Bai Dhunmai & Cawasji Dadabhai Dar-E-Meher

Platinum Jubilee

1926 2001

21^st 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.