Monthly Archives: January 2009

Seminar: Divine Message: Journey through Zoroastrian Scriptures

Posted on by Leave a comment

On behalf of the North American Mobed Council (NAMC), it is my distinct pleasure to invite you all for the Annual NAMC Seminar in Houston on Saturday April 11. We want to thank the Zoroastrian Association of Houston for their generous hospitality in inviting us to present this seminar.

The Seminar will be held at the wonderful ZAH Zoroastrian Heritage & Cultural Center (ZHCC) in Houston. The subject matter of the seminar will be: Divine Message: Journey through Zoroastrian Scriptures. Four speakers, including ZAH’s own, Sarosh Manekshaw, will present unique insights into the four pillars of our Religious prayers and inner liturgies. Ervad Brigadier Behram Panthaki will start the Seminar off with the Khordeh Avesta, the commonly known and most widely used universal book of Zarathushti prayers. Ervad Jehan Bagli will follow this with a discourse on Yasna Ceremony, its Theory and practice. Ervad Soli P. Dastur will elucidate the inner liturgy of Visperad Ceremony, especially performed during 6 Gahambar festivals, Now Ruz Day, Navar Ceremony and Geti Kharid Ceremony. Finally, Sarosh Maneckshaw will explain the significance of the text and the Ritual of the highest inner liturgy of Vendidad, the only complete Nask preserved out of the 21 Nasks, supposed to be existing during the Sassanian times. There will be enough time for questions and answers.

We hope that this will be an exciting seminar for all of you. We especially invite Mobeds from all over North America to join us in this worthwhile seminar.

The ZAH has graciously agreed to find Home Stays for all attendees in ZAH member homes for which we are very grateful. ZAH has also arranged to visit MFAH Museum to see their exhibit: Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul on Friday at 4 PM. ZAH has also arranged for all of us to attend their Sunday School Sessions and their Annual ZAH Carnival on Sunday.

The attached Seminar Flyer gives all the details for the seminar.

Love and Tandoorasti, Soli
dastur@comcast.net,

Click here for complete details namc_program_v1_apr09

Courtesy : Behram Pastakia

Mohur Sidhwa

Posted on by Leave a comment

Dear Friends,
mohur-sidhwa
As Zoroasatrians we should feel very proud that one of our own young ladies, Mohur Sidhwa (daughter of Bapsi Sidhwa) has be elected Vice-Chair of the Democratic Party of Arizona State. In the attached photo, she is with the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano.

Please join me in congratulating Mohur and I hope Mohur will keep us
informed of her activities.

Well-done Mohur and thank you for taking the Zoroastrian spirit further into
the US. Let us know of your work and your aspirations.

With my warmest greetings,

Dr. Zareen Karani Araoz, President
Managing Across Cultures
zareen@managingcultures.com

Posted on by 2 comments

Parsi Avaz Online

www.parsiavaz. com

You can download the Parsi Avaz Quarterly Periodical from here and also ask questions on our religion through the site.  We will try and answer them directly to the sender and also put chosen questions and replies on the site for general information.

Regards,
Percy Shroff

 

IVth Coming Together Roundtable

Posted on by Leave a comment

1-ctr_logo

 

IVth COMING TOGETHER ROUNDTABLE

by Roshan Rivetna

What is The Coming Together Roundtable?

With migrations from the Indian subcontinent and Iran, mostly in the last half century, Zarathushtis are now a “Community Without Borders” spread all over the globe. Never before has there been a greater need to keep these pockets of Zarathushtis connected with each other and with the mother countries.  The Coming Together Roundtable (CTR) provides such a forum — to bring together Zarathushtis from around the world for information sharing, dialogue and action on matters of global import.  The format of the Roundtable is open and free flowing. There is no protocol, no hierarchy, and no authority.  It is a forum for any persons, especially those in leadership positions, to come together and work together for the growth and welfare of our Community. The basis for the CTR is firmly embedded in the concept of “Hamazor” – it is said that “Dialogue brings minds together and action brings hearts together.”

 

The CTR is a legacy of the Eighth World Zoroastrian Congress.  Becoming aware of the need for our Community to Come Together the organizers of that Congress, in London in 2005, enabled holding of the first CTR.   Since then, two succeeding ones have been held, in Mumbai in January 2007 and January 2008, at the Athornan Madressa in Dadar.

 

Click here to read the Article on the The IVth Roundtable ..  ctr_houston-31dec09_article 

  

2-ctrtablehead

CTR Tablehead – FEZANA President Bomi Patel, Firdosh Mehta, Rohinton Rivetna and Behram Pastakia

 3-ctrparticipantsleft

CTR Participants Left:  Parviz Varjavand, MP Dr. Esfandiar Ekhtiyari, Fariborz Rahnamoon, Khodayar Attaie, Natalie and Rusi Gandhi.  Back Jamshid Dindar and Mobed Mehraban Firouzgary.

  4-ctralayarekhtiya16de6b  

CTR- Alayar Dabestani, Dr. Ekhtiyari, Rohinton Rivetna

 5-ctr-pherozekharas16e2b6  

CRT – Pheroze Kharas, Kersi Limathwalla, Percy Master

 6-ctrgroupatzhcc 

Fourth Coming Together Roundtable at the  Dar-e-Mehr and Cultural Center
in Houston  –  31st December 2008 – CTR – Group at ZHCC

Left to Right: Front row: Firdosh Mehta (Dallas); Minoo Shroff (India);  Jamshid Dindar (Iran); Rohinton Rivetna (Chicago); Natalie Vania (New York). Back Row: Rustom Engineer(Houston); Behram Pastakia (Washington DC); Dr. Esfandiar Ekhtiyari (Iran); Mobed Mehraban Firouzgary (Iran); Khodayar Attaie (Iran); Rusi Gandhi (New York).

7-ctr-pastakiafirou16e2ab

Left to Right: CTR- Behram Pastakia, Mobed Mehraban Firouzgary (Iran); Khodayar Attaie (Iran); Jamshid Dindar (Iran)

 

 

Rustom Tirandaz, R.I.P.

Posted on by 5 comments

Rustom Tirandaz, R.I.P.

The late Rustom Tirandaz, on the day he won the BPP election (October 2008), elated and determined to forge ahead…

[Rustom+Tirandaz.jpg]

On Republic Day (January 26), when one was at the lovely, lively annual concert of the Activity High School at Peddar Road, vivaciously put together by Principal Perin Bagli and her talented young students, in the crowd there was a lovable lion-in-winter, with his snowy beard and benign smile, Rustom Tirandaz, enjoying the foot-tapping dances with wife Armaity.

The next morning (January 27), he was summoned to a destination so far away that we’ve lost him forever. Rustomji surely had no idea on that Monday evening that these were the last few hours of his life – and neither did we, because we put off the urge to walk across during intermission to say hello, keeping it for another time. Alas!    ……More

Read more

Gala W.Z.O. Awards Evening

Posted on by Leave a comment

 

Gala W.Z.O. (India) Awards Evening with a variety Entertainment Programme on Friday 6th. February 2009 at Albless Baug, New Charni Road, Mumbai,  from 5.45 p.m.onwards.

WZO India will felicitate several Zoroastrians who have achieved something significant in their lives and / or contributed in some measure to the welfare of the Zoroastrian community.

Click here for more details wzo-award-evening_6feb2009

Zarathushtis in New York raise funds for Cancer Care

Posted on by Leave a comment

 

REVLON RUN/WALK EVENT — Saturday, May 2nd, 2009

– Categories: Events, News, Special Announcements, ZAGNY
The Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York will once again participate in the 12th Annual Revlon Run/Walk for Women in the fight to help eradicate women’s cancers.  Over the past several years, with the participation of ZAGNY members, their families and friends, we have raised thousands of dollars for this very worthy cause. Once again, we will be participating as a “TEAM” for this event. Our ZAGNY team No. 1109 has been activated and you can go ahead and register yourself.
 
To register, please log onto https://www.revlonrunwalk.com/ny and click Register – Register online, on the tool bar to the left of the page. Please fill out the form, step by step and as you get to the bottom of the page, make sure you enter our team=2 0no. 1109 to ensure that you are registered under our ZAGNY team. Our team name is Zoroastrian Association of Greater NY. The Registration fee is $30 which includes your registration fee, a t-shirt, and a gift bag.
If you have any questions, please call team captain
Sheroo Kanga at 609-448-0192 or email at kangavs@yahoo.com.
 
We hope to see many of you there. Let us raise even more funds this year for this very worthy cause. Join us and walk amongst thousands united by the power of the human spirit.

 

Courtesy : Behram Pastakia

« Older Entries