First navjote at Centre

Ten-year-old Cyrus Hoffman and his seven-year-old sister Sanaya’s navjotes on January 4, 2018 were the first to be performed at the newly opened Asha Vahishta, The Zoroastrian Centre in Poona (see "An open house,” Parsiana, January 7, 2018).The children’s mother, interior designer Shireen (née Dumri) is a Parsi, and is married to Cameron, a town planner and environmentalist.

Speaking to Parsiana on January 10, Roshni Dumri, the children’s grandmother said that "it was my son-in-law who wanted the children to be Zoroastrians.” The navjote was performed by Ervads Khushroo and Fali Madon. "It was a beautiful ceremony,” Dumri said. Having heard about the Centre on December 26, 2017 through a newspaper report, the Australia based Dumris and the Hoffmans, who had previously decided to have a private ceremony at a friend’s home, "booked all the four rooms available in the Centre” for their stay. "The (stay) facilities were basic... Everything was new... The caretaker Behram Unwalla took good care of us,” said Dumri adding, "While we honor our dasturs, we should change with the times.” Speaking to Parsiana on January 14, Shireen mentioned how "delighted” she was about the children’s navjote. She called Asha Vahishta " a pioneering step.”
The Hoffmans have lived in Brisbane for 24 years, reported The Hindu (TH) on January 6, 2018. "I am a Zoroastrian... My husband, too, has interest in my religion, and he has done a lot of research on it. We have raised our children as Zoroastrians,” Shireen told the newspaper. Glad that the Centre is acting as a "torchbearer,” Shireen was quoted in the report that "getting rid of the discrimination is extremely important...We didn’t even know that we were going to be the first family to have the ceremony (at the Centre). But we are so glad we did,” Shireen told the newspaper.
Vispy Wadia, founder member of the Association for Revival of Zoroastrianism under which the Centre is built told TH that "holding the ceremony in a religious place definitely adds value to it.” There are other navjotes planned between now and March this year, but exact dates are being firmed up, he told Parsiana on January 10.