XYZ’s talent parade

After days of auditioning 460 Zoroastrian children across Bombay for singing, dancing, playing musical instruments or gymnastics, the XYZ (Xtremely Young Zoroastrians) team zeroed in on six brilliantly talented kids (two from each age group) to showcase their skills on the second day of the Kaleidoscope of Zoroastrianism, History and Culture exhibition organized by Frohar Foundation at Allbless Baug on April 18, 2015. "Special thanks to Frohar Foundation for allowing us to use their venue along with the stage, sound and lights completely free of cost,” mentions Hoshaang Gotla, XYZ founder, in an email to Parsiana.

The children, divided into three age groups, were judged by Merzi Pestonji (choreographer), Diana Marfatia (educationist) and Hormuz Ragina (singer and guitarist). Emerging winners were Jaeda Hodiwala, Frehan Bamji, Naomi Amalsadiwala and Natasha Printer from the four-six year group; Jeraz Mody, Danesh Junglewalla, Vzak Yazdani and Hufriya Daruvala (eight-11 years), while from the 12-15 year age group the winners were Farhan Ichaporia, Monish Karu, Zreh Sodawaterwala and Ruhdabeh Vazifdar.
The five-month-old organization formed to promote togetherness and camaraderie among youngsters of the community is the brainchild of 28-year-old Gotla, community activist. It aspires to mold children between the ages of five and 15 to become better individuals by inculcating Zoroastrian values through fellowship and service activities, notes its website. Children are divided into seven groups (each named after a Zoroastrian historic figure), as per the geographical location of their residence: Daraius’ Daredevils (Colaba), Cyrus’ Superstars (Tardeo), Jamshed’s Giants (Byculla), Homai’s Heroes (Parel), Behram’s Battalion (Dadar), Rustom’s Rockstars (Bandra) and Tehmurasp’s Titans (Andheri).
On the cards is a summer camp scheduled for May 18-23, 2015 to be conducted at four venues across the city: Andheri, Bandra, Byculla and Colaba. Team building activities include Gujarati writing, cooking competition and idiom story enactment, where each group is given an idiom around which they must make up a story/play with a moral and enact it: e.g. the saying "Vandra na haath ma astaro (giving a sharp object to those who are unable to handle them and may harm themselves).” The camp promises all this and more. A session on the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan (Clean India Mission) has also been thrown in as are forgotten games like dog and the bone, kho kho and nargolio. Registration fees are Rs 1,500 for members and Rs 2,500 for non-XYZ members. A parent-child trip to a resort in Karjat concludes the camp. Annual fees for the XYZ are Rs 1,000 per child.