Countdown to the Congress

"In less than three months we will welcome over 600 Zarathushtis from North America and all parts of the world into our city to participate in the XVI North American Zarathushti Congress 2012. For the last two years and more volunteers at ZAGNY (Zoroastrian Association of Grea­ter New York) have been busy organizing all the details that will go into making this event a landmark milestone,” notes the ZAGNY newsletter of May 2012.

Dr Trita Parsi (left) and Prof Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina

The keynote speaker at the Congress in the first week of August will be Dr Trita Parsi, founder and president of the National Iranian American Council and the 2010 recipient of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. According to the highlights of the program and speakers available on the Congress website nazc.zagny.org Parsi is a Zarathushti from southern Iran who has earned his doctorate from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Israeli-Iranian relations. Following the success of his first book Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the United States, his second book Single Roll of the Dice – Obama and Iran was due for release this year. His articles on Middle East affairs have been published in leading international periodicals and he is a frequent guest on CNN, BBC and other news channels.

The Khorshed Jungalwala Lecture will be delivered by Prof Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina who is presently lecturer in the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University. After completing his PhD from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Har­vard University, he had served as lecturer on Old Iranian for two years at Harvard.

Among the six program tracks that will be pursued at the Congress in New York to explore the theme "Zarathushti Existence in the Contemporary World” will be the one on "Zarathushti Identity” where the audience will be asked a few questions using the electronic Audience Response System to gauge the assembly’s opinion on key issues. This stimulating session to be moderated by Dr Keki Dadachanji will start with a backdrop of history and demographics of Zarathushtis in North America by Roshan Rivetna. Subsequently the audience gets to interact with a distinguished panel including Ervad (Dr) Jehan Bagli, Ervad Cawas Desai, Dr Parastu Dubash, Dr Ali Jafarey, Jimmy Kumana, Ferzin Patel, Mohsen Zandieh and Ervad Kobad Zarolia.

In the session on "Zarathushti Core Beliefs” the key participants will be Ervad Soli Dastur, Anahita Dua and Dr Khushroo Patel. Dr Lovji Cama will moderate the session on "The Sudreh Pushi/Navjote Ceremony and the Kushti Ritual” that will see participation from Bagli, Prof Kaikhosrov Irani and Nahid Dashtaki. The panel for "Intergenera­tional Dialogue: Motivation, Inspiration, Action!” will include Ervad Poruz Khambatta, Farzin Avari, Trity Pour­bahrami and Behrose Taraporewalla with Navroz Gandhi as the moderator. Anti poverty veterans like Dinshaw Tamboly, Armene Modi and Priyanka Sinha are included on the panel for "Combating Poverty in Our Communities Abroad” that will be moderated by Kaizad Cama. "Preserving Persian Heritage” will be moderated by Shirin Khosravi with the other panellists being Dr Talinn Grigor, Alayar Dabestani and Behmard Khosravi.

The last morning, August 5, has been reserved for a presentation by the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America although FEZANA’s 25th jubilee dinner is scheduled for the first night of the Congress on August 2.

Entertainment during the Congress will be provided by K-Von, internationally renowned comedian and star of MTV’s hit comedy Disaster Date, and Adi Tamboli, physician and musician who will regale the audience with his Bollywood tunes and modern favorites playing up to eight keyboards at one time and mixing musical genres.

Congress venue, Hilton Westchester Rye Brook;

August 1 will be observed as the WZCC Day 2012 when the New York Chapter of the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce has planned a tour of The Federal Reserve Bank in Manhattan and an evening symposium and dinner fete entitled "New Sciences and Commerce” where the keynote speaker will be Jamsheed Bharucha, president of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. The other panellists scheduled to speak are Khambatta, and Nozer Buchia who will gladly sign his new book Why Entrepreneurs Really Fail.

"Due to the extremely long visa processing time for citizens of Iran, we regret to inform that we will not be accepting any more registrations from Zarathushtis from Iran. Registrations processed before April 30, will be processed as usual. If you are a Zarathushti from Iran, and already have a visa for the US, you are welcome to register,” specified an April 19 update on the Congress website.

Beginning June 1, 2012 registration for the NAZC will be permissible only on payment of revised rates: $ 250 for children under five, $ 325 for children aged six to 12, $ 425 for those in the 13 to 24 age group, $ 475 for those aged 25-65 and $ 450 for those aged 66 and above.