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India’s vanishing Parsis

It very much seems from these two exerpts that Zoroastrianism was making a slow and low key resurgence within Iran with the backing of the Indian Parsis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This more than anything to do with the Pahlavi Shah is what probably re-triggered the Islamic backlash and the subsequent Revolution.

I am open to correction by you Shahin or other Iranians here.

It is backed by the views of another fantastic paper on Zoroastrians in Iran posted in this very thread.

I would agree to a certain extent. Shah was very openly in favour of Zoroastrians and made open invitation for Zoroastrians of India to move to Iran. However Jamshid Jamshidian was during the Qajar era, so he does not line up with Pahlavi rule. There are still parliamentarians in Iran who are Zoroastrian, but most positions are reserved for Muslims.

However if you go to the expat Iranian community in Europe, Australia and America, there are a lot of influential Zoroastrian members.

On to your point of Indian Zoroastrians helping out Iranian ones. I know of Dinshah Irani who was an Indian lawyer and helped out Iranian Zoroastrians.

15_Irani_Dinshah.jpg


Interestingly enough he is also a distant relative of Keikhosrow Shahrokh mentioned above!
 
Now we will move on to scholar and politician Dr. Farhang Mehr.

mehr.jpg


He has had many positions in his life. Including high ranking roles in Iranian Oil Company, president of Shiraz University, chairman of largest insurance company in Iran (Bime-ye Iran).

Dr-Farhang-Mehr.jpg


He has been living in exile since Islamic Revolution and is currently professor of International relations at Boston University.

Here is a short biography of his life:

Farhang Mehr, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Boston University was born in Tehran, Iran. He received a Bachelor of Economics degree and a Doctorate in Law from the Universities of Tehran and London respectively. He has taught at Tehran and National Universities, and at the Military Academy in Iran, and was President of the University of Shiraz for 8 years, served Iran under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, as Vice-Prime Minister and Acting Finance Minister, and represented Iran on OPEC's Board of Governors for 5 years. He served as the President of the Zoroastrian Anjuman of Tehran for 12 years; was an officer of the First and Third World Zoroastrian Congresses in Tehran, and Bombay respectively, and was a founding member of the Ancient Iranian Culture Society. He has lectured and published on subjects related to law, political economy and Zoroastrianism. His book in Farsi, published in January 1990 is entitled "Zoroastrian Philosophy: An old Wisdom in a New Perspective", and in English called "The Zoroastrian Tradition, An Introduction to the Ancient Wisdom of Zarathushtra", published by Element Press in 1991.
 
Shahin speakng about exiles, how exactly does that work?

A lot of the "original" exiles would be quite old now, some dead.

What happens to their children?

Can they never come back to Iran?

Do you see 2009 happening again, successfully this time?
 
Shahin speakng about exiles, how exactly does that work?

A lot of the "original" exiles would be quite old now, some dead.

What happens to their children?

Can they never come back to Iran?

Do you see 2009 happening again, successfully this time?

Well there are a lot of people who left Iran in the 80s and 90s. They would now be in their 30s and 40s, so not that old. Also as you said they have children themselves, who also grow up as second and third generation Iranian Zoroastrians in exile. Their children can officially go back to Iran, but are sometimes scared to do so. For example I personally know Zoroastrians in exile who have been charged of trying to convert Muslims into Zoroastrians and are therefore scared to come to Iran.

I think Iran will slowly reform for the better. I do not want to see revolution in Iran as that will have an uncertain outcome and may make us worse off. Reform is the best way forward. In the up coming elections look out for Mohammad Qalibaf, I have high hopes for him if he becomes president as do a lot of other Iranians.

Also in the past few years, Iranian politicians have become more vocal of praising Iran's pre-Islamic history. Before this would have been seen as a sin and nationalists where not allowed place in public office. Now nationalists such as Esfandiar Mashaei have high ranking roles, so things are changing for the better.

In India, Insurance is also called Bima !

Yeah there are many similarities as both Persian and Hindi are Indo-Iranian languages.
 
Shahin speakng about exiles, how exactly does that work?

A lot of the "original" exiles would be quite old now, some dead.

What happens to their children?

Can they never come back to Iran?

Do you see 2009 happening again, successfully this time?


Fantastic thread Doc!

My hats off to you for "single handedly" managing pages after pages after pages worth of question answers.

Now to my questions.

Being a big time foodie, I am interested to know the differences or commonalities of foods recipes etc. between the Indian Parsis and their fellow co-religionists still in Iran?

Are Indian parsis now used to a bit more spicy foods?

And if and when (hopefully) soon Indian parsis get to settle / visit in iran, will they be carrying box loads of Shaan masalah with them ;)

What happens to style of cooking when one there is a marriage between an Indian parsi and Irani?


Thanks

p.s.

I loooooooove Iranian food.
 
There are quite a lot of Irani restaurants in Mumbai. They serve the best egg dishes!

Morning breakfast with Brun maska, omellete and paani kum chai! Those were the days :angel:

Most irani restaurants will also serve you some nice caramel custard.

For the homely version of Parsi diet I will leave it to doc.
 
Fantastic thread Doc!

My hats off to you for "single handedly" managing pages after pages after pages worth of question answers.

Now to my questions.

Being a big time foodie, I am interested to know the differences or commonalities of foods recipes etc. between the Indian Parsis and their fellow co-religionists still in Iran?

Are Indian parsis now used to a bit more spicy foods?

And if and when (hopefully) soon Indian parsis get to settle / visit in iran, will they be carrying box loads of Shaan masalah with them ;)

What happens to style of cooking when one there is a marriage between an Indian parsi and Irani?


Thanks

p.s.

I loooooooove Iranian food.

Thanks bro! Believe me, as a Parsi its been a pleasure and a privilege. Our community is too cut off from our brothers here in India/Pakistan/Bangladesh/Sri Lanka/Burma (now not so many anymore) at an inner level.

On a national people to people level, we are and always have been proud citizens. But rarely do we get a platform such as this to tell people here about who we are, where we've come from, and what drives us as a people within a people. To the extent that outside of the large metros and "Parsi-exposed" pockets, if you say you are a Parsi, you get a quizical look! :)

So a warm thank you is due to Third Eye for starting the thread, for angeldust in helping out and getting a Parsi-Iroon perspective, for Gigawatt and many other fellow Indians for their kind words and desire to know more about us, for Shahin and Abii for their priceless perspetives from an Iranian side (both national and expat), for Developer for asking pertinent questions and providing a useful counter-weight from a Pakistani and more a Shia Muslim perspective, and above all for the admin team on PDF and other Pakistanis and Muslims of other nationalities for providing the platform and silent if not always participative encouragement to allow it to happen.

Now the senti stuff over with, to your questions.

There is another thread started by my buddy Fateh71 which has a huge amount of info on our food and clothing and other stuff (mainly by angeldust) - this of course is from a sub-continental Parsi perspective but as a foodie you would appreciate it :)

http://www.defence.pk/forums/members-club/189514-iranians-india-model-minority.html

For the Iranian perspective, I do not really know if Iranian Zoroastrians eat differently from other Iranians (Persians in particular, and Iranians as a whole).

IranZamin as an Iranian Zoroastrian could help us there, as well as with valuable perspectives on how our co-religionists practice the religion. their rituals, their ways of dressing, and other cultural, social, and theological similarities and differences between these two arms separated by over a thousand years and only recently (maybe 2-300 years) started re-establishing contact. The Net and air travel and expat communities has of course fast forwarded the process now to a point where I see something big building steam.

I do not think the community as a whole will ever move en masse back to Iran like the Jews to Israel, but yes, once things become better there, I am quite certain there will be a lot of emigration and inter-marrying and settling down for professional reasons in both directions. And that will only draw India and Iran closer together.

Inter-marrying between Indian Parsis and Iroons already happens seamlessly (angeldust is one such by-product). The Iroons have a different language, Dari, though the present generations also speak tuta futa gujarati with a Persian accent! LOL They also cook the same food, though some of their Navroze dishes are different, and especially their sweet dishes.

By and large they eat a lot of meat (mutton) and potatoes, but then so do Parsis (I mean we shove meat and potatoes and eggs into everything - including bh-indi and masoor/kaali daal). Their food is slightly blander than ours though, and me personally I have a spicy tooth. Unless there is a lot of green chilly and masala, my palate does not get nicely tickled, to the extent of sweat beading on my scalp and forehead and water running from the nose (yeah I know - gross)!

P.S. What I just polished off for breakfast while typing this (a lot more - 3 eggs - and much more "rare/liquidy" in terms of how the eggs were cooked) - Parsi akuri (our version of masala bhurji/scrambled eggs) with toast butter.

 
No Parsi thread can be complete without food, and when we talk food, the discussion canot be complete without two of our biggest contributions to the Indian milieu - Irani Cafes and Irani Bakeries (breads and cakes and biscuits).

So some photos of our beloved and fast disappearing Irani Cafes now!

Kyani Cafe, Dhbi Talao, Mumbai

kyani_irani_cafe_dhobi_talao.jpg


Fresh bakes bread, biscuits, spics, and provisions

fresh_bread_bakery_irani_cafe.jpg


Sanki bawajis and their clear instructions to patrons! LOL

Irani_Cafe_Mumbai.jpg


The cafe owner at his throne (galla)

irani-cafe.jpg


Britannia Cafe, Mumbai

britannia_cafe_irani_joint.jpg
 
Dakktaar jubb yeh sub kuch abhi khilaa nahin saktaa to phir eik cyanide capsule bhi saaath rukkkh deitaaa ! Idhaar office mein tou for the 5th week running roz 2 times biryani khaa rahaa hunnn (thats 2x5x7 = 70 plates of biryani continously !). :cry:
 
Vsdoc- you need to start a separate thread about Parsi food-

If you are in Bombay, then take some pics etc, put them up here...
 

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