ZAGBA’s silver

To bring together 25 mobeds for a jashan to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Zoroastrian Association of Greater Boston Area (ZAGBA) was the initial ambition of the organizing team. That finally they had 21 mobeds from eight US states and Canada joining the five local priests at ZAGBA’s 25th anniversary gala on July 25, 2009 was an accomplishment credited to Ervads Farhad Panthaki and Shahvir Vimadalal. As the voices of the 26 mobeds led by Panthaki and Yezad Nalladaru filled the hall at Wyndham Hotel in Andover, Massachusetts, the transcript of the prayers was simultaneously projected onto full-size screens on both sides of the stage. This painstaking task had been undertaken and synchronized so that members of the audience could pray along with the mobeds, notes a detailed report of the event sent on Parsiana’s request by Parastu Dubash, former ZAGBA president and currently team leader of the marketing and communications committee.

Each of the priests was presented a gift plus ZAGBA 25th anniversary commemorative silver coin by current president Jamshed Dubash and former presidents Firoze Jungalwala, Rohinton Dhondy, Parastu Dubash, Nasswan Dossabhoy, Sherazade Mehta and Farokh Karani (Yezdi Dordi being unable to come from California and Khorshed Jungalwala having passed away two years ago).

The nine-hour function that commenced at 3 p.m. and included music, dances, plays, multimedia slideshow presentations and food, of course, "was the grandest and largest event hosted by the association to date” with 10 months of prior planning that ensured that all the features proceeded as per schedule.

Fashion shows were intertwined with song and dance performances to relate the story of the Zoroastrians’ journey from Persia to India and thence to the US and Boston. After the singing of Chhaiyé Hamé Zarathoshti it was time for Persian items like the singing of Ey Iran anthem by Bijan Khosraviani, Farshid and Shayan Bakhtyiari, and Rumi’s Persian song Hilat Raha Kon Ashegha by Khosraviani to the accompaniment of SeTar, a traditional Persian string instrument, performance of a Persian dance by the little ones and the recreation of King Hooshang’s legendary discovery of fire.

The Indian items included a dandia dance on Dholi taaro dhol baaje and a celebration dance to the music of Jai Ho led by Hufrish Sirohi who had readied the children for all their song and dance items. Finally entertainment focused on the US with the children singing This land is your land. The day’s master of ceremonies was Firdaus Bhathena.

Creative and humorous skits by the youth group shared the early history of Zarathushtis coming to Boston from the 1950s and the eventual creation of ZAGBA. Yet another highlight was the Gujarati natak Sala Vera No Dali 2, an adaptation by Kaizad Patel and Nauzer Vimadalal of the original version that had been written for ZAGBA and performed over 10 years ago.

Following some appetizers there was a round of acknowledgements for the hard working volunteers, guests, donors and supporters. Flowers were presented to the team leaders of the Program Committee Kaiomarz Dotivala and Ferzin Engineer, Marketing and Communications Committee Parastu Dubash and Adi Guzdar, Finance Committee Aspiyan Gazder, Nazeen Kanga and Nazneen Vimadalal. Logistics Committee and Event leaders Jamshed Dubash and Rajiv Yadav received standing ovations for their tremendous work in coordinating this incredible effort. Vice president Firoza Panthaki made a surprise announcement of a presentation of a specially crafted quilt to Parastu Dubash (bearing photographs of her family) for her long-standing 15 years’ service to ZAGBA as president, writing newsletters, creating the community calendar, initiating the current Children’s 25th Anniversary Giving Project and keeping in touch with ZAGBA members who have moved away from the Boston area. Gratitude was expressed to all the community members as also to the presidents of other Zarathushti associations and friends across North America and the world for their donations and support.

Throughout the evening multimedia slideshows projected images from ZAGBA’s past events, ZAGBA trivia and an in memoriam section to honor some deceased members. A commemorative program booklet created for the occasion contained over 100 color pages of ZAGBA’s history and activities, a special ZAGBA family album with photos and greetings from families settled here plus the regular features. The beautiful cover watercolor artwork of farohar wings against the Boston skyline was designed by Anaheet Gazder. This booklet was modeled after the Zoroastrian Association of North Texas (ZANT) program book published on the occasion of their 20th anniversary.

"In addition to events held on stage there was great attention to detail elsewhere for the pleasure and comfort of the... over 250 guests... as well,” states Parastu Dubash. Decorations for the entrance and stage were loaned by Mostafa Masomi who had hand-crafted ancient Persian style artifacts, pillars and soldiers. Outside the main hall there were items for sale like the custom-designed ZAGBA T-shirts and fleece jackets, commemorative silver coins, a specially compiled cookbook, lagan-nu achar donated by Arnavaz and Adi Vakharia of Flower Mound, DVDs on Zarathushti subjects by Tenaz Dubash, educational books from FEZANA (Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America) and ZAGNY (Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York), artwork by Avan Bhathena of Houston with a table display by Zareen Karani Araoz showing her mother’s handmade gara and embroidery work. An adjacent room was booked for the small children with entertainment by a magician, children’s videos, arts and crafts, children’s food and snacks.

The dinner for the evening consisted of both Indian and Persian food which was followed by dancing. After 10 p.m. the raffle draw was held with the two youngest (babies born in April 2009) and oldest members of the ZAGBA community picking the winning numbers that earned a round trip US plane tickets, a 42 inch Plasma HDTV, an iPod Touch, a Blu-ray disc player, a DVD camcorder and other prizes.