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Our search for anecdotal gems started nearly two months ago. With Parsiana entering its 60th year beginning this November, for our annual celebrations-calendar issue we felt it would be befitting to identify individuals who had celebrated either their navjotes or weddings 60 years prior, in 1963-64, and would mark their diamond jubilee alongside ours. 

With persistent effort we were able to get information on three couples who had tied the knot and 13 initiates who had first tied their kusti during this significant year. There were a few others too who were identified but they were either reluctant to share their memories or divulge their names so regretfully we could not include them in our lot of "Sauth naa sagan (auspicious on 60th).”

Whether it was recollections associated with learning the kusti prayers, their attire or the food served on the occasion, their initiation into the religion remains etched in their memory. Some of them were very sure of the date of their navjote and one even had images of the invite printed in both English and Gujarati as was the practice in those days. There were others who were not sure of the exact date although they knew at what age they had first tied the sacred girdle.

Allbless Baug, it would appear, was the popular choice of venue with four of our initiates reporting that their navjotes had been performed there. Four navjotes were performed in private homes, two each in fire temples and at Cama Baug, and one at Palamkote Hall.

The myths associating 13 as an unlucky number and the ashirwad ceremony for two couples being performed on the same platform being regarded as inauspicious were apparently not given undue weightage then; we were informed of two brothers being happily married on January 13.

To capture the ambience of celebrations in 1963-64, Parsiana shares reminiscences of the navjoted females in alphabetical order, followed by the navjoted males and the married couples. 

Nostalgic nuggets

Kashmira Driver, now retired after decades of service as a financial consultant, has memories of being initiated into the Zoroastrian faith by Ervad Naoroji and other priests in January 1963. Attending prayer classes conducted by Naoroji and his brother Jehangirji at the Rustom Framna Agiary, she was the only girl in a class of seven boys. 

Referring to "the grand navjote at the Palamkote Hall,” she recalled "the live band was by Nelly Battiwala. My father Dadi’s office friends had arranged for a young couple who performed the Rock n Roll dance. That was the most enjoyable part of the evening when the guests too joined in the dancing. The catering was by Savaksha Panthaki.

"My new shoes were hurting me and I would often sit down only to be made to rise again by either my mother Khorshed or my father to meet relatives and friends. In those days my mother was ailing but by the grace of Ahura Mazda she kept well on my navjote day.”

Villoo Dubash (née Lilaowalla) who retired from Union Bank of India after 34 years of service remembers her navjote took place on the evening of October 30, 1963. A priest from Ranji Agiary performed the navjote. Originally Cama Baug was booked but finally the navjote was performed at Sethna Agiary due to the prevailing Indo-China conflict. 

"The navjote dress was made by Coronet, then owned by Pesi Uncle (family friends) and the food was by Wadia Caterers. There was no band, only recorded music.”

For Rati Forbes (née Bhabha) chair of the Forbes Foundation and the Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy, "January 31, 1964 was possibly one of the most exciting and joyful days of my childhood when Sorab (my late cousin, Kharsedji Kaka’s son), my brother Homi and I had our navjote on the same day which was considered unusual! First my ceremony was performed, followed by a joint one for the two boys. The navjotes in the morning were in the grand living room on the first floor at Mount Nepean, the beautiful home of the Dubash family, where most of our larger family functions were held. (My parents Amy and Cooverji also got married at Mount Nepean.) There is a beautiful stained glass image of Lord Zarathushtra as you ascend the stairs. 

"We had our traditional Parsi lunch on the long veranda outside the living room. Present at the morning function were family, relatives and close friends. In the evening, there was a big reception at the Turf Club to which several of my Dad’s business associates and my kaka’s (paternal uncle) associates from the legal fraternity were invited. 

"My Mum had hand sewn both my dresses — for the morning and evening functions; the fabric and lace were lovingly chosen and bought by her from Switzerland as was the usual custom in those days. Memories of the trials for my dresses as also learning the prayers with Dasturji Nowrooz Minochehr-Homji and (Ervad) Petharas from the Vachaghandhy Agiary stay etched in my mind.” 

Kashmira Kapadia (née Munsiff) who started her career with Tata Oil Mills and then continued at Hindustan Lever before involving herself post retirement in community organizations like XYZ, ZoChild Foundation and the Bandra Parsi Association, remembers her navjote with sadness. "My mother (Banoo) could not come as she got her period at the last minute and my paternal aunts too could not come because of the same reason. The only people in attendance at my navjote when I wore my sudreh and kusti were my father (Pheroze), my maami (wife of maternal uncle), my two brothers and the two priests, one of whom was the family priest, Ervad Pesi Karkaria. There was just a tili on my forehead and a garland around my neck. No ses or anything. Before the navjote when I was crying, my maami made me understand that now I would become a true Zoroastrian. Old memories cannot be erased from the heart and mind.”

"My navjote was a grand affair,” stated family physician Dr Behram Bunshah. "No expenses were spared despite my parents Jal and Naju being working parents from a middle class family and paternal grandmother Jerbai bearing a lot of the household expenses. Lucky with the draw/ dice roll for Allbless Baug, the navjote was performed in March 1964. (Due to the high demand for the popular venue for certain dates, dice were rolled to select the lucky winners.) My parents were not then aware that my younger brother Jamshed (the famous orthopedic surgeon) was in my mother’s womb. As I was a mischievous, distracted child, Ervad Jehanjirji of Rustom Framna Agiary had taught me the kusti prayers with a lot of patience and encouragement.

"The navjote was performed by Ervads Rattansha Panthaki and Naoroji. I was presented with a gold chain with a Zarthosht pendant and a lovely watch. Savaksha Panthaki was the caterer and the entertainment was by Nelly Battiwala and her band. I remember my school principal Mr Gameliel, his family and a lot of teachers attending.”

Senior lawyer, author and Parsiana columnist Berjis Desai wrote: "Our stentorian grandmother fixed my navjote for November 21, 1964 since it was neither amaas (no moon day) nor Fravardin roz (when the deceased are remembered). The venue selected was Allbless Baug which ranked number two in the hierarchy of baugs, after the Colaba Agiary and before the Motto Otlo (larger portion) of Cama Baug, and was considered suitable for what my father called ‘a middle middle class’ family. Since my father’s best friend was keen to have his son initiated too, my father sponsored the boy, Viraf Damania’s navjote alongside mine.

"Three hundred and fifty were feted with a paatru comprising kid gosht, pomfret in white sauce with the ubiquitous cherry tomato, dodhi no murrabbo, pulao dal but no chicken as slaughtering hens on an auspicious day was taboo (baby goats could be). A burly, unsmiling moustached caterer called Kaikhushru Bhoot (not Bhot) narrowly edged out Navroji Patel and charged Rs 10 (USD 0.1) per paatru which my mother thought was a jaw dropping price compared to the one anna (USD 0.0007) which her caterer father charged the Tatas in Navsari. "Goody Seervai and Nelly’s live music were for the elite so Phil Davar belted the usual numbers over Raspberry and Ginger from Rogers (father would serve no alcohol). 

"We were meticulously prepared for the sacred ceremony and did not forget a single word of the prayers even after liberally consuming taro (consecrated bull’s urine) much to the horror of an old aunt from Navsari who cautioned that excessive taro would inflame the spleen (talli per sojo aavi jasé). We thought talli referred to a more vital organ and were worried stiff for several weeks after our entry into the faith!”

At the navjote ceremony of Viraf and Sharukh Ghyara at the Cama Baug Big Otla in early 1963 there were few people in attendance, primarily the immediate family. "Our financial situation was extremely pathetic so an occasion like this meant a lot to us,” recalls Viraf who is a management consultant and after retiring from the financial services industry, does corporate training.

 "There was no paatru because we couldn’t afford it. Neither was there band nor music. There were only snacks (sandwiches, wafers, mava cake, cold drinks), called refreshments by Asha Caterers and Decorators. I vividly remember meeting the man sitting in a black dagla and topi at his office opposite Oriental Hotel at the corner of Grant Road where we resided. I am very sure that the largesse of family members must have covered the expenses on the snacks, clothes and other heads. The most excited person was my cousin who wore a sari for the first time. I faintly remember going to Udvada / Valsad post the navjote.”

"I could not understand why everyone wanted me to pray loudly,” recalls Jimmy Sarbh, former chairman of Nhava Sheva International Container Terminal Private Limited and former regional director-South Asia and Middle East, P&O Ports, of his navjote performed at the Allbless Baug in late 1963 by Ervad Peshotan Peer and another senior priest. He remembered drinking "unpalatable taro making a sugatra (squeamish) face,” as well as he did  "Rati aunty (Peer) who was deadly/a legend but she was fond of me so I got away when learning prayers from her.

"The navjote was well attended with mum Homai’s friends from Burmah Shell and dad Homi’s friends from Voltas. But I hated going around all the paaths, shaking hands with guests who were dining on Navroji Patel’s delicious food [calling out ‘Taang aapo... puchhri mooko (give me a chicken leg… the tail piece of the fish)’ as they instructed servers]! I was more interested in playing or dancing to Nelly’s tunes.

"Soon after my navjote, my mum got a call from the Bombay Parsi Punchayet informing us that we were allocated a flat in Mahim after a nine-year wait. But she was miserable as she felt it was too far from her mother’s place in the Fort area!”

"My navjote ceremony was actually performed at our home in the presence of family and some neighbors,” mentioned Dr Irach Taraporewala, a pharmaceutical research scientist and chief executive officer of a biotechnology company, now living in suburban New York City. "Our family did not believe in great show or ostentation, and a small solemn occasion was more important.  The navjote was presided over by Dastur Kaikhusroo JamaspAsa. Most of my sisters’ and cousins’ navjotes had been conducted by Dastur Nowrooz Minochehr-Homji, who my late grandfather (the legendary Zoroastrian scholar and author after whom he was named) had taught when he was principal of the M. F. Cama Athornan Institute and who was also a close family friend but was traveling at the time of my navjote.

"After the ceremony we had a luncheon catered by Mr Challa but the ceremonial sagan ni sev and sweet dahi had been prepared by my mother and grandmother for the occasion. With the caterer repeatedly helping himself to copious amounts of my mother’s sev and dahi even before the luncheon commenced, my mother had to politely request him to leave enough to go around for the other guests! 

"We then had a larger reception later in the day with an extended guest list of friends at the Ripon Club. I do remember wiping off all the lipstick from my cheek from the repeated kisses bestowed from the row of matronly lady guests and of the multi-course meal we were served in pre-warmed plates rather than in the traditional banana leaf paatru.  

"All the children were seated on a long table for the meal, separate from the adult guests, and we were having a lot of fun, raucously laughing and singing. When we got home later my grandmother admonished me gently saying a guest seated next to her had asked her which one of the children was the navjote boy and to her embarrassment she had to say, ‘It’s the naughty one standing on the chair, waving a fork and conducting the rest of the children in their singing!’”

 above: newly wed Sarosh and Roshan Master (sitting 2nd and 4th from l)

Nagpur based Parsiana freelancer Dilnavaz Bhagwagar wrote, "Our wedding on January 13, 1963 and the honeymoon we went for thereafter were both a bit unusual, in the sense that both were a foursome. Edul and I and his older brother Feroze and Khorshed got married on the same stage at the Nagpur Electric Light and Power Company Hall on the same evening and a few days later went for our honeymoon together, to Cochin and then traveled through some beautiful places to Kanya Kumari, the southern-most tip of India. Edul and I spent 60 happy years together...not to mention the four years of our courtship, from when I was just 15 years old!” Khorshed pased away recently and Feroze predeceased her.

"The years 1963 and ’64 were truly special in the lives of Roshan Dadademery, a special educator, and Sarosh Master, a prosthodontist, because it witnessed the two most important events of their lives: their wedding and the birth of their daughter Khurshid!” recalled Sarosh’s niece Katy Palia who was present for the wedding at Colaba’s Jeejeebhoy Dadabhoy Agiary on December 27, 1963.

Since the couple is now deceased after celebrating their ruby wedding anniversary, Palia elucidated on their rather unusual meeting. Roshan had to travel to England and France to undergo a cornea transplant in order to save the vision in her eye, a surgery unavailable in India at that time. Sarosh happened to hear of this through her aunt who lived in the same colony as him, Rustom Baug. Indulgent uncle that he was, Sarosh wanted to give his little niece Katy a teddy bear, stuffed toys not being easily available in India at that time. Acceding to his request, Roshan brought the teddy bear and as Sarosh jokingly reminded the family, "It was the teddy bear that actually played Cupid for Roshan and me!”