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Charity and the community
"The resilient spirit of our community has always fought against all odds... Even today, the enemy is within and not outside the community. We can ill afford to be disunited today,” said Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee and chief executive of the Bombay-based Center for Advancement of Philanthropy Noshir Dadrawala. He was delivering the second Shiavax Nargolwala Memorial Lecture on February 3, 2019 at the Delhi Parsi Anjuman (DPA) Auditorium.
Dadrawala spoke about three aspects of philanthropy — long term vision, exercising prudence, and preserving and protecting Parsi properties. "The driving force behind Parsi charity is probably the religious ethos of perceiving poverty, disease and suffering as an affliction of evil. Zoroastrians see wealth as fundamentally positive as long as it is created righteously and utilized or shared judiciously to address or alleviate poverty and all forms of want and suffering,” he stated.

 

 

 

 

 

The multiple, not-so-well-frequented agiaries in Bombay’s Fort, poverty among Parsis, the shortage of housing created on account of locked flats in BPP managed colonies, BPP’s cash crunch, all came up for debate during an interactive talk with the approximately 50 attendees. "How to preserve and maintain heritage properties for the benefit of the community is a big challenge for the BPP today,” Dadrawala stated. On the controversy around setting up of a cosmopolitan facility within The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital, Dadrawala reiterated his stand that "the land and building will continue to belong to the community, therefore it is not detrimental to the community as alleged by some... If this proposal fails, no donor will come forward to help the Parsis again.” Some members in the audience expressed the oft repeated apprehension that housing and social benefits to Bombay Parsis was perhaps creating a risk-averse attitude among Bombay Parsis, making them unwilling to take on challenges, and stand on their own feet.  
The first part of Dadrawala’s talk highlighted the history of ancient Zoroastrian Iran with a slide show providing glimpses of the Peshdadian, Kayanian, Achemenian, Parthian and Sassanian dynasties. DPA president Ava Khullar and DPA secretary Veera Mavalwala gave votes of thanks. Lunch was hosted by the DPA and catered by "Rustoms,” the restaurant in the Mengusi Dharamshala complex.
The lecture series in memory of late Shiavax Nargolwala was announced in 2017. In November 2017,  Justice Rohinton Nariman delivered the first lecture on the judicial verdicts on conversion in Zoroastrianism.