About 80 community members attended a jashan on April 21, 2023 to mark the 115th anniversary of Andheri’s Seth Pherozeshah Ardeshir Patel Dar-e-meher. Narrating the history of the fire temple, chairman of the trust Ardeshir Patel informed the audience of his grandfather (also) Ardeshir’s largesse in establishing the place of worship in 1908 in memory of his young son Pherozeshah who passed away as a child.
Mobeds (top), trustees and well-wishers (above) at Andheri’s Patel Dar-e-meher
Patel’s note to Parsiana on the event states that the "Dar-e-meher is financially well settled due to the foresight of the trustees who developed a large portion of their lands for housing (see "Alight in Andheri,” Parsiana, June 21, 2008).” The trust has built 56 flats for the use of the community in the area behind the fire temple. The senior Ardeshir also established a tower of silence in Andheri East. The open lands around the unused tower, measuring about 54,000 sq m, were repurposed into a housing colony later. The complex, Salsette Colony, includes 700 flats, a dadgah and a community hall.
Ervad Khushru Panthaky, guest speaker and erstwhile principal of the now defunct M. F. Cama Athornan Madressa, spoke about the relevance of jashans and why they must be performed regularly.
The Dar-e-meher, originally built in 1908, was reconstructed on its 92nd anniversary on April 26, 2000. The fire temple’s board of trustees includes, in addition to Ardeshir, his businessman son Maneckshaw, advocate Hoshang Mirza, retired assistant commissioner of police Sam Patel and businessmen Shahrukh and Viraf Irani. Ervad Kersi Katila serves as the panthaky.
Pockets of community members reside in the area — in S. B. Bharucha Baug, B. S. Panthaki Baug, Merwanjee Cama Park, Manecksha Patel Society, etc. While Jogeshwari’s Malcolm Baug and the Salsette Colony at Andheri (East) are not too far away, they have their own places of worship.