Some Gyaan abt Parsis....?????

[Bikash Mohanti]

 
No Indian community internalized the civilizing mission of the British as did the Parsis. Only 50,000 remain in Bombay today, mainly in South Bombay, the most disciplined and cultured part of India .

In South Bombay, the cutting of lanes by drivers is punished, jumping a red light is impossible, parking is possible onln allotted areas, roads are clean, service is efficient, the restaurants are unmatched - civilization seems within reach. South Bombay has some of the finest buildings in India, many of them built by Parsis.
 
The Parsis came to Bombay after Surat's port silted over in the 17th century. Gerald Aungier settled Bombay and gave Parsis land for their Tower of Silence on Malabar Hill in 1672. The Parsis made millions through the early and mid-1800s and they spent much of it on public good.

The Ambanis built Dhirubhai Ambani International School , where fees are Rs. 348,000 (US $8,000 a year in a country where per capita income is $ 600 per year) and where the head girl is Mukesh Ambani's daughter.!!!

The Kingfisher Mallyas gilded the insides of the Tirupati temple with gold.

Lakshmi Mittal, the fourth richest man in the world says he's too young to think of charity!! ... He's 57 and worth $45 billion. 

The Birla Family built 3 temples in Hyderabad , Jaipur and Delhi .

Hindu philanthropy means building temples. They do not understand social philanthropy.

The Hindus' lack of enthusiasm for philanthropy is cultural. The Hindu cosmos is Hobbesian and the devotee's relationship with God is transactional. God must be petitioned and placated to swing the universe's blessings towards you and away from someone else. They believe that society has no role in your advancement and there is no reason to give back to it because it hasn't given you anything in the first place. Two centuries of British education was unable to alter this.
 
The Parsis, on the other hand, understood that philanthropy - love of mankind - recognizes that we cannot progress alone. That there is such a thing as the common good. They spent as no Indian community had ever before, on building institutions, making them stand out in a culture whose talent lies in renaming things other people built. 

The Parsis built libraries all over India , they built the National Gallery of Art. TheIndian Institute of Science was built in 1911 by Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata, theTata Institute of Fundamental Research was built by Dr Homi Bhabha, the Tata Institute of Social Science was built in 1936 by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. The Wadias built hospitals, women's colleges and the five great low-income Parsi colonies of Bombay . JJ Hospital and Grant Medical College were founded by Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy. 

By 1924, two out of five Indians - whether Hindu, Muslim or Parsi - joining the Indian Civil Services were on TATA scholarships.

They gave Bombay the Jehangir Art Gallery, Sir JJ School of Art , theTaraporevala Aquarium. The National Center for Performing Arts, the only place in India where world-class classical concerts are held is a gift of the Tatas.There are 161 Friends of the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) -www.soimumbai.in <http://www.soimumbai.in/> .92 of them are Parsis. For an annual fee of Rs 10,000, Friends of the SOI get two tickets to any one recital in the season, they get to shake hands with artistes after the concert and they get to attend music appreciation talks through the year.

The Parsi dominates high culture in Bombay. This means that a concert experience in the city is unlike that in any other part of India . Classical concerts seat as many as two thousand. Zubin Mehta, the most famous Parsi in the world, is Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra since 1969. He conducts the tenor Placido Domingo, the pianist Daniel Barenboim and the soprano Barbara Frittoli. Four concerts are held at the Jamshed Bhabha Opera House and then one at Brabourne Stadium with a capacity of 25,000.

No other city in India has this appetite for classical music and in Bombaythis comes from the Parsis. Despite their tiny population, the Parsi presence in a concert hall is above 50 per cent. And they all come. Gorgeous Parsi girls in formal clothes - saris, gowns - children, men and the old. Many have to be helped to their seats. Most of them know the music.

The people who clap between movements, thinking that the 'song' is over, are mostly non-Parsis.

 

Symphony Orchestra of India concerts begin at 7 pm. Once the musicians start, latecomers must wait outside till the movement ends. The end of each movement also signals a fusillade of coughs and groans, held back by doddering Parsis too polite to make a sound while Mendelssohn is being played. No mobile phone ever goes off as is common in cinema halls: his neighbors are aware of the Parsi's insistence of form and his temper. The Parsis were also pioneers of Bombay's Gujarati theatre, which remains the most popular form of live entertainment inBombay. Any week of the year will see at least a half dozen bedroom comedies, murder mysteries, love stories and plays on assorted themes on stage.

The Parsis were the pioneers of this, writing and acting in the first plays ofBombay. They also built the institutions that supported this. Bombay 's first theatre was opened by Parsis in 1846, the Grant Road Theatre, donations fromJamshetjee Jejeebhoy andFramjee cowasjee making it possible.
 
Want to add about the generosity about Ratan Tata who did so much about the staff of Taj Hotel during the terrorist attack in Mumbai. Not only that but he also set up camps for all the other victims and their families who suffered during the attack at Bori Bunder.

The Parsi in Bollywood caricature is a comic figure, but always honest, and innocent as Indians believe Parsis generally to be, rightly or wrongly. In the days before modern cars came to India the words 'Parsi-owned' were guaranteed to ensure that a second-hand car listed for sale would get picked up ahead of any others. This is because people are aware of how carefully the Parsi keeps his things. His understanding and enthusiasm of the mechanical separates him from the rest. Most of the automobile magazines in India are owned and edited by Parsis.

The Parsis are a dying community and this means that more Parsis die each year than are born (Symphony concert-goers can also discern the disappearing Parsi from the rising numbers of those who clap between movements).

As the Parsis leave, South Bombay will become like the rest of Bombay - brutish, undisciplined and filthy.

Preserve this race...You are privileged if you have a Parsi as your friend...He/She is indeed a "Heritage" to be treasured for ever. 

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[Vikram Datar]

Bikas,

I could.nt agree with you more.

Have you ever seen a Parsi begging?

Parsis are very generous towards their community, and why not. there is the Parsi General Hospital where charges are very reasonable, and if a Parsi is unable to pay the Bill they are not thrown out, the community takes over. Have you ever seen any other community in India do this. Not to my knowledge.

Vikram

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[Vijai Kumar]

Dear Bikash and Vikram 

Salutations and millions of Pranam to Parsis. 

BTW, B batch of AFMC can take some pride and consolation. However, small and insignificant it may be, we have contributed to an organization headed by a Parsi. I am referring to our contribution of solar lighting to Naz's organization. Nothing to crow about, but nevertheless, worth a mention in dispatches!! 

Proud to be a B batcher 

Vijai 

Vijai Kumar, MD

Excel Life Sciences, Inc

+1 9195978040

[Bikash Mohanti]

While most surnames in India reflect caste and lineage, the Parsis had a delightfully modern streak - having landed without caste, history and context, they created identities through professions and urban streets.

Our family moved to Bombay (now Mumbai) from Rawalpindi in 1947. We came as refugees but the family soon settled and by 1953 my father had restarted playing golf at the Willingdon Club. I was eight years old and would walk 18 holes with him every Saturday and Sunday. The three Parsi gentlemen who made up his regular four-ball were uncles Poonawala, Coorlawala and Colabawala. Very soon they had rechristened my father Pindiwala, though he is a Sardar. Uncle Colabawala did not live in Colaba but in a penthouse on Malabar Hill. May be his ancestors had lived in Colaba. I used to spend hours searching the telephone directory to find Parsi surnames and building up stories around their families.

There was prohibition in Bombay those days. So to get liquor you had to find Mr. Dalal, who would introduce you to Mr. Daruwala, who in turn would get bottles delivered to your home by Mr. Batliwala who would be accompanied by Mr. Sodawaterbottleopenerwalla (the longest Parsi surname I have come across).

Other surnames whose ancestors were in the beverages trade were Mr. Fountainwala, Mr. Ginwala, Mr Rumwala, Mr. Sodawala and Mr. Jhunjhunwala.

We used to have two delightful Siamese kittens in our flat and these were gifted to my mother by her friend Mrs. Billimoria. My mother spent hours knitting cardigans for them, with wool she bought from the Unwala family.

My uncle ran the air force canteen in Cotton Green and his partner, yes you guessed it, was Mr. Canteenwala. They had this fantastic cook, Mr. Bhajiwala. Their mild and meek manager, Mr. Jeejeebhoy, nodded his head and agreed with everything everybody said.

My grandfather was the Sheriff of Bombay. I think the first and only Sikh to hold this position. Being Sheriff it was only natural that he had Mr. Bandookwala and Mr. Golimarwala as his constant companions.

Grandfather had many Parsi friends who were in politics. There was this squeaky clean khadi-clad Mr. Ghandy, and the not so clean Mr. Kalaghandy - who was invariably being hounded by Mr Kotwal. But he never left home without his friends Mr. Barrister, Mr. Vakil, Mr. Lawyer and their munshi Mr. Mehnty.

My grandfather built Hotel Waldorf on Arthur Bunder Road in Colaba. So for this he naturally used the services of Mr. Contactor and Mr. Mistry. He never went to the conservative moneylenders when short of money, but borrowed it from his Parsi friend Mr. Readymoney.

Our neighbour and family physician was Dr. Adi Doctor - he was only half a doctor. He lived with his in laws Mr and Mrs. Pochkhanawala. My sister swears they ate only poached eggs for breakfast.

I remember going to Dr. Doctor’s sister’s wedding. She married Mr. Screwala. What he did for a living, I do not know to this day. If you are in Mumbai maybe you can track him down in the yellow or pink pages.

[Jayashri Sharma]

Dear All B bacthers!  Are we having the 3rd Saturday of February21 Zoom meeting this weekend?? Will we be given the link for it so we can adjust our time accordingly!

Jay

Sent from my iPhone

On Aug 29, 2013, at 12:14 PM, Bikash Mohanti <bikash...@gmail.com> wrote: