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"In Australia, Zoroastrian families have to make an effort to see their fellow Zoroastrian family and friends as we all live in different suburbs… That is why AZA (Australian Zoroastrian Association of New South Wales) Sunday School (SS) is so important. It has been a constant for over 40 years in Sydney. It is that opportunity once a month to be in touch with other fellow Zoroastrians in Sydney. There is a sense of familiarity, a sense of belonging, and most of all a sense of family,” wrote Simone Kasad, current coordinator of the SS, in the booklet marking the completion of 40 years of educational fellowship.
The SS reunion on April 2, 2017 commenced with the regular class for juniors who discussed the navjote ceremony under the direction of Kainaz Pavri, the intermediate class led by Aspi Bulsara who learnt of the contributions of Maneckji Limji Hataria and his efforts to help the Iranian Zoroastrians earn their self respect, and the senior class who under the guidance of Pheroza Daruwalla and the support of parents cooked up a feast of mora dal chaval, chiken mince patio and ravo.
After classes, over 200 Zoroastrians joined in the communal kusti prayers led by SS co-founder and long-time mentor Ervad (Dr) Peshotan Katrak in front of the kebla at the Darbe Meher in Annangrove. Facing him were "a sea of familiar faces... students whom he taught with children in arms, fellow elders and parents who had helped keep SS alive… You could see the pride in his eyes,” noted a report on the event by Kasad. The respected mentor appreciated the cooperation over the years of students, teachers and coordinators, and the support of his wife Shernaz, as AZA president Mahiyar Wellington proceeded to give Katrak a small memento which was presented amidst a standing ovation.
The microphone was then passed around for the attendees to share their favorite SS memories: camp, sleepovers, movie nights, Christmas parties and the 1996 play on Rustom and Sohrab. A short slideshow of SS nostalgia helped many in the audience revisit their younger days.

 

 

 

 

As recalled the 73-year-old doctor priest in the booklet, "In 1977, with impetus from my good friend Farrokh Mistree and others, the management committee decided to start a Zoroastrian SS… The task of teaching prayers fell in my lap. Farrokh and his wife Yashfara managed to book a room at the Unitarian Church in Francis Street in the city with a hire fee of $12 per month and our first SS was held on April 3, 1977.”
"The SS was initiated in a Sydney downpour on Avan roz, Avan mah,” it was recalled in a write-up by the Mistrees who have now settled in Purcell, Oklahoma, USA. "Pioneers are recognized for initiating things. Their legacy is kept alive by those who nurture the initiation. We join you, fellow Zarathushtis, today in recognizing and saluting the dedication of Ervad Peshotan Katrak for both pioneering and nurturing the SS and community,” they added.
Commending the "effort and help of all the past and present SS teachers who selflessly initiate and maintain the often difficult work that sustains the psychological, physical and social health of our community,” Wellington stated in the booklet, "There is one person who has gone far beyond what was or could have been expected in contributing to the quality of SS and that is Dr Katrak…”
"SS is the garden bed from which our community has grown… The plants that then sprout lean on one another for strength, bound together by their proud heritage. The flowers that then bloom are colored and bright from their fertile upbringing,” observed Karl Desai who had started here as a child — a seed, and is now a teacher — a tree. "Above all, we must thank the tall oak tree that has towered over and helped us grow along the way — Peshotan Katrak…”
The names of all the teachers and coordinators have been meticulously listed in the booklet. As specified Katrak, "Over 50 of our members have worked as teachers for varying periods of time. A number of them have taken on the important role of ‘coordinator’ to ensure that the classes function smoothly, send out notices, organize ‘tea turns’ for different families to provide snacks and drinks for the kids and parents. At various times, apart from religious education, there have been forays into teaching Gujarati, Persian, cooking, crafts, plays and many  other cultural activities…”
Before the SS functioned from its present location, at different times it has availed of the hospitality of Minoo and Mahrukh Batliwalla as also Jeanie and Jangoo Unvala. There was also a five-year interim period when they operated from the classrooms at Thornleigh Public School. Among many others who had provided an impetus for the development of SS were Villie and Kersi Meher-Homji, Purviz Kolsawalla, and Noshir and Helga Sachinwalla.
When Katrak arrived in Sydney in 1975 after completing his MBBS from Baroda, MD from Bombay, MRCP (Member of the Royal College of Physicians) from London and FAAPMR (rehabilitation medicine) from California, he had not performed any formal religious ceremonies. He recalls that for the first navjote and jashan that he performed he had to write to his father for help and obtained detailed instructions from Ervad Rustomji Panthaki, then principal of the Athornan Madressa in Dadar. For the first seven or eight years he was the sole practicing mobed in Sydney before other mobeds came in. The membership of AZA has been rising with migrants from India, Pakistan and Iran. "Parsi and Iranian Zoroastrians have always had a very cordial relationship here. We are all part of one association,” appreciates Katrak.
Under their constitution, the non-Zoroastrian spouse of a Zoroastrian member and their children are considered full members of the AZA and consequently are involved in the Association’s activities and have even served in executive roles on the management committees. As Katrak candidly admitted (see "Sacred and secular service,” Parsiana, November 21, 2008), "During my early years as a mobed I did not perform the navjote of a child whose father was not a Zoroastrian. However in the early 1980s after much deliberation I arrived at a personal decision that the community feeling in Australia and elsewhere in the western world warranted that all children of intermarried Zoroastrians be accepted into the faith… Being a Zoroastrian priest ‘down under’ has been a very rewarding experience and I feel fortunate in having been able to play a small part in the establishment of our Zoroastrian community here.”
In a write-up readied for the AZA newsletter Manashni, Mithi Daver and Mahrukh Batliwalla recorded that every month Katrak travels a distance of over 60 km, from Grays Point in the south to Annangrove in the north to attend to his SS duties. He is also a regular member of the monthly working bee: "Without the help of this loyal band of voluntary workers, our Darbe Mehr would not be in its present pristine state. In addition, he finds time to perform jashans, officiate at weddings, navjotes and funerals. The remuneration received by him is promptly donated back to the AZA. All this whilst being very active in his professional field as senior staff specialist in rehabilitation medicine.”
Reinforced Kasad, "It is so important to keep SS in operation and create new and innovative ways to bring the youth together. It is so important for young Zoroastrians to understand the true gift that they have been given in being a Zoroastrian and teach them to use their good mind to make a difference in this world.”