Where have the old Parsi garas gone, with their bewitching stitches and magnificence?

How does one describe the sheer perfection of Parsi gara embroidery in which birds take wing with the delicacy of a Japanese Haiku, weeping willows, tendrils and cranes twist and bend with infinite grace and fields studded with ros es and peonies, jasmine and chrysanthemums “glow in splendour like a brilliant piece of paradise” as Kalidasa described beauty in another time and another place? Within their folds the Parsi gara (as the sari is known), jhabla or jackets and kor or borders carry not just aesthetic images and cameos ‘painted with a needle’ but tales and legends, myths and journeys of the Parsis, even the mystery of the Khakha or “forbidden stitch”, an embroidery stitch of such complexity that, according to legend, its execution can make the practitioner go blind!

Through its varied motifs, gara embroidery unfolds fascinating tales of a community, its aesthetics and lifestyle. Parsi embroidery is a unique part of the country’s diverse textile heritage. It is also in crisis today as the magnificent gara has been slowly fading away in the post-Independence era, keeping pace with the rapid decline of the Parsi population itself. The reason could range from migration of young Parsis, loosening of tradition, dearth of craftsperson, changing lifestyles and the very relevance of the gara itself.

The jhablas and ijors or pantaloons have disappeared while the kor and gara are increasingly seen only at antique sari exhibitions, almost like a curiosity from the past. Is this legacy of Parsi lifestyle becoming an endangered craft species doomed to disappear like the Chinese pherias or embroidery craftspersons who first gave it life, and also taught Parsi ladies?

Retracing origin

Although Parsi embroidery traces its origins to Bronze Age Persia, the gara itself is not more than 150 years old. Its concepts and symbolism, which lay in the Zoroastrian psyche coupled with an innate sense of aesthetics, were translated into embroidery on sari and apparel by Chinese master embroiderers. In the 19th and early 20th centuries there was brisk trade between Parsis of Western India and China.

Parsi men travelling to China would place orders for embroidered garas for their womenfolk with Chinese embroiderers who would travel to India to deliver the garments. The interaction led to a crossover vocabulary of motifs and symbols. Garas were India’s first “fashion sari” in which “Anglicised” Parsi ladies stepped out to meet British memsahibs. Soon the gara became a must at all Navjots and a part of every Parsi girl’s trousseau, as well as a badge of Parsi identity.

The original gara had silk floss embroidery in white and occasionally in pastel shades on sal gajji silk, which was generally purple, red and black in colour. The embroidery was delicate and colour nuanced; often as many as 20-30 shades of a single colour thread were used to express one flower! The stitches were satin stitch with variations of extended, bound, voided and embossed as well as French knots. The Gujarat mochi stitch and zardosi from the Deccan were also incorporated while ari is now being used. A gara can take up to a year to create with many embroiderers working on one frame. Each is a “specialist” in one motif, which could be floral, a butterfly, bird …

However the symbols and motifs of each gara tell a story. The fleeing Parsis brought Persian symbols like the cypress tree, chakla chakli or contradictory birds, represented with delicacy. The Zoroastrian culture’s reverence for nature represented by trees and flowers, plant and fish life, the divine fungus, the bird of paradise and 30 flowers representing as many angels are other significant motifs while the lotus and peacock brings the fragrance of the Indian soil in which Parsi culture blossomed. While the Raj flavour incorporated floral baskets, the Chinese pheria stitched in vignettes of Chinese court life, beautiful gardens and flowers such as peony, rose, chrysanthemum… Some or all these motifs fill up a typical gara or jhabla with an overriding feel of harmony, richness, grandeur and delicacy.

Disappearance

Where have all the old garas gone, with their bewitching stitches and matchless magnificence? According to Chennai-based Bela Mistry Khaleeli, heir to some captivating garas and jhablas, they are cared for like heirloom jewellery, wrapped in layers of tissue and muslin amid neem and sandalwood. Her family has garas dating back to five generations. However, despite the care, garas are beginning to disintegrate, especially the fabric around the embroidery, leaving the motif intact. And these precious bits led revivalist Najur Davar of Mumbai to recreate old garas in the 1980s. Fantastically reproduced on chamois satin and crêpe, her garas are indistinguishable from the originals. She and a few others single-handedly gave the Parsis their heritage back, in the process making the gara fashion wear for other communities all over India.

The Parzor Foundation has been working, since 1999, with the support of UNESCO and the Government of India to revive the craft. Some breathtaking garas have been reproduced under its aegis. An attempt has also been made to contemporise gara embroidery by creating products like cushion covers, bags, scarves while being sensitive to the original embroidery form.

Today as Parsi garas take their first tentative steps on fashion ramps and the form finds favour with fashion designers, young Parsis are reconnecting with their cultural roots through the ‘new’ garas. And a breed of new designers and entrepreneurs are giving back to the country a precious part of its heritage that it nearly lost.

© Copyright 2000 – 2009 The Hindu

City of Thieves abstract:

Nic Lamparelli works for a leading US investment bank in London. Starting at the bottom, he rises rapidly through the ranks to reach the pinnacle of his profession. Even at the top, he holds true to his principles while those around him abandon theirs. And that’s what makes him special. Soon he has it all: a beautiful girl, a high-flying career, an overpaid City job with a reputation as one of the bank’s star analysts.

Then one day he wakes up to find that things can go wrong – fast.

His closest childhood friend Jack, also a star in the City, uncovers a plot to implicate Nic in an insider trading ring. And that is just the start. Before long, everything Nic has built up starts to crumble to pieces: his relationship, his career, his reputation. But can he hold true to his principles in the face of everything? Or will he succumb to temptation like so many others …?

More about Cyrus from his website

Cyrus Moore is the writing name of Cyrus Mewawalla, who was born in 1966 in Farnborough, England. He was educated at St Mary’s International School, Tokyo and at Dulwich College, London. In 1988, he graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in Economics.

In 2002, after 14 years in the City, he left corporate banking to start a small research house with the objective of providing truly independent investment research, untainted by the conflicts of interest that have so badly tarnished the reputations of rival research analysts within larger investment banks. In 2006, Bloomberg ranked him the number one telecom analyst in the UK.

His first novel, City of Thieves, is a controversial City thriller set in London in the days leading up to the credit crunch. The novel tells the story of one man’s fight to protect his honour in a world where honour holds no value.

Cyrus lives in London with his wife and two children.

Currently the book is available only in the UK.

Justice Nishita Mhatre upheld the order of the charity commissioner, which had denied permission to the Seth Shapurji Sorabji Kappawal Charitable Trust to demolish the agiary annexe building and construct a seven-storey highrise.

The community considers the Kappawala Agiary as very important as the last Zoroastrian saint, Dastur Jamshed Ervad Sohrab Kukadaru (1831-1900), was a priest in this fire temple. The fire in this agiary was consecrated in 1857 (the year of the Sepoy Mutiny) and the magnificent building was built in 1941 when the fire was shifted from Fort to Tardeo. The heritage committee declared the building a Grade II-A protected structure in 2008.

"The agiary has a sacred well and the proposed multi-storeyed building would have come up in close quarters of this sacred space,” said Anahita Desai of the World Alliance for Parsi Irani Zarthostis (WAPIZ), who along with temple trustee Behram Billimoria, spearheaded the opposition to the redevelopment plans. "The sanctity of the holy place would have been compromised. It is the duty of the agiary trustees to protect the temple, and they cannot be seen to allow it to be commercially exploited,” Desai added.

The court order caps a three-year battle to save the agiary land. In 2006, trustee Dara Nicholson sought permission from the charity commissioner to demolish the ground-plus-one-storey agiary annexe building occupied by lone tenant Rohinton Devlaliwala on the grounds that it was dilapidated. Devlaliwala himself won the redevelopment tender by offering to give Rs 60 lakh and a 800 sq-ft flat to the trust. The trust, in return, was to give him development rights of about 5,000 sq ft of the unutilised floor space index (FSI). The charity commissioner rejected the application in 2008 and Nicholson moved court.

In his plea, Nicholson said the building was in a dilapidated condition and posed a danger to the lives of the tenants as well as visitors to the agiary. The court did not agree.

"The charity commissioner’s order, citing structural engineer’s report, says all that the building needs is repairs. Further, any highrise coming up in the precinct of the temple will be a violation of the heritage law,” Desai said.

Born to a Parsee family in Gujarat, Tamboli lost his eyesight when he was a little more than a year, the result of a fall down a flight of stairs. The family moved to Calcutta soon after.

“There was no technology for the visually impaired. I had to depend solely on the Braille, but I knew what I wanted and I never let my blindness get in the way,” says the 67-year-old man, sitting in his flat at the Madan Khorshed Mansion on Lenin Sarani.

He has recently taken up training in Job Access with Speech (JAWS) that reads out whatever is there on computer.

“Visually impaired kids have so many more opportunities today. With new technology they are doing their MBAs and working in corporate houses. It is amazing,” said Tamboli.

He started his education at the Behala Blind School and then shifted to the Narendrapur Blind Boys Academy and was part of the first batch to graduate from the school.

He applied to Presidency College where he got admission to the English department. It was here that his classmates christened him “Dilip”.

“They said that they found the Parsee name difficult and would give me a name that would make me Bengali enough!” Tamboli recalls.

Pursuing English honours was a challenge that Tamboli welcomed. His aides during the three years of graduation were his Braille books, readers and his proficiency in Braille shorthand.

“It was not easy but I was good at Braille short hand and my classmates would come to me to take notes,” says Tamboli.

Tamboli completed his masters in English from Calcutta University while studying law in the evening. Then he taught at Narendrapur Blind Boys Academy and in Narendrapur College.

After three years he applied for a Fulbright Scholarship and went to do a masters in special education in the US.

“I did not have the required five years of teaching experience but they made an exception,” says Tamboli.

After returning from the US in the early Seventies he joined the National Association for the Blind in New Delhi and was appointed principal of the Government School for Blind Boys in Delhi.

In 2001 Tamboli faced another setback when his son died in a car accident. He struggled to cope with the tragedy for some time. He wanted to retire, but next year came the appointment as director of the National Association for the Blind.

“Even after I retired I don’t have a moment to rest,” says Tamboli, who takes classes for MEd students in special education at several universities.

He is looking forward to living with his daughter in Gurgaon.

Original article in the Telegraph

“Don’t publish these figures,” a young Parsi man warned, as SundayET snooped around to gather an estimate of real estate values of some prominent burial sites across the country. “There are land sharks waiting to pounce.”

And here’s why: Located in Malabar Hills, Mumbai, a 55-acre Parsi funeral ground stands a mute spectator to the transition of life into death. At present, the area is valued at around Rs 12,000 crore. And according to Dr Jairaj Thanekar, executive health officer at BMC (Bombay Municipal Council) there are around 140 burial grounds in the city today.

Then close to Delhi’s Fleet Street, a nondescript Muslim burial ground stands hidden from public glare, thankfully. According to the current real estate rates, this 185-acre property is worth Rs 11,000 crore today. And as per a 1970 gazette notification, 488 Muslim graveyards exist in the Capital alone of which 27-28 are still operational.
Similarly, down south, a 200-year-old cemetery in Chennai’s Kilpauk Garden was in the news for not having space to bury the dead. This overcrowded 18-acre burial ground is today worth Rs 500 crore in real estate terms.

And then Kolkata, which arguably is the favourite resting place for Europeans in the country, boasts a decent number of burial grounds. The biggest possibly is the Lower Circular Road Cemetery at 33 acres, the current price of which would be roughly Rs 600 crore.

But at the same time, if one has to compare the sheer size and value of burial grounds in India with that of the ones abroad, one might come back a little dazed. The Arlington National Cemetery, in Arlington, Virginia is a military cemetery in the United States.

Spread over an area of 624 acres it would command a real estate price of around Rs 1.2 lakh crore! Or how about a stroll in the beautiful tree-dotted 27-acre Zoshigaya Cemetery on the Yurakucho Line in Japan whose real estate value would perhaps touch Rs 5,000 crore today. In hindsight, these are grave amounts!

Original article in the Economic Times.

The instructor from Brookhaven College in Farmers Branch will join the Oxford Round Table July 26-31 to discuss reconciling science, humanities and religion.

The Oxford Round Table at the University of Oxford in England is a forum that strives for diversity. Invitees have been presidents, provosts and chancellors of universities. Others have been charter school, business and religious leaders.

Sidhwa said she’s a good fit for the intellectual triage. She sees great art in the skies; she is Zoroastrian, a religion with roots leading back to ancient Persia; and science demands strong analytical skills.

"There is a lot of emphasis in our religion on individual choice and good thinking," Sidhwa said.

Sidhwa was born in Pakistan and is now a naturalized U.S. citizen, who has taught at Brookhaven almost since it opened its doors about 30 years ago.

She is animated about her disciplines and moves easily from Mayan mathematics to Galileo’s use of the telescope some 400 years ago.

"When you look at the sky, you can’t help but be amazed and inspired by everything that is out there," she said. "And so you do get a great sense of the divine."

Original article here.

CHETHALAYAM: In the wilderness, the lone Parsi farmer of the district (may be of the entire state) lives a lonely life. Enjoying the comfort of wilderness that creeps into his farm gradually, Yazedy Palia is a contented man.

Located about 15 km from Sulthan Bathery, the 50-acrefarm looked like an extension of the jungle. Owned by his father R E Palia, Yazedy took over the farm in 1998.

“My grandfather Y R Palia came here in 1920s as part of a medical treatment. He was loosing his eye sight and some of the eminent doctors in Bombay told him to shift to some other places with greenery to bring back his eye sight”, said Palia, the junior.

“My father was a different person. He travelled only by bus. At the age of 16, he came here and lived a very adventurous life. His experiments proved successful and he realised the value of timber led to buying lot of land here”, he said.

Palia junior came here in 1998 when his brother, who was supervising the farm, was shifted to Mysore.

“I follow a farming method of my own without using any pesticides and chemicals and follows the nature’s ways without intervening into the laws of nature,” Palia said.

Why did he turn to biofarming? “All the diseases have their natural enemies in earth. You need only to nurture them. Since 2000, I use only bio-fertilizers like pseudomonas and trichoderma”, he said.

But he gets only a meagre income from the big farm and for a living he entered into spice trade.

“I enjoy every moment I spent here. I want nature to remain pristine. We have spotted deer and many other animals in my holding. Elephant herds raid my farm every day in search of food”, said Palia.

© Copyright 2008 ExpressBuzz

Oxfam Trailwalker is an annual fundraising event organised and promoted by Oxfam New Zealand. The trailwalker challenges teams to walk or run 100kms through Taupo in central New Zealand in 36 hours. That’s not all, teams must also raise funds – a minimum of $2000 to help support Oxfam’s work to overcome poverty and injustice in the worlds poorest communities.

This year, Trailwalker had a team of Zoroastrian students walking the 100kms. SoupA Stars, a team of friends consisting of Perzen, Kashmira, Nazneen and Xerxes joined the event in the hope that all the training would make them ‘fit’. They also wanted to give something back to the community. “We took part in this because our funds were not merely going to be given to the poor. Instead, Oxfam helps develop sustainable business within a village and actually lifts them out of poverty” says Perzen.

The event is all about teamwork and the right mental attitude. Members have to train together, fundraise together as well as start and finish the race together. It therefore requires great mental strength as members must not only push their bodies beyond its limit but also encourage the team to do the same and not fall apart under pressure

The walk was very tough on all four of the members who were suffering from lack of sleep, sore knees and ankles, blistered feet and fatigue. But, they finished it in 33 hours and 47 minutes. It was a commendable effort on all the team members and especially Xerxes who is only 16 and was the youngest participant on Trailwalker. The support crew consisting of the participants parents’, Shahrukh, Farzana and Niki deserve a special thank you for all their efforts as the team could not have finished the walk without them. “They met us at every checkpoint with food, drink, foot massages, medication, hugs and most importantly moral support and have also helped us through the whole fundraising process” says Kashmira

We would also like to thank everyone who has donated to our team and supported us at every fundraising activity. Walking 100kms showed us that we truly are SoupA Stars. Unleash the SoupA Star within you and help us create an environment where the under privileged can help themselves.

As the vultures in the sky are increasingly missing, the government and non-government agencies and organizations in India have come forward to bring back the scavenging birds. Scientists and environmentalists apprehend that after Pakistan and Nepal, the vulture population in India has declined by more than 97 percent in the last few years.

There were about 40 million vultures in the early ’80s in India, but a survey conducted by Bombay Natural History Society in 2007 revealed that there remained nearly 11,000 white-backed vultures, 1,000 slender-billed vultures and 44,000 long-billed vultures in the country, said Dr. Vibhu Prakash, the principal scientist for the vulture conservation breeding program at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in Mumbai.

Statistics reveal that India has nine species of vultures in the wild, including the Oriental White-backed Vulture, Long-Billed Vulture, Slender-Billed Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Red-Headed Vulture, Indian Griffon Vulture, Himalayan Griffon, Cinereous Vulture, and Bearded Vulture.

Among them, the white-backed, long-billed, and slender-billed vultures are recognized as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Moreover, they are listed as Schedule I species in the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which is applicable to the tiger and one-horned rhino also.

Rapid urbanization, destruction of habitat (primarily the loss of high-rise trees, where the vultures go for nesting) and many other modern-day factors (for example, the rampant use of pesticides like DDT, hitting airplanes or other moving objects in the sky, electric power lines, and even deliberate poisoning in some cases) have caused the declination of the vulture population in South and Southeast Asia.

In fact, the vultures were almost wiped out from Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Singapore by the 1990s. Now the countries like Pakistan, Nepal, and India are losing their vulture population drastically.

Vultures normally do not hunt living animals (in rare cases, the birds may kill the wounded or sick), but depend on carcasses of livestock and wildlife for their primary food. The scavenging birds that way help in keeping the environment clean. Unlike dogs or crows, vultures eat the flesh of carcasses completely and cleanly. The birds thus prevent the spreading of some severe diseases like rabies and anthrax among wildlife, livestock and also humans.

Livestock Drug May Be Responsible for Population Decline

A mature vulture may weigh up to 10 kg (22 pounds) and needs almost half-a-kg (about a pound) of meat every day. The most common theory concerning the decline of the vulture population is that vultures die of eating toxic meat with a high percentage of diclofenac residue.

Diclofenac is a commonly used veterinary drug, which is an anti-inflammatory and has the quality of relieving pain. It is cheap and can be used for treating cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats.

Scientists suspect that diclofenac remains active for a longer period in the carcasses of those treated animals, which finally affects the vultures as they consume the meat. The drugs reportedly cause dehydration of the vultures and soon they die of visceral gout and even kidney failure.

Dr. Prakash, who serves as the deputy director of the BNHS, claims that there is very strong evidence suggesting that diclofenac was the cause of the mortality of vultures. “We found that over 75 percent of vultures that were discovered dead or died of visceral gout had diclofenac in their tissues,” he asserted.

The BNHS started launching a rigorous campaign against diclofenac in 2003. India introduced the drugs in 1993. Following the BNHS initiative and the long-standing demand from environment and animal protection groups, New Delhi banned the manufacture and importation of diclofenac for veterinary purposes in 2006. Later Nepal and Pakistan also banned it.

But even then, there is suspicion that diclofenac made for human needs is being used for veterinary purposes. Hence, the BNHS continues to ask the government to make some warnings against the veterinarian use of human diclofenac.

But not everyone is ready to endorse the vulture-diclofenac theory.

Ajay Poharkar, a veterinary doctor of the Maharashtra animal husbandry department, argues that apart from the analgesic drug diclofenac, malaria is also a major cause of vulture deaths.

“I always thought the diclofenac theory was inadequate. One vulture requires around 500 grams [about a pound] of meat per day. In that case, there should be very little trace of diclofenac in their bodies,” Poharkar said in an interview.

Putting his views in a reputed journal ‘Current Science’ recently, Poharkar cited his experience about working on vultures at Gadchiroli (in Vidarbha near Nagpur of Maharashtra). He argues that the Gadchiroli farmers are too poor to use diclofenac on a mass scale. Rather he and his associates found a malarial parasite in the blood-smear sample of the vulture deaths at Gadchiroli, he claimed.

The outcome was confirmed by the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and the veterinary college in Mumbai.

“It is amazing that the malarial symptoms are quite similar to that caused by diclofenac, like shivering, ruffled feathers, respiratory distress, circling movement of head, greenish watery diarrhea, paralysis, and anemia of the vultures,” Poharkar disclosed.

Captive Breeding Programs

With an aim to preserve the vultures, the BNHS propagated the concept of captive breeding as the only viable option to save the creatures. Dr. Prakash highlighted that considering the fast declination of vultures and also the availability of diclofenac in the markets, the conservation breeding programme appears to be the only way of saving the species.

“By bringing some vultures in captivity, the life of these vultures is saved and once they start breeding, they would augment their population. The vultures will be released back in the wild once we are sure that there is no diclofenac available in system,” he narrated.

The century old BNHS, which is recognized as one of the most reputed wildlife research organisations in South Asia, has already taken initiative for the captive breeding programmes.

With permission from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (GoI) and support from a number of international funding organizations like the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (U.K.), the Zoological Society of London, the Peregrine Fund (U.S.), the BNHS runs three vulture conservation breeding centres at Pinjore of Haryana, Rajabhatkhawa of West Bengal, and Rani of Assam.

Speaking to this writer from Mumbai, a BNHS spokesperson informed that as of two weeks ago, the Pinjore centre has 120 vultures and the Rajabhatkhawa centre has 76 vultures of three species (white-backed, long-billed, and slender-billed vulture). The Rani centre has 33 vultures of two species (white-backed and slender-billed vulture).

“The birds at Pinjore and Rajabhatkhawa were brought from different parts of the country. But those are at Rani are largely from its own state. Of course, 14 slender-billed vultures at Pinjore and 12 slender-billed vultures at Rajabhatkhawa have been brought from Assam. Our objective is to have 50 birds of each of the three species at Pinjore and Rajabhatkhawa and 50 birds each of white-backed and long-billed vulture at Rani,” revealed the official, adding that 75 percent of the vultures are (or will be) collected as nestlings or juveniles and the rest as adults or sub-adults.

Indian states Assam, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Maharahtra have reported on their natural breeding population of vultures. The Union environment ministry has also decided to establish four additional rescue and breeding centres in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Bhubaneshwar (Orissa), and Junagarh (Gujarat) under the supervision of the Central Zoo Authority of India.

It is, however, not only the environmentalists who expressed concern at the declining of vultures from the sky but the Parsi people of India remained equally worried at the development, though for a religious reason.

The Parsis, who fled Persia—present day Iran—centuries back and made India their permanent homeland, practice the religion of Zoroastrianism.

Nearly 100,000 live in major cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata. According to their religious practice, dead bodies cannot be buried or burnt because the corpses could pollute the Panchabhootam (earth, water, air, ether, and fire). Hence their bodies are left in a high-rise ‘Tower of Silence’ to be consumed by the scavengers.

“Unfortunately the vultures have disappeared from our region and a sustained breeding project for vultures has become essential,” said Khojeste P. Mistree of the World Alliance of Parsi and Irani Zoroastrians. Speaking to this writer, Mistree also added, “The vulture happens to have been the first scavenger of the world and hence they should be brought back for a sustained ecological balance.”

How long there were will be enough Parsis around to satisfy the vultures is another question. According to ‘Parsi Khabar,’ a Web site for the Parsi community in India, the Zoroastrian sect’s numbers are diminishing because of self-imposed discouragement of intercommunity marriages, leading to inbreeding.

Many Mumbai Parsis have been pursuing a plan to breed vultures in captivity. However, Minal Shroff, the chairman of the Bombay Parsee Panchayat, which runs the Tower of Silence, said scientists studying the proposal shelved it, saying it would not be possible since vultures appear to be particularly susceptible to diclofenac.

Problems With Captive Breeding

But many do not subscribe the theory of captive breeding of vultures.

Dr. Anil Kumar Chhangani, a wildlife expert from the Department of Zoology at JNV University, Jodhpur, also expressed skepticism at the process of captive vulture breeding as there was no such expertise among Indian organizations.

He cautioned, “Authorities must plan well while selecting the breeding stock for captive breeding. Birds most suitable for the purpose should be selected, rather than systematically collecting chicks from their natural habitat, disturbing natural breeding.”

Anil, who was associated with the IUCN Birds and Mammals Breeding Specialist Group reiterated, “The captive breeding should not be the only way to conserve vultures. Rather a countrywide rescue program for the vultures should be encouraged.”

Similarly, Soumyadeep Datta, an environmental activist of the Northeast argues that the captive breeding of vultures would result in nothing.

“The matured vultures select their partners in the wild for breeding and the birds lay eggs in such a situation, which cannot be arranged in the captivity. Moreover, vultures are monogamous birds and they maintain the loyalty of conjugal lives till deaths. Only one egg is expected from a pair in one season. The caring mother continues its close bond with the baby till the chick attains maturity by five years. For any reason, vultures do not go for mating with other species,” analyzed Datta, who serves as the director of Nature’s Beckon, an Assam-based environmental NGO.

Datta, while talking to this writer, also asserted that the indiscriminate lifting of chicks, as done by the BNHS people in Assam, from the nests would only disrupt the male-female ratio of the vultures. “We suspect that collecting babies from the nests will put negative impact on the sex ratio and finally the population of vulture in our region,” Datta said.

He also claims that unlike the other parts of India, the population of white-backed vulture and long-billed vultures have been stable if not rising in number in the state. The natural breeding process of vultures is continuing in Assam, he claimed.

The members of Nature’s Beckon suspect that the BNHS people have been capturing vulture chicks and adults in Assam since 2005. In the long period, they may have captured nearly 100 adult and semi-adult vultures from the State and most of them were taken to the captive breeding centers of Haryana and West Bengal.

A maximum number of vultures were captured from Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts, where as Goalpara, Dhubri, Lakhimpur, Sibsagar, and Jorhat districts of Assam were also targeted by the BNHS people. Those captured vultures were first brought to Guwahati by road and then flown to New Delhi and once again taken road to arrive at Pinjore. On the other hand, trapped vultures were taken to Rajabhatkhoa completely by road from the place of capture.

“As per the law, while capturing wildlife from their natural habitat for the purpose of scientific studies, the State forest department should be involved and the forest officials must be present on the site. But the BNHS people did not follow the guideline. Even they did not inform the state veterinary department in the process, which is mandatory. So we will never know the exact number of birds that had been taken away. Moreover, any casualties at the time of capturing chicks and adult vultures will also be out of our notice,” Datta pointed out.

Nature’s Beckon has already urged the Assam government to stop the activities of the BNHS people in the region and also demanded a high-level inquiry about the fate of the birds lifted from Assam. They also emphasized encouraging community protection and a rescue mission of vultures in the region.

Asad Rahmani, the director of BNHS, has however denied allegation that removing some chicks from the nests would disrupt the sex ratio of vultures. He argues that the sex of any chick/young is random (except in some reptiles where it is temperature dependent). In every conception, there are equal chances that it could be a male or a female. In any large population of animals, including humans, the sex ratio is statistically 1:1 (or 50:50).

Responding to the queries of this writer Rahmani elaborated, “If we remove a male vulture chick from a nest, next year the parents will have equal chances [random] to have either a male or a female chick. Similarly, if by chance we remove a female chick from another nest, next year that pair would also have equal chance to have either a male or female chick.”

Rahmani also rejected the accusation that the BNHS people lifted nearly 100 adult and semi-adult vultures from Assam, saying “After proper permissions, we have taken less than 55 chicks, out of which 35 are in Assam at our Rani Vulture Conservation Breeding Center.”

He also disapproved of the allegation of deaths of several chicks during transportation (from Assam to West Bengal and Haryana) and asserted, “No chick died during transport or handling. We have our own qualified vets involved in the vulture capture, transportation, and breeding program.”

It is, however, for the record that Rahmani faced public outrage at Guijan of Tinchukia district of Assam during one of his recent visits to the state. The local people had protested against the capturing of vultures from their localities and the incident was covered by both the print and visual media of the region.

Whatever their fate, it is certain that it will take a long time to restore the native population by captive breeding. Nita Shah, the BNHS vulture advocacy program officer, acknowledges that vultures breed slowly. As they give birth to only one chick a year and a baby takes nearly four years to attain sexual maturity, she said, nobody should hope “for the population to be restored to its original size within our lifetime.”

Original article and more pictures here.

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

It is* Friday and Behram Roj ‘motto daro’.* The Fire Temple is buzzing with people. All sorts and all ages. Every face is at its serene best. The Flame is leaping with delight gorging at the large diet of Kathi and Sukhad and in return is offering patient ears to the various request prayers. Some serious, some almost comic, some trivial, some greedy, some incessant and the odd one out of only Thanks. A little girl is poking her dimples with a sukhad until mom says ‘M nai karvanoo’.

Some daily regulars are in corners swaying and shifting their weight. Some ladies have stifled the circumstance of their face with a tight scarf and are hobbling ahead pushing aside any in their way. Some men are darting around hurriedly as they are at the brink of a busy day.

Coomi is praying— pug no sojo ochho thai.

Jamshed is praying — bawa bike apavey

Dorab is praying – dikra neh Dubai maa naukri maleh.

Gustad is praying – restaurant majenoo chaleh.

Kersi is praying chaavi ghoomai gaich te mali jai.

Katy is praying – bheja no mad boss paadhro reh.

Jaloo is praying – nallee ne eskool ma admission maleh.

Nawaz is praying – bhess jevi sassoo bargaum jai.

Jal is praying – saajeh Daisy satheh baar javanooch te eh jara

ghela-chhera kaarva deh.

Jangoo is praying – aajeh deekri noh America thi phone aveh.

Viraf is praying – shaitan jevo landlord khapri jai.

Zenobia is praying – navi janas maleh.

Firoze is praying – daat koih gayoch te pelo dakoo jevo dentist

korhwa nih vaat nai kareh.

Marazban is praying – hu Godrej jetlo paisawalo thao.

Siloo is praying – heart majenoo thai jai operation vagur.

Rayomand is praying – shares oopur jai.

Maharukh is praying – paylee teevee Udwadia nooh appointment juldi apeh.

Sammy is praying – baddha gehrna sarikani reh.

Gai is praying – thankyou Khodai – ghanoo apech.

Now the Flame is ready to courier the amassed wishes to the high Heavens.

Freny is hurriedly walking out of the Temple murmuring -

Khodai kareeneh taximali jai.

His dhansak, a chicken or lamb stew with four kinds of lentils, vegetables and spices, harkens back to his ancestors’ Persian origins. Request the dhansak, a kebab or his oven-baked halibut, wrapped with mint in a banana leaf for a delicious change. Call ahead to make sure he’s cooking the week you want to try a dish, at 941-7616.

Panini’s is located in the Village Court shopping Center, 4546 El Camino Real.

Original article here.

She can be contacted for all your travelling needs, eapecially for ladies and kids in aircond comfort.

Her business card reads as :

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.

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.

More here.

Be warned that this will leave you all hungry and yearning for some lip smacking food.

Check out part 2 and 3 on Times Now

Of the many gifts given to Parsis by their Prophet Zarathushtra, that of the Manthras is one of the most significant. Manthras are the divine words of the Prophet and His appointed disciples which form what we loosely call today the ‘Avesta’. Over the thousands of years that have passed since the time of the advent of Zarathushtra, the great majority of the Manthras have been, unfortunately, lost. What we have left is not more than 5% of the original, which are used for daily prayers as well as the rituals which form the core of the faith. The question is often asked: What is the use of praying in a language we do not understand? Cannot the same prayers be translated in to a common language like English and the same said with more concentration and meaning? Would it not be better if some newer and shorter prayers were introduced? In order to answer these and related queries, it is necessary to firstly understand who man is, what is his role in nature, what is prayer, why does man need to pray and what benefits accrue from praying.

Continue reading the entire article here.

UPDATE:

Part 2. Part 3 and Part 4 of the series are up on Frashogard’s site.

"She’s been a staff favorite for a very long time," says Leighanne Law. "A few of us have had a chance to meet her, and for the big scope of her books, and their emotional intensity, it’s a shock that she’s such a humble and charming woman."

Umrigar, who has just sold her sixth book to HarperCollins, wears her acclaim lightly. She made tenure two years ago at Case Western Reserve University, has won a midcareer award from the Cleveland Arts Prize and will lecture at the Chautauqua Institution next month.

Her best-known book, "The Space Between Us," has found an international readership; it still sells strongly in Brazil. The 2006 novel pivots between the lives of Sera, [mbo: cq: ]an upper-class Parsi woman in Mumbai, and Bhima, [mbo: cq: ]her servant. Umrigar, 47, dedicated the book to the "Bhima" of her own girlhood in India.

The Cleveland Heights author has been touring for "The Weight of Heaven," which published in April, and is rushing to complete a draft of her next book before she resumes teaching in the fall.

"The balancing act is getting very hard," she says. "I’m in perpetual fear that I’m going to drop one ball. But when I’m in the classroom, I still get a high from it. I have really grown to love and understand the student body at Case.

"Many of these kids are wicked smart, and I see [teaching literature] as an opportunity to give engineers and nurses and doctors an essential life tool. If you have an understanding of the humanities, you will have an understanding of human nature."

The next novel, tentatively called "The Clarifying Principle," will center on four Indian women, all former student activists, including one who married a Muslim, and who and converted to Islam herself.

"What is important is I’m not talking about Muslims from a Western, 9/11 point of view," Umrigar says. "I am telling the story from within an Indian context — and India has a shameful history of mistreating its Muslim population."

Umrigar’s mix of the intimate and the international continues to percolate through her art.

Sonu Bohra

While the Parsi community is coming to terms with their declining numbers, the burning issue now is the dwindling numbers of vultures in the city, which aid their sky burial ritual. According to a Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) survey done in 2007, there were about 11,000 white-backed vultures, 1,000 slender-billed vultures and 44,000 long-billed vultures in the country as against an estimate of approximately 40 million vultures in the early ’80s.

“The vulture population has declined by more than 99 per cent and is diminishing at the rate of more than 40 per cent annually. If precautionary measures are not implemented, they will soon be extinct,” says Dr Vibhu Prakash, deputy director and head – Vulture Conservation Breeding Programme, BNHS.

“The vulture population has declined by more than 99 per cent and is diminishing at the rate of more than 40 per cent annually. If precautionary measures are not implemented, they will soon be extinct,” says Dr Vibhu Prakash, deputy director and head – Vulture Conservation Breeding Programme, BNHS.

In the monsoons, the weak sunlight delays the burial process for which they installed solar panels at Dongarwadi also called the Towers of Silence at Malabar Hill. Now, the community is planning to build a breeding centre for vultures at the Borivali National Park.

The Bombay Parsi Panchayat (BPP) has decided to import and breed vultures. “We have been in constant discussion with the Central Government about this. Our first phase — of banning the drug Diclofenic (as explained later in this article) — was successful. The second phase consists of building the breeding centre and is yet in its planning stage,” explains Khojeste Mistree, trustee, BPP.

The project, being led by scientists at the BNHS, has seen recent success in breeding the endangered birds in conservation centres in Haryana and West Bengal. “The BPP have approached us to set up a vulture breeding centre in Mumbai. So far, there was no consensus among the community members about the same. Hence we could not set it up, although they are still in constant touch with us,” adds Dr Prakash.

The project is expected to cost about Rs 2 crore and will take about a year to start only after the government permissions have been obtained. After that, about a 100 of these almost-extinct scavengers will be brought into Mumbai and will be housed in three aviaries, two of which will be at the Towers of Silence.

Drug abuse
Dwindling numbers of vultures is to be blamed on widespread veterinary use of the drug Diclofenac. The drug is used for the treatment of sick domestic livestock throughout the Indian subcontinent.

The Indian government banned the use of the drug in March 2005. “But we have come to know that Diclofenac that is used for humans is getting filtered into veterinary market as the veterinary Diclofenac is banned. We are working with the government which has come to an agreement to package human Diclofenac in smaller doses which the veterinarian will find difficult to use,” explains Dr Prakash.
sonu.bohra@timesgroup.com

Tips to prevent extinction of vultures
* Restrict and prevent the use of Diclofenac.
* Spread awareness about vulture conservation.
* Inform BNHS, contact them on www.bnhs.org or (91-22) 22821811 or Forest Department about sick/dead vultures.
* If you spot a sick vulture, move it to a cool place and give it some water.
* Do not cut big trees that are used by vultures for perching and nesting.

Original article here

A play around migration and its conflicts is at the heart of an ambitious new project of the Auckland based theatre group Prayas.

Following the success of its earlier productions including Charan Das Chor by Habib Tanvir, and The Terrace by Madhu Rye, the group decided to write and stage its own play.

“It was an ambitious thought,” writer-director Amit Ohdedar said.

Khoj (The Search) was the result of intensive reading and discussions that he had with co-writers Sananda Chatterjee and Poorna Prakash.

Dramaturge Fiona Graham facilitated the initiation; the rest was the creative talent of Prayas, led by Amit and his group.

He believes that the play is a tribute to best-selling author Rohinton Mistry and his collection of short stories, Tales from Firozsha Baag.

He was touched by the story of a Parsi migrant in Canada trying to come to terms with the difference in culture and lifestyle.

The idea was truly intriguing and Prayas took the story further. The differences in lifestyle, funny and distressing, became the underlying euphemism for the various adjustment issues a new migrant faces in New Zealand.

While the group did much of the writing, it went out to the community for ideas.

A couple of public meetings in Auckland drew shared migration stories.

Many of these, some funny and some not so funny, have a place in Khoj.

“As a process it was fascinating; marvellous to see the loud laughter in parts and in others, to see future actors in this play trying to work its meaning and context.

“The end product has a strong New Zealand-Indian feel,” Amit said.

He said the play on stage would be exciting, although it is still being fine-tuned.

After casting calls, it is currently going through the demanding process of rehearsal and refinement.

Prayas is adding a unique dance drama feature to complement the play.

The dance sequence runs parallel to the play and is being choreographed by Sharmista Chakraborty and her team.

A mix of trained Bharata Natyam and contemporary dancers has begun rehearsals.

Last year, members of Prayas joined the Auckland City Council in a successful multiethnic play, Our Street.

Sudeepta Vyas is the spokesperson for Prayas.

Most times we read news articles and move on. News is something that is happening to “them” and we are mere readers to the aftermath of the event. However once in a while the news hits home, when the people in the news are those we know.

That is exactly what happened when I read the article titled “Pay for dad’s upkeep, court tells NRI son” published in the Times of India dated June 09, 2009 by TOI reporter Yagnesh Mehta.

The article talks about how an NRI son abandoned his old father and refuses to pay for dad’s upkeep.

The “son” in the article just turns out to be Pesi Satarawala, a dear friend of many years now, who lives in New Jersey with his wife and two kids. However I did not relate the Pesi in the article to the friend I know because of the numerous factual errors in the article. However Pesi did let me know that he was “the Pesi in the article” and the first he knew about this was when a friend from Poona forwarded the link to him.

Aspi Satarawala, the “father” in the article, and Pesi have not met in 34 years. Pesi is now 41 years old. This is because, one fine day after Pesi’s navjote at the age of seven, his father walked out of his and his mother Villoo’s life. Villoo Mamma, as we all knew here, passed away last July.

Aspi abandoned his wife and only child all these years ago, without any money at the complete mercy of strangers in a strange city. Through sheer hardwork, dedication and a zeal to succeed Villoo raised Pesi, educated him, and left no stone unturned as a single parent.

Where was Aspi all those years? Missing in action. The article claims that he paid for Pesi’s MBA. Well that would be great, however Pesi does not have an MBA degree. He did his Diploma in IT from NIIT Pune through a scholarship he received in Pune. The article claims that Aspi got his son married.  Aspi was not invited and was not present at Pesi’s wedding. His uncle stood as the head of the family and was witness to the wedding.

The article states that Pesi, is not currently in Chennai. His in-laws live there, and the last time he was in Chennai was just before Villoo Mamma passed away.

The TOI article is flawed at many levels. Even tabloids and rags would verify information before printing it and in the process defaming the subjects referred to in the article.

Over the years Aspi Satarawala has been known to defraud people from all walks of life. Born with a silver spoon, he single-handedly dismantled the family fortune and wasted away the money. And since then its always been a cat and mouse game to somehow get money out of gullible unsuspecting people and then disappear.

For such a fraudster this is yet another scheme to sponge off money from his “America settled” son, the same one who grew up with only memories and no presence of an abusive father that never was. Indian laws have a provision where children need to take care of their parents in their old age. A fantastic and “idealist” notion that was made into law for all the right reasons. Alas, this is a case where it is being used for all the wrong reasons.

Pesi Satarawala is currently pursuing legal avenues to get this mysterious “court order” dealt with.

If you have a moment and feel strongly about this issue, please leave a comment below.

Disclaimer: This article contains my thoughts, solely; and no one else’s.