"Vision with action"

It was a huge exercise in expense and endeavor. It brought 2,500 Zoroastrian children – cherubic, charming, pimply, lanky and lissome – aged seven to 17 from different parts of India under one roof. As the Third Zoroastrian Children’s Day (ZoChild D ay) unfolded on Christmas day, December 25, 2005, the cavernous, two-tiered Shanmukha­nanda Hall in central Bombay was filled with claps, whistles and screams as the energetic youngsters performed and sat through a full day of entertainment and enlightenment.

"Who says there are no children in the community? Just look all around and up at the galleries packed with children,” said karate ‘king’ Kyoshi Vispy Kapadia, a seventh degree black belt, who is the chairman and driving force behind the Zoroastrian Children’s Foundation (ZCF) which pioneered the ZoChild program three years ago. "Always have a positive attitude as individuals and as a community,” Kapadia exhorted. "If as a community you think you are beaten, you will be. If you think you can’t, you won’t. The community that survives is one that thinks it can.” Flanking Kapadia on stage were the other ZCF trustees — his wife Shiraz, herself a karate black belt, social worker Perviz Dotivala, principal of Activity High School Perin Bagli and former principal of Bengalee Girls’ High School Zenobia Daroga. "Our mission is to create a well-informed and enlightened cadre of Zoroastrian children and to build character and qualities of leadership among them,” states Dotivala in the special souvenir brought out for the occasion.

Vispy Kapadia — inspiring and dynamic

With outstation children and accompanying adults numbering around 600, the ZCF had paid for their tickets for train travel from cities like Hyderabad/Secunderabad, Nagpur, Poona, Surat, Navsari, as well as from smaller places like Palghar, Dahanu, Achad, Vesu and Chikhli in Gujarat. "The first arrivals had started coming in from early morning the previous day (December 24),” Kapadia told Parsiana. They had to be housed (girls at the Cama Convalescent Home in Bandra, boys at the Cama Athornan Mad­ressa in Andheri), fed, looked after and entertained over two full days! "Our planning and coordination committee had been meeting regularly once a week over the last several months. It feels good to see so many people from different walks of life volunteer their time, money and energy.” Kapadia commends the ZCF trustees and the ZOSTA (Zoroastrian Student-Teacher Association) committee of principals, ex principals and teachers for having done a great job. "After seeing the first two editions of ZoChild Day, people are convinced about the sincerity and seriousness of our efforts,” he elaborates. "There were so many (individuals, trusts and organizations) who gave over a lakh of rupees each. (ZCF is a registered public charitable trust.) Sir Dinshaw Petit allowed us the use of the beautiful Avabai Petit School on the first day and treated the outstation children to a sumptuous lunch catered by Tanaz Godiwala, while the School’s Yasmin Charna ensured that the kids had a rollicking time. Dr Rati Godrej’s thoughtfulness and generosity saw her sponsor a fine lunch at the Shanmukhananda Hall for the entire assemblage of around 3,000 people – children, volunteers, invitees, etc.”

With 60 buses required to transport the outstation children as well as the local lads and lasses from the over 20 designated pick-up points stretching from Thana, Vikhroli and Jogeshwari to Flora Fountain and Colaba, the problem was compounded by lack of adequate parking space for big buses in the squatter-infested streets and pavement slums in the vicinity of the Shanmukhananda Hall. "I ran through the entire list of Parsi bus contractors to find buses and still fell short!” Kapadia laughs, appreciating the fact that the Parsi contractors did not charge for the transport. "What stands me in good stead is my experience in handling large crowds of children. Our normal karate camps have 700-800 kids. But I am always cautious about safety and security. I will go two steps back, then move five steps ahead as I never underestimate a situation.”

The program on Christmas day sought to be inspirational and aspirational. Eight youngsters were individually felicitated for their achievements in fields other than academics — Taronish Borzu (chess), Urveez Kakalia (ballet), Tina Patel (dance), Hormuz Baliwalla (swimming), Natalia Dalal (karate), Farishtey Faroodi (handball), Burzin Bhathena (weight­lifting) and Viraf Patel (the reigning Grasim Mr India 2005). Recognizing lifetime achievements, the ZCF felicitated Behram Dastur (Bombay Parsi Punchayet chief executive officer who created a Guinness World Record for having written the most number of letters to the editor), Dr Katayun Dinshaw (director of The Tata Memorial Centre and an internationally recognized expert in radiation oncology) and Bejon Desai (former, long-time principal of Boys’ Town, Nasik, who has authored books as well).

Dastur Khurshed Kaikobad Dastoor, high priest of Udvada, sought to fortify the faith of GenNext by emphasizing "the ABCD of Zoroastrianism in a short and sweet way.” ‘A’ stands for Ahura Mazda, he said, and "nothing starts without Him, nothing can be done without Him.” Dastoor touched briefly upon the qualities of the good mind, charity, respect for fire, water, the Iranshah as well as our Persian heritage. "Chhaiyé hamé Zarathushti, raishu hamé Zarathushti (we are Zarathushtis and will remain so),” he ended. Learning a lesson from the previous year’s event, the organizers had drastically cut down on the number of speeches, with Noshir Dadrawala, community activist and commentator, being the only other speaker. "Too much negativism and despondency has threatened our community,” Dadrawala stated. "This gathering of children restores my faith. Seeing the energy and vibrancy, I don’t believe the community can be wiped out.”

Capturing audience attention was Amar Jyoti Zarathustra which narrated the story of the Prophet’s life through the medium of dramatic music, sonorous background voices and bright lights interspersed with darkness, as the characters dressed as statues froze in tableaux. Presented by the Mancherji Edalji Joshi Memorial Trust, it was directed by Dadar’s Mithoo Jesia. "The play was first performed 25 years ago and has now been revived after months of preparation,” announced master of ceremonies Hoshedar Khambatta who resides in Dubai and who had compered previous editions of the ZoChild program as well. Acknowledging the applause, Jesia stated: "I am totally overwhelmed. Months of serious work has gone into this, rehearsing the cast of 45 till 11 at night. I have really, really worked them.”

Mithoo Jesia (at mike) with Ervad Ramiyar Karanjia (center), Jimi Jesia and cast

Putting together tales from several cities were the other items on the program. "I really enjoyed the play on Dasturji Kookadaru’s life (performed by students from Hyderabad/Secunderabad). The story was new to me,” says 14-year-old Farzeen Kapadia of Delhi. "Very few in Delhi knew about ZoChild Day. Many would have liked to come, had they known. As for me, it’s the first time I’ve seen so many Parsi children together. We hardly have any in our school!” Adds 13-year-old Vaspan Tangri: "I would definitely like to see more plays/skits on a religious theme as this is a ZoChild program.”

The graceful garba by the girls from Navsari, the mellifluous rendition of Yatha Ahu Vairyo by Soonu Doctor’s young choir from Poona were in complete contrast to the dhoom (noise and gaiety) of Bollywood and the high energy dancers of Rustom Baug and Godrej Baug and the groovy moves of nine-year-old Alysha Khodaiji who danced two individual numbers. "There is a star amongst all of you. I want it to shine. But whatever you do, don’t let success go to your head if you win and don’t let it go to your heart (if you lose),” Viraf Patel advised the guys and girls. "Whatever you want to achieve (in other fields) don’t do it at the cost of your education.”

Joining the program this year were students of Std XI. Kapadia also felicitated on stage a small number of children from abroad – Singapore, New Zealand, Canada, Bahrain… He expressed his appreciation for donations received from the Zoroastrian Association of California and from the Zarathushtis in New York, New Jersey and the United Arab Emirates. "Tenaaz, who is eight, and I enjoyed the show — not too many speeches, part informative, part historical and modern,” opines Firoza Irani of Ontario, Canada. "The stories on Zarathushtra and Kookadaru amazed and impressed Tenaaz.”

"ZoChild has combined vision with action,” said Zarine Basla, administrator of the Ecole Mondiale World School in her vote of thanks terming it as the largest congregation of Zoroastrian children in the world.

Among the expensive take-home gifts every child received neatly packed in a ZoChild bag was a statuette of Zarathushtra and a hardbound, 272-page Pak Khordeh Avesta, a book of daily prayers in four scripts – Avesta, Roman, Nagari and Gujarati by Bejon Desai. Specially reprinted for ZoChild 2005, the book was sponsored by Vispy and his US-based brother Hosi, in memory of their parents Baimai and Bahadur Kapadia and Vispy’s young daughter Fareena who passed away a few years ago.

"For me the ZCF has become a cause. I will do my best, though my staff is shouting that I am putting my career on the backburner! I promise you next year’s program will be more crisp. There will be more of interaction, individual talents, career building… We might build up zonal areas. Already, people are trying to copy the concept!” says the martial arts man. "But competition doesn’t bother me. What motivates me is the bonding with the kids, their love and letters of appreciation, the small basket of chikoos to say ‘thank you.’”