Author Archives: yazdi

Damanwalla Charitable Dispensary – Appeal for Donations

Posted on by One comment

SETH M.C. DAMANWALLA CHARITABLE DISPENSARY

Dr. Dadabhai Naoroji Road,  Udwada 396180

APPEAL FOR DONATIONS 

The Seth M C Damanwalla Charitable Dispensary was established in the year 1867 by Udwada Samast Anjuman, and has,  ever since its inception, served the Medical needs of Parsi and non Parsi residents of Udwada and surrounding villages. The Dispensary is only one of its kind In the area meeting the Medical needs of poor residents from the voluntary donations received by the dispensary.

Some of the services rendered by the dispensary are enumerated below:

  • Free medical treatment including medicines, to all Parsi residents as well as Parsi visitors to Udwada
  • Monthly quota of medicines delivered to Resident Parsi patients at their door step as prescribed by Doctors /Specialists for persistent/ chronic ailments.
  • Reimbursement of other actual Medical expenses incurred by Parsi patients, such as consultations of Specialists, Pathological tests and other medical investigations / treatment as may be prescribed by Doctors/ Consultants.
  • Totally subsidized medical treatment to all non Parsi patients, including medicines at reasonable rates
  • The Dispensary also gives free treatment/medicines/medical aid to needy & deserving non Parsi patients

We have enlisted the services of a full time Resident Doctor, who has been allotted a welt furnished bungalow adjacent to the Dispensary Building with amenities like free electricity, gas, water, telephone, TV, Refrigerator etc. besides a handsome monthly salary and other allowances, such as home visit fees etc. We are happy to inform that Dr. Mrs. Shirin P. Shroff is a Resident Medical Officer of our dispensary,

You will appreciate that all the above functions entail a heavy drain on the funds of the Dispensary, necessitating the need tor donations from kind Donors like you. Your donation could be forwarded by Cross & Order Cheque to the following address in the name of SETH M C DAMANWALLA CHARITABLE DISPENSARY for which an official receipt will be issued with 80 G – lT Exemption Certificate. Due to heavy price escalation in medicines, medical, equipments etc., we appeal you to donate generously for the noble cause.

Yours truly

ZARIR M. DASTUR  (PRESIDENT) Mob,: 09825424251

KERSASP B. SIDHWA (SECRETARY)  Mob. 9099790259

52nd Session, Commission for Social Development – 11 – 21 February 2014

Posted on by Leave a comment
The Commission for Social Development (CSocD) will meet at UN Headquarters in New York under the priority theme is “Promoting empowerment of people in achieving poverty eradication, social integration and full employment and decent work for all”.  This year will be devoted to the policy segment of the cycle.
NGOs in General and Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC interested in issuing written statements should email them to ngo@un.org.
Best Regards,
Civil Society and Outreach Unit (CSOU)
Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD)
Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA)
Secretariat Building, United Nations Headquarters, 29th Floor
New York, NY 10017
Website: http://social.un.org | http://www.unsdn.org
Email: ngo@un.org
Courtesy : Behram Pastakia

A New Account

Posted on by Leave a comment

Sorabji N. Pochkhanawala, and his wild ambition

In 1910, a young Parsi assistant accountant with the Bank of India in Bombay had the far-fetched idea that he could set up a bank of his own. When news of this alarmingly ambitious enterprise reached his Manager, H.P. Stringfellow, he sent for the young man seeking confirmation of such vaulting intent. At first, Stringfellow regarded it as a ‘huge joke’ but when he realised that the young man was serious, gravely advised him to abandon his scheme of a bank promoted and managed by Indians. Stringfellow was concerned about the young man’s career. The young man had served the bank well and since no other Indian had attained the status he had, Stringfellow told him that he would be foolish to throw it all away in the search of a chimera. He asked him to ponder his advice and reconsider his decision. But the young man had already made up his mind and told his manager, ‘Sir, I have made up my mind. I resign the bank’s service. One day, my bank will be bigger than yours.’ In this seemingly precipitate manner was the decision taken from which a premier banking institution in the country was born. The young man: Sorabji N. Pochkhanawala. The bank: The Central Bank of India. Sorabji nurtured Stringfellow’s ‘huge joke’ into a living reality and if his manager was amused, it was Sorabji who laughed all the way to his ‘own’ bank.

Click Here to read more about this interesting story

Click Here for one more excerpt in Live MInt

Introducing the launch of Eat In Style by Feritta

Posted on by Leave a comment
Some of you know Feritta as the recording artist and singer, well in addition to her singing talents this enterprising Zoroastrian has also recently launched a YouTube page and Facebook page to give us a look at the delicious recipes of her upcoming cookbook ‘Eat In Style by Feritta’.  The Facebook pages features recipes from the cookbook, gorgeous food pics and tips on making entertaining a breeze.  Her Youtube page features cooking demonstrations of a variety of cuisines with a new video each month.  
 
For those who want to hear her music:
Please join and subscribe to her pages and support our talented Feritta.

 

Parsis in the Californian Gold Rush

Posted on by Leave a comment

 

Did you know?
 
Historical records indicate that the Zoroastrian presence in America dates back to the 1860s: during California’s Gold Rush, one of the prospectors was a Zoroastrian named  Cawasji Zaveri; in 1865, New York’s Evening Post published a letter protesting slavery  from a Zoroastrian named Dosabhai Faramji Cama. Other early Zoroastrians include Pestonji Framji Daver, a Parsi who came to San Francisco in 1892, and the first recorded Irani Zoroastrian,Rostam Kermani, who settled in the United States in 1926. It is believed that the first North American Zoroastrian Association was formed in 1929, when  a group of seven Zoroastriansin the New York area gathered in one Phiroze Saklatwala’s living room on November 10, 1929.

Courtesy : Rusi Sorabji

 

Selfless Service Circle – Appeal for the year

Posted on by Leave a comment

SELFLESS SERVICE CIRCLE (SSC)

APPEAL FOR THE YEAR

2013-14

The Members of the “Selfless Service Circle” intend to conduct a sale of NEW & OLD HOUSEHOLD

• To help poor parsi patients in the free wards of the B.D.Petit Parsi General Hospital, Masina Hospital &

• To help educate poor parsi Students

on Sat 9h Nov 13,

at

209 Dr. D. N. Road, G/Flr, Mumbai 400001,

from 10.00 AM to 3.30 PM.

Please be kind enough to send us any NEW or OLD Household Articles and clothes (only, saris, shirts & salwar khameez), in good condition, at any of the addresses given below.

You could also help the cause, by becoming members of the “Selfless Service Circle” at an Annual Subscription of Rs 600, and/or give a Donation by cash or cheque, drawn in favour of the “Selfless Service Thanking you & looking forward to your support.

Clipboard01

SELFLESS SERVICE CIRCLE

Our Aim: To help Poor parsi patients and students who are unable to help themselves & increase the funds established by our forefathers for various parsi Charitable Institutions.

The following are the donations from 2000 onwards

Date Institution Rupees

16-02-2000 BPP for Doongerwadi 207275

31-01-2001 BD Petit Parsee General Hospital ( Free Ward) 168342

04-03-2002 Gift Scholarship for 4 students 100000

05-03-2003 BD Petit Parsee General Hospital ( Free Ward) 180000

17-03-2003 Sir JJ PB Institute (For Parsi Students) 10000

12-03-2004 Gift Scholarship for 5 students 120000

17-08-2004 Sir JJ PB Institute (For Parsi Students of Gujarat managed Schools) 15000

20-01-2005 The BD Petit Parsee General Hospital ( Free Ward) 300000

13-04-2005 Sir JJ Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 100000

09-04-2005 Masina Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 100000

14-06-2005 Sir JJ PB Institute (For Parsi Students) 20000

12-03-2007 Masina Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 150000

27-03-2007 The BD Petit Parsee General Hospital ( Free Ward) 300000

29-03-2007 Sir JJ Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 150000

08-04-2007 Masina Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 150000

13-08-2007 Ms Jessica Avari (Designing Course-Computer) 20000

13-02-2008 Jimmy Gonda (Nautical Science -Tolani Maritime Institute) 40000

07-04-2008 The BD Petit Parsee General Hospital ( Free Ward) 350000

15-04-2008 Sir JJ Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 150000

08-04-2008 Sir JJ PB Institute (For Parsi Students) 20000

24-03-2009 Sir JJ PB Institute (For Parsi Students) 25000

25-03-2009 The BD Petit Parsee General Hospital ( Free Ward) 200000

31-03-2009 Masina Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 100000

31-03-2009 Sir JJ Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 100000

25-03-2010 Sir JJ PB Institute (For Parsi Students) 25000

27-03-2010 The BD Petit Parsee General Hospital ( Free Ward) 200000

25-03-2010 Masina Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 100000

25-03-2010 Sir JJ Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 100000

24-07-2010 Nazneen Irani (for education) 4815

23-03-2011 The BD Petit Parsee General Hospital ( Free Ward) 250000

24-03-2011 Masina Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 150000

24-03-2011 Sir JJ Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 150000

24-03-2011 Sir JJ PB Institute (For Parsi Students) 25000

24-03-2011 Mancherji E Joshi Memorial Trust 25000

22-3-2012 The BD Petit Parsee General Hospital ( Free Ward) 300000

22-3-2012 Masina Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 165000

22-3-2012 Sir JJ Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 165000

22-3-2012 Sir JJ PB Institute (For Parsi Students) 35000

22-3-2012 Mancherji E Joshi Memorial Trust (for feeding senior citizens ) 35000

30-3-2013 The BD Petit Parsee General Hospital ( Free Ward) 300000

30-3-2013 Masina Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 175000

30-3-2013 Sir JJ Hospital ( Parsee Free Ward) 175000

30-3-2013 Sir JJ PB Institute (For Parsi Students) 40000

30-3-2013 Mancherji E Joshi Memorial Trust (for feeding senior citizens ) 40000

Old charm in new colours

Posted on by Leave a comment

Two structures that have been part of Mumbai for about a hundred years, get a cheerful facelift and a thumbs-up from Unesco

A number of cameras have been clicking the Marzban Parsi colony in Agripada and the Royal Bombay Yacht Club in Apollo Bunder after the two restored structures were given UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage awards recently. The Mumbai buildings were among 10 names chosen out of 47 entries from 16 countries. The recognition intends to encourage heritage conservation, a cause that is often overlooked in the region.

The win is the third in two years for Vikas Dilawari, the conservation architect who led the restoration. The repairs were done over a period of three years each and without inflated budgets. The Royal Bombay Yacht Club was repaired for about Rs 4 crore, while the 10,920-square feet Wadia Building, the most dilapidated structure in Lal Chimney Compound, was fixed for Rs 800 per square foot. The others were refurbished for Rs 200-300 per square foot. Dilawari says the efforts paid off as the property managers agreed with his ideas. “There are people with money, but what we need are supportive patrons,” he says.

Marzban colony near Nair Hospital is a set of five low-rise buildings. It is also called Lal Chimney Compound supposedly because a red chimney once stood in the area. Around it are tall and drab commercial or residential structures. Now painted a fun shade of yellow and capped by tiled roofs, the colony stands out pleasantly like pastries in a cold grey refrigerator. Its origin dates back to the late 19th century and it is named after Muncherji Marzban, an executive engineer at the Bombay Municipal Corporation who promoted housing for the poor. It acts as a specimen of community housing, a fast-dwindling concept.

Click Here for the full story

Inter-religious programme on October 2

Posted on by Leave a comment

Zoroastrian scholar and Buddhist scholar Kabraji Kersee and Bhante Anuruddho will speak at an inter-religious programme: ‘Religion and Faith’, which is being organized by the Diocese of Poona on October 2.

Scholars from different religions will speak on the necessity of faith in all walks of life and its relationship with religion.

The programme has been organized as part of the ‘Year of Faith’ announced by the Pope for the entire Catholic church in the world.

Click Here for the press report

 

Website helps trace ‘missing’ Parsis

Posted on by Leave a comment

TheMissingParsi.com

The website, started by  Ader Gandi and Yazdi Tantra, reunite members of the Parsi community. “The idea struck me when I started getting requests from people asking about fellow Parsis they wanted to get in touch with.

Unlike social networking sites that have billions of profiles and hundreds of people with the same name, finding a Parsi friend or a cousin is much easier on the website, as it’s exclusively for the community,” said Gandi.

The portal that started in October 2005, initially received a lukewarm response. However, the traffic on the site picked up in the past six months and now sees at least 10 posts per day. “Almost 50 per cent of the cases are solved through some connection or the other. You may not remember what the person looks like or their full name, yet the website allows you to post other details that can help people locate them,” Tantra says.

Click Here for more

« Older Entries Recent Entries »