Author Archives: yazdi

20130310 All NA Z Tele Class 12 – Cyrus Cylinder

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North American Zoroastrian Religious Tele – Class  – Sunday March 10th 2013 11 AM EDST

Background, History and content of Cyrus Cylinder and its Universal Appeal in present day!

Ervad Soli P. Dastur

            A Zoroastrian Religion Class was held by Telephone on March 10th 2013 by Jo Ann Dastur & Ervad Soli P. Dastur from their home, Hira Villa, in       Sarasota,          Florida.

There were about 33 callers with multiple people listening together in some homes by calling a Tele-meeting phone number. The people were from both Canada and USA, from NY to Dallas and Los Angeles, Montreal to Miami. The class material was a PowerPoint Presentation sent ahead of time to all participants in PDF format.

In this class, by popular demand starting with Behram Pastakia’s suggestion, we covered in details the ancient Iranian history and culture surrounding the Cylinder of Cyrus the Great! Read more

Keeping the fire alive in Chennai

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Pearl (name changed) is married to a non-Parsi, as a result of which her child has not been baptised as Parsi. This is the case of several Parsi women married to non-Parsis in the city. This could be a reason to worry since there is already a fear that the community may become extinct in the coming centuries.

There are about 120 Parsi families in the city and like in other cities across India, they are a miniscule segment.

However, in Chennai, there is just one Fire Temple for the families that reside here. Dinyar, (name changed), who is married to a non-Parsi, explains, “Not being accepted in the community is a misnomer. My wife is a non-Parsi and it is entirely up to me to decide if I have to raise my children as  Parsi or not. Similarly it is up to a Parsi woman married outside the community to decide the same. She can choose to take the child to Surat or any other place where the Fire Temple permits conducting baptism ceremonies, in such cases. Here we have just one Fire Temple, may be there will be another one in 10 years down the line and that will allow the practice,” he says.

Click Here for the full story

Tata Steel & Wipro in the World’s Most Ethical Companies

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Ethisphere is proud to announce the 2013 World’s Most Ethical Companies. This year’s winners represent the companies that truly go beyond making statements about doing business “ethically” and translate those words into action. This year’s WME honorees gathered from around the world on March 5-6 at the Global Ethics Summit in New York City. At a special gala dinner, Ethisphere announced the 2013 World’s Most Ethical Companies.

Two companies from India have made it to the list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies – Wipro and Tata Steel.

Click Here for the full list

The making of the first documentary on the Dadar Parsi Colony

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Ronny Uncle has made it to the star credits of a 15-minute documentary, the first to trace the 92-year-old story of Dadar Parsi Colony, directed by Anand Kulkarni. The young filmmaker along with his production partner, Tejas Shah, plans to release it on March 21 which the community celebrates as Navroze or new year.
When the 250-building colony was conceived, it had no fence, just a simple rule — no building could stand higher than two storeys. 
It’s this very oasis that the residents are battling to save. The residents’ association has opposed the BMC’s plan to build a concrete-granite gazebo inside a children’s park, which they believe will reduce the Grade II B heritage garden’s size and mar the greenery.
Click Here for the full story, with interesting snippets !

 

TCS adds over $1-billion in brand value

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Tata Consultancy Services announced on Monday that it has added $1,179 million in brand value over 2012, growing by 28.9 per cent annually to reach the $-5 billion brand value mark.

It also retained its position among the ‘Big 4’ most valuable IT services brand worldwide — in the ranking carried out by Brand Finance.

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FEZANA Academic Scholarships for 2013

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FEZANA Academic Scholarships for 2013

FEZANA Colleagues

Please find the announcement and application form for 2013 FEZANA Academic Scholarships Program.

The Scholarship Announcement: http://fezana.org/node/294

The Scholarship 2013 Form:
http://fezana.org/files/drupalfiles/FEZANA_Scholarship_2013_Application.pdf

Please publish this in your newsletters & encourage your members to apply.

Best Wishes
Dolly Dastoor, Ph.D
Chair, FEZANA Academic Scholarship Program

FEZANA Scholarship 2013 Application

Zoroastrian Calendar

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Zoroastrian Calendar is also commonly known as The Zarathushtrian Calendar. Ancient Zoroastrians observed a 360 days Calendar of 12 months with each month comprising of 30 days. The months were named after seasonal festivals but the days of each month were merely numbered from one to thirty. In the middle of the fifth century BCE, during theAchaemenian era, a distinctive 360 days Calendar was created. Each day (Roj) of the twelve months was assigned. However, the Egyptians of that era had a Calendar based upon a 365 days solar cycle. In 46 CE the Romans adopted the Egyptian Calendar but the Persians kept on following the 360 days Calendar until the middle of the third century CE.

Click Here for this unique Calendar Site which has the Shehenshahi, Kadmi and Fasli Calendars, Conversions, Mobile Apps for Blackberry, Android, iOS, Windows and Symbian, and much more. Thank you Arzan Lali for this wonderful resource.

 

 

Mistry honored with one of literature’s top prizes

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The annual Neustadt Festival of International Literature and Culture closed with an evening banquet featuring literature, Indian culture and impromptu song Friday evening on the University of Oklahoma campus.

Honoring Indian-Canadian novelist Rohinton Mistry, the banquet finale was the presentation of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, a $50,000 prize awarded by an international jury and funded by the University of Oklahoma, the Neustadt family and World Literature Today magazine.

“I have looked at the names of Neustadt Laureates, judges and nominees from years past and I’m not convinced … I’m not convinced that I belong among them, but the esteemed 2012 jurors have made their choice, and who am I to argue with them,” Misty said, joking during his acceptance remarks.

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The NowRuz Project – for children starting from elementary school

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NOWRUZ PROJECT OVERVIEW

In 2009 PAAIA helped draft and build bipartisan support for the Nowruz Resolution, which passed both chambers of Congress in March 2010. Building on that theme, PAAIA has developed a set of resources aimed at elementary school children.
Nowruz is a happy and joyous celebration in our heritage. PAAIA urges Iranian American parents to reach out to elementary schools and ascertain their interest in learning more about Iran and Nowruz. In a simple way, you will be helping build our presence and image in the communities in which you live and in the next generation of Iranian Americans and Americans, alike.
“The story of the Nowruz Project is rather simple. When my older son was in kindergarten, we were discussing holidays as part of his classroom work one day. I realized that, though the teacher covered Christmas and the Jewish Holidays, there really was no mention or knowledge of Nowruz.  For the next five years, I would compile a variety of materials, including Haftseen items, pictures of Iran, Persian music and sweets, and a variety of crafts and take them to my son’s school to educate the teachers, students, and parents. These ‘show and tell’ events were a huge success, both for the attendees and my son, who beamed from ear to ear. By fifth grade every single student in his class knew exactly what Nowruz was and how we celebrated it.  I repeated the same process with my younger son’s class, again to much enthusiasm. It was during that time that I realized that there were many other Iranian American families similarly anxious to share our culture and heritage with their children, their teachers, and classmates. As no such resources were readily available, PAAIA agreed to assist in developing and making such materials available to the Iranian American community. And this is how the Nowruz Project was born.”  – Saghi Modjtabai, Executive Director

Presentation & Activities

Our PDF Nowruz Presentation provides an overview of Iran, including its location, geography, and people. It also provides information on Iranian language and religion. Additionally, it includes numerous pages on Nowruz, including materials on Charshanbeh Soori, the Haft Seen, and Sizdeh Bedar. This presentation can be provided to students as a handout or displayed on an overhead projector.
Additional activity pages that are aimed to further enhance a child’s understanding and retention of the information about Nowruz below:
Reviews

Jimmy Mistry at TED

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Jimmy Mistry is the driving force behind Della Tecnica Group, India’s only integrated turnkey solutions provider in architecture, interior design and real estate development. A mechanical engineer and an autodidact, Jimmy’s belief is simple: every project in each of these three verticals must be treated uniquely. The absence of any formal indoctrination allows him to do justice to this belief. Result? From master planning & mass housing projects to large scale architectural projects; shopping malls to TV studios; yacht design to retail design & hospitality design, all with a unique signature.

A string of awards and recognitions validate this versatility and ability to create unique concepts. Jimmy Mistry. Self-taught, one of a kind artist committed to one-of-a-kind creations.

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