BPP Review revamped

"It gives me great pleasure to welcome Shernaaz Engineer as consulting editor of our BPP Review,” wrote Bombay Par­-si Punchayet (BPP) chairman Din­shaw Mehta in his introductory message in the revamped issue (Volume 1, Issue 1 dated October 2009), expressing the hope that this first offering by the new board would be widely read.

The 32-page profusely illustrated issue printed on art paper contains a wide range of material ranging from laudatory letters from Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, to a detailed report on the meeting of the Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anju­mans of India held in Bombay in September 2009. On the religious front, an article details the significance of dakhmenashini, while Ervad (Dr) Rami­yar P. Karanjia, principal of the Dadar Athornan Institute answers questions about why this ancient system of disposal of the dead has been ordained in Zoroastrianism. There is a piece on the importance of rites and rituals and a report on the 154th anniversary of the agiary in Davier.

On the secular front, a piece on the BPP’s Holiday Program for Youth focuses on GenNext; the spotlight is trained on a comprehensive vision for community housing; an events diary provides a roundup of community happenings; and a section on BPP news provides details of financial assistance disbursed from November 2008 to September 15, 2009 on education, welfare doles and medical help as well as snippets about the BPP trustees’ doings and achievements.

Godrej Dotivala remains the editor, all seven BPP trustees comprise the editorial board, the administration is handled by chief executive officer Mehli P. Colah, Pheroze D. Patel and Cawas S. Panthaki, while coordination, design and printing are done by Spenta Multimedia. Readers are invited to send in suggestions, feedback, contributions and comments via e-mail to letters.bppreview@gmail.com