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Over 70 online events have been held between Jamshedi Navroz (March 21, 2020) and June 5 to bond the minuscule community in Calcutta. Entertainment head of the city’s Parsee Club Behnaz Bulsara Dugar enumerated these for Parsiana on June 9. "We are still going full steam ahead …In the early days of the lockdown we had more than one event each day,” she said. Events are held on networking platform Zoom and broadcast simultaneously on the Club’s Facebook page. These have ranged from quiz shows, word scrambles, cookery shows, talent competitions, talks on Parsi cuisine, religion (by Dastur Khurshed Dastoor), interviews with leading sportsmen (cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, footballer Bhaichung Bhutia), business leaders [banker Zarin Daruwala who was interviewed jointly by Calcutta Zoroastrian Community’s Religious and Charity Fund’s (CZCRCF) senior trustee Numazar Mehta and journalist Bachi Karkaria], professionals (senior advocate Darius Khambata and company director Nawshir Mirza) and stalwarts of the Club.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Drama Kids, a play by community children directed by Club member Yezdi Karai on May 5 was watched by 120 families, said Bulsara Dugar. (The community in the eastern city numbers about 380.) In keeping with its 111-year-old sporting tradition, past sports veterans of the Club were interviewed by Karai over two days. They had people logging in from Canada and other places for this event, affirmed Bulsara Dugar.
Everyone chips in with ideas to keep the community bonded, she said, specially singling out Ratan Postwalla, Feroza Mogrelia and her son Urvaksh. "Ratan specially held sessions for those not familiar with Zoom and Facebook to teach them the basics of how to participate,” she remarked. Club president Prochy Mehta has done a lot to popularize this online initiative, she added.
"We plan to continue with our online events even after the lockdown is formally lifted. Maybe we will have events three times a week,” Bulsara Dugar signed off.

 

 

 

 
The online events had to be cancelled for about a week when the city was in the grip of Cyclone Amphan on May 20. "The city looks devastated. Thousands of trees (including those around the Calcutta Parsee Club) have fallen, breaking walls and blocking roads,” noted Prochy Mehta. The falling trees have had a cascading effect — bringing down overhead electric cables and other communication wires. Many homes are still without electricity and water, she wrote to Parsiana on May 27. "Many of us still do not have network connectivity,” Bulsara Dugar told us on June 6. CZCRCF trustee Cyrus Madan told Parsiana on June 10 that the solar panel at their tower of silence in Beliaghata was damaged too.  Tropical cyclone Amphan has caused widespread damage over East India and Bangladesh. At least 72 people have reportedly died in West Bengal, including 15 in Calcutta.