Dastoor Day

"Dasturji Khurshed Kaikobad Dastoor is an advocate of preserving our religious heritage, instilling strong values in a new generation and providing our society with a needed source of openness, stability and continuity in a rapidly changing world…The city of Houston commends Dasturji Khurshed Kaikobad Dastoor for his accomplishments and commitment to health and wellness in the community,” noted a proclamation by the mayor of Houston Sylvester Turner, declaring September 9, 2016 as "Dastur Khurshed Kaikobad Dastoor Day” in Houston, Texas.
That was the day Dastoor spent in Houston, meeting members of the community and interacting with the priests and sharing religious insights. "Religion plays a central role in the lives of the Zoroastrian people and America has stood as a beacon of religious freedom for citizens around the world. Over the decades the Zoroastrian community in Houston has worked to sustain this great tradition,” notes the proclamation.

As explained on the official website of the city of Houston, "Proclamations will be issued for civic celebrations; organizations and individuals; significant events; significant anniversaries of major Houston-based institutions and corporations; significant birthdays; fund-raisers benefiting the citizens of Houston; retirements; and individuals who have made a significant contribution to society.” In the past, two Zarathushtis from Houston who had been honored with a proclamation were novelist Bapsi Sidhwa and the late Adil Godiwalla, a founder member of the Zoroastrian Association of Houston (ZAH) who had dedicated 35 years of service to the city of Houston, developing street and bridge designs and airport engineering. "But Dasturji was the first from our Zarathushti community outside Houston and outside USA to be so honored and we are certainly very proud of that,” mentions former ZAH executive board member Rustom Engineer.
ZAH hosted "a high priest for the first time in its history,” announced the September issue of Manashni, the monthly ZAH newsletter, ahead of the event preparing to give him "our Texas style warm southern welcome.” The evening function commenced with Dastoor and his wife Havovi being given a quick tour of the Zarathushti Heritage and Cultural Center (ZHCC) by ZAH chair Aderbad Tamboli. This was followed by an informal meet-and-greet session with light refreshments shared by over 150 attendees. The main program commenced with a benediction by Dastoor and ZAH’s two youngest priests, Ervads Yazad Sidhwa and Neville Kanga after which the proclamation in Dastoor’s honor was presented by council member Mike Laster.
In his Power Point presentation Dastoor referred to the history of the Iranshah and efforts made to protect the sanctity of the sacred fire. He further alluded to the progress made in Udvada and the plans to improve its infrastructure following the support and encouragement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote it as a pilgrim center. Dinner that night was hosted by Aderbad and Sanober Tamboli at their home. After spending the night at Rustom and Yasmin Engineer’s residence, the next morning Dastoor visited Feroze and Shernaz Bhandara who have pledged to donate an atash kadeh to the community in Houston. Lunch at Ervad Khushrav and Manek Nariman’s home gave an opportunity to Dastoor to interact with nearly a dozen priests including four young navars. Dastoor even offered suggestions on the operation of their atash kadeh project that has completed the lengthy design process and is being submitted for approval to the city of Houston. They hope to complete it in 2018.
On August 14, 2016 over 200 members of the Houston community gathered to attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Phase 3A of ZHCC that includes the 1,680 sq ft Purvez Rustomji Room and a 1,000 sq ft classroom. The Purvez Rustomji Room will be a multimedia plus multipurpose room with state of the art audiovisual equipment and conference facilities while the classroom will accommodate the Sunday School middle group. The facility is expected to be ready in six months.
"Thirteen Houston mobeds kicked off the festivities with traditional prayers followed by the ceremonial digging with silver shovels,” noted a report by ZAH secretary Percy Master who is also the secretary of the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America. Aban and Purvez’s son Arish Rustomji was the first to dig into the ground. Subsequently Aban, daughter Nerina and the Rustomji grandchildren scooped the earth, followed by other children from the middle group. A small packet containing traditional items including shavings of silver and gold were then buried on the site. Principal donor Aban thanked the volunteers, mobeds and all who participated in the function. Her late husband Purvez was remembered as "a ZAH stalwart whose perseverance of a home for ZAH had resulted in the ZHCC being built in 1997.” The gathering then partook of a traditional lunch of dhan-dar and kolmi no patio with sev and dahi hosted by ZAH.