“His roles and his roots”

I thank you for the piece "His roles and his roots” (Zoroastrians Abroad, Parsiana, November 21, 2010) about Zoroastrian baritone Anooshah Golesorkhi. The article mentioned that Zubin Mehta was conducting Aida in Florence, Italy so I casually mentioned it to my Italian wife Annamaria who is an opera aficionado. The combination of seeing Aida, watching Mehta conducting (both Bamjis are his fans), listening to a Zoroastrian singer performing and the opportunity to visit relatives in Italy was too good to be missed!

I had casually mentioned to Annamaria a possible distant maternal connection with Mehta. Having booked our flights and theater tickets, Annamaria e-mailed Mehta’s secretary telling him of my distant connection and asking if we could meet the maestro during our visit. We promptly received a reply: "Maestro Mehta will be delighted to meet you and your husband backstage during the intermission.” The arrangement was however changed at the last minute because the President of Italy Giorgio Napolitano was in the audience for the first part of the performance and asked to meet Mehta during the intermission.

Dr Pervez and Annamaria Bamji flanking Zubin Mehta

The accompanying photograph shows the Bamjis backstage with Mehta when they met the conductor after the performance. The maestro, who is fluent in several languages, spoke to Annamaria in Italian, to me in Gujarati and to a Japanese fan in Japanese!

Great show, great performers and a great evening, thanks to Parsiana!

Dr PERVEZ and ANNAMARIA BAMJI

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

p.bamji@queensu.ca