Editorial Viewpoint
Let the games begin
The battle lines are drawn for the October Bombay Parsi Punchayet trusteeship elections. Both the major contenders, the Adult Franchise for Progress (AFP), the brainchild of community strategist and legal mastermind Berjis Desai and the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) have announced their list of candidates. Plus the other key independent players have also made their intentions known.
Meet-the-candidates get-togethers of the AFP seven and of the independent contestant, Jimmy Mistry have already been announced.
While the AFP launched their star-studded panel at a grand function in a prominent auditorium, WAPIZ declared their four-member board through the WAPIZ Page in the Free Press Journal (August 15, 2008). WAPIZ was apparently unable or unwilling to muster seven candidates to stand on their party ticket.
Aside from their obvious choice of candidates, namely WAPIZ founder trustees Khojeste Mistree and Yazdi Desai, the other two are relatively low profile in community politics. Bomi Kavina, an erstwhile resident of Ahmedabad and a management consultant was an active member of Jimmy Mistry’s Parsi Resource Group before switching sides. Shirin Choksey is well known in educational circles, but like Kavina will have to establish her presence in the political sphere.
Sitting BPP trustee Dinshaw Mehta is the other serious independent contender but his campaign has been slow to take off. Others of import in the fray are former BPP trustee Rustom Tirandaz and social worker Arnavaz Mistry, both from Dadar as is Jimmy Mistry.
So far around 25 individuals have made their candidacy known. September 2, 2008 is the last date for filing nominations.
The total number of registered voters is 28,768 (donors 1,176 + general 27,592) with approximately 1,350 ordinary and donor members being from out of Bombay. This also includes those registered before the new scheme came into existence. How many of the out-of-towners spend time and money to come to Bombay to vote has to be seen.
While many of the candidates are people whose names are associated with community affairs the AFP panel comprises several providential surprises. To have succeeded in roping in people of the stature of Dr Ketayun Dinshaw, director of the Tata Memorial Hospital, Keki Mistry, managing director of HDFC, the country’s largest (and probably one of the oldest institutional) housing finance companies and legal tax expert Soli Dastur is quite a coup.
All of them have carved their high profile niches outside of the community though their expertise has always been available as and when required. Nadir Modi, Byram Jeejeebhoy and Noshir Dadrawala are familiar names to the community because of their, and in Modi’s and Jeejeebhoy’s case family’s, lifelong association with Parsi/Irani Zoroastrian causes.
Modi is an authority on Parsi law aside from being one of the city’s leading counsels. He started the Young Collegians’ Zoroastrian Association and serves on several Parsi trusts including the H. B. Wadia Atas Bahram. He won the legal battle to secure the Mancherji Joshi Dadar Parsi Colony buildings for Parsi/Irani occupation only.
Jeejeebhoy is a trustee of the well-known Jeejeebhoy Dadabhoy Agiary at Colaba where many community weddings and navjotes take place. He is also on the board of other trusts and has donated large sums of money to various charities.
When the orthodox clamored for the liberals to build their own fire temples for Parsis and non-Parsis, Jeejeebhoy generously gave a plot of land near Goregaon for the construction of such an institution.
One of Dadrawala’s first jobs was working with the erstwhile ZCDI (Zoroastrian Community Development Institute). He was subsequently employed with the B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital. He was active with the Committee for Electoral Rights, editing their newsletter and also edited the World Zoroastrian Organisation newsletter in its early days. He had contested for the BPP trusteeship seat against sitting BPP trustee Dinshaw Tamboly but withdrew his candidature when he believed his supporters were hitting his opponent below the belt. Dadrawala is today an authority on philanthropy and the management of charitable trusts.
For years he has written without charge for community publications such as the Jam-e-Jamshed and his own, now defunct Deen Parast.
Maneck Engineer is a sitting trustee of the BPP and therefore known in community circles. The reticent Cusrow Baug resident has agreed to let Modi occupy the chairmanship of the BPP if the AFP slate is elected. By seniority the position would be Engineer’s (assuming no other senior sitting trustee is elected).
On the WAPIZ side Mistree is a controversial and complex personality. When he started his religious reawakening in the mid 1970s, he was highly regarded. But his subsequent adamancy on religious issues and intolerance of those who differ from his orthodox views lost him much support. The Parsi Press (The Bombay Samachar, Jam-e-Jamshed, Parsiana) are not invited to any WAPIZ functions nor is any WAPIZ Press material sent to them.
Even within the orthodox movement Mistree has his critics. Whether he will now moderate his stance or continue to pounce on all who disagree with his rigid orthodoxy is to be seen.
Yazdi Desai of late has not been very visible in community circles aside from his photographs and write-ups appearing on the WAPIZ Page. Like the other WAPIZ members, he is not involved in mainstream community institutions. His and Mistree’s forays into the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India have generated only hostility and contempt from the establishment anjumans and punchayets. The duo have crossed swords with the anjumans of Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Jamshedpur, Surat and others.
Now with business magnate and WAPIZ founder trustee Areez Khambatta no longer president of the Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat and Jamshed Mohta no longer a trustee of the Bardoli Jarthosti Anjuman, WAPIZ’s support in the Federation has diminished to a handful of small anjumans.
Among the independent candidates interior designer and real estate developer Jimmy Mistry has the best chance of winning. He has mobilized a large force of volunteers and donated vast sums of money for repairing the Rustom Framna Agiary and for medical insurance for mobeds besides providing other benefits. Though he has his fair share of critics he has a large pool of goodwill as well.
Sitting BPP trustee Dinshaw Mehta’s chances of victory are harder to decipher. A workaholic who devotes considerable time daily to BPP matters and also assists other trusts, he was in the center of the storm during the trusteeship resignation fiasco two years ago. His disposition, probably more than his actions, angered, alienated and eventually frustrated his colleagues on the board of trustees. Four resigned but subsequently withdrew their resignations.
For Mehta, like many others, community service is an addiction. Despite the brickbats, the hounding by his opponents, the legal cases, broken friendships, family opposition, the lure of public office still serves as a magnet.
Why do competent and intelligent individuals seek public office? There is always a desire to serve the less fortunate. That in itself can be the greatest reward. Perhaps many of the candidates in the fray would agree with the BPP chairman Minoo Shroff when he stated at the AFP panel launch that trusteeship is “like a viagra” for him.
A moveable feast
Rain or no rain, elections or court battles, Navroz is always a time for feasting. From the humble dal chawal we loved as children to the more elaborate dishes of the day, Parsi/Irani cuisine has its own flavor and pride.
At any community function the best way to ensure a good turnout is to provide snacks/meals. Whether it be a scholarly talk at the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute or an election rally at the Y. B. Chavan auditorium, refreshments help to ease the hunger pangs that follow a long day at the office or a lengthy commute home.
At the Parsiana Book Club the perennial favorite among shoppers is the cook books. And the community is blessed with an abundance of writers on, and preparers of, gourmet cuisine. From the economically priced Irani restaurants of yore to the upscale restaurants in Bombay, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Indore, Karachi, London, New York, Beijing and elsewhere, Parsi/Irani entrepreneurial chefs have made their presence felt.
In this issue we requested leading chefs to write about their professional lives and what makes for success in one of the most competitive businesses in the world. We are exceedingly grateful to them for acceding to our request.
There are many others who would also deserve coverage but as our resources and time are limited, we are restricted in what we can undertake.
This issue is devoted to all the tireless people who day in and day out serve meals for their families. From marketing to cutting, chopping, frying, boiling or grilling, standing before hot stoves and warm ovens, they perform a tireless and often thankless but essential daily task. It is they who have raised generations providing nutritious and hygienic home cooked meals. Perhaps the finest tribute we can pay them is to say a big thank you.
Meet-the-candidates get-togethers of the AFP seven and of the independent contestant, Jimmy Mistry have already been announced.
While the AFP launched their star-studded panel at a grand function in a prominent auditorium, WAPIZ declared their four-member board through the WAPIZ Page in the Free Press Journal (August 15, 2008). WAPIZ was apparently unable or unwilling to muster seven candidates to stand on their party ticket.
Aside from their obvious choice of candidates, namely WAPIZ founder trustees Khojeste Mistree and Yazdi Desai, the other two are relatively low profile in community politics. Bomi Kavina, an erstwhile resident of Ahmedabad and a management consultant was an active member of Jimmy Mistry’s Parsi Resource Group before switching sides. Shirin Choksey is well known in educational circles, but like Kavina will have to establish her presence in the political sphere.
Sitting BPP trustee Dinshaw Mehta is the other serious independent contender but his campaign has been slow to take off. Others of import in the fray are former BPP trustee Rustom Tirandaz and social worker Arnavaz Mistry, both from Dadar as is Jimmy Mistry.
So far around 25 individuals have made their candidacy known. September 2, 2008 is the last date for filing nominations.
The total number of registered voters is 28,768 (donors 1,176 + general 27,592) with approximately 1,350 ordinary and donor members being from out of Bombay. This also includes those registered before the new scheme came into existence. How many of the out-of-towners spend time and money to come to Bombay to vote has to be seen.
While many of the candidates are people whose names are associated with community affairs the AFP panel comprises several providential surprises. To have succeeded in roping in people of the stature of Dr Ketayun Dinshaw, director of the Tata Memorial Hospital, Keki Mistry, managing director of HDFC, the country’s largest (and probably one of the oldest institutional) housing finance companies and legal tax expert Soli Dastur is quite a coup.
All of them have carved their high profile niches outside of the community though their expertise has always been available as and when required. Nadir Modi, Byram Jeejeebhoy and Noshir Dadrawala are familiar names to the community because of their, and in Modi’s and Jeejeebhoy’s case family’s, lifelong association with Parsi/Irani Zoroastrian causes.
Modi is an authority on Parsi law aside from being one of the city’s leading counsels. He started the Young Collegians’ Zoroastrian Association and serves on several Parsi trusts including the H. B. Wadia Atas Bahram. He won the legal battle to secure the Mancherji Joshi Dadar Parsi Colony buildings for Parsi/Irani occupation only.
Jeejeebhoy is a trustee of the well-known Jeejeebhoy Dadabhoy Agiary at Colaba where many community weddings and navjotes take place. He is also on the board of other trusts and has donated large sums of money to various charities.
When the orthodox clamored for the liberals to build their own fire temples for Parsis and non-Parsis, Jeejeebhoy generously gave a plot of land near Goregaon for the construction of such an institution.
One of Dadrawala’s first jobs was working with the erstwhile ZCDI (Zoroastrian Community Development Institute). He was subsequently employed with the B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital. He was active with the Committee for Electoral Rights, editing their newsletter and also edited the World Zoroastrian Organisation newsletter in its early days. He had contested for the BPP trusteeship seat against sitting BPP trustee Dinshaw Tamboly but withdrew his candidature when he believed his supporters were hitting his opponent below the belt. Dadrawala is today an authority on philanthropy and the management of charitable trusts.
For years he has written without charge for community publications such as the Jam-e-Jamshed and his own, now defunct Deen Parast.
Maneck Engineer is a sitting trustee of the BPP and therefore known in community circles. The reticent Cusrow Baug resident has agreed to let Modi occupy the chairmanship of the BPP if the AFP slate is elected. By seniority the position would be Engineer’s (assuming no other senior sitting trustee is elected).
On the WAPIZ side Mistree is a controversial and complex personality. When he started his religious reawakening in the mid 1970s, he was highly regarded. But his subsequent adamancy on religious issues and intolerance of those who differ from his orthodox views lost him much support. The Parsi Press (The Bombay Samachar, Jam-e-Jamshed, Parsiana) are not invited to any WAPIZ functions nor is any WAPIZ Press material sent to them.
Even within the orthodox movement Mistree has his critics. Whether he will now moderate his stance or continue to pounce on all who disagree with his rigid orthodoxy is to be seen.
Yazdi Desai of late has not been very visible in community circles aside from his photographs and write-ups appearing on the WAPIZ Page. Like the other WAPIZ members, he is not involved in mainstream community institutions. His and Mistree’s forays into the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India have generated only hostility and contempt from the establishment anjumans and punchayets. The duo have crossed swords with the anjumans of Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Jamshedpur, Surat and others.
Now with business magnate and WAPIZ founder trustee Areez Khambatta no longer president of the Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat and Jamshed Mohta no longer a trustee of the Bardoli Jarthosti Anjuman, WAPIZ’s support in the Federation has diminished to a handful of small anjumans.
Among the independent candidates interior designer and real estate developer Jimmy Mistry has the best chance of winning. He has mobilized a large force of volunteers and donated vast sums of money for repairing the Rustom Framna Agiary and for medical insurance for mobeds besides providing other benefits. Though he has his fair share of critics he has a large pool of goodwill as well.
Sitting BPP trustee Dinshaw Mehta’s chances of victory are harder to decipher. A workaholic who devotes considerable time daily to BPP matters and also assists other trusts, he was in the center of the storm during the trusteeship resignation fiasco two years ago. His disposition, probably more than his actions, angered, alienated and eventually frustrated his colleagues on the board of trustees. Four resigned but subsequently withdrew their resignations.
For Mehta, like many others, community service is an addiction. Despite the brickbats, the hounding by his opponents, the legal cases, broken friendships, family opposition, the lure of public office still serves as a magnet.
Why do competent and intelligent individuals seek public office? There is always a desire to serve the less fortunate. That in itself can be the greatest reward. Perhaps many of the candidates in the fray would agree with the BPP chairman Minoo Shroff when he stated at the AFP panel launch that trusteeship is “like a viagra” for him.
A moveable feast
Rain or no rain, elections or court battles, Navroz is always a time for feasting. From the humble dal chawal we loved as children to the more elaborate dishes of the day, Parsi/Irani cuisine has its own flavor and pride.
At any community function the best way to ensure a good turnout is to provide snacks/meals. Whether it be a scholarly talk at the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute or an election rally at the Y. B. Chavan auditorium, refreshments help to ease the hunger pangs that follow a long day at the office or a lengthy commute home.
At the Parsiana Book Club the perennial favorite among shoppers is the cook books. And the community is blessed with an abundance of writers on, and preparers of, gourmet cuisine. From the economically priced Irani restaurants of yore to the upscale restaurants in Bombay, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Indore, Karachi, London, New York, Beijing and elsewhere, Parsi/Irani entrepreneurial chefs have made their presence felt.
In this issue we requested leading chefs to write about their professional lives and what makes for success in one of the most competitive businesses in the world. We are exceedingly grateful to them for acceding to our request.
There are many others who would also deserve coverage but as our resources and time are limited, we are restricted in what we can undertake.
This issue is devoted to all the tireless people who day in and day out serve meals for their families. From marketing to cutting, chopping, frying, boiling or grilling, standing before hot stoves and warm ovens, they perform a tireless and often thankless but essential daily task. It is they who have raised generations providing nutritious and hygienic home cooked meals. Perhaps the finest tribute we can pay them is to say a big thank you.
◆ ◆ ◆
From the archive