Indo-Iran Navroz festivities

"Our links are rock solid based on historic, cultural and spiritual bonds ranging for centuries… Our late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru… had observed, ‘Few people have been more closely related in origin and throughout history than the people of India and Iran.’ We are two old civilizations which have immensely contributed to the evolution of human history,” management guru and former chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet Minoo Shroff expressed in his presidential address at the Indo-Iranian Friendship Society’s meet on March 20, 2013 at the Islam Gymkhana to celebrate Jamshedi Navroz. A write-up on the event was received by Parsiana from the Society.

(From l): Mohammad Mahdi and Ashraf Khaleghi, Sujata Mulla, Godrej Dotivala, Masood Khaleghi, Minoo Shroff, Mehdi Hassankhani, UN consul representative, Ervads Yezdi Panthaki and Asphandiar Dadachanji, Armaity Tirandaz and Khojeste Mistree

"Navroz is by far the most important festival of Iran,” said Masood E. Khaleghi, Iran’s new consul general in Bombay. "It is a time for rejoicing, family reunions and introspection. The government declares five days as national holidays but the festivities go on for nearly 15 days. We are proud of our ancient heritage and remember our forefathers with gratitude and reverence,” he added. Mehdi Hassankhani, director of the Iran Culture House, concurring with Shroff, observed, "The cultural ties between our two nations are today stronger than ever.”
The program commenced with an invocation by Ervad Asphandiar Dadachanji, who quoted extensively from the Shahnameh. Welcome songs were sung by students of Ervad Yezdi Panthaki’s religion classes. Godrej Dotivala, secretary general of the Society, tracing the celebration of the festival of spring down the ages said, "One of the outstanding achievements of the Peshdadian King Jamsheed was that he devised the Iranian calendar.” According to legend, he ascended the throne in Iran on March 21 and was instrumental in getting that day celebrated throughout the realm as New Year day, noted Dotivala.
Two years ago UNESCO included Navroz in its representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as an affirmation of life in harmony with nature. The festival has been celebrated for over 3,000 years in the Balkans, the Black Sea basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East, South East Asia and other regions, though it originated in Iran, the report mentions.
Present on the occasion were C. H. Kapadia, consul general of Madagascar in India, the consular representative of the United States, Bombay Parsi Parsi Punchayet trustees Khojeste Mistree and Armaity Tirandaz, Noshir and Prochi Billimoria from London, community activists Cmde Aspi Marker and Rustom Jasoomoney as well as Carol Andrade, editor of Afternoon Despatch and Courier, the write-up mentions. The program, sponsored by Hilla Builders, Della Tecnica and Ardeshir and Sujata Mulla Charity Trust, concluded with a variety entertainment arranged by Errick Elavia, principal of Lady Engineer High School and an Indo-Iranian dinner catered by Allarakha.