“An achievement in itself”

"The community owes you big time!” said actor Boman Irani to Diana Marfatia, mentor of the Holiday Programme for Youth (HPY) on the successful completion of three decades of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s popular venture. "Thirty years is a long time, believe me. I’ve been married that long,” he added with his trademark humor. Marfatia took center stage to a standing ovation on the evening of June 4, 2016 at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre (JBT) at the National Centre for the Performing Arts. A play That One Month (TOM) was staged to make the pearl anniversary "even more memorable,” wrote Marfatia in her letter of invitation.
"For almost 6,000 students from across the globe who are now proud alumni, HPY is a feeling. A feeling that evokes fond memories of a month that began with strangers and ended with friendships that last a lifetime. HPY has made it a habit of venturing beyond the month long annual program by creating and executing mega productions, the likes of which you will witness today,” said Marfatia in her brief address that evening. Mentioning that a "special evening takes a special team to put it together,” she acknowledged that "each of these individuals and organizations have played a critical role… in making my dream of hosting a big event like this a reality.

HPY committee, alumni and cast of play

A song and dance sequence from That One Month

Shazneen Arethna (left) and Johaan Daruwala

"Inspired by the 30 days that many HPYites will recount as life’s best one month, combine that with the city’s most breathtaking venue and one of Bombay’s finest restaurateurs (Farrokh Khambata), and you have an evening that promises to be nothing short of special,” she added.
Key HPY organizer Hoshaang Gotla compered the evening. Welcoming one and all he shared how the Organising Committee (OC) put together this production which comprised around 64 alumni. The evening’s principal sponsors were The WZO (World Zoroastrian Organisation) Trust Funds and the Rustomjee group. Dinshaw Tamboly, managing trustee of The WZO Trust Funds along with builder Boman Irani (in absentia — brother Percy Chaudhry representing him) and his wife Perizaad were felicitated. The event was supported by Hilla Builders, JOSS catering services, Spenta Multimedia, high end fashion label Dezenzia and the Parsi press, he acknowledged.
A musical interspersed with songs written and directed by Meherzad Patel of Silly Point Productions, with dances choreographed by Pearl Tirandaz, TOM was the grand finale of the 30th year celebrations. A fashion show choreographed by Khushnuma Daruvalla had models wearing creations by fashion designer Ashdeen Lilaowalla. Duglis for the dancers were courtesy Zubin Mehta of Dezenzia.
"The undying spirit of Diana and Azmin (Vania, HPY co-ordinator) is what gave me the inspiration to write and direct a musical revolving around this story of 30 years. TOM covers those 30 days of May that shape you for the next 30 years of life,” director Patel shared with Parsiana by email. "For a Parsi initiative involving children, in the most rebellious age bracket, (HPY) is an achievement in itself… It was an evening that the audience has requested we repeat,” he noted.
"For the 30th year, we wanted to do something big as this milestone hasn’t been achie­ved by many youth organizations especially in our small community. A play came to mind so that we could incorporate the talent of our community through acting, song and dance. In February we had auditions for the same where over 100 people turned up,” mentioned Gotla for whom HPY is "an integral part of my life ever since I was 15 years old, fresh out of school and wanting to explore the world.” The venue was the OC’s biggest challenge as "we wanted to have this event at the best auditorium in the city and the JBT was luckily available and the dinner just fell in place thanks to JOSS Catering Services.”
At the end of the evening all past and present HPYites were called on stage for a memorable photograph which included two generations.
"Over the last three decades HPY has celebrated all its landmark years with memorable events,” read the brochure of the event. The other mega productions were the staging of Black Comedy (Peter Shaffer’s play directed by actor Boman Irani, which ran to four full houses) in 2002 and fashion shows — "Statements in Style” (2001) and "Strands and Strides” (2006). For their silver jubilee in 2011, the team put up a "Best of Broadway” night and ended that year with a musical fiesta by ex-HPYites at the Seth Jeejeebhoy Dadabhoy Agiary in Colaba.