Agiary as an anchor

Agiary Lane where stands the Cawasji Patell Agiary is a well recognized landmark among Thana residents. To familiarize newcomers too with this area, a plaque reading "Agiary Lane” was installed at the two ends of the road on the fire temple’s 225th anniversary on February 24, 2005. A two-day event was organized on February 23 and 24, 2005 to celebrate the completion of the 225th year just as a two-day event in February 2004 had heralded the start of the year (see "Religious revelry,” Events and Per­so­na­lities, Parsiana, April 2004).

The anniversary day function on February 24, 2005, mah Meher, roz Adar, started with a maachi and hambandagi in the evening which was attended by more than a hundred devotees in spite of it being a week day, notes a press release giving a detailed account of the two-day function. After the mobeds led the congregation in a hambandagi, chairman of The Thana Agiary Fund Homi S. Talati gave a brief history of the Agiary which started as a dadgah in 1780, and was upgraded to an adarian 60 years later. The new building of the Agiary was built in 1828 by Rustamji Patell, son of Cawasji Patell (see "Which way to Parsi identity?” Books, page 28). The Agiary is not an imposing structure but the sentiments it evokes has an­chored a community for over two centuries, it was mentioned in the Mid Day of February 25. The chairman then felicitated the priests who had served the Agiary for the last 25 years by offer­ing them shawls, flowers and a specially engraved silver coin to mark the occasion. The staff of The Thana Agiary Fund were also honored.

To make an enemy into a friend, a wicked person into a righteous one and an ignorant person into a wise one is the threefold duty of mankind, enumerated guest speaker Dr Homi Dhalla in his talk on "The different dimensions of Zoroast­rianism.” Referring to the Zoroastrian influence on different religions, Dhalla also spoke of the equation between science and Zoroastrianism which is considered the world’s most ecologically conscious religion. He summarized Zoroastrianism as a religion of action with progress as the watchword of its faith.

In his forthright speech, guest of honor Minoo Shroff, chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), urged the community to follow the tenets of our religion — service, charity for all, malice for none. He was concerned about the rising fundamentalism and intolerance of opposing viewpoints. The vitality of any community depends on the healthy coexistence of differing views, said Shroff appreciating the past traditions of honesty and openness. Co-trustee Dinshaw Tamboly who was another guest of honor at the function similarly reminded the audience that we have had a brilliant past, are enjoying a good present and can look forward to an outstanding future. Change is the only thing that remains constant in life, he pointed out, stressing that whilst it is good to be optimists we also need to be realists. Vice presi­dent of the Delhi Parsi Anjuman Dadi Mistry read a message from eminent jurist Fali Nariman which impressed on the gathering the common faith that binds together the survivors of the first monotheistic religion.

Chief guest Kyos-hi Vispy Kapadia recommended that members of the community should stand by each other like the Bohris and the Jains instead of acting like crabs and pulling down people. Likewise we should be appreciative of the BPP’s endeavors in­stead of constantly criticizing them, he stressed. Convinced that the community is not dwindling, he urged greater participation in the next Zoroastrian Children’s Day at the end of the year.

Enthusiastic participants at the fancy dress competition

Kapadia then distributed prizes to the winners of the fancy dress competition held the previous day and the winners of the drawing competition held earlier. Twenty-five children bet­ween the ages of three months and 12 years assumed another identity in the fancy dress competition on February 23 each of whom was rewarded with a participation prize. Among the infants aged below one there could be seen a tortoise, Krishna, Santa Claus and a Nepali boy. In the two to five-year category, a signal won the first prize while the rabbit won the second prize. In the six to 10 group, the bhangra dancer walked away with the first prize while the mermaid won the second prize. Among those aged over 10 there was a prince as also a bawaji. An impromptu dance competition among the participants of the fancy dress competition earned some more gifts for the children and brought entertainment to the crowd. The evening’s function had begun with a solo dance recital by Sammanaz Irani. The evening’s revelry included cricket stories and jokes by cricket umpire Piloo Reporter, rendition of songs and shairis by Hoshedar Zaroliwala and Yazdi Gandevia, and a fun game of film antakshari orchestrated by the youth. Gandevia with Noshir Kotwal had also compered on the second day of the celebrations.

The morning of February 23 was reserved for the fun fair when nearly one dozen stalls manned by enterprising Zoroastrians had on sale reasonably priced household items which were eagerly bought by both Parsi and non-Parsi patrons. The activities of the first day were coordinated by Katy Gandevia, Zaver Sidhwa and Jimmy Kasad.

The celebrations were jointly organized by the three Thana trusts — The Thana Agiary Fund, The Thana Parsi Zoroastrian Anjuman and The Thana Zoroastrian Charity Fund. Anjuman president Rustom Cursetji lauded the cooperation and participation of the members and the guests in making this milestone memorable. The singing of Chhaiyé Hamé Zarathushti and the dinner served by Nariman Dalal reinforced the community fervor and pride in be­longing to this select band of worshipers.