Reviving the meets

For the past five years FOZYA (Federation of the Zoroastrian Youth Associations), had been unable to gather together India’s energetic Zoroastrian youth at such meets. Chartered accountant Jehangir Bisney, currently a committee member of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjuman of Secunderabad and Hyderabad and founder and first president of FOZYA, remembers the inaugural Youth Meet in Delhi in 1987. "Since it was the first one, we didn’t know what to expect,” said Bisney over the phone from his home in Hyderabad. "There were only 80 delegates and by the time we left we all felt like we knew each other. It was a grand success.”

"It has been almost 25 years so I can’t go into detail, but I know we talked about religion, entrepreneurship, demography and civil service job prospects.” Although certain memories are fuzzy, there is one event Bisney will never forget — going to Rashtrapati Bhavan to meet the eighth President of India, Ramaswamy Venkataraman. "I can’t remember what exactly he said but I do recall he praised the Parsi community.”

Jehangir Bisney: original organizer

Springboarding after such an auspicious start, the All India Zoroastrian Youth Meets became an annual success. In 1991, Bisney founded FOZYA after noticing a trend in youth organizations breaking free from parent anjumans. "The parent anjumans were controlling the youth wings and it was a bit stifling. FOZYA was formed to unite the independent youth leagues that were cropping up throughout India.”

From 1987 until 1995, Zoroastrian Youth Meets were a raging success. "At every Youth Meet you would hear of a couple getting married after meeting at a previous one,” recounts Bisney. After just over a decade, however, Bisney recalls a shift in momentum: "It was around 1998 that the Youth Meets began to fizzle out.” He says it occurred mostly because the original organizers were getting married and transitioning into other roles within the community.

From 1998 to 2005, the positive reputation of the Youth Meets plummeted. Although attendance was steady, fun and frolic seemed to overshadow thoughtful discourse on pressing community issues. It became "all masti-majaa (fun and frolic), just enjoy,” said Bisney.

Then came a five-year hiatus.

Last November, FOZYA committee member Mabrin Nanavatti became its president. Nanavatti has been involved in youth activities for nearly 12 years and was on the FOZYA committee during the Third World Zoroastrian Youth Congress held in Poona in 2004. That experience gave him the confidence to attempt to organize the 18th All India Zoroastrian Youth Meet, after a significant break. "As far as reviving the Meet, I can only say that my Poona youth gave me the support I required,” acknowledged Nanavatti, "without them it would have not been possible.”