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In the 1990s, when newly appointed president of the Sir Ness Wadia Memorial Pavilion (SNWMP) dentist Dr Porus Turner looked into the organization’s finances, he learnt they had only Rs 40,000 in the bank. "I approached the late Neville Wadia who advised me not to come to him with a begging bowl but to find out means to raise the finances on my own and then he would help me,” wrote Turner in an email in response to Parsiana’s request. "In one of the managing committee meetings, after exploring many avenues, we decided to revive the May Queen Ball.”

Recalled Rustom Jasoomoney, erstwhile SNWMP president who assumed presidentship after Turner, "Way back, 60 odd years ago Rustom Baug (RB) resident Pesi Vakil had started this event as a ‘social’…It was a Baug event and held in the badminton court… It gained popularity and was later held on the Pavilion veranda… I don’t think Vakil was even a committee member… He was full of ideas… Be it athletic events, sports, whist drives, picnics… In those days on May Queen Ball day, an all-round sportsman trophy was given to a person from RB… One year Pesi was given this award… Surprisingly, Pesi never played any sports!” 

Hutoxi Doodhwala, previous vice president who worked alongside Turner and then with Jasoomoney on grooming the contestants till 2011, recalled, "We children were not allowed” at the venue in its early avatar. "We were ordered to keep ourselves only by the food stalls…There was none of this gown business…only saris… and bouffants.” She remembers film star Dharmendra attending one year. "So much ooh-ing and aah-ing in the colony,” she said. 

The revived 1993 May Queen Ball was a success. "We collected income through advertisements and sponsorships and made a profit of Rs 40,000,” said Turner. Colony girl Karen Vazifdar was crowned May Queen that year, chosen from 20 contestants (see "Photocaption,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, July 1993).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turner acknowledged the largesse of sponsors Bombay Dyeing, The Sir Ness Wadia Foundation, Neville Wadia and his associates Hirji Thanewala and Dhan Gagrat in the early years. "Slowly we developed many Parsi/Irani friends and well-wishers” who assisted with advertisements and donations. Colgate was a regular sponsor. When Turner stepped down, the corpus was Rs 12 lakhs, he noted. "However, I must say the greatest benefit was that every year young boys and girls of the community would gather in RB, have a good time and hopefully become future partners… When we started, we never realized this great benefit would accrue.”  

Noted Doodhwala, "Deep down every girl wants to be seen as glamorous… They want this chance of proving to themselves that they are worth it… The contest has grown to a big brand now… It was a very small stage till the 2000s or so… Then we ‘professionalized’ it by bringing in outside experts.” Noting that a few of the contestants wanted to be on a bigger stage (Miss India and the like), she said that mentoring was a very important aspect of the contest. "This was, in most cases, their first experience of a pageant.” Many girls signed up only because they wanted to enhance their grooming skills. 

Doodhwala recalled an anecdote from 1996 when model Parizad Kolah was crowned Queen. "I spotted her in the crowd…She was ordinarily dressed as she had come with her Cusrow Baug gang to enjoy the evening and I coerced her to participate…She won the crown.” Kolah went on to compere the comedy show The Great Indian Laughter Challenge on television in the 2000s. 

The girls needed a lot of hand holding, said Doodhwala. "We realized we were catching them too young.” That is when they set a minimum limit of "at least 12th standard pass… I have a lot of letters of appreciation from parents about the 10-day grooming program.” Playing "mother” to the contestants included advice on how to stand up to abusive boyfriends, how to "wait before making commitments on the personal front,” and small doses of Zoroastrian tenets. "Marry a Parsi only,” she would tell them often. "It was and is a very wholesome program,” she added.

In the 2010s, for some years the contestants included men and the winner was crowned Mr Mantastic (see "May Queens and Mantastic Men,” Parsiana, June 7, 2017). "We wanted to go back to the original format for 2023,” SNWMP vice president Zeenia Wadia told us.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May Queen 2023

The May Queen 2023 event that saw 15 contestants, including one each from Ahmedabad and Thana vying for the title, was organized by the SNWMP on April 30, 2023. A massive stage on their lawns, high tech equipment and large screens welcomed guests after a three-year pandemic induced hiatus. Food stalls lined the edges of the lawn. 

"The event provides an opportunity for our community’s talent to spread their wings in the world of entertainment,” says the current Pavilion president and Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee Xerxes Dastur. "Grooming in etiquette, law, yoga and religion can never hurt anyone… Plus they are being judged by top people in their fields.” He said it was especially gratifying for him that this was the centenary year of the founding of the Baug (see "A sense of gratitude,” Parsiana, February 7-20, 2023). 

The 15 gowned contestants who came on stage were introduced by Wadia and Rustom Baug Welfare Association president Burzis Taraporevala. They had been groomed for 10 days on ramp walking, personality development, good mental health practices, self-defence, skin care and women’s rights, among other subjects. As Wadia told Parsiana after the event, "We try and make sure that there are as many professionals available as are necessary… We cater to every domain down to skin and nail care… Over the years, this has only been getting better.” Preparing the contestants through mentorship has been a key focus of the event down the years.  

Whittled down to eight, the finalists were asked to pick questions from a hat that would decide their upward trajectory to the final three. Mostly college students or fresh graduates, some chefs, software professionals, business owners, doctors and lawyers, they answered somewhat predictable questions about what they would look for in a life partner; which one law they would change in our country and why; how one would reduce their carbon foot print and the like. Taraporevala made repeated pleas to the audience to remember that the contestants were finalists on stage "probably for the first time, so please be kind to them.” If the girls were indeed nervous, they did not let it show! 

Bakery business owner Bianka Wadia was crowned May Queen 2023, as judged by celebrity hairstylist Savio John Pereira, radio jockey and podcaster Hrishi K, former Channel V video jockey Bianca Louzado and stylist Saachi Vijaywargia. Model Parinaz Cooper was the first runner up. Ad agency worker and RB resident Aria Munshi was second runner up. Special guests, reality dance show judges on television and choreographers Marzi Pestonji and Geeta Kapoor were on hand.  

Subsidiary titles were awarded to Parinaz Sethna (Beauty with Heart); Parinaz Marolia (Miss Photogenic); Pearl Bulsara (Miss Talented); Pearl Boga (Miss Vivacious); Munshi (Body Beautiful and Viewer’s Choice); Bianca Wadia (Best Skin and Best Hair); Cooper (Beautiful Smile).  

In addition to Dastur and Zeenia Wadia, SNWMP committee members include Sanaya Anklesaria and Khushro Contractor (secretaries), Yazdin Mistry (treasurer), Arzaan Mistry, Dr Rohann Bokdawala, Taronish Cooper, Sharukh Bhesania, Behram Aderbad and Neville Chithiwala.  

The BPP and World Zoroastrian Organisation Trusts were the main sponsors of the event, with three additional co-sponsors and seven associate sponsors. Mazda Events’s Sarosh, Aarish and Rehan Daruwalla provided the lighting, live video and photo coverage and sound engineering, despite Aarish being ill that day. Dinner was catered by Gadiwalla Caterers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s entertainment! 

Beginning well after the appointed hour of 7 p.m., the evening kicked off with an aerial event by Deanne Rana accompanied by a rendition of Ajay Stevens’s If You Don’t Wanna See Me (Dancing with Somebody) by Ava Contractor. A fashion sequence celebrated "sustainably produced” diamonds from co-sponsor Anantaa. Choreographed by Kash Pitha, the audience’s whistles in this sequence reached a crescendo when show stopper Benafsha Soonawala twirled, while crooner Hushad Khan’s rendition of Billy Joel’s ever popular Uptown Girl had many fans singing along. The finale of the entertainment section was a performance conceptualized by Pearl Tirandaz and choreographed by Merzi Anklesaria. Dancers Kainaaz Master, Rhea Vesuwala and Zinnia Engineer gyrated to Saki Saki from Kabir Singh choreographed by Vesuwala with Rian Mistry while the energetic Burzin Engineer and Nushad Irani regaled the audience with Oscar winning Naatu Naatu. Shiraz Irani’s belly dance rounded off the entertainment. 

Thumbs down

The event was not without its detractors. One verbose salvo came on WhatsApp from a traditionalist, Yezdi Hodiwalla who condemned the "egregious show of skin.” He doubted "that any of the several participating girls regularly don their sudreh-kusti, presumably even if they had disrobed their bodies of this worthy vestment only for the short span of a few hours of the duration of the pageant.” The writer chastised the BPP trustees for supporting the event via sponsorships and cash awards out of their personal funds. Yet another rambling comment, this time from Havovi Sukhadwala, chastised the BPP trustees and said this event shows that "With BPP (the saying is) ‘Parsi thy name is controversy.’” 

As Dastur summed up after the event, "Folks need to realize we are stitching the community together with the event…Giving opportunities, building confidence.”