, USA is to commemorate Dastur (Dr) Firoze Kotwal’s 25 years in the academic field with the publication of a volume titled Iranian Studies in Honour of Dr Firoze M. Kotwal. The dean of Zoroastrian scholarship Prof Mary Boyce has consented to write the introductory biographical chapter of the book. The publication will comprise contributions from leading academics in the field of Zoroastrian and religious studies, states the news­letter.