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The Refurbished Main Pavillion At Doongerwadi

Dear HumdinsYesterday on 16th November, Mah Tir, Ardibehest Roj for once it was a happy occasion at Doongerwadi. The newly repaired and restored Main Pavilion, where Non Parsi mourners sit during our prayers was inaugurated. The project of repairing and restoring this huge structure was undertaken by Dr. Rashneh Pardiwala and executed through her organisation – The Centre for Environmental Research and Education. Not only did Rashneh lead the project but she and her two illustrious brothers – Cyrus Pardiwala and Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala further funded the entire cost of repairs and renovations in honour of their parents Mr. Noshir and late Dr. Roda Pardiwala.A small but impressive inauguration function was organised at the main Pavilion at 10:30 am in presence of some eminent members and past Donors of Doongerwadi. A jashan was performed at the Pavilion followed by a short inauguration ceremony. BPP Trustee Anahita Desai spoke on the vision of BPP for Doongerwadi and acknowledged contributions of all the Donors to the repairs and renovations of the various Bunglis, dokhmas and other structures at Doongerwadi.  Dr Rashneh spoke at the event on the Pavilion restoration process. Barely a few months ago it was in a run-down state. The roof was leaking, the beams of the roof had developed fissures, the pillars supporting the structure had wide cracks, the plaster on the walls had been broken and the paint had thoroughly peeled off. It required immediate repairs. Dr. Rashneh Pardiwala was at that time working on her reforestation project at Doongerwadi. Incidentally, for those of you who may not know, Dr. Rashneh Pardiwala is a qualified ecologist from Edinburgh University and to her credit, has planted more than 10,000 native trees at Doongerwadi, in the last few years. Rashneh approached her father Noshir and her 2 brothers – Cyrus and Dinshaw. Cyrus the eldest brother is a finance professional operating from US and Dinshaw is an eminent orthopedic surgeon of Mumbai. Immediately, the family decided to redo, repair and restore this heritage structure at Doongerwadi and restore it back to its pristine glory not only at a huge cost but with love, care, passion but also through hands-on personal supervision of the work by Dr. Rashneh Pardiwala. After all permissions were procured, a labour of nearly 6 months has gone into the restoration work. Dr. Rashneh was there at the site personally guiding and supervising the repairs and renovations with an efficient team of architects and contractors, come rain, sunshine or any challenge. Her team consisted of Conservation Architect – Kirtida Unwalla, Project Architect Purvi Doshi and Contractor Sachin Vishwakarma.The roof is totally new now, the pillars have been made stronger, the walls thoroughly replastered and painted, the chandeliers specially designed to match the serenity and ambience of our last holy resting place. It is something to be seen to be believed.Rashneh in her speech explained that the family thereafter appointed a special stain glass painter from Singapore – Swati Chandgarkar who along with Rashneh read up on very many of our Zoroastrian literature, religious scripts, interviewed several historians and scholars to be then able to depict the 3 glass paintings displayed on the ventilation of this Pavilion. The first picture depicts 2 Ervad sahebs deeply engaged in performing obsequies, the second picture depicting the path to our spiritually important ‘Chinvat Pull’ and last depicting the concept of ‘Heaven’.All of this love of labour has indeed ended up adding a sense of serenity to the already tranquil ambience of our Doongerwadi.Mrs. Tirandaz, Chairperson delivered a vote of thanks to the Pardiwala family and to all other donors who have in the past contributed to repairs and renovations of the Doongerwadi.On behalf of all our Zoroastrian-Parsi-Irani Humdins , we take this opportunity to express our deep gratitude to Rashneh, her father Noshir, her brothers Cyrus and Dinshaw and other members of their family for being so thoughtful and contributing so generously to the renovation and restoring of the glory of our pristine Doongerwadi.Certainly their mother Dr. Roda must be smiling with great pride at the contribution in her memory that her family has made. Thank you Pardiwala family.TrusteesBombay Parsi Panchayet Downlod PDF 🡇

New Union Settlement – Settlement with the Union for Workmen of the 5 Wadia Baugs

Trustees of the BPP signed a 4 year Settlement with the Union for Workmen of the 5 Wadia Baugs after a series of protracted negotiations it had with the Utkarsh Maha Sabha being the Recognised Union for these Workmen under the MRTU & PULP Act, 1971. For the first time in 30 years, the parties signed the Settlement for a longer period of 4 years compared to the 3 year terms for which the Management and the Unions used to generally sign these Settlements for, earlier. A lot many positive terms and conditions have been agreed between the parties which should lead to better productivity, discipline, puntuality and attendance. Whilst thanking the Mumbai Utkarsh Sabha and it’s leader – Shri Chintan Joshi for its co-operation and its fair approach in maintaining positive Employee Relations through-out the period of protracted negotiations, Trustees of the Bombay Parsee Panchayet and the Management of Wadia Commitee thanked all the Workmen and the Recognised Union for its ongoing cooperation leading to signing of this Settlement.

BPP Mourns the demise of Late Ratan Tata ji through a fitting Condolence meeting.

  The Bombay Parsi Punchayet organised a ‘Condolence Meeting’ to mark the passing away of Padma Vibhusan late Shri Ratan Tata ji on Sunday, October 27, 2024 at the Rustam Baug Lawns between 5:30pm and 7 pm. A galaxy of reputed professionals who knew and worked alongside Ratan Tata ji spoke at the Condolence meeting and shared their sincere eulogies. The Condolence meeting was attended by well over 700 people who came there to mourn the demise of a great leader and by their presence express their deep sense of commiseration at the loss of a high-minded, valiant and an inspiring person who lived his life in pursuit of Zoroastrian Values of excellence, service, charity and humanity. The honored speakers at the Condolence meeting were Shri Gopalakrishnan, Shri Tehmton ‘Donn’ Doongaji, Shri T.V.Narendran, Shri Adi Engineer and Shri Phillie Karkaria. The speakers narrated their fond memories of working together with late Ratan Tata ji. The event was maturely anchored by Burges Taraporevala. The proceedings took the shape of an event to celebrate modesty , humility and contributions of a life well lived. The Bombay Parsi Panchayet Chairman Shri Viraf Mehta handed over a narrative scroll of honour, posthumously to his two neices Leah & Maya Tata who were present at the event, to mark the life and many contributions of Shri Ratan Tata ji. May his body rest in peace and his soul spiritually progress. Photographs taken at the meeting and the video-recording of the event are posted here on the web-site for public viewing.