Pakistan's fading Parsi community

[ghazi52]

Very interesting. Nice information about parsi..........................
@vsdoc

 

[vsdoc]

Very interesting. Nice information about parsi..........................
@vsdoc

If you guys are genuinely interested, go to the thread started by @third eye (sorry bro, can't find it again!)

 

[third eye]

If you guys are genuinely interested, go to the thread started by @third eye (sorry bro, can't find it again!)

India’s vanishing Parsis

 

[Armstrong]

So @vsdoc bhai your Bhabi can't be a Parsi ?

Meri sariiii dreams par panniii phir diyaaa !

 

[vsdoc]

India’s vanishing Parsis

I discovered the issue. You have to search with whole word "Parsis" - a serach with Parsi does not show the thread.

@ghazi52 @Indus Falcon

So @vsdoc bhai your Bhabi can't be a Parsi ?

Meri sariiii dreams par panniii phir diyaaa !

Why she cannot bhai?

Of course she can.

Part of the cause of the dwindling population is our girls marrying studs like you.

 

[Armstrong]

Bhai biwi onki hai, tension apko q hai?

Hain ?

I am talking about a prospective Mrs.Armstrong !

 

[Indus Falcon]

Hain ?

I am talking about a prospective Mrs.Armstrong !

Yeah sorry figured that out after I posted it

India’s vanishing Parsis

You a re a Parsi......?

 

[war&peace]

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Pakistan's fading Parsi community

Izdeyar Setna working at his studio in Karachi.

Veera Rustomji, a member of Karachi's dwindling Parsi community, displays clothing to be used in prayers while speaking during an interview in Karachi.

Pakistani Parsi priests Jehangir Noshik (L) and Jal Dinshaw (R) sitting at an Agyari (Fire Temple) in Karachi.

Pakistani Parsi priest walking past a temple in Karachi.

Pakistani Parsi priest Jal Dinshaw gesturing while standing at their Agyari (Fire Temple) in Karachi.

A general view of the graveyard of Parsis also known as the "Tower of silence" in Karachi.

A Pakistani Parsi man looking at a religious monument in Karachi.

KARACHI: For more than 1,000 years, Parsis have thrived in South Asia but an ageing population and emigration to the West driven by instability in Pakistan means the tiny community of "fire worshippers" could could soon be consigned to the country's history books.

The ancestors of today's Parsis in Pakistan — followers of Zoroastrianism, one of the world's oldest religions — fled Persia over a millennium ago for the safety of the western Indian subcontinent.

Legend has it Parsi leader Jadi Rana made a pledge to the then emperor of India that Zoroastrians, known in the region as Parsis, would not be a burden but would blend in like sugar into milk.

But today they are a fading people across the subcontinent, with many affluent families from India and Pakistan leaving for the West.

The community, which has long been active in business and charity, has been unnerved by the upsurge in Islamist extremist violence. One expert said the loss of the Parsis in the society would be a "huge blow" to Pakistan's diversity.

Only around 1,500 are left in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, where they have "fire temples", community centres and final resting places also known as the "Tower of silence" — where the remains of their dead are left in the open to be consumed by vultures according to their tradition.

Parsis are often called "fire worshippers" because their religion considers fire — together with water — as agents of purity and fires are lit as part of religious ceremonies.

A man standing inside a fire temple in Karachi.

They have long been discreet in observing their faith, but some, like 23-year-old art student Veera Rustomji, think they need to do more to preserve their heritage.

"It's been successful that we have been an unattacked and unharmed community because of our low profile," she said at her studio at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVSAA).

"But at the same time it backfires because a lot of people focus on how the community is becoming small numerically."

Business leaders

Rustomji has traced her family's past in Hong Kong, where Parsis founded a university, a ferry service and hospitals. It is this link to business as well as charity that Byram Avari ─ the head of the Avari, one of Pakistan's leading luxury hotel groups ─ said has allowed the community to build an enduring relationship with Karachi.

.......

Good job for focussing on an issue that has not been making into news since so much is happening around. Parisis were once a dynamic society. We should systematically look into all the reasons why their community is shrinking and dwindling and also find the solutions. Their positive contributions to Pakistan should be highlighted and acknowledge and serious step should be taken to stop further decline (if possible). It is very important for all to realise the significance of diversity in the society. A garden with multiple species of flowers looks much more beautiful than the one with a single species even if it is just the Rose. But the problem is bigger since their population is declining everywhere and very rapidly in india. I think they need to reproduce and let the nature to take its course instead of running away from responsibility of raising children (like Japanese).

 

[third eye]

You a re a Parsi......?

Rajput

Have some great Parsi friends- each a rascal in his own way , with mothers who made the best Dhansak . Wives not so proficient though in Dhansak.

 

[vsdoc]

Wives not so proficient though in Dhansak.

That really is a tragedy of continental proportions man.

Peach melba and la di da dishes, but not good wholesome dhansak.

And mine is a vegetarian to top it all. I'm doubly screwed.

 

[third eye]

And mine is a vegetarian to top it all. I'm doubly screwed.

Most unfortunate

I am told there is a good Parsi joint in Khan Market ..any ideas ?

 

[vsdoc]

Most unfortunate

I am told there is a good Parsi joint in Khan Market ..any ideas ?

@GURU DUTT sir ko bataya nahin? Khaya piya aur gul ho gaye?

Sir there is a Parsi dharamshala near AIIMS. Used to make real nice dhansak. Its still there.

I had stayed there with my dad when I had come to give my Russian MBBS entrance exam. Lovely garden, in the heart of Delhi.

 

[ghazi52]

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Zoroastrians must keep the fire ablaze
Dilaira Dubash /
Photo: Bilal Hassan / Photo: Ariya Patel

The Kothari Parade in Clifton, Karachi, was built in 1919 and donated to the citizens of Karachi by Seth Jehangir Hormasji Kothari. PHOTO: THE KARACHIWALLA



Funerals are the only constant for Zoroastrians in Pakistan. For a community of less than 1,800 — last recorded in 2006 in a research conducted by KE Eduljee — the announcement comes faithfully almost once every month. The timings are noted in chalk on a designated blackboard — one in almost every colony — and those who read it first pass on the information to others. The news of birth, on the other hand, comes with an element of surprise.

At the 10th World Zoroastrian Congress held in Mumbai in 2013, it was announced that the global population of Zoroastrians was less than 140,000, one-third of whom are aged above 60.

India, home to the largest Parsi population (Zoroastrians who fled to Iran in the seventh century AD after Muslims rose to power) has witnessed a decline from 114,000 Parsis in 1941 to 69,001 in 2001, according to their last fully published census.

The Saddar area in Karachi, which was once dotted with tea shops, bakeries and restaurants run by Zoroastrians, is now a shadow of the legacy many have left behind.

Even Parsi stalwarts, including the likes of Karachi’s first mayor Jamshed Nusserwanji Rustomji Mehta and the widely revered Ardeshir Cowasjee, who were once visible on the societal forefront, participating in politics and making notable contributions to cultural discourse, have gradually faded away.

To prevent the decline of possibly the world’s smallest religious community, in 1999 Unesco initiated the PARZOR (Parsi-Zoroastrian) project in India. This was to create awareness regarding dwindling numbers and to revive interest for the cause within the community, country and globally. The project has since become a catalyst for change with its biggest success being the launch of the Jiyo Parsi scheme in 2013.

With India’s Parsi population expected to drop to 20,000 by 2020, this scheme might be the only road to recovery. Backed by seven-year research conducted by the PARZOR Foundation and the Tata Institute of Social Sciences — which identified late marriages, a growing number of unwed Parsis and low fertility as the primary causes of decline — it launched its tongue-in-cheek print campaign this month.

So far, no attempt has been made to preserve Zoroastrian culture by either engaging in sustainable research and documentation or initiating a scheme like Jiyo Parsi.

While the community has always extended a hand for support and been a shoulder to lean on, be it through opening the doors of Karachi’s Mama Parsi Girls’ High School and Bai Virbaijee Soparivala Parsi High School for all, to donating Jahangir Park and Kothari Parade Clifton and establishing the charitable Eduljee Dinshaw Dispensary, it has now become the victim of a one-way relationship.

Zoroastrians must keep the fire ablaze - The Express Tribune
..

 

[[Bregs]]

well i have read few pages of your reply yet and thank you @vsdoc for giving great insight into this great community of Parsis and they have mixed in country as milk is with water and have helped India in so many ways

there are many parsis settled in Karachi too and i am sure there success story in pakistan too will be same

 

[Squashh]

Lol. Parsis are cute.