Events & Personalities
Joint jashan
For the first time the Athornan Mandal (AM) joined hands with The Bombay Zoroastrian Jashan Committee (TBZJC) to host the annual "Bahman Ameshaspand Jashan Ceremony.” The Sunday morning jashan and lecture followed by a vegetarian lunch was held on July 8 at the newly painted Allbless Baug.
Four priests performed the prayers in a smoke filled hall whose windows had to be kept closed to ward off the stench left behind from garbage that had been cleared from the abutting roadside. As eyes itched and watered, numerous school children and adults sat uncomplaining in the filled to capacity hall throughout the 45-minute ceremony.
Around "60 to 65 percent of the audience” comprises youngsters, observed the function’s compere Kersi Commissariat, a trustee of the TBZJC. The other trustees are chairman Dr Sohrab Javeri, Mehli Colah, Saroosh Dinshaw and Freny Jehangir.
Chief guest Dastur Khurshed Dastoor of Udvada recalled when he was a student at the Dadar Athornan Madressa (now renamed Dadar Athornan Institute) in the mid 1970s and later when he was in college, he used to attend the TBZJC jashans. He was therefore "really honored to sit in the chair.” Noting that the AM has "joined hands with TBZJC for the first time,” he stressed "the need to meet together. We are going down in numbers. Jashans and gahanbars keep the community together.” Ideas could be exchanged and opportunities availed of for "the elders to guide the community… Parents take the first step to see that children are correctly guided. The panthaky is the second step.”
Four priests performed the prayers in a smoke filled hall whose windows had to be kept closed to ward off the stench left behind from garbage that had been cleared from the abutting roadside. As eyes itched and watered, numerous school children and adults sat uncomplaining in the filled to capacity hall throughout the 45-minute ceremony.
Around "60 to 65 percent of the audience” comprises youngsters, observed the function’s compere Kersi Commissariat, a trustee of the TBZJC. The other trustees are chairman Dr Sohrab Javeri, Mehli Colah, Saroosh Dinshaw and Freny Jehangir.
Chief guest Dastur Khurshed Dastoor of Udvada recalled when he was a student at the Dadar Athornan Madressa (now renamed Dadar Athornan Institute) in the mid 1970s and later when he was in college, he used to attend the TBZJC jashans. He was therefore "really honored to sit in the chair.” Noting that the AM has "joined hands with TBZJC for the first time,” he stressed "the need to meet together. We are going down in numbers. Jashans and gahanbars keep the community together.” Ideas could be exchanged and opportunities availed of for "the elders to guide the community… Parents take the first step to see that children are correctly guided. The panthaky is the second step.”
(Clockwise from top l): Dr Sohrab Javeri, Dastur Khurshed Das-toor, Noshir Dadra-wala, Freny Jehangir, Kersi Commissariat, Saroosh Dinshaw; school children; audience; lunch at Allbless Baug
The main speaker for the morning was chief executive officer of the Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy, Noshir Dadrawala whose list of accomplishments stated in his curriculum vitae excludes trusteeship of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP). "He says it’s not so significant,” noted Commissariat while introducing the speaker. Dadrawala had resigned from the BPP after two years of his seven-year term on account of the hostility he faced from some of his co-trustees when he disagreed with their policies.
"You rarely find so many youngsters” at a community gathering, commented Dadrawala who geared his talk for the young. "What I have pursued is not success but happiness… my son, 28-years-old,” is a deep sea diver and has done likewise. "Happiness makes you young. Happiness comes by making others happy.” He advised them "not to let setbacks make you bitter but better…don’t let others undermine your belief in yourself…always acquire knowledge, thirst for it…strive for excellence…eat, drink and live your dream… Your character will make your destiny… Set goals. Enjoy your journey.”
Telling the students to not let adversity deter them from accomplishing their goals he cited the example of the bumble bee. According to all the principles of aerodynamics the insect was not designed to fly, its wing span being too short to support its body weight. "It’s a good thing the bumble bee doesn’t know science,” quipped Dadrawala.
Commissariat thanked the people who worked to make the program a success including Perin Bhathena, Zubin Billimoria, Tehmina Peer, Vispi Dastur, caterer Ketayun Khambata of Khambata Caterers and Sarosh Daruwalla of Mazda Audio Video Lab, the latter two offering their services at concessional rates.
The AM and TBZJC, once the most powerful and feared traditionalist bodies whose support was sought by orthodox candidates aspiring to BPP trusteeship, have mellowed with age, now more part of the community mainstream. Ironically the Rehnumai Mazdayasnan Sabha (RMS), once a reformist body founded by individuals such as Dadabhai Naoroji and K. R. Cama, is now a more traditionalist body whose cadre include BPP and World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) founder trustee Yazdi Desai and historian Marzban Giara. While the RMS was dislodged from its office at the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute building, the AM and TBZJC function from a joint office at Navsari Building on Dadabhai Naoroji Road.
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