Four women to the fore

The declining demographics of the community are reflected in the number of Zoroastrian scholars selected for the Jamsetjee Nusserwanjee Tata Endowment for the Higher Education of Indians for the year 2013-2014. There were only 17 Parsi applicants for the J. N. Tata loan scholarships this year, a decline from the 19 who had applied in the preceding year. Of the 113 scholars selected overall, only four are Parsis — all of them women — mentions a write-up sent to Parsiana by Dr Nawaz Mody, advisor to the J. N. Tata Endowment. Last year nine Zoroastrians had made the grade, most of them women. Three of this year’s successful Parsi candidates are from Bombay, while one hails from Gurgaon, just outside the national capital region of New Delhi.
Rashna Engineer who has secured admission for an MSc degree in Human Factors for Inclusive Design at the Loughborough University in the UK completed her schooling at Bombay’s J. B. Petit High School for Girls. She then attended the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore for her undergraduate studies. Engineer plans to specialize in social innovation and systems design. On her return to India she hopes to work in designing products of special use to the elderly and the differently abled.

Ayesha Jamaspi, a mid-career professional, will pursue her PhD degree majoring in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Roosevelt University, USA, where she has secured graduate assistantship. She completed her BCom from Bombay’s H. R. College and obtained her Master’s degree in Psychology from the University of Madras. Aiming to specialize in Organizational Psychology, Jamaspi hopes to partner with eminent corporates in the field and conceptualize a framework which would "benefit future generations in the corporate world” and "lead to national economic benefit through higher return of investment in national capital.”
Another mid-career professional is Farah Mistry who schooled at Villa Theresa High School and did her BCom from H. R. College in Bombay. She then worked for a few years with the Consulate General of Canada and the Western Australia Trade Office in Bombay. After she obtains her MBA degree in International Business at the Royal Roads University in Canada, she would like to enter the field of marketing and International trade and increase India’s presence in the global market.
From the country’s capital comes Roshni Tara who did her schooling at the Ryan International School and graduated with a BA from the Jesus and Mary College, University of Delhi. She wishes to complete her master’s degree in Economics from the Paris School of Economics in France and then take up a career in teaching and research in the field.
At the executive council meeting of the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India on July 28, 2013, Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) chairman Dinshaw Mehta had similarly mentioned that the number of students applying for education loans to the trusts being looked after by the BPP has reduced from around 70 to 80 a year to 39 last year and 22 this year (see "Focus on these problems,” Parsiana, August 7, 2013).