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A Look at Contemporary
Parsi Life
Photographs by Sue Darlow
 Ervad Jimmy Pheroze Panthaky reciting prayers at
the entrance to an agiary
(Zoroastrian fire temple) in Navsari, 2002.  Vada Dastur (High Priest) Khurshed Dastoor, before his
elevation to High Priest,
with
his young daughter and behind him his late father, the previous Vada
Dastur Kekobad Dastoor. Udwada 1999
 Visitors to Udvada, on the coast of Gujarat, where
the holiest fire temple of India, the Iranshah Atash Behram is
located. The original settlers
are thought to have arrived by sea from Persia, making their home
along the Gujarat coastline. 1999  Miss Sheroo Bhadha winding a kusti (a sacred
thread worn as a girdle) which she spins and weaves for a
livelihood. Only members of
priestly families are entitled to weave kustis, which are worn by
all observant Zoroastrians. The
yarn is spun by hand and woven on a loom, using 72 threads of fine
lamb's wool, which symbolise the
72 verses of the Yasna, the Book of Worship. Udvada 1999
An abandoned and dilapidated Parsi house in Udvada,
Gujarat, a place of
pilgrimage due to the presence of the holiest fire temple in all
India, the Iranshah Atash Behram. 2002  Young boys at the Dadar Athornan Madressa,
a boarding school where boys from
the priestly class receive regular education and also undergo years of instruction before being
initiated into the Zoroastrian priesthood. Mumbai, 1999.
 Muktad prayers, invoking the names of the dearly
departed, being offered by a priest at the Jhansi Parsi cemetery.
While the Dokhmenashini system
for disposal of the dead prevails in Bombay and other larger centres
of the Parsi population (a system
whereby the corpse is laid open to the elements in a special
consecrated walled structure called a Dhakma), in the smaller pockets where these
facilities are not available, burial or cremation is the usual
method. 1999.
 Women at the Parsi cemetery in Jhansi, during the
annual muktad (prayers for the remembrance of the dead). 1999
 A small prayer corner in a Parsi home.
In addition to popular images of
the prophet Zoroaster, an oil lamp, and flowers, you can often find images of deities and saints of
other religions. Mumbai, 2004. 
Ava Mah AvaRroj,
the day when Zoroastrians remember and revere water.
Early morning prayers on the
steps of the Gateway of India. Mumbai 2002. 
At an evening communal prayer meeting at the
Radioclub on Ava Mah Ava Roj, Mumbai, 2003  Sheroo Khorey feeding stray dogs in the street
near her home in Dadar Parsi Colony, Mumbai, 1999. 
Staircase at the Asiatic Library in Mumbai, with a
marble statue of Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, first Indian Baronet (1783 - 1859). Jamsetjee was the
leading entrepreneur and philanthropist of his time. 1999.
 Mrs Silloo Billimoria at home, beneath a portrait
of her late father Sir Ardeshir Dalal (1884-1949). Sir Arsheshir's career included the post of
Municipal Commissioner of Bombay, Director of the Tata Iron and Steel Co, and Member of the
Viceroy's Executive Council in charge of Planning and Development.
Mumbai, 1999.
 Relatives and friends visiting a patient in the BD
Petit Parsi General Hospital, Mumbai. This hospital is for the exclusive use of Parsis.
Although Parsis are famed for looking after their own,
and give generously to communal
charities, they have also donated generously to public works,
founding schools, hospitals,
civic works, and all manner of charities as well. 2002
 The late Jimmy Bharucha, horsemaster, dog trainer
and ballroom dance instructor, Mumbai 2002. Mr Bharucha was active right up until the year of
his death at the age of 85, instructing apprentice jockeys from the saddle in
the cool, small hours of the morning  Keki Sidhwa, ND, DO, eminent Natural Hygienist, on
his annual visit home to Mumbai. He has practised Natural Hygiene and fasted
patients in the UK for over 45 years. 2002  Mrs Frene J Desai (left), resident of the Bai
Maneckbai P. B. Jeejeebhoy Senior Citizen's Centre in Navsari,
at the dining table while a staff
member looks on. Hailing
from Surat and Bulsar originally, Frene spent five years living in the UK where she
worked in a Marks and Spencer store. 2002.  Jangoo and Yasmin Mehta at home in Singapore,
2004. There has been a steady
trickle of emigration from India to Singapore in the past few years
among the professional classes. worked for many years for a well-known oil company, and
is now retired.
 Roshan and Norshir Mistri at home in Singapore,
2004. Norshir's uncle
Navroji R. Mistri arrived in Singapore in 1909 and built up a very
successful business. In
recognition of Navroji's philanthropic services to the people of
Singapore, the City Council named Mistri Road after him.
Jimmy Kasad with his son Hushrav, Navsari,
2002. Jimmy works for the
well known firm Price Waterhouse Coopers in Mumbai, doing a weekly commute and spending his weekends
at home with his family in Navsari. He is in the minority, having resisted the trend
for young people in the smaller towns and cities to move completely to Mumbai and beyond in search of
better prospects.
 Young Zoroastrians taking part in a meeting to
discuss the Fourth World Zoroastrian Youth Congress, Melbourne,
Australia, 2004.
 Farzana, who lives in Perth, Australia, and who
has come on holiday to stay with relatives in Mumbai, 2002.
 Pesi Pestonji, retired train driver, at home in
Jhansi. Pesi is one of a
diminishing Parsi population in such mofussil towns as Jhansi.
1999. 
Gustad and Mani Buhariwala at
their traditional style home in Navsari, 2002  Freny and Philly Boyce at Freny's parental home in
Mumbai, 2002.  Rohinton Bhura getting ready for work while his
grandmother reads the newspaper, Ava Baug Parsi Colony,
Navsari, 2002  Perviz Buhariwala feeding leftover chapatis to a
passing cow outside her front door, Navsari, 2002.
 Mr and Mrs Boyce at home one hot afternoon in Jhansi,
1999.
In the home of Rohinton Davierwala
(not in the photo, the gentleman present is a visitor),
Sanjan, Gujarat, 2002.
Both
Davierwala's aged mother (right) and mother-in-law (left) live
with him and his wife,
and a number of
adivasi women are employed in the home.
Relatives getting
prepared before the navjote (Zoroastrian initiation
ceremony) of two young boys of the family. Saher Agiary,
Mumbai, 2002.
 In preparation for a navjote ceremony and
reception at Saher Agiary. The
navjote is the Zoroastrian initiation ceremony, when a
child, usually at the age of seven or nine,
is formally invested with the
sudrah (sacred vest) and the kusti (sacred girdle).
Mumbai, 2002
 Zaal Khariwala just before his navjote. His
family live in Melbourne, Australia and they have come
to Mumbai specifically to have
their two boys' navjote performed. On the right can be seen the ses, the silver
platter on which all the ceremonial paraphernalia for
the ceremony is placed. 2002.  Gulnaz Dick during the aderni ceremony, four days
before the marriage ceremony, when the women of the bridegroom's family go to
the house of the bride with clothes, gifts and other
ceremonial offerings. Mumbai, 1998
 Celebrating a navjote, Saher Agiary, Mumbai 2002.
The Zoroastrian religion is
essentially a happy one, with the emphasis on upright
living, hard work, enjoyment and charity to those less
fortunate. Austerity and
renunciation are not encouraged. The credo 'Humata, Hukhta, Havarshta' (Good
Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds) sums up the attitude
to life.
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