Mickie Sorabjee, a regular reader and friend of Parsi Khabar sent us a tip to a great article on Uppercrust.com

How many are privileged to be nurtured by Yogacharya B.K.S.Iyengar himself? To be simultaneously blessed by Sri Aurbindo and Mother of Pondicherry? To inherit the legal virtuosity of father Behram Palkhiwala and Uncle Nani? Meet Jehangir Palkhiwala, an astounding individual, who chose and carved his own path through time and is an enlightened soul. His journey of yoga commenced during his formative years at the correct age of seven. While his mother tenderly coached him in yoga daily, Jehangir played truant from class if the asanas were difficult. Yet, he was a rather favoured student of Yogacharya B.K.S.Iyengar. Affectionately calling his teacher ‘uncle’, he would sit around on his lap and play. Yogacharya B.K.S.Iyengar, considered the benchmark of a strong teacher, evokes awe in Jehangir even today. Whilst cultivating yoga in her three sons, Adil, Feroze and Jehangir, their mother also instilled a belief in the Mother of Pondicherry in him. If as a child, he suffered toothache or a bad dream, his mother’s strong belief led her to give him the offerings of the Mother of Pondicherry in the form of rose petals and his pain would just ease away. His dimension of spiritualism and healing are a result of his strong connections with Sri Aurobindo, his faith in the Mother and the imbedded character of yoga.

Continue reading the entire article at UpperCrust.com

Mumbai’s Kyra Shroff will be India’s lone campaigner at the Junior Wimbledon this year. Hoping to make it to the girls’ singles main draw, Kyra is currently playing at a Grade One event in Roehampton. The qualifying rounds for Wimbledon that begin on Thursday will feature Kyra. However, if she enters the semifinal of the ongoing ITF tournament in Roehampton, she might be exempted from playing the qualifying rounds and may walk straight into the main draw.

“Reference books and encyclopedias act as the thermostat of a nation’s culture.”
In the commemoration of Dr Gholam Hossein Mosaheb, founder of the modern encyclopedia of Iran, Kamran Fani, permanent member of the Persian Language and Literature Cultural Centre of Iran, called encyclopedia as the thermostat of a nation’s culture, and in this respect, said: “Every society has questions and searches for their answers. A society that does not have any question is a dead society. People search for answers to their questions in encyclopedia.”
In the 30th death anniversary of Dr Mosaheb, held in the Cultural Personalities and Literary Works Society, Fani spoke of his own experience of referring repeatedly to Mosaheb’s encyclopedia in all these years, in his encyclopedia writing efforts, and said: “The weight that Mosaheb’s encyclopedia carries, is a sign of the credibility and value of his work.”
According to Fani, it is true that encyclopedia writing has a very old history in our culture but the new method started with the encyclopedia of Mosaheb. We still use the method of Mosaheb in our work. In this respect, Fani explained: “This encyclopedia owes its credibility to Dr Mosaheb personally, because he was a mathematician and a logician. Knowledge of mathematics gave him accuracy and organization in his work. He had a very strong personality and was a perseverant scientist, and these specialties helped him to have a scientific management on encyclopedia writing and managed group work in a unique manner.
In compiling this collection, Dr Mosaheb took help from all the scientists and scholars of his time, a few of which are Dr Abbas Zaryabkhoi, Dr Gholam Hossein Zarinkoub, Ehsan yarshater and Dr Mehdi Mohaghegh. This book has a strong and simple language. One of the innovations in his encyclopedia is calligraphy.
Mosaheb innovated a new method in composing lexicography.
In the commemoration of Dr Gholam Hossein Mohaghegh, Dr Mehdi Mohaghegh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cultural Personalities and Literary Works Society, said: “Modern encyclopedia writing, with new lexicography methodology, started in Iran with Dr Mosaheb and there is no doubt that the merit of this new method in Iran goes to him.”
Mohaghegh continued: “Great mean like Mosaheb do not need to be given such commemoration ceremonies because they live forever with their literary works and their honourable lives. But our country needs to keep these features alive for the young generation so that they take example of these personalities and benefit from their services to the Iranian nation.
Mosaheb was the innovator of coinage of words for scientific terms.
In this work he is considered as first class innovator in our country. Mosaheb held the first conference on verbiculture for geography science and many of the geographic and weather cast terms that we use today were innovated by him. On the other hand, Mosaheb is also the innovator of mathematics verbiculture in Iran.”
Dr Taher Ghassemi Honari, professor of Teachers Training University and a pupil of Dr Mosaheb, also gave a speech, in which he said: “Mosaheb was a genius who mastered many fields. His writing style is an example of accuracy and objective orientation, in which the grammar rules were fully considered.”
Dr Mosaheb was born in 1289 (1910) in a learned family. His first book was printed in 1309 (1930). Dr Mosaheb received his PhD in Mathematical Analysis from Cambridge University, England.
The first concise and complete book on mathematics in Iran was written by Mosaheb. Before him, the books on mathematics were either taken from foreign sources or were collection of the same books.
Mosaheb founded the “Mathematics Institute” because he realized that the problem of mathematics in Iran was that we did not have teachers in Iran with the new mathematics knowledge and whatever was taught was from mathematics of the 19th century.
In conclusion, Taraneh Mosaheb, Dr Mosaheb’s daughter, gave a short speech in which she thanked Dr Mohaghegh and members of the board of Directors of the Cultural Personalities and Literary Works Society and all professors in the commemoration ceremony, on her family’s behalf.

In the end-of-year celebration of Parvaresh Kindergarten Esfandiar Ekhtiari, the Zoroastrian MP, said: “Parents are always worried about the education of their children and this worry increases when their children have to give the university entrance exams.”
He added: “With respect to the importance of modern education in the kindergartens, the role of parents should not be overshadowed. It is important to know our role in the training of our children. It is the right of our children to want to progress, and this is not difficult.”
Rostam Khosraviani, Director of Tehran Zoroastrian Anjuman, said: “We did our best to hold this celebration with the least delay, and for this sake we had to choose Friday for this occasion.”
Mahvash Rostami, Principal of Parvaresh Kindergarten, said: “This year, for the first time, the end-of year celebration of our kindergarten is being held in the morning, and the reason is to not allow a gap to fall in the efforts and thrill of the children for this celebration.”
She added: “This is the 24th such celebration of the preparatory class of Parvaresh Kindergarten and half the expenses for holding it has been borne by the parents.”
She informed that parents should take note of the advertisement put up in Zoroastrian locations and encourage their children to participate in educational and scientific competitions and by sending their drawings, handwork and written articles, help them to learn more.”
This celebration was held at 10 am, on Friday, 5 Tir (26 June 2009) in Marker, Tehran Pars. Prayers, hymns, declama, play and music were parts of the program.
Bahram Parvaresh Kindergarten is active since 1364 (1985) under direct management of Tehran Zoroastrian Anjuman and supervision of the Welfare Organization of Iran.

APPEAL FOR DONATIONS MANCHERJI JOSHI MEMORIAL EDUCATION FUND

c/o. Mrs. Zareen Jimmy Engineer 623, Marker Mansion, Lady Jehangir Road, Parsi Colony, Dadar, Mumbai-400 014.

Our Fund was established in 1969; has made steady progress. Our financial year ended 31.3.2009. Educational Aid Disbursed was Rs. 18,00,900/- to 698 students (Last year Rs. 13,90,000/- to 593 students) who are poor and deserving boys and girls of the Parsi community from Mumbai, Surat, Navsari, Pune and other parts of India.

Our establishment expenses are kept to the bare minimum of Rs. 22,529 (Last year Rs. 22,731) for inevitable expenses which works out to 1.37% (Last year 1.40%) of our total income of Rs. 16,39,028 (Last year Rs. 16,22,287).

Our Fund was able to disburse higher quantum of Educational Aid solely due to receipt of general donation of Rs.7,91,503.

Our Fund has received Corpus Donation of Rs. 4.67 lakhs compared to last year Rs. 12.94 I akhs. This Corpus Donation is invested in approved securities and only the income derived from such investments are to utilized for giving Education Aid.

On our Investment of Rs. 94,24,490 interest received was Rs. 8,43,475/-. Last year on investment of Rs. 89,69;683/ interest received was Rs. 7,05,907.

We firmly believe that educating our young people is the most essential factor in the progress of our community. We, therefore, count upon our generous donors to give us substantial general or corpus donations that will enable us to grant maximum amount of Educational Aid to poor. and deserving students to meet the ever increasing cost of education.

Kindly draw your cheques in favour of Mancherji Joshi Memorial Education Fund & forward them to the above address.

All donations will be promptly acknowledged.

Mrs. Zareen J. Engineer Grand daughter of The Late Mancherji Joshi, Founder to Parsi Colony, Dadar. ….. Ms. Katy R. Bharucha Barrister-at- Law,

TRUSTEES AND JT. HON. SECRETARIES.

Greetings Fellow Zarthusti’s,
I have created a few Maps on Google.

I need help from our brethren in verifying the information and location. Please send me the corrections and ideas on how to enhance it.

Please link to my Website – www.homilimbu.com/Parsi.htm

1. All 9 Atash Behrams in the World

2. Zoroastrian Places of Worship/ Imp places in the World (Like Prayer Halls, Agiyaris, etc.)

3. Agiyaris in India (With GPS downloads)

4. Agiyaris in Mumbai (With GPS downloads)

5. Important Zoroastrian Places in Mumbai – Like Parsi baug, Hospitals, etc. (With GPS downloads)

6. Zoroastrian / Parsi Statues (Coming Soon)

7. Zoroastrian / Parsi Sanatoriums (Coming Soon)

8. Irani Restaurants in Mumbai (Work in Progress)

9. Shehanshi Calendar on Google

Have a great day and look forward to you visiting our website.

Regards,
Homi & Diane Limbuwala
254-445-4381 (Hm)
254-413-6814 (Mob)

homilimbu@hotmail.com
www.homilimbu.com, www.DLimeRanch.com
www.linkedin.com/in/homilimbuwala

Following the banning of Zoroastrians from entering Monavar Abadian Sports Hall by Ministry of Education, Tehran Zoroastrian Anjuman decided to close the doors of this Hall until they come to an agreement with Ministry of Education.
In the meeting of 1 Tir (22 June 2009) Kamran Goshtasbi proposed that since the Ministry of Education is not ready to give back this hall to Zoroastrians, one week is granted to them as deadline, and if by then no answer is received regarding the daily use of this hall by Tehran Zoroastrian Anjuman , a legal complaint is filed.
But after further discussions, it was decided that the Zoroastrian Anjuman, being the owner of the Hall, can close the Hall and prevent entrance. Then, if anyone has complain, they can file their complain.

On occasion of the days when Zoroastrians pay pilgrimage to Pire Sabz, this ancient meeting point of Zoroastrians, the Zoroastrians living abroad also gathered to have a day together, with the memory of Chak Chaku and Iran.
Following the call of California Zoroastrian Anjuman, Zoroastrians of this state got together, on 13 June (23 Khordad) in the Pasadina Mountains, in memory of Pire Sabz.

This ceremony was welcomed by many Zoroastrians and was held with great joy and excitement. The participants first gathered in the Loma Alto Park and after having lunch together, at one joint table, walked to the mountain and on the way played the tambourine, and sang the song “O Pire Sabz chak Chaku” and other Zoroastrian songs, until they reached the beautiful waterfall.

After a short rest at the foot of the waterfall, the participants lit candles and agarbatti, recited parts of the Avesta together, and sang and danced for an hour or so. Everybody offered each other the ‘moshkel asan’ nuts, fruit and sweets.

And, then, all went back to the foot of the mountain towards the Loma Alto Park, where they were entertained with ‘ash’ (traditional stew) and ‘sirog’ (fried bread), which was prepared by California Zoroastrian Anjuman, with the assistance of Farideh and Faranak Gheibi and Mahnaz Ormazdi.

This joy, enthusiasm and unity among Zoroastrians shows that though we are far away from our land and our holy shrines, but their warmth and memory will stay deep in our hearts, forever.

It is interesting to note that in this symbolic movement the presence of the youth and the adolescents was considerable.

The days, Ashtadizad upto Anaromizad (24-28 Khordad of the solar calendar) are the Pire Sabz pilgrimage days. On these days, following the ancient tradition of our ancestors, Zoroastrians gather in this pure and sacred place and join hands in praising God, the creator of life and wisdom, and create joyful moments for themselves.

this year, the California Zoroastrian Center will celebrate Tirgan in south CA.
The program will be held on Sunday, 5 July, from 10 am, in Mason Park of Irvine.
Because this celebration will coincide with the Gahanbar days, the Meydiomshaham Chareh of Gahanbar will also be prayed on that day.
The celebration together with the gahanbar ceremony will last till 4 pm.
In Zoroastrian calendar, each of the 12 months has 30 days and each of these days has a name. When the same name of the day and the name of the month coincide, this day is celebrated.
Based on this calendar, Tir day, is the 13th day of Tir month and is celebrated as Tirgan Day.
The Gahanbar days of Meydiomshaham Chahreh are from Khordad Day upto Day-be-mehr Day, falling on 8th to 12th of Tir month. The Avesta word “Meydiom” means ‘mid’ and the word “shaham” means ‘summer’. Since the big summer consisted of 7 months in the ancient Iranian calendar, therefore, Meydiomshaham Gahambar comes in the middle of summer.
This is the second Gahanbar of the year, which comes 60 days after the first Gahambar.
For participating in the Tirgan festival, you may refer to this guide.

Selected films from the Iranian Zoroastrian Film festival were shown in Australia.
ZNA informs that four films selected from this festival were presented in screen in Sydney Fire temple, on 7 June 2009 (17 Khordad).
The films of this festival were in Farsi language with English footnote.
According to Fereidoon Demehri, focal point of the festival of Iranian and Zoroastrian cultural films, these films are shown with the intention of acquainting Zoroastrians living abroad with religious activities of other countries and increasing the Zoroastrian view horizon regarding the Zoroastrian religion.
On this occasion, in which 70 Zoroastrians resident in Australia had participated, a token of appreciation of Sydney Anjuman was awarded to Fereidoon Demehri by Fariborz Jamshidi, Director of Australia Zoroastrian Anjuman.

I was sitting under the old maple tree of the Fire Temple, the same tree which has been registered as national cultural heritage, and some time back it was suffering from pests, to the extent that it was in danger of being destroyed, and no one thought that this tree would once again start a new life.
In the quiet of the evening, I was waiting to hear the chirping of the parrots which had their nests in this old maple, but the pesticide spraying had made them all flee. I was waiting to see some familiar face, when I luckily met Hushang Nowzari. He also, like the old maple, has undergone hardships, but is as strong and confident as ever.
As he enters the Fire Temple, without waiting to be asked, tells me: “I have renovated this place. Charitable people donate their money to me or to the Anjuman and I start the work . . .” How well he remembered the names: “The funds for renovation of this place was donated by Mehri Nowzari, Kianpour Kiyanian paid for renovation of the Fire room, Faramarzian paid for the hall, the library was renovated by Kaykhosrow Khadiv Parsi, etc., etc.

The engraving of “Good thoughts, good words, good deeds” was funded by Jahangir Kaviani. For renovation of Shahverahramizad, Jamshid Kaviani, Fereidoon Hormozdi and Farrokh Nowzari donated.” Hushang Nowzari, who was member of the Anjuman for three cycles, continued: “Previously, donors would give their money to me directly and I would start renovation. But now I prefer that the funds are deposited to the Anjuman’s account, and I receive money as per the expenditure that I incur.”
I took a look at the marble stones fixed on the walls of the Fire temple and said: “Don’t you think that if these old buildings are renovated in its original traditional style, besides having more harmony, they will have double beauty?” He said: “Yes, you are right. The truth is that in those days no one would think of preserving traditional architecture. It is a few years that the Cultural Heritage Organization has started thinking about this matter. If we also knew about it at that time, we would not have covered the walls with stones but would do the renovation in its original traditional style.” He started talking about his recent projects: “After obtaining the approval of the Anjuman, I started building the toilet service of Pire Vahman Amshaspand, with funds of Bahram Aryanfar. This work took two weeks. You should come and see the improvement in that place.”
I asked him why haven’t the young people, who are educated and qualified in construction matters, cooperated in these projects, and he said: “I think the problem is that this young generation and the experienced members of the Anjuman do not agree to each other’s ideas and want to have the last word. I have always welcomed the abilities of the youth and have worked with Eng Khosrow Shahriyari and Jamshid Kalanpour.
About his future plans, Nowzari said: “The inheritors of the Bakhtiari’s have donated a piece of land to Dowlatkhaneh Fire Temple, which is intended to be added to the Fire Temple, as approved by the Anjuman. The Fire Temple building also needs repair. After that, it is the turn of renovation of the wall of Shahverahramizad. In addition, the terraces of Pire Vahman Amshaspand need renovating, and the Ashtad Izad Pir has a lot of work to be done on it.” He added “What a pity that no one thought about saving the Kerman’s Pire Sabz before it was completely forgotten.”
As we left the Fire Temple, with every step we took he named the donors who had helped him in renovation of different sections of the Fire Temple. In every street that we walked, he showed houses belonging to Zoroastrians and expressed his wish that they should also be renovated. Here, we separated and I was wondering about the vast knowledge he had about the history of the donors and the Zoroastrian places in Kerman.

The research in front of you is the most accurate, up-to-date and scientific document according to the latest archeological, anthropological, historical and scientific discoveries and evidence on the Iranian Dynasties and Monarchs of 8000 Years.

It is a few years that, upon proposal of the Culture Commission of Kerman Zoroastrian Anjuman, education of the ‘Din Dabireh’ script, Shahnameh stories, customs and traditions, and in addition, this year, the history of Zoroastrians, has been added to the religion textbooks of Kerman Zoroastrian students.
Since Khordad (June) is the month for examinations, it is necessary that, as the students reap the results of one year work, we likewise, evaluate the result of adding the above mentioned subjects to the religion classes. The religion classes in Kerman are held every Thursday, from 3 pm, starting with group prayers in front of the ‘Atash Behram’ in the Fire Temple, and ending at 5 pm.
Due to addition of the new subjects to the religion lessons 30 minutes have been added to the timing of the classes. In the beginning, parents were not agreeable to adding 30 minutes to the class timing. But now, after one year has passed, we had a study of the opinions of parents and teachers and came to the conclusion that all are satisfied with its usefulness. One of the teachers says: “The children like these lessons very much and the variety of the subjects does not let boredom come over the children. And not only adds to their general knowledge but also creates pride in their country and religion and also interest in knowing more.”
Another teacher says: “The Shahnameh recitation classes have gone better into the memory of the children because this class is followed by play classes. Therefore, if these lessons are joined with practicals they will give better results.”
It is interesting to note that some of the mothers are worried about their children’s knowledge of Iranian history and customs becoming more than theirs and are proposing to hold such classes for the mothers also, so that their children do not take the lead.
When Bahram Khademi, a third class primary school student, asks his teacher, Niloofar Bakhtiari, to allow him to teach the ‘Dari’ dialect to the students of the religion class, during the few minutes left at the end of the class, I feel deep pride in me, because I know that our children and adolescents are truly trying to guard whatever is left of our country’s ancient culture. Some time ago, when I was teaching Zoroastrian history to the students and was reminding them that just as at present we have lost many of our ancient languages and scripts there is the fear that in future there will be no trace of the Dari language in Kerman, I asked them to create the determination to teach this language to each other and everyone should try to learn it. The result was that most students decided to show more interest to learn Dari.
Once, I spoke in the class about a holy place in Kerman called Pire Sabz which no more exists and only a few of our elders remember this place and said: “To prevent our other ‘Pirs’ from suffering the same fate in Kerman, ask your elders about them and tell each other your findings in the class. The students started telling beautiful stories that they learned from their mothers and grandmothers in the class, and as a result, besides learning more, they created happy moments in the class.
Outside the classes the story is different. One or two of the families say: “The children are constantly asking us about the Dari language and the Pirs (shrines) of Kerman and we do not know what answer to give them How much do you think the subjects on religion had value during our time? It is better to keep to the same religion books.” I showed them the students who were going towards the library in search of history books and said: “Our present religion texts cannot respond to these children’s needs.”
On the other side, the Anjuman members say: We want the children to enjoy their religion classes and I think what joy is more lasting and more beautiful than the joy of learning new subjects?
I was always fearing that our negligence will cause others to know about the value of our rich culture and civilization and exploit them to their advantage and our hands would remain empty. Now that I see the Kermani students are learning subjects over and above the religion subject, with great zeal, I remember the day when we were discussing about Manekji Limji Hatteria. Students who upto that day, would pass by the Anthropology Museum every week, on their way to the religion classes, and would never go inside, now visit the museum with amazing interest to see the sculpture of Manekji and after visiting the museum come out even thirstier than before., “wish we were told before about the knowledge hidden in the museum.”
I feel proud and know that with such children and such faith and efforts, our religion and culture will stay on. It is the duty of our families to decide to try, together with the religion teachers, to make this zeal in our children persistent.

Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour

A Free Eye Check Up will be conducted for all Zoroastrians on Sunday, 21st June 2009 from 10 am onwards in the Community Hall of Salsette Parsi Colony by it’s welfare association SAZCOWAN. The Eye Check up would be absolutely “Free of Cost”

Asia’s Foremost Eye Institute , “The Mehta International Eye Institute” would be invited to have it’s “FREE ADVANCED EYE CAMP” which would be conducted by Dr. Keki R. Mehta, the renowned Surgical Chief and Medical Director of Mehta International Eye Institute and his Team.

Those willing to register for this Free Eye Check up Camp are requested to call or sms on my cell phone number 9821167548 (between 9 am to 5 pm) by or before Friday, 19th June 2009 and provide me with your details. There is no age bar on anyone willing to get his / her eye checked.

Request you to also let your Zoroastrian friends & neighbours know about the same.

Best Regards,

Zubin Sanjana