Padma Shri for two

Two Zoroastrians have been honored with the Padma Shri in the Republic Day (January 26) awards list for 2014: Keki Daruwalla for literature and Sooni Taraporevala for art and scriptwriting.

Padma Shri winners Keki Daruwalla and Sooni Taraporevala

Delhi based Daruwalla, currently the Zoroastrian representative on the National Commission for Minorities who retired from the Indian Police Service as additional director of the Research and Analysis Wing, is a major Indian poet whose latest offering, Fire Altar was released at the 10th World Zoroastrian Congress in Bombay in late December 2013. The 76-year-old is also noted for his collections of short stories. His first novel, For Pepper and Christ, was published in 2009.
Taraporevala, a resident of Bombay, two decades younger than Daruwalla, is well-known not just as a scriptwriter but as a photographer who has chronicled the community in her book Parsis, the Zoroastrians of India: A Photographic Journey, a filmmaker who directed Little Zizou and in her latest avatar as co-compiler of Parsi Bol, a compendium of colorful Parsi Gujarati sayings, in collaboration with author Meher Marfatia.
The Padma Awards are presented by the President of India at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan generally in March or April of each year. The decoration comprises a sanad (certificate) issued under the hand and seal of the President and a medallion. A commemorative brochure giving out brief details of each award winner is also released on the day of the investiture ceremony.