"Khali geh sarvanu baaki chhé (I have yet to perform funerary prayers),” 19-year-old Ervad Vazaan Dastur of Ahmedabad told Parsiana on March 10, 2024. Having performed 244 jashans since being ordained as a maratab in 2015 at Surat’s D. N. Modi Atash Behram, Dastur said "everyone who can should be a part-time mobed…and serve the community.” The young priest recently performed the navjote of Harshaan Daruwalla at the city’s Vakil Adarian leading a team of seven other mobeds all of whom were senior to him not only in age but also in experience, said Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat managing committee member Ariz Bokdawalla. The youth also took part in the bicentennial celebrations of the Modi Atash Behram and has "been a regular at muktad prayers,” noted Bokdawalla.
Not keen to be a full-time priest ("a definite no”), the student of St Xavier’s High School, Loyola Hall and Gujarat Law Society (GLS) University’s integrated business administration program intends, after post-graduation, to join father Cyrus and mother Binaifer in their family business as stockists for Ultratech Cement.
Top and above: Ervad Vazaan Dastur performing a navjote
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