ZANT NEWS. A Publication of the Zoroastrian Association of North Texas. 11/16: Dandia Night

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1 ZANT NEWS A Publication of the Zoroastrian Association of North Texas October2013 ZANT EVENTS & CALENDAR 10/05: Mehregan function 10/13: Children s Religious Class 10/13: Children s Arts & Craft Class 10/13: Vohu Manah meeting 10/26: Costume Party & ZLC Event 11/02: Diwali Mela 11/03: Sports Day 11/08 and 11/09: ZANT Garage Sale 11/10: Children s Religious Class 11/10: Children s Arts & Craft Class 11/10: Vohu Manah meeting 11/16: Dandia Night 12/08: Children s Religious Class 12/08: Children s Arts & Craft Class 12/08: Vohu Manah meeting 12/21 &12/22: Jashan-e-Yalda 12/28: Zarthost-no-Diso 12/29: ZLC Meeting 12/31: New Year s Eve Party MESSAGE FROM THE ZANT BOARD JASHAN- E-MEHREGAN جشنش شمشان ن ش نشمش October heralds the ancient Zoroastrian festival of Mehregan. Several versions on the beginnings of Mehregan are known. These include: a) the day of victory when angels helped Fereydoon and Kaveh become victorious over the evil Zohak, b) the day when Ahura Mazda gave Light to the world and c) the day when the sun was created. Mehregan celebrates the Yazata Mehr, dedicated to friendship, affection and love. It falls during the autumn harvest when farmers, reaping their crops before the onset of winter, thanked Ahura Mazda for sustaining them through the cold, harsh, winter months. With so much significance attached to this wonderful festival, we encourage our ZANT community to retain its spirit of friendship, amity and charity, helping out whenever needed. We appreciate our volunteers who have been working so hard at all times in their own special ways and also thank our donors, who through their love and dedication for ZANT, have contributed towards keeping it active and running for many years. INSIDE THIS ISSUE Upcoming Events 2 Upcoming Events 3 Upcoming Events 4 Past Events 5 Past Events, Angels in the Background 6 Kids Corner 7 ZANT News, FEZANA News, Donation Form 8 AN ADVERTISEMENT 9 President BOARD OF DIRECTORS Vice President Treasurer Secretary Social Director Director Director Keshvar Buhariwalla Farshad Bidanjiri Neenaaz Dilucci Farzeen Sukheswalla Dilnawaz Rustomji Naazneen Johnson We welcome and encourage feedback from our community. For comments or suggestions please call the Board members, fill in the Contact Us section on our website ( or mail them to ZANT, 1605 Lopo Road, Flower Mound,TX ZANT October 2013 Newsletter 1

2 UPCOMING EVENTS MEHREGAN CELEBRATION Time seems to move faster and faster! We just finished planning our Shahenshahi New Year and the next festival, Mehregan, - celebrating the coming of fall - is already upon us. This year Shahin Samia has graciously volunteered to be our Event Director. She is busy working on the details of all the fun activities for the night of Saturday, October 5, at 6:00 p.m. at the ZANT Center. One detail that has been finalized is the menu. Thanks to Shahin, this year we will have a completely catered Iranian meal from Alounak Restaurant. The menu is: Jujeh Kabab Grilled Chicken Kabob Ghormeh Sabzi Khoresht Beef with parsley, other green vegetables, kidney beans Ghaymeh Khoresht dal with beef, fried potatoes and special lemon Baghali Polau rice with lima beans and dill Plain Rice Salad, Barbari Nan, Yogurt Homemade cake for dessert Dancer and singer, Mahnosh, will perform for our Mehregan celebration by singing and playing the daff/arabooneh (traditional Iranian musical instrument). Don t miss this special performance. We will also have a special children s dance. Those who have RSVP d can pay $10 per adult and $7 per child, 4 9 years old at the event. CHILDREN S ARTS & CRAFT CLASS Date: Sunday, October Time: After the Children s Religious Class Place: ZANT Center We will be continuing and completing the toran projects that were started in September. If you would like to start yours during the next class, please RSVP to Dilnawaz Rustomji. VOHU MANAH GROUP Date: Sunday, October 13, 2013 Time: 1:30 p.m. Place: ZANT Center Topic: The Women of the Shah Nameh Our own esteemed President, Keshvar Buhariwalla, will share her recent readings about the women in the Shah Nameh. Keshvar s book review on this subject will be appearing in the Fezana Journal, but the ZANT community has the first opportunity to hear about her findings. Please join us. For more information on this event please contact Anahita Sidhwa. ZANT October 2013 Newsletter 2

3 UPCOMING EVENTS (CONTINUED) Z L C - The ZANT Ladies Club Caring, Sharing, Daring Living Life to the fullest! Date: Saturday, October 26, 2013 Time: 7:00 p.m. Place: ZANT Center The October 2013 ZLC event will be held in conjunction with the Costume Party that is scheduled for October 26 and includes a Trick or Treat event for our kids along with a catered Chinese dinner. Please see the article on this event in the newsletter. ZLC Coordinator: Rakhshi Dhalla COSTUME PARTY Fall winds begin to blow Colored leaves fall to and fro Costume fever s in the air Start planning what you dare to wear. Sign up for a fun costume party, games, music and dancing at the ZANT Center: DATE: Saturday, October 26, PLACE: ZANT Center TIME: 7:00 p.m. (please arrive on time to allow your children to trick or treat from car trunk to car trunk from 7:15-7:45 p.m. Bring candy and tricks to share from the trunk of your car in the ZANT Center parking lot). COSTUMES: Mandatory, wear something simple from a moustache to a witch hat to something more mind blowing. There will be prizes for different categories. MENU (Chinese food): Kung Pao Chicken, Garlic Beef, Eggplant in Garlic Sauce, Fried Rice and Chicken Lo Mein. Vegetarian menu: Vegetarian Fried Rice, Vegetable Lo Mein, Eggplant in Garlic Sauce. Dessert for adults and kids is Dirt. PRICE: $15 for adults, $10 for children ages A late fee of $5 will be charged after October 18, R.S.V.P: To Sherazade Mehta by October 18, ZANT October 2013 Newsletter 3

4 UPCOMING EVENTS (CONTINUED) DIWALI MELA Date: Saturday, November 02, 2013 Time: 4:00 p.m. to midnight Place: Cotton Bowl Stadium, Dallas The Diwali Mela is a fundraiser for ZANT. It is hosted by the DFW Indian Cultural Society which is involved in charitable endeavors, like running two free primary- care clinics for uninsured patients. The Association also supports various Indian charities. Please contribute to defray ZANT s cost for supplies and the booth. When you contribute to ZANT's Diwali Mela fundraiser, you are helping raise funds for our association. Our involvement also helps various DFW charities. Please donate generously! If you would like to help at the booth please contact Khurshid Jamadar. We work hard but have a lot of fun! Date: Sunday, November 3, 2013 Time: 9:00 a.m. Place: Hedrick Elementary School ZANT SPORTS The Annual Sports Day will be on Sunday, November 3 at Hedrick Elementary School, 1526 Bellaire Blvd., Lewisville, TX PLEASE PARK IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL S PARKING LOT NOT IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL S PARKING LOT. After the sports are over there will be a potluck breakfast at the ZANT Center. For information on the Sports Day, please contact Neenaaz DiLucci. To RSVP for the potluck breakfast, please contact Dilnawaz Rustomji. We hope you will be able to attend this event, participate in the sports and join us for breakfast. ZANT GARAGE SALE The annual ZANT Garage sale is being re-scheduled for two days, Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9, 2013 at the ZANT Center. We encourage our members to donate items to be sold off at this sale with all profits going to ZANT. Please keep bringing your items to the ZANT Center for our upcoming garage sale. We will store them in the shed, so please bring your items to the Mehregan event or the Religious class. Pick-up for large items can be arranged if needed. For the Plano area, please contact Darys Reyes or Keshvar Buhariwala. PLEASE BRING US YOUR DISCARDS, THEY ARE LIKE GOLD TO US! ZANT October 2013 Newsletter 4

5 PAST EVENTS SHAHENSHAHI NAVROZE FUNCTION On Saturday, August 24, about 100 adults and kids met at the Hilton Garden Inn in Dallas to celebrate the ZANT Shahenshahi New Year. We would like to thank Pearl Balsara, the Event Director, for this function. The event started with a short community prayer led by our priests. This was followed by a series of games for our kids and adults. Our kids put on quite a performance for the Spin a Yarn competition! We were thrilled to have 13 participants, Anaiza Irani, Aryana Jamshidi, Autusa Behroozi, Aysha Elavia, Burzin Balsara, Cyrus, Hormuz and Zaal Buhariwalla, Cyrus and Serena Sarkari, Ferona Bustani, Sascha Shroff and Yazad Kekobad. Kudos to all of you for stepping up to the microphone and entertaining us! The competition was divided into three sections by age and the following kids won the competition in their age group: 2 years 7 years Aysha Elavia (1 st Place) and Yazad Kekobad (1 st Place) 8 years 12 years Serena and Cyrus Sarkari (1 st Place) 13 years and older Burzin Balsara (1 st Place) ZANT extends its thanks to Sherazade Mehta and Charlotte Kharas for judging the competition and to Arbez and Hoshang Patel for the fun prizes! Our DJ, Sayani Kaizer, and his dancing partner, Chayya, enthralled us with a very energetic, Bollywood-style dance number performed with pep and vigor. They then helped us judge the round of adult games. These games, courtesy of Pearl Balsara, were very entertaining. Participants had a lot of fun due to the goodnatured bantering among the tables vying for the prizes. A sumptuous and delicious buffet dinner followed the games. During dinner we were entertained by the DJ. After dinner, the DJ turned on his music magic and Chayya led us in various dances hip hop, Bollywood, different line dances, etc. The dancing continued until it was time to leave. It was a very enjoyable evening and we thank all our members who came to the function and made it a success. The event could not have taken place without Delnaaz Irani who worked with the hotel and got the menu set for a reasonable price. Thanks to Vispy and Ruth-Dinaz Sarkari for underwriting the cost of the dancer, Chayya, who accompanied the DJ and our gratitude to Hoshang and Arbez Patel for donating and wrapping all prizes. We also would like to acknowledge Keshvar Buhariwlla for contributing the delectable chocolate cake. Photos courtesy of Neenaaz DiLucci and Aspi Irani ZANT October 2013 Newsletter 5

6 PAST EVENTS (CONTINUED) ARTS & CRAFT CLASS In our September class, the kids started working on their toran sections. They had to learn how to tie a knot, secure the first bead, follow the pattern and change over to a new line. The process requires some concentration and patience, a single mistake and the entire line would need to be undone. We look forward to completing the project at the next session. VOHU MANAH GROUP On September 8 we watched a most interesting and enlightening video, Keepers of the Flame the story about the famous industrialists of India, Jamshetji Tata and his family. Jamshetji was born in Navsari in 1839, and his first business ventures were trading with China. Later when the American Civil War caused a shortage of raw cotton for the mills in Britain, Jamshetji set sail for Europe to try and convince the British to use Indian cotton. Unfortunately by the time he got to England, American cotton was again available, but Jamshetji was deter- mined to reap some benefit from his journey. He saw the possibility of set- ting up textile mills in India, but he was horrified at the inhumane condi- tions in Manchester and vowed that his factories would have superb employee benefits. He also recognized a guiding principle the country that has the steel has the gold. Toiling with his sons, he established many successful businesses like the Empress Mills and the Taj Hotel. But it was only after his death that his three most visionary enterprises - the Tata Iron and Steel Company, the Tata Hydroelectric Power Supply Company and the Institute of Science at Bangalore - finally became reality. His legacies of social conscience and business acumen have continued to influence the future generations of his family. It was heart-warming to note that many of our own ZANT members have been recipients of Tatasponsored scholarships. Angels in the Background October is the last month of our fiscal year. Between November 1, 2012 and October 31, 2013, ZANT had 187 members, including seven honorary ones. We are thankful to all of you who chose to become members and supported ZANT with your dues and extra contributions during the year. It is because of committed persons like our members that we can support our Center and have religious and social events there. This month we would like to nominate our ZANT Members as our Angels in the Background! Without your financial help and spirit of volunteering, ZANT could not have met the expectations of our community. We sincerely hope that all of you and other North Texas Zarthushtis and their families, who were not members in this year, will take the opportunity to become ZANT members in the next year. Our dues are $50 per person and children under 18 are free. The November 2013 newsletter will have a membership form for the next year. Let s make our best membership year! ZANT October 2013 Newsletter 6

7 KIDS CORNER Your Beautiful Life. If you must look back, Do so forgivingly. If you must look forward, Do so prayerfully. However, The wisest thing you can do Is be present in the present...gratefully! Religious Class: Source : Internet (Author Maya Angelou) It was wonderful to begin our religious classes for the new year after a three-month summer break! At our September Religious Class, our little ones prepared a booklet titled, 'I am a Zarthushti'. They learned our name for God, a little about our prophet Zarathushtra, our three main principles, humata, hukhta, and huvareshta and our three basic prayers. The little ones got to outline a Farohar and understand the symbolism of each part. Don't forget to bring back your fun homework assignment - your very own family tree! We would love to see even more young ones in October! Starting the new term with our new Religious Class Theme of Navjote 1st Step to Zoroastrianism, our middle-age group had a Power Point presentation about the Symbolism in a Jashan. The auspicious occasion of Navjote, begins with a Jashan at the Navjote kid s residence, a day or two before the Navjote day. They learnt that.. Jashan is a religious thanksgiving ceremony or one that commemorates/celebrates an important event. The Jashan Layout. Representation of Ahura Mazda s seven creations in the Jashan ceremony. The Flower Ceremony - the symbolism and ritual performed three times. We ended our class with the story of Sadda Mama (chameleon) Charlotte Kharas has joined our Religious Class Team. This month our teen group was taught by her. They talked about various topics which will be addressed in future classes. The main focus was on the Zoroastrian perspective of Creation as written in the Bundahishn. The teens asked some very insightful questions and a lively discussion followed. It was decided that for homework each participant will think of a follow-up question which will be answered in the subsequent class. Children s Religious Class: Our next religious class will be held on Sunday, October 13, 2013 at 11:30 a.m. Please be at the ZANT Center by 10:45 a.m, so we can have prayers and Tandarosti for the kids in the Prayer Room at 11 a.m. before the Religious Class. For further details about the Religious Classes, please contact Pearl P. Balsara. Photo courtesy of Pearl Balsara (Kid s Corner logo courtesy of Zoroastrian Studies, India) ZANT October 2013 Newsletter 7

8 ZANT NEWS INTERESTING ARTI- CLE Here s an interesting website on Zoroastrians in Uzbekistan with photographs. It is: Pages/ A RESIGNATION FROM THE BOARD ZANT Secretary, Ardeshir Mistry, has submitted his resignation effective October 1, 2013 due to personal reasons. He thanks the community for allowing him to represent them on the Board and appreciates the wonderful experience of working with other Board members since June ZAH Z-CAMP 2013 The Zoroastrian Association of Houston is hosting its Z-Camp 2013 for kids and youth, ages 5 to 18. It will be a two-day event lasting all day. The dates are Saturday, October 19 and Sunday, October 20, The program includes games, sports, dancing, cooking, fashion, first aid and more. It is $15 per child. To get more information on this event, please visit their website, EXCITING NEW EVENTS AT THE CENTER There are some interesting new events at our ZANT Center which we encourage you to add to your personal calendars for 2013! Events scheduled for the last three months of 2013 are: Saturday, October 26 Costume Party Saturday, November 16 Dandia Night Tuesday, December 31 New Year s Eve Party FEZANA NEWS AN OBITUARY The FEZANA Board has informed us that, FEZANA President Katayun Kapadia's husband, Kersi Dara Kapadia passed away on September 26, He was born on October 30, Kersi is survived by his wife, Katayun, his children: daughter Zarin, son Lt. Farrokh Kapadia (USN) and daughter-in-law Tralene. He was the brother of Dogdoe Tehmtan Arjani, Bakhtavar Noshir Lam and Diana Darius Dadachanji and brother-in-law of Bakhtawar and Rustom Dinshaw. He was a loving husband and father, a trusted friend and a beloved uncle to all who knew him. Kersi was a quiet man of great strength whose words held vast wisdom. A man whose smile was elusive and rare, but brought joy to all those around him. He would always place the needs of others before those of himself, especially to help the youth of our community. An accomplished cook, his chai was legendary and his garden bursting with flowers and vegetables which he would share with everyone including the animals in the backyard. Kersi Dara Kapadia was a husband, a father, a teacher, mentor and dear friend. While his passing is a great loss to the community, we can all take solace in the fact that he is finally able to get the sleep and rest that he deserved. Kersi s life may have ended on September 26, but his love and his memory will continue on in the lives of those he touched and those lucky enough to know him. May Kersi's noble soul rest in peace and may Ahura-Mazda give strength to Katayun and her family to bear this loss. Keep this stub Please detach and return this side Accept my contribution of: for your records. with your contribution payable to: ZANT" and mail to: ( ) $10 ( ) $20 ( ) $30 ( ) $40 ( ) $50 ( ) $ To: ZANT ZANT Treasurer 1605 Lopo Road For: Check # Flower Mound, Texas Date ( ) General Fund ( ) Building Fund Amount $ ( ) ZOMF ( ) Other FROM: Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community. Help us pass on the Good Religion to future generations. ZANT October 2013 Newsletter 8

9 AN ADVERTISEMENT BACK TO SCHOOL - NEED A TUTOR? Math, Science, English, and organizational skills. 10+ years of experience in both private tutoring and school settings. I am able to tutor multiple grade levels for either the school term or to prepare for tests and term papers. Call me Zareen Desai (214) ZANT October 2013 Newsletter 9