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Editor's note : What day is it? It is all hazy this year isn’t it? It is Covid year, and frankly days and months all kind of blend into one foggy passage of time for what is left of 2020. Last year during the holidays we may have wished for a new house, car, job or good health. But this year, I am confident the majority of us just wish for nothing except to go back to normal, something we didn’t appreciate last year. 2020 will definitely go in the history books especially for the U.S.; the country every nation looks up to as an example of the free world has been so polarized by politics that they have completely lost their common sense and intuition. In 2020 we witnessed many lose their lives, jobs, homes, livelihoods and most of all lose hope. On the flip side we also saw flexibility, humility, empathy and kindness and the desire to save humanity. Some spent the year angry and blamed politics and lack of leadership for where we are today. But let’s take a step back and analyze our own behavior as adults. At some point whether we have good role models or leaders or bad ones we have to stop blaming them for our bad behavior. As adults we own our thoughts and actions and must do the right thing even if it is not being modeled at the time. This means doing the right thing even if it disagrees with my thinking; doing the right thing when I am afraid; doing the right thing even when social pressure pushes me in the other direction. That is the Zoroastrian way: to use our wisdom and progressive thinking, choose the right path and do the right thing. Then we can sleep well at night saying it was really a struggle but I did make a difference. May 2021 bring us an end to this pandemic and give us the building blocks to rebuild our communities.
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Publication of California Zoroastrian Center
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Tribute to (Baba)
Dr. Ali Akbar Jafarey Dr. Ali Akbar Jafarey was born in Kerman, Iran on February 7, 1921 to Ramezan and Sakineh Jafarey. In 1925 the family moved to Karachi, then part of prepartition India, where he spent most of his childhood. He grew up in a multilingual family, but through his own study and love for languages he became fluent in 15 languages, including: 1. Arabic 2. Avesta 3. Baluchi 4. English 5. Gujarati 6. Hindi 7. Katchi 8. Pahlavi 9. Persian 10. Punjabi 11. Rudbari (also called Bandari) 12. Sanskrit 13. Seraiki 14. Sindhi 15. Urdu He studied Avesta, Old Persian, and Pahlavi with Dr. Maneck Pitha-walla, Principal of the B.V.S. Parsi High School, and later with Dastur Dr. Maneckjee N. Dha-lla, High Priest of Pakistan, under whom he also studied the Gathas and Good Religion of Zarathushtra (1938-44). He graduated high school with a focus in Arabic from Sind Madresah. He received his Bachelor’s, his Doctorate (in Persian Literature) and his Post-Doctorate (in English) from the University of Karachi. Early in his career he taught Avesta, Pahlavi, and Persian at the Parsi High School. From 1950-1955 he worked for Aramco in Saudi Arabia as an anthropologist and as
the newspaper assistant-editor. In 1956, when he was 35 years old, he returned to Iran, this time to Tehran, where he founded and ran his own company, Jeffrey’s Translanguages, from 1956-1964 offering translation and research services to commercial ventures including the National Iranian Oil Company. He worked for 17 years, 1964-1980, in the Ministry of Culture and Arts in Tehran, first as the Head of the Department of Cultural Affairs for Afro-Asian Countries, and then as a Counselor to the Minister of Culture and Arts. In 1969, he was relocated to Pakistan to establish the Iran-Pakistan Institute of Persian Studies, a joint venture by the Iranian and Pakistani governments for research in their common Persian heritage. He served as the Founder-Director of the Institute and the Honorable Head of the Persian Department and Professor of Persian, Islamabad University, from 1969-1976. He returned to Tehran in 1976 where he served as Director General of the Iranian Anthropological Center with the Ministry of Culture and Arts In 1982 he left his beloved Iran for the United States and settled in California. Part of the first wave of Iranian immigrants, Dr. Jafarey is known and loved by many as extended family, who all affectionately called him Baba Jafarey. Dr. Jafarey served the California Zoroastrian Center as a scholar and teacher for nine years from 1982-1991. He was honored as a Life Member of the Center and enjoyed many great memories and friendships there. In 1991 he helped co-found and was Director of the Zarathushtrian Assembly based in Los Angeles. The Zarathushtrian Assembly remains active and is dedicated to the spread of the Pristine Message of Zarathushtra as embodied in the Gathas. In 2012 Professor Jose Luis Abreau of Latin America Spenta University in Argentina awarded Dr. Jafarey an Honorary Doctorate Degree. During his long career Dr. Jafarey published 23 books in Persian and English on the Zarathushtrian Religion and Ancient Iran, and over 100 essays in Persian, English, Urdu, Hindi, Sindhi, and Baluchi. His book, “Pâyâm-e Zartosht, chonân kê az sorûdhâye ân, pâkmard bar miâyad (The Message of Zarathushtra, as understood from his Songs)”, first edition 1967, is a best seller and has had several editions in Iran and one in the United States.
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His Persian translation of “The Gathas and the Supplements in the Gathic dialect" under the title “Stot Yasn,” first edition 1981, was later revised for a second edition in 1988. The English translation, “The Gathas, Our Guide” was published in 1989. He was editor of Tehran - The Ancient Iran Cultural Society Bulletin; The Zoroastrian, a monthly bulletin of the California Zoroastrian Center; and Spenta, a bimonthly English and Persian bulletin of the Zarathushtrian Assembly. In 1944 he married his guiding light and life-partner, Amineh “Amy” Naderi (Sept 30, 1925 – Sept 2, 2007). Although she passed 12 years prior to Dr. Jafarey, Amy’s love and guiding inspiration continued on through their community and children. They are survived by their four children, eight grandchildren, and two greatgrandchildren.
Fariba Pirghaibi Costa Mesa, California I am one of Dr. Jafarey’s (baba’s) many non-biological daughters. He has been my father, mentor, voice of reason, role model, my all things Gathas encyclopedia resource and much much more. Words could not possibly express in how many ways his loss affects all of humanity and me personally. When baba was a little boy he told me his mother used to say “we were all Zoroastrians and the king’s men forced us to convert to Islam”. He also recalled his mother treating fire with respect and feeding stray dogs, unusual in the Islamic environment he lived at that time. As a teenager in Karachi he saw a bunch of Hindu boys bullying a Parsi boy named Cyrus Bulsara, calling him a fire worshipper. He defended the Parsi boy and rescued him. He made an instant friend that day and Cyrus in appreciation of his help brought him a book of Avesta to thank him. He read
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it, fell in love with it and asked Cyrus if he could read the original language of the book and he responded that only his high school principle and Dastur Dhalla could. Baba then asked Cyrus if his high school teacher would teach him to read it. He took lessons from the principal for the next 3 years and was referred to Dastur Dhalla, where he studied the Gathas, 3 more years. He spent the rest of his remarkable life learning, teaching and promoting Zarathushtra’s message. Dastur Dhalla made him promise to wait 5 years before he attempted to translate the Gathas, he waited 35 years. He was a man who never stepped on an ant for it had a life. He got upset if you swatted a fly for it had a life. He did not want a tree in front of his house cut, whose roots were causing all kinds of plumbing issue, for it had a life. He never blew out a candle for that is not a respectful thing for a Zoroastrian to do. He chose to only see the good in human beings. When I lived with him and Amy I got frustrated and discouraged many times for how I saw him be treated by some unkind souls. He received unkind letters and angry phone calls. I would ask him why you are working so hard when you or your work is not appreciated. And he would smile and with a calm voice say janam (dear) I am not doing this for them; I am doing it because it is the right thing to do. He was living the true message of Ashem Vohu, doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do without expecting a reward. To me his presence emanated the kind of serenity and light that was unparalleled. I am sure everyone who has been in his presence knows the kind of calm his quietness brought to us. I learned perseverance from baba; I learned to keep my goal within sight and not veer off the right path and never to give up no matter how many negative voices would tell me I will fail. Baba was a living example of Amesha Spentas: He was Spenta Mainyu[6] With his Progressive mentality He was [Vohu] Manah With his Good thinking He was Aša [Vahišta] With his Truth / Righteousness He was Xšatra [Vairya] A true follower of good ruling-Zoroastrian philosophy He was [Spenta] Armaiti With his Devotion and love was to mankind and most true to Zarathushtra He was Haurvatāt Wholeness, he was as perfect a human being as you can
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be He was Amərətāt For he is in the house of songs and has achieved Immortality, we will know no one like him for generations to come If you ever received a hug from baba you would never forget it for he would hug you with all of his strength and every bone in your body would feel the genuine affection that was radiating from him. He was a relentless rock in pursuit of his mission, which was to spread Zarathushtra’s message to all mankind “So that I may convert all the people into the right path. Yasna 31.3" He will be missed for his kindness, his calmness, his wisdom and his radiance; if ushta is radiant happiness he was ushta personified. Baba I will forever miss your beautiful hugs, your patience, your undivided attention and your wisdom.
Mobed Kerman Katrak Toronto, Canada It was over 40 years ago, that I first met Dr. Ali Akbar Jafarey in Tehran, Iran and from that day onwards, we have been spreading the message of our Prophet Zarathushtra. Dr. Jafarey and myself were the first ones to start the Gatha classes at Sazman-e-Farvahar in Tehran, Iran and he was the first one in the world to start the group Sedreh-Pooshi (Navjote) of adults at Kanoun-eDaneshjuyan-e-Zarthushti, in Tehran and he requested co-operation from the Mobeds Council of Tehran to join me, in performing this Group Sedreh-Pooshi of Zarthushti Adults. In fact, Dr. Jafarey had designed the first portable gas Afringan and I was the first one to light it in Yazd when I was performing the group Sedreh-Pooshi of 33
Zarthushti boys and girls. Once I asked Baba, what language should I be giving my speeches in Canada, as we have a multicultural congregation who speaks French, English, Persian, Gujarati and Hindi. His answer was: Always speak “the language of the day” otherwise you will lose a whole generation of people. Speak in a language which is predominant in this age and time, just as our ancestors spoke in a language which was predominant in their era. If Baba Jafarey would have just lived for 4 more months, he would have completed 100 years and we all would have celebrated it on a grand scale. And what a celebration that would have been! With the power vested in me, as a Registered and Licensed Minister of Religion, I would have declared that day as a National Holiday. May the blessings of our holy angels, Sorush, Rashne and Mehr be his forever and may his soul rest in Heavenly Joy in the House of Songs. Dina McIntyre Norfolk, Virginia Many years ago, 6 people sat around my dining room table in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to discuss what steps we could take to welcome into the religion, anyone who wished to follow Zarathushtra's teachings. The six of us included Dr. Kaikhosrov Irani and his wife, Piroja, Dr. Farang Mehr, Dr. Jafarey, Dariush Irani, and me. We talked for 2 days. Some months after later, Dr. Jafarey and Dariush Irani did something about it. They acted. They formed the Zarathushtrian Assembly, an organization dedicated to spreading knowledge of Zarathushtra's teachings, and welcoming anyone who wished to become a Zarathushtrian, -- a movement which now has grown in countries all over the world. Dr. Jafarey and I sometimes disagreed. Thinking people are bound to disagree here and there. But that did not affect our friendship. I admired him for many things. I would like to mention just two. He did not return hatred for hatred. In the early years, when he and Dariush battled the head winds of obstruction and ostracism, I don't doubt that his heart was often filled with unshed tears. But for as long as I knew him, he was kind, generous, and a friend to everyone. He had courage. He did not become bitter. On the contrary, he had quite a sense of humor. Secondly, and equally important, he made a huge difference in many, many lives all over the world. Statistics sound impressive, but they don't give us insight
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into the impact on individual lives. I have heard from so many people, about what a difference Dr. Jafarey made to their lives. This, in part, is what Zarathushtra speaks of when he tells us to heal existence. The Farvardin Yasht (Yt. 13.97) celebrates Saena, a teacher of the religion who had one hundred students. Imagine how the Farvardin Yasht would have celebrated Dr. Jafarey who enabled many hundreds of people to learn about, and follow, Zarathushtra's reason--based, joyful, beneficial, progressive teachings. I feel happy that eventually, all the goodness he extended came back to him, in the affection, admiration, and high esteem in which he is held by so many. Awat Darya Representative or Kurdistan Zoroastrians, IRAQ I was proud to have had the honor of meeting BabaDr. Ali Jafarey twice on two visits to America, and get to know him. On my first visit in 2017 with some of my colleagues, I visited Zoroastrian Assembly in California accompanied by Mariwan Naqshbandi. In my first meeting with Baba he greeted us at the door; welcomed us, hugged me and said: from now on, I am your spiritual father. During the nine days of our visit in Los Angeles, I have many memories that will remain forever in my heart and mind. I will share a few below: 1- He always advised me to stay away from problems and take things simply. For example I told him of a time when some bad peoples, who disliked Zoroastrians in the Kurdistan region had printed the Fravahar (the Zoroastrian Logo) on slippers and shoes, with the aim of mocking and belittling the Zoroastrian religion. Baba advised me not to allow that to bother me, because no matter where they printed and placed the Fravahar, it does not affect the essence of the Zoroastrians. The Fravahar is present in the mind, thought and faith of the Zoroastrians. In addition he said, there are many people who do not know anything about the Fravahar, and this will be an opportunity for Zoroastrians, as people will try to find out more information about the Fravahar. 2- Another day, Mariwan and I went to visit him, and Mariwan was wearing Kurdish traditional clothes consisting of two pieces in the middle of which there is a traditional belt with three wrapped tight knots. When Baba shook hands with Mariwan, he fell to his knees and held Mariwan's belt in his hands and his eyes teared up and he got emotional. He said that this dress and belt reminds him of the origin of the Zoroastrians. He explained to us that in the ancient time Zoroastrians of Kurdistan, every morning when a Zoroastrian went
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to work, he wore this dress and tightened his belt with three tight knots, and renewed his vow and commitment to the teachings of Ahura Mazda from the songs of Zoroaster, and adherence to (good thought, good speech and good deeds) 3- At another meeting attended by many Zoroastrians in America and Canada, I insisted that the flag of Kurdistan be in front of me, but some who were supervising the event did not agree. Baba allowed the existence of the flag and raised it front of me, while I delivered my speech. 4- On my second visit to Los Angeles in 2019 I asked him why he didn’t change his name to another name and he told me that he was born in Iran with that name, and he did not try to change it because names are not as important as actions; I have the substance and faith which is more important than the name, so I did not change it, he said. There is much to say about Baba Ali Jafarey, but his thoughts, words and books will remain a beacon for me in spreading the teachings of Zarathustra. Mitra Dinyar Irvine, California Spanta Armeiti by definition is: Love, devotion , loyalty and gratitude. And Dr. Jafarey had a soul filled with this grand attribute. When his dear wife passed, so many offered their condolences and to each person he would passionately say: “we were married for 63 years 3 months and 21 days. He cherished every memory, every event and every moment of his happy marriage. How many people can be as lucky and as dedicated? He had the same love and devotion in spreading Zarathushtra’s message and I remember vividly when he gave a lecture in Atlanta, Georgia in 1982 on a beautiful autumn afternoon that made me a born again Zoroastrian.
Artemis Javanshir Tarzana, California At a meeting of friends, and coenthusiasts of the Gathas, it was suggested to start a gathering and read the Gathas verse by verse and discuss the meaning. That was how Gatha Discussion sponsored through Core Education Committee of California Zoroastrian Center in Los Angeles was born. Sitting in Gatha Discussion, at times, we would spend
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the hour discussing an Avestan word using translations by different scholars. Being a student of Ravanshaad Dr. Ali Akbar Jafarey, sitting in a library dedicated to him and bearing his name, I couldn’t help but wish for such a reference by Dr. Jafarey. On one of our visits (with my mom’s Parimarz Firoozgar) to Zarathushtrian Assembly in Santa Ana, I suggested the idea to Dr. Jafarey. I asked, why he hadn’t published such a reference. He said a word by word translation of the Gathas would be useful for limited enthusiasts, as his goal is to spread the message of Zarathushtra to as many individuals as possible and that can only be accomplished through easy to understand articles and books. Nevertheless, he graced me with his compliance. When, I’d email or call to encourage him towards a speedier result, he’d say “Dokhtaram, my daughter, I am 98 years old, I am working as fast as I can. Do not worry; I will finish this book for you.” When he was admitted to the hospital, I had the privilege of being able to talk to him. He sounded good, energetic which brought much joy. The true Zarathushti that he was, laying in the hospital bed, he had not forgotten his promise to me. Remembering the early years, after the revolution in Iran, and migrating to Los Angeles, similar to other Zoroastrian youth who had immigrated and were studying or working in the area, we would gather once a week at our house. Dr. Jafarey living in the Orange County area with the love and dedication he had to teaching Zarathushtra’s message would drive to our house despite the traffic, long distance, rain, or shine. The youth would gather at our house after a long day at work or school, spreading all the way to the hall, some finding a spot on the floor as the chairs became scarce to listen to him teach. I remember him often starting the concepts with a memory or story. Visiting the Assembly, he always had Samosa for us, at times he would tell us the story of the Samosa being an Iranian food especially during Sassanid era and its name derived from it having three corners. His favorite sweet was brownie, and he took his tea with a bit of added cold water. Many times, he would give me something for my girls and my girls knew and loved him. We were humbled with his presence at my younger daughter’s Sedreh Pooshi and he graced the gathering with his knowledge of how and why the tradition of tying the koshti was practiced in the Indo-Iranian culture. As an older, more experienced individual I can’t help but admire his dedication, steadfast belief in the message of Zarathushtra, his wisdom, his calm, loving nature, and the radiant happiness that resonated from him and
felt by all those who knew him. I see his students as seeds spreading throughout the globe from the tree that is Zarathushtra’s message which he in turn nurtured and watered. He lives on in all of us and through his numerous writings for future generations. Many times, I think about the word Amertat in the Gathas, perhaps this is a form of Amertat. Adi Davar Falls Church, Virginia I first came to know Ali while digging into that trove as I was preparing my presentation on “Non Zoroastrians in Zoroastrian Percepts: Do They Have a Place?” for the 1982 Zoroastrian Congress in Montreal. As that paper opened up a worldwide public discussion of the issue of conversion for the first time, it led to Dr. Jafarey contacting me. Since then, our friendship deepened and I had the privilege of being regarded as one of Ali’s closest friends. He persuaded me to write a few articles on our faith in his Spenta magazine, join him in a few seminars and Gatha conferences and participate in the conceptualization of the Zoroastrian Assembly that he led for years and together with Dariush Irani, shaped into a world-wide institution. Dr. Jafarey believed that any person, who understood the basic principles of our faith and wanted to live by them as his way of life, should be allowed to do so. However, he made sure that such persons truly understood, and espoused those principles. To that end, he gave them courses at the Zoroastrian Assembly or arranged for those who could not take them, to get that knowledge by putting them in touch with knowledgeable NA Zoroastrians. And most importantly, before initiating them into the faith he personally gave most of them, a rigorous test to gauge the depth of their knowledge of Zoroastrianism and commitment to lead a Zoroastrian life. He declined to initiate anyone who did not pass that test. Traditional co-religionists often ignore this rigorous bar that anyone wishing to have their navjotes done, had to pass. Our community has lost an outstanding leader, scholar and human being, and I, a dear and valued friend!
Rubina Patel Silver Spring, Maryland They were born two years apart — my mother in March 1919, Dr. Jafarey in 1921. Dasturji Dhalla was my mother’s guru, Dr. Jafarey’s mentor. Their life-long love of
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and devotion to the religion of Zarathushtra began under Dasturji Dhalla’s tutelage. My mother remained active in the fold of her community in Karachi and Lahore; Dr Jafarey was destined to lead a movement in the USA. Possibly to teach me respect, my mother referred to him as Dr Jafarey; he referred to her as Meheroo. As taught by Asho Zarathushtra in Ys 30.2 — “Listen with your ears to the best, consider with an open mind among the paths before deciding” — my mother believed that one should hear all sides of a subject, even if they were controversial. She organized classes, speakers, discussion groups and debates, especially to encourage the youth to participate fully in community matters. One of those speakers was Dr Jafarey. I recall meeting Aunty Amy and Uncle Ali on and off in Karachi but a clearer memory is Uncle Ali’s personally guided tour of the impressive California Zoroastrian Center in the 1980’s and his visit to Washington, DC. My husband, Jim, met Uncle Ali at a Gatha Conference and corresponded with him often. We were given many copies of “The Gathas, Our Guide” to which Jim referred for his own studies in Zoroastrianism. With the advent of email we asked Uncle Ali’s opinion on many points, not least of which was the spelling of our son’s name. During phone calls he was always glad to chat a while on a variety of subjects. With Uncle Ali’s passing, the circle of friends from that era, are now reunited in Mazda’s House of Song; the memory of his days with us will be a blessing.
Shahrooz Ash Irvine, California One day I was reminded of Zoroaster in one of my courses at UCLA. Realization dawned upon me; the last time I had heard that name was during my early elementary school in Iran. Shortly thereafter, I moved to England. It was by chance that I came across the name Zoroaster after so many years. My interest in learning about Zoroaster led me to a loving, intelligent, and honest human being by the name of Ratu Fatane Farid in Los Angeles, some 25 years ago. She introduced me
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to Baba (Ratu Dr. Jafarey), who was the house scholar in charge of education at the Zarathushtrian Assembly. Fatane Farid was his right hand arm. After so many interactions with Baba and the Zarathushtrian Assembly over a long period of time a bond was created, an interest in helping the mission of the Assembly. Baba was an inspiration to many; I became very close to him, eager to learn from a brilliant individual. Crossing paths with Ratu Baba (Dr. Jafarey) over 20 years ago had an important effect in my views, much of which is attributed to a great teacher and master to express clear Zoroastrian philosophy. Baba educated many and created awareness for those interested in the vision of Zarathushtra. Baba managed to develop a sizable congregation and propagate the divine sublime message of Zarathushtra with much enthusiasm, energy, and vigor. Baba’s contribution towards the topic of Iranian culture and identity is unmatched. His publications are a testament to his great mind and personhood. He was proud of his Iranian identity and heritage. This is yet another reason why I loved him so much, because we shared similar personal values and sentiments. Another amazing quality Baba possessed was his love for knowledge (science); he was an avid scholar with determination to discover the truth to the fullest. Dr. Jafarey was like a father to me and he treated me like his son. His benevolence and wholehearted kindness were beyond any words describable. Baba was present for the early morning birth of my first-born daughter at UCLA hospital in Santa Monica twenty years ago. Meanwhile, my biological parents were stuck in Iran and could not witness Ariyana’s birth. Baba was also present for the birth of my son Kurosh. He was a true friend, mentor, and educator with the utmost integrity, kindness and loyalty. I invested all of my trust in Dr. Jafarey to the fullest extent because I had complete confidence that he always had my back. Dr. Jafarey treated every individual with respect and dignity, despite their background or personal beliefs. He exhibited tolerance towards other people’s views and opinions. Doctor Jafarey is an example of a man who expressed good thoughts, good words, and good deeds (the tenets of Zoroastrianism) through his everyday life. Dr. Jafarey was a role model and an inspiration to countless people within the Zoroastrian community. We should all strive to continue Baba’s legacy - continue working towards making this world a better place. I could elaborate about all of the thousands of hours we spent together, but this piece of writing serves as a memory; how lucky I was, and how enjoyable it was to know Baba.
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Collective Trauma Interview with Dr. Sousan Abadian
By Artemis Javanshir
Part 1
Dr. Abadian, would you please talk about different types of trauma? Let me begin by saying that we experience something as being traumatic when we feel something precious is in danger – something significant and meaningful to us. What’s at risk could be something tangible like our life or the life of a loved one; or it could be something intangible, like our dignity or something we may consider precious like democracy. Feeling held captive, helpless, and in terror characterizes the experience of trauma. In other words, a person who experiences any kind of emotional or physical violence – could be a severe shock –can be traumatized. Now, traumas can happen to an individual as well as to groups. Traumas can also be a one-time event of short duration, or they could be longer lasting and chronic. The experiences of being beaten, raped, verbally assaulted, or humiliated are examples of one-time traumas to an individual. At a group or collective level, earthquakes and other natural disasters are examples of shorter duration traumas. But other traumas can be chronic: they last longer and are ongoing. Examples are repeated childhood abuse and neglect, or recurring wife beatings. And at a group level, war and colonization are all longer lasting traumas to the collective. What are different ways that an individual or group respond to trauma? This is a big topic but let me remark on just a couple ways people can get damaged by trauma, especially traumas that are long-lasting. Most people have heard that some can develop PTSD symptoms after acute traumas, i.e., increased anxiety, aggressiveness, hyper-vigilance, sleeplessness, etc. But more broadly speaking, trauma can set people up for victim-perpetrator cycles. What I mean is that people who have
experienced trauma can come to see themselves as victims and feel disempowered in their lives. What we don’t often realize is that trauma can also set people up to feeling falsely empowered, meaning that because they feel like a victim, they may also feel justified hitting back and victimizing others. In other words, trauma doesn’t just affect us emotionally and physically; it can distort identities and beliefs. Mistrust is another hallmark of trauma. People who experience trauma can lose faith in themselves, in other people, and in a Higher Power. Survivors of trauma can come to feel betrayed and mistrustful, especially of those in positions of authority who they feel failed them. Or alternatively, they can readily give their power over to those in senior authority - political or religious – idealizing them, hoping that they will keep them safe. In other words, they tend to have an extreme and distorted view of authority. The good news is that not everyone who experiences short-term traumatic events is traumatized or stays traumatized. After experiencing trauma, often symptoms diminish for the people who have had limited experiences with trauma in the past, or who grew up, for example, in healthy, stable families. The effects of trauma can also fade when people have supportive communities and healing environments that they return to following the trauma. With time, they can remember that people can be trusted, and life can still be good. Healthy cultures can be like a collective immune system, helping us to heal from trauma. Most people are extraordinarily resilient. That means that
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no single blow or series of difficult events, are necessarily traumatizing to an individual or have enduring traumatic impact. Whether someone stays traumatized is not just about how terrible the event itself was, but also, the meaning the person attaches to that experience. And what meaning we end up making has much to do with our culture. What I mean is that experiences of trauma can make us stronger and wiser, or on the other hand, they can chronically haunt us and make us hurt ourselves even more, to self-sabotage, and strike out at others. Whether we use trauma constructively or destructively depends in part on how we make meaning out of our trauma. And how we make meaning depends on our existing culture – our values, our beliefs, the prevailing stories, songs, ceremonies, what we choose to commemorate, etc. So, our culture can really steer us in the direction of healing and progress, toward hope and expansion, or our culture can keep us stuck in despair, pessimism, revenge, and retribution. How can trauma affect the future generations and in turn the culture? So, how do cultures become damaged? When we undergo extreme forms of collective trauma – when most of the people in your community have experienced massive disruption and unrelenting trauma over long periods of time – our culture, our collective immune system, can become weakened. Then the fear, the mistrust, anger, grief, and deep pessimism that people tend to feel after experiencing trauma can seep into their world view and culture. So, it promotes beliefs like, “I’m unsafe, I’m damaged and helpless. The world is dangerous, and I’ve got to control as much as I can. They’re out to get me, and people can’t be trusted.”
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Extreme collective traumas not only wound large numbers of people, but they also distort critical sociocultural institutions like how we raise our children, how we educate them. They warp our understanding of how men and women should treat one another. They taint even our religious observances, as well as spiritual and other healing resources, all of which end up compromising our culture’s capacity to inoculate us from trauma going forward. So, when a culture is itself infected by trauma, people don’t heal well, and in fact, as a group, they tend to keep recreating experiences that actually re-traumatize – re-infect themselves and others. So, this is what I saw happening in some of the communities I worked with, and I see it happening with Iranians as well. Would you give us an example of a community whose culture has been affected by trauma and retraumatization? The most damaging collective traumas are those that weaken the culture, damage the collective immune system, making it easier for trauma to spread and even replicate into the future. Indigenous peoples experienced this – an assault to them and their culture. Most of us by now know the story of how they were slaughtered, their food and way of life destroyed, how their lands were stolen right from under them, and how they were forcibly removed to reservations. But there’s so much more. For example, up until the 1960s when the Civil Rights Movement helped change things, many of their traditional spiritual practices were banned by the federal government. It was illegal to practice some of their healing ceremonies and rituals that had made them resilient in the past. Probably the most
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We invite you to benefit from the second part of this interview focusing on Iranian and Zoroastrian collective trauma in the 2021 Spring Edition of Chehreh Nama magazine.
devastating part of their history that most Americans aren’t even aware of is that beginning in the 1890s in the US and Canada, Native American children were, by law, often forcibly removed from their families and taken to what was called Indian boarding schools to be educated – I should say reeducated -- primarily by missionary organizations or the military. This continued for not just a single generation, but three or more generations. So, we now know that in many of these schools, large numbers of Indian children experienced the worst kinds of abuse – emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual, spiritual and intellectual abuse – usually at the hands of religious representatives like priests and nuns. In the first generations of these schools, almost half of the children never returned home, dying literally of homesickness and disease. These schools severely punished Indian children if they spoke their native language or practiced any of their traditions. Indigenous peoples were shamed and repeatedly told that they were inferior to Christian Europeans. Of course, this is how they learned to view themselves and how they learned to treat their children. And after several generations of this, few were left who hadn’t been infected by trauma and who knew the old ways anymore. People often resort to using substances like alcohol to numb themselves from feeling unbearable shame, grief, helplessness, and despair. It’s quite literally an escape. It’s not surprising then that, beginning in the 1930s, after several generations had gone through the traumas of these schools that there was an epidemic of alcohol and substance abuse in many indigenous communities in North America. You can connect with and subscribe to Dr. Sousan Abadian’s newsletter by visiting sousanabadian.com.
Dr. Sousan Abadian earned a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University, an M.P.A. in International Development from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and an M.A. in the Anthropology of Social Change and Development, also from Harvard University. Her earlier research on healing the effects of long-standing collective trauma and cultural damage, a key contributing factor in violence and impoverishment, was described by Nobel laureate in economics Amartya Sen as “pioneering” and “highly original.” She now has an independent practice speaking and consulting internationally on leadership, innovation, culture change, and her ARIA framework. She builds on her earlier work at Cambridge Leadership Associates facilitating workshops and speaking on Adaptive Leadership. Between June 2017 and June 2019, Dr. Abadian served as a Franklin Fellow at the U.S. State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Her portfolio included preventing violent extremism, rights of religious minorities in the Middle East and South Asia, gender issues, atrocity prevention, and cultural restoration. She has also had fellowships at MIT’s Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values as well as at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership. Artemis Javanshir enjoys reading about Iranian history and culture. She believes those who know their history will benefit from a unique wisdom and a wider outlook of the world. She lives in Southern California with her family.
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Interview with Mobed Fariborz Shahzadi By Jamshid Jamshidi
In this interview, Mobed Fariborz tells his life story in his own words and in a very simple language he always uses. I thank him for being kind enough to give this interview by Zoom during this Corona Pandemic - Jamshid Jamshidi Mobed Fariborz - To introduce yourself, could you tell us about your family background? My father was the late Mobed Sohrab Shahzadi, son of Mobed Khodamorâd, son of Mobed Deenyâr, son of Mobed Vafadâr, Firouzgary. His mother was Gohar, daughter of Mobed Khodadâd, son of Mobed Rostam Shahzadi. My mother was the late Golestan, daughter of Khodarâhm, son of Khosrow Dehmobed-Zainabadi. My maternal grandmother was the late Meherbanoo Zainabadi. Mobed Sohrab was born in the “Mahalleh-Dastooran” in Yazd, Iran. When he was nine years old, he went India to be with his dad Mobed Khodamorad, who was a practicing Mobed at the Dadiseth Fire Temple in Mumbai. He earned his High School diploma during his stay there, and at the same time, became a Mobed working with my grandfather. Serving the priestly needs of the Zoroastrian community in Mumbai. At the age of 24 years, Mobed Sohrab returned to Teheran, Iran to complete his two years compulsory military service. Upon completion, he returned back to Mumbai to continue to Mobedi with his father. My dad got introduced to my mom Golestan in the city of Nashik, India and in 1943, he married her. The same year, he quit his Mobedi work and with the help of my maternal grandfather Khodarâhm, he bought a restaurant/bakery in Nashik and started his new life there. I was born in the year 1947 in Nashik, India, preceded by my older brother, the late Mobed Manouchehr and followed by my younger sister doctor Meherbanoo Shahzadi-Parsi. In 1960, my paternal grandfather Mobed Khodamorad passed away, leaving only one practicing Iranian Mobed in Mumbai. As a result, the Trustees of Dadiseth Fire Temple approached my dad to fill the vacancy left by my grandfather. My dad reluctantly agreed to move back to Mumbai to fill that position. He worked as a Mobed there till 1980, when he passed away at the age of 64.
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The same year when my dad left for Mumbai to start all over again, my mom, my older brother and I ran the business in Nashik, going to school during day-time and working in the restaurant/bakery all hours not in school. In 1964 however, when I graduated with my High School diploma, we were forced to sell the restaurant/ bakery and move to Mumbai. My dad always wished and believed that we remain Iranian and stay connected to the Iranian Zoroastrian heritage, customs and culture. My parents always maintained their Iranian citizenship and during their stay in India. The same held true for my brother, sister and me - even though we were born in India, we never applied for Indian citizenship. Why is your family name different than that of your paternal grandfather and your uncle - Mobed Mehraban Firouzgary who lives in Teheran, Iran? Many people ask me this question when I mention that my paternal uncle is Mobed Mehraban Firouzgary (the younger brother of my dad) who lives and practices Mobedi in Teheran, Iran. Answer - When the Shanashnâmeh (Identity Card) became customary in Iran, it was only issued to the male head of the household. Unfortunately, my grandfather Khodamorad Firouzgary was in India practicing Mobedi and was not available to obtain the identity card for my dad, so my dad’s Dai (maternal uncle - brother of Grandmother Gohar), Mobed Ardeshir Shahzadi, was responsible for getting the identity card under his family name of Shahzadi. When my uncle, Mobed Mehraban was born, my grandfather was in Iran to get an identity card under the family name of Firouzgary. Please tell us a little about your childhood and your youth? My early schooling was at a Parsi school called “Boys’ Town” in Nashik, India, where I earned my high school diploma in 1964. That summer, I moved to Mumbai to go to college, where I completed my priesthood initiation called “Navar” at the Dadiseth Atash Verahram, and earned the title of “Ervad”. The next summer (1965) I completed the next level of priesthood called the “Martab” and I earned the title of “Mobed”. While going to college, all my spare time was devoted to working as a Mobed with my dad. In 1968, I graduated with the Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology and in 1970 I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Business Management in the city of Jamshedpur in India. I was fortunate enough to continue my education in the United States. With the backing and financial help of my brother, the late Mobed Manoucher, I completed my M.B.A. Degree in Milwaukee at Marquette University. While studying in Milwaukee, I met Manigeh Parsi - (granddaughter of Dastur Namdar-Yazdi) and in the summer of 1972, I got married to her in Mumbai. I am blessed with two sons. My older son Doctor Farhang, is a
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dentist practicing in Orange County, California with his wife Cima, who is also a pediatric dentist. They have a daughter called Nava. My younger son Arash is a Sales Manager for a catalog company also working in Orange County and his wife Niki is a CPA-Accounting manager. They have two children - Amani and Kaylee.
to the USA, in the 1990’s, with the help of Zoroastrian community volunteers, Mobeds and benefactors, we started the first Summer Multi-Day Zoroastrian Youth Camp in San Jose. These camps are still being offered in the same original format we established. These San Jose youth camps have became so successful that we established similar youth camps in other cities in North America.
Now that both my wife and I have retired, we spend our time taking care of our grandchildren and traveling around the world when we can.
What books and publications have you authored?
Have you been to and lived in Iran? Yes, the first time, when I was six years old, I went with my family to Iran. During our visit there, my older brother and I were SedrehPushi’d in Yazd. The second time, in the fall of 1972, after completing my M.B.A. in the USA and getting married in India, I went to Tehran with my wife. Upon arrival in Iran, I volunteered to complete my two year compulsory military service as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Iranian Army. After completing my military service in 1974, I was immediately hired by IBTC (Iranian Ball-Bearing Trading Company) as their Associate Managing Director. After working nine months at IBTC, I was hired as the Managing Director of Searle Pharmaceuticals. In November 1978, I immigrated to California with my wife and two sons. Mobed, after immigrating to the United States from Iran, what did you do? I worked for 29 years in the Pharmaceutical Industry mainly as a Sales Representative. In those years, I was a hardworking, successful and most years, I was in the top 5% of the sales force. My last company (before retiring in 2009), I worked at ScheringPlough Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Merck Pharmaceuticals that year. Knowing that you were a Mobed, and during that time many Zoroastrians were immigrating to the USA, what “Unique” and “Fruitful” achievements were you involved in, with the emigrating Zoroastrian community? Fortunately, I was instrumental in the formation of CIMNA (the Council of Iranian Mobeds of North America) with the support of many Mobeds, community leaders, benefactors, and supporters. In the 1980’s, I started conducting religious classes for Zoroastrian youth at fun places like Bowling Alleys, Mini-Golf courses and parks. After the opening of the CZC (California Zoroastrian Center) in California - I continued conducting religious classes and prayers there.
I have written, authored and/or worked on many publications that include: The Khordeh Avesta Prayer Book in English script. Illustrated Books - “Story of our Zoroastrian religion” and “I am Ready for my Sedreh-Pushi”. The Ahunavaiti Gatha - Interpretation and explanation. The “Basic Textbook” on the Zoroastrian Religion. Digital copies of Khordeh Avesta, Gathas, Notes on Zoroastrianism 101, 201, 301 and 401 What is your plan for survival and success of the Zoroastrian religion? What is your Vision for the Future of this Ancient Religion? Our forefathers have kept this Zoroastrian religion alive for all of us, through Good and Difficult times. It is our duty as a community, to continue that effort, and keep it alive for the next generation of Zoroastrians. There are times in history when we had “many" Zoroastrians and times when had a “less”, but it is my firm belief that this religion of Asho Zartosht shall not die or perish, till there is “one” last Zoroastrian person alive in this world. My goal as a Mobed - is to unite all Zoroastrians, co-operate with the Parsi Mobeds, keep the religion alive for the next generation of Zoroastrians and always provide Zoroastrian religious education. In addition, I have always been, and till my ability allows, will continue to be at the “Service” of the Zoroastrian Community. In conclusion - I wish to thank all the people that have supported me and are still supporting my efforts in the preservation and expansion of the Zoroastrian religion.
With the increasing numbers of Zoroastrian families emigrating
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Book Interview by Meher Amalsad
Interview with the author of Murder in Old Bombay, Nawaz Merchant, who writes as Nev March
MEHER: You are the first Zarathushti woman and first Indian-born writer to win the prestigious 2019 Mystery Writers of America's award for Best First Crime Novel. What was your prime inspiration behind this magnificent feat? NAWAZ: Thank you Meher! Initially my inspiration was nostalgia for the India I had known and left behind. In 2016 I read a Parsi Khabar article about the mysterious, unexplained deaths of Bacha and Pilloo Godrej, who were just 20 and 16 years old, at Bombay University’s Rajabai Tower. I remembered a story I’d heard as a teen, as a cautionary tale to warn that women were not safe even in daylight. As I did more research, I got intrigued with some inconsistencies in the reported events. Eventually I decided to write it as a murder mystery, so that I could engage the reader in the solving of the crime. As the story evolved it completely absorbed me. I hope the reader will be as immersed and truly empathize with a character who lacks the blessing of a warm family life, someone who looks at (us) Parsees with affection, but from outside. It inspired me to create a mirror of sorts, so that readers can empathize with the pain of being discriminated 14
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against. MEHER: How did this tale of caution mysteriously culminate into a discussion of discrimination? NAWAZ: As I drafted the story outline, I wanted to show the vast variations in Indian society. I needed a rookie detective who could travel about in poor villages as well as attend society dinners in his efforts to unravel the mystery. So, I hit upon the idea of an Anglo-Indian detective. In fact, Charles Forgett, an inspector of Bombay police in 1857 did travel in disguise and spoke Hindi and Marathi like a native. My character Captain James Agnihotri is inspired by him. Since his very name is a contradiction, (James is English, and Agnihotri is Indian) he would have faced a great deal of discrimination at that time. In the 1890s, the Sepoy Mutiny had occurred only 30 years ago. Modern India was just awakening, and people's loyalties would have been intensely divided. Captain Jim represented that mix, where he, like Parsees, like immigrants everywhere, belongs to both worlds, and neither. He represents one who has NOT enjoyed the sheltering love of parents and the joyful chaos of family; one who longs for this. MEHER: What gets my attention is that your story is based on a real-life unsolved mystery tragedy. Why did you choose this specific tragedy as the basis for your novel? NAWAZ: Often the victims of crime are women, therefore literature and media frequently depict us as victims. However, I wondered whether something else might be going on in this mystery. What if the girls died not as victims but heroes? What if they were protecting something or someone else? We often do not recognize women's sacrifices. I wanted to lift the curtain on different kinds of courage. Since the book is from the point of view of a young man in Victorian Bombay, he is the lens with which we view India. During his investigation he meets many women: naïve, older, privileged or destitute. Through his journey he realizes there are many facets of courage, resolve, and resilience. These are not only the purview of men. It is time that we changed the narrative, especially in India, so that women give themselves the credit they deserve, and see themselves differently. MEHER: How does your novel offer a unique
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opportunity to change this narrative, so that women can learn to give themselves the credit they deserve, and see themselves differently? Nawaz: My novel reimagines the original tragedy, questioning whether the young women were caught up in a far greater game. What was really going on in the world in the 1890s? Enormous change: modern plumbing, electricity, telegraph and telephones, social and technological change. Many women were getting educated and taking a greater part in society. My novel describes two young women, bold and determined to protect their family, as well as other women that Captain Jim meets on his adventures. There's Chutki, a waif that he feels compelled to rescue--who won't let circumstances crush her. There's an aging Rani trying to keep her family from tearing each other to pieces while preserving the illusion of unity. There's Diana, a spunky, perceptive girl who is keen to help solve her sister's murder while chafing at restrictions imposed to keep her safe. These and other characters I've drawn are all around us, but we (even women ourselves) rarely give them credit. We take women for granted; we interrupt when they speak; our eyes skim past them to listen to men tell their stories. It's time we gave women equal press and equal recognition as human beings. It's time women began to give themselves the same importance. I hope my novel helps them see this. MEHER: While there are themes of feminism and fighting discrimination in your novel, what is your ultimate message and how did your plot evolve to create this message? NAWAZ: As in art, different aspects of my book will resonate for different readers. Initially my editorial team asked me to cut some of Captain Jim's adventures because they seemed like a detour. I retained them. Now some readers tell me that those chapters were deeply emotional for them! In one, Captain Jim travels to a distant mountain village after getting roped into one last military mission. In another, he visits the Poona orphanage to meet an
old Padre who raised him. Captain Jim encounters unfairness and discrimination because of his mixed race, but also unexpected kindness in his travels. While my plot began as a journey through the landscapes and sub-cultures of India, it grew to envelop the plight of women of all social strata. Some readers will notice how almost everyone lets Captain Jim down, and yet, he holds no grudges. Parsees will recognize the quandary faced by kindly, genial Burjor, a beloved character who must choose between obeying social expectations versus the human cost of his decisions. Ultimately the question my book poses is: after all Captain Jim's efforts and sacrifice, will he ever be truly accepted? Although my plot provides a conclusion, I leave the reader to consider what path is the right one. I hope readers enjoy this novel as a journey, a complex puzzle--a deeply human one, and a thought-provoking story.
Writing as Nev March, author Nawaz Merchant is the recent winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America Award for Best First Crime Fiction. After a long career in business analysis, in 2015 she returned to her passion, writing fiction and now teaches creative writing at Rutgers-Osher Institute. A Parsee Zoroastrian herself, she lives in New Jersey with her husband and two sons. Murder in Old Bombay is her debut novel. Available in bookstores on Nov. 10, 2020, Murder in Old Bombay can be preordered at amazon.com Meher Amalsad is a Professional Speaker, Inventor, Engineer, Educator and published Author of “Bread For The Head”. His inspirational work has been showcased to millions on numerous Radio, Television, Satellite and Cable Talk Shows in the United States. He has worked as a Program Manager for Hughes Aircraft Company, which is one of the top Aerospace Defense Companies in the world. He is the Founding Chair of the North American and World Zoroastrian Youth Congresses. He has dedicated his life towards building the North American and World Zoroastrian Youth Congresses since 1985. His life’s work has been focused on building UNITY WITHIN DIVERSITY IN HUMANITY
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8th World Zoroastrian Youth Congress: London is calling! Spotlight on Youth Organisers Article by Venue Co-ordinator – Shazneen Munshi
With the 8th World Zoroastrian Youth Congress (8WZYC) 2023 being hosted by the Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe (ZTFE) in the United Kingdom (UK) in Summer 2023, a dedicated team of youth volunteers have already commenced early groundwork to start planning and organising this momentous event. As part of a series of articles, we will be sharing the insights and visions of our 8WZYC organising team. For those of you who may not know me, my name is Shazneen Munshi. Having graduated with a Law LLB degree from King’s College London, I work as a Policy Adviser to the CEO and Chairman of the Financial Ombudsman Service, an alternative dispute resolution organisation based in London’s Canary Wharf. In my spare time, I enjoy dancing from ballet to salsa, playing the piano and singing in a choir! As the youngest member on the ZTFE Managing Committee, I have been running our monthly Extra Young Zoroastrian (XYZ) Fun Club religious education classes for children for the past six years, led in my role as Young Zoroastrian Chair for five years and continue to assist in the day to day running of the organisation. My main passion in life is making a positive difference to our treasured Zoroastrian community by engaging and bringing together our youth. Growing up in the diaspora naturally brings its own challenges as firstand second-generation migrants. However, our community has grown from strength to strength in the UK over decades due to the hard work and commitment of all those who have dedicated their service. I am extremely proud to be a Young Zoroastrian in the UK today and
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being part of our vibrant community, with its indomitable spirit (and colourful characters!) fills me with a strong sense of belonging and joy. It is an absolute pleasure and a privilege to be involved in the 8WZYC in the hope that we can carry forward the Zoroastrian flame for future generations to come! My first experience of a congress was at the 6th World Zoroastrian Youth Congress in New Zealand in 2015 where I was so proud to represent the UK Youth as a Speaker on the topic on how today’s youth inculcate a sense of pride about being Zoroastrian. Most recently in July 2019, I was invited to speak on the Women’s panel and Community Service panel at the 7th World Zoroastrian Youth Congress in Los Angeles. This also saw me being followed by the BBC for a World Service radio documentary which was a great experience! Having now attended two youth congresses, I can truly say living, eating and being with 500 fellow Zarathushti youth was indeed a very surreal and special experience that I will treasure for my lifetime – almost like Hogwarts but for Young Zoroastrians! It’s definitely “A Kind of Magic” in Freddie’s words. As part of the experience, the host country also shared its culture and heritage with us from learning the Hakka in New Zealand to celebrating the 4th of July in Los Angeles. For the 8WZYC in the UK, our vision is to build strong lasting global friendships, nurture worldwide communal initiatives and build on the future of our religion. As the Venue Lead for the 8WZYC, my role is to find the best environment and space to achieve our vision and create this strong legacy! Our key criteria for a venue include being close to the airport, accommodation and conference facilities for up to 500 delegates, dining and leisure facilities, and ensuring that the venue uses environmentally friendly and sustainable resources. We are keen to find a venue that is quintessentially English
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– we would love for our participants to experience the natural beauty, architecture and ancient history that our country has to offer!
The search began with researching potential venues from hotels to university campuses (and even Buckingham Palace!), sending letters to explain who we are and what we are looking for, obtaining relevant quotes and then presenting my findings to my fellow committee members. Progress has been good so far and we are now at the stage of visiting prospective venues with a view to negotiating rates. As past Young Zoroastrian Chair, my fantastic team and I organised a wide range of fun activities, regular events and trips for our youth as well as for the wider community. I have drawn on my experience and skills in the search for our venue – from leadership and event organisation skills to negotiation and building strong relationships with key contacts. Another consideration that is linked to our venue search is catering. Food is very important to all Zoroastrians as well all know! We will be working closely with the venue as well as external caterers to make sure our delegates experience traditional delicacies, and that everyone is well fed! Searching for our congress venue has been a wonderful experience which I am thoroughly enjoying. Being part of the congress committee is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am very excited to work together with our lovely team of volunteers to make the Congress an amazing experience for everyone! See you all in 2023 - London Baby!
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Drawing Contest Winners In 2019 with the goal of encouraging youth to write stories about Zarathushtrian culture and with sponsorship of Ms. Catherine Linka the author of “A Clawed and Feathered Spell”, the Short Story Contest was born. The submitted stories from 2020 and 2021 Short Story Contests will be published in a book. Every few months, each of the stories from the Short Story Contests will be showcased for the Drawing Contest. The winning drawings will be published in the book along with the short story. Drawing Contest-1 was dedicated to the 2020 Short Story Contest first place winner, “A Bumpy Road to Happiness” by Ms. Azadeh Hormozdiari from Tarzana, CA. The received drawings were put into two age categories per judges’ decision 8-12 and 13-18 years old. It was a hard decision for the judges as the drawings were of high caliber. With support from Chehrenama magazine the winning drawings are showcased on this issue for your enjoyment. All the submitted drawings can be viewed on our website www.czc.org/drawingcontest2020 . We would like to encourage youth to take part in the future Drawing Contests. The 2021 Short Story Contest is in progress right now for ages 13-18 and the next Drawing Contest (Drawing Contest-2) will be announced in a few weeks. Please visit our website www.czc.org/contest to find out about the 2021 Essay Contest for 11-14 year old, Short Story and Drawing Contests or email [email protected]. Artemis Javanshir Short Story/Essay/Drawing Contest Organizer
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#16 Arnaz S. Irani 15 years old from Sugar Land, TX- winner of 15-18 age group
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#13 Zeyus Spenta 12 years old from Vancouver, Canada- winner of 8-12 age group
#14 Sofia Gevorgian 16 years old from Encino,CAOrganizer's choice
#10 is Delna Surveyor 10 years old from Tomball, TX-honorable mention
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Please send your “Dear Nahid” questions that are within the confines of various aspects of the Zoroastrian religion/culture or conflict resolution to cninfo@ czcjournal.org
Ask Nahid
Dear Nahid, How can Iranian Zoroastrians and Parses find more common ground to strength ties between our communities and work together to advance the religion and ensure its continuity? Viraf
Dear Viraf, What you are asking is a question about how to bridge the difference in culture and not find more common ground. Our common ground already exists in our Gathas and Avesta – but we have shifted away from that. I believe that our divide is created in our inability to bridge our cultural differences. Each culture has prioritized their own experiences and traditions over the principles of our faith when it comes to identifying themselves. As a global Zoroastrian community, we have unified for UNESCO events and Humanitarian endeavors. However, our unity seems to wane when we chose to focus on a more modern history and not the principle of our religious philosophies. That is where I believe our disunity lies. For Iranians it is a history that is painful and secretive, so we hide and isolate out of a need for survival against outsiders. Compared to a Parsi history that is proud of its perseverance and thus protects it vehemently from outsiders. Even if those outsiders we consider are our own Zoroastrian brothers and sisters. The differences in our cultural histories have altered our customs based on what geographic area you grew up in and our idea what a Zoroastrian practice is for each individual. If we could only focus on the genuine practice of searching out Truth and Good works our cultures would be nothing more than delightful conversation instead of causing separation. Culture will always adjust and alter people – because we embrace new traditions and practices with changes in our environment and further understanding of our world. However, the one thing that does not change and has not changed in 3000+ years is our belief that we need to overcome our evil choices with good ones. Practicing Good Thoughts and Good words and Good deeds is not just an individual act – it is a collective act. This is our common ground.
identities have to work to be better at. We have focused on our cultural differences to the point where we see anyone who is different from us as being an outsider. We may greet them with warmth and kindness but do we truly allow them to be a part of our journey in honesty and truth. Specifically, to your question of how we bridge this divide – I think the answer lies in unconditional cooperation. I have been a part of many co-cultural gatherings or events and I see the huge desire by Parses and Iranians to work cohesively with each other but it is often tied to the condition that things have to happen one way or another based on who has the greater control in managing the events. Instead of getting caught up in cultural preferences towards food, music, language, etc. we could easily find neutral ground by actively speaking a common language both groups understand and selecting a neutral cuisine or musician that doesn’t demonstrate favoritism towards one group would be a good start. These are simply exclusions based on cultural dispositions and block out our truly mutual love for the Zoroastrian faith. Exclusion is by no means a practice or belief of Zoroastrianism. The Gathas are full of script that call for equality amongst man and woman, balance of earth and animals, acceptance of the unknown, and especially the triumph of good over evil. But we are human beings and the path towards righteousness is not easy going. I do not think that our two communities intentionally exclude each other. We simply have to be better at appreciating our differences and realizing that most of the things we disagree on are culturally influenced and not religiously based. Our traditions are different and our prayers sound different but in the end the meaning of them represents what we all are trying to accomplish – and that’s reaching a place in life where we treat everyone and everything with fairness, integrity, and truth. For generations throughout history, the focus on differences has created conflict. We need to change that conversation so we focus on the common ground of our religious principles: equality, balance, acceptance and a constant pursuit towards Truth. Not the manmade rules created for power and authority by kings and clerics– but the greatest truths of the universe based in science, facts and experience. That is truly the strongest common ground we have.
Inclusion is something I believe all cultures with nationalistic
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Nahid Dashtaki completed her master’s in both Dispute Resolution and Public Policy from Pepperdine University. She has received two Bachelor of Science degrees in International Relations and Comparative Literature from the University of California, Irvine along with extensive international work experience in the Middle East and Asia
Sourced from: https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2020/05/eng-2020-gradstudent-negin-forouzesh.html
Negin Forouzesh named 2020 Graduate Student of the Year, May 4, 2020 Negin Forouzesh, a doctoral candidate in the computer science department in the College of Engineering, has been honored as a 2020 Graduate Student of the Year for her excellence in research, teaching, and service. After finishing her master’s degree in her native country of Iran, Forouzesh decided to pursue her post-graduate studies at Virginia Tech. Drawn to the university’s R1 distinction category (engagement in the highest levels of research activity), Forouzesh said her first and foremost priority was to become a better researcher. It was her five semesters serving as a graduate teaching assistant that proved to be a pivotal moment for Forouzesh. “That exposure to teaching was a turning point that inspired me to choose my next career as a professor,” said Forouzesh. This fall, Forouzesh will join the faculty at California State University, Los Angeles as a tenure-track assistant professor of computer science. Forouzesh looks forward to applying her computational biology and bioinformatics research in this new role. There are vast improvements she hopes to contribute to the modern drug design workflow, especially in a society currently stricken by COVID-19. “To me, teaching is the best way to give knowledge and skills back to the community,” Forouzesh said. “Successful people often have at least one memorable teacher who has inspired them to push through and stand on the summit of their field of expertise. I will be delighted to play a similar role in the future and keep this chain of mentorship unbroken.” She found a perfect fit with her current advisor, Alexey Onufriev, and his research in computer science with applications for drug discovery in the Laboratory for Theoretical and Computational Molecular Biophysics. “Mutually, my advisor found my background and enthusiasm matched what he was looking for in a new Ph.D. student,” Forouzesh said. Admittedly, Forouzesh said she knew the interdisciplinary nature of her research in computational molecular biophysics would not be an easy endeavor. “Negin joined my group around four years ago, where she made the decision to switch to this unfamiliar field, which would immediately be more challenging for her,” said Onufriev. “Negin has grown professionally from somebody who was trying to orient herself in the new field to a young researcher who understands key aspects of the scientific enterprise in the U.S.” “Computational biology and bioinformatics address critical challenges related to the life sciences, and those posed to human health, habitat, and well-being,” said Forouzesh. “Research effort in this field is mainly focused on refining computational methods for diagnosis and treatment of human diseases. The target is closely aligned with my personal goals, and I am honored to be a member of this community. “What makes drug discovery a slow process is mainly due to the required clinical examinations on patient cohorts,” Forouzesh said. “Now, assume that we had a super accurate and fast computational model that simulates all the important biological factors. Given that,
we could shortcut current clinical trials and deliver the final drug much faster. This is certainly essential when it comes to dealing with pandemics such as the COVID-19 outbreak.” While interning at the Stanford Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine in summer 2018, Forouzesh developed a cloudbased database of genetic variant annotations. During the Association for Computing Machinery Student Research Competition at the Grace Hopper Celebration, she took third place for one of her research projects, “Finding Optimal Dielectric Boundary for Practical Continuum Solvent Calculations.” Forouzesh attended the 2018 Grace Hopper Celebration, the world’s largest gathering of women in computing. The three-day celebration is inspired by the legacy of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, an influential tech pioneer who helped to create the first compiler for computer languages. Forouzesh has been an active member of the computer science department since her arrival in 2015. She has served as treasurer of the Iranian Society at Virginia Tech and the Computer Science Graduate Council. She also assists in the planning of the Department’s Graduate Recruitment Weekend each year and edits “A Compact between Computer Science Graduate Students and their Advisors,” a document that helps students to understand their responsibilities and rights, as well as resources at the department and university levels to help students in distress. The extraordinary extent of her leadership and service earned Forouzesh the Graduate Student Service Award in spring 2019 and the Computer Science Scholars and Pratt Fellowships in 2017 and 2019. Her excellence in student teaching also earned her the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award in spring 2018, conferred by the Department of Computer Science. “Overall, Negin is one of the best graduate teaching assistants that I have ever had,” said Cliff Shaffer, professor and associate department head for graduate studies. “She clearly cares about her teaching, and will become a great teacher on her own in her future career.” “I clearly remember my first day of my orientation at Virginia Tech,” Forouzesh said. “I saw Ut Prosim on the orange and maroon flags, wondering what that sentence meant. It was inspiring when I realized it translated to ‘That I May Serve.’” She noted that the university’s firm commitment to serve the community was her biggest takeaway from her time at the school. “During the past five years at Virginia Tech, I found that my core beliefs strongly aligned with the Hokie spirit,” said Forouzesh. - Written by Taylor Casarotti, a senior intern in the Department of Computer Science
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No 196
Publication of California Zoroastrian Center
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