Roots run deep

"Parsis have unusual names and dwindling numbers. Both of these facts help with searching for relatives,” declares Zubin Appoo who claims that he has been "able to trace my family history to Dastur Neryosang Dhaval, reportedly the priest who arrived in Sanjan with the first batch of Parsis from Iran…some time in the 12th century.”

An effort initiated by his parents Sheila and Pervez 15 years ago when he was 13, Appoo states that their 10 hours of labor resulted in a hand-drawn family tree with about 200 people on it, going back to 1800. In the last five years since he has engaged the computer to assist him in this task the family tree has grown to over 4,000 people, notes Appoo. His task has been facilitated with the usage of "social networking sites like Facebook and the masses of information that search engines like Google can provide,” acknowledges the Sydney based information technology consultant who has been working in the international supply chain and logistics industry for a number of years.

Top row (from left): Bapaimai Appoo, Dosabhai and Navajbai Harver, Pestonji F. Vakil; (second row) Nowroji P. Vakil, Bachubai P. Vakil and their descendants Zayden, Rakhshandeh and Zubin Appoo

He is particularly awestruck that he has "found links to some of the first Parsis who arrived in Ahmedabad (Vakils and Kothavalas), relatives living only 20 km from us in Sydney, reestablished contact with family not seen or heard from in decades, discovered unknown cousins and other relatives of both my own and my wife’s family, retrieved copies of portraits of relatives from nearly 300 years ago, read tales of corporal punishment, hangings, jail-breaks and even piracy! Even more fascinating is the potential link of Parsis to royalty from Persia, Assyria, Egypt, China, Babylon and even Biblical references.”

Having probably spent about 200-300 hours on the family tree, Appoo says, "I tell people that I am doing it for my 11-month-old son Zayden in the hope that he is one day fascinated by having information about people 60 generations above him!” Appreciating his wife Rakhshandeh’s patience whilst he spends hours on his hobby, Appoo is also particularly grateful for the cooperation he has received from Burzoe Ghandhi in Wisconscin, Jehangir Vakil, Rashid Medora and Hafez Dalal in Ahmedabad, Mharukh Hira in Toronto, Zarir Cama in London, Rohinton Patel in Estonia, Khush and Ed Minocher in Quetta, Toxy Cowasjee in Karachi… For him, the satisfaction is tremendous "every time I am able to add a new name to my family tree.”