Bai Dhunmai & Cawasji Dadabhai Dar-E-Meher
Platinum Jubilee
1926 2001
21st March 2000
Dear Fellow Zoroastrians,
Greetings to you
all from the Parsee community of Bangalore.
Bangalore is a city blessed with a salubrious climate, considered by
many as the air-conditioned city of the country because of its climate. It is situated in the state of Karnataka,
formerly known as Mysore State. Under
the British rule, the cantonment area was managed by the British resident and
administered by the British Collector, till India won its Independence. In the earlier days, possibly due to its
location in the South, the Parsees who ventured to migrate to Bangalore were
just a handful. The early history of
Bangalore reveals that just half a dozen Parsees came to the Mysore state;
prominent among them were Dr. H. J. Bhabha, Dr. R. A. Choksy, Khan Bahadur, P.
Pallonji, Dr. D. K. Darashah. These
numbers increased as more and more families discovered the joys of Bangalore and
opted to either retire or settle down in Bangalore. When the Parsee population increased to about 125, the elders
thought of establishing a small place of worship. Driven by their religious zeal and fervour, they were successful
in building an Agiary with a Dadgah.
As Bangalore’s importance grew
the numbers also swelled. Today we
boast of a population of 800 Parsees, with every possibility of its growing to
a thousand within a few years.
January 2001 will witness
the PLATINUM JUBILEE of our Agiary. During the seventy five years of its existence, this place of
worship has served the religious and spiritual needs of our community
admirably. We intend to see that it
stands tall and erect for generations to come in the service of the
community. However, as is often the
case, buildings such as these require repairs and renovations. Apart from the Agiary building, the
Anjuman also administers and maintains other properties which include The Tower
of Silence, a public hall donated by Late Sir Jehangir Kothari of Karachi, a
Dharamshala donated by the Entee family of Surat, a building consisting of nine
residential flats and an old Aramgah.
The Bangalore
Anjuman maintains these institutions at a great cost through donations from our
members. Our buildings are badly in
need of repairs. They require
renovation, painting and the addition of modern amenities. The Trustees of the Bangalore Parsee
Zoroastrian Anjuman have considered this an opportune time to raise funds, to
coincide with the PLATINUM JUBILEE celebrations that will meet the cost
of these repairs and renewals. The cost
of this project is estimated to be about Rupees Thirty lakhs. As this task of mobilizing the funds
requires a Herculean effort the Trustees have formed a Fund Raising
Committee, and I am privileged to serve as its Chairman, a duty I
propose discharging in the service of our Agiary and the community with
all zeal and sincerity at my command.
This is my humble
appeal to all the members of our community-be they in Bangalore or any other
part of India, or even in the far flung lands of the United Kingdom, USA,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong-Kong or the countries of the
Emirates. Please help us in this worthy
cause. We realize that without your
help this goal of ours to restore our Agiary and the other properties to
their original glory would never be achieved.
Therefore, on behalf of our Anjuman, our Trustees, and myself I appeal
to all our trusts and other charitable institutions to come forward as partners
in this noble task. You have an
excellent track record of coming to the rescue of other needy Anjumans and
Associations as and when required. I
sincerely hope you will do likewise in our case to make this dream a
reality. The Bangalore Parsee
Zoroastrian Anjuman will be grateful to the community for their wholehearted
support in this very laudable endeavor.
A couplet from
Persian:
“SAKHIAN
ZE AMWAL BAR MI KHURAND,
BAKHILAN
GAM-E-SEEM O ZAR MI KHURAND.”
“Philanthropist
partake of fruits from their treasures,
Misers but weep over their untouched wealth”
In service of the
community,
Yours sincerely,
Dastur Nadershah
P.Unvalla
Chairman
Note: Donations by cheques or demand drafts be
made out to
“The
Bangalore Parsee Zoroastrian Anjuman” and sent to
Dastur
Nadershah P.Unvalla
Platinum
Jubilee Fund Raising Committee
The
Bangalore Parsee Zoroastrian Anjuman
15 Queens
Road
Bangalore
560001
Please include your full
name, address, and telephone numbers along with your donation.