The Navroz Mela annually held at Karachi’s Beach Luxury Hotel is generally a time for celebration for the community, with the proceeds being donated to the Parsi General Hospital and the Parsi Clinic which provides free medicals to all members of the community.
This year too, the Parsi New Year Celebrations Committee which is an unregistered group of individuals representing various Zoroastrian institutions had made the necessary preparations for the Mela. The torrential rains and floods that followed in the country necessitated postponement of the Navroz function. Celebrations "felt inconsistent with the austerity required for the flood victims,” explained Byram Avari, president of the Karachi Parsi Anjuman Trust Fund (KPATF) when responding to queries from Parsiana.
Navroz Mela at the Beach Luxury Hotel in Karachi
Once the situation seemed to be under control, it was decided to hold the Mela and donate the funds to the flood victims as a contribution from the Parsi community. "This year, the net proceeds of our collection, after all expenses, were PKR 4,40,000 (INR 1,66,348; USD 2,020). The amount was donated through the Banu Mandal,” said Avari.
As per their practice, the Avaris do not accept any cash donations or get non Parsis to contribute except by way of corporate gifts that are used as prizes for games, Tambola and other stalls. "Coke would supply a few bottles and Walls some ice cream, and Beach Luxury, falooda. All this is sold at a very low rate to make everybody happy, specially the poor, who have an opportunity to feed their family. For example falooda is sold at the Mela for PKR 200 (INR 76, USD 0.92) instead of the market price of PKR 400 (INR 152, USD 1.8)-PKR 450 (INR 170, USD 2.07),” added Avari.
Further, people who don’t need items in their homes, donate them to the Mela to be sold at a subsidized rate. There are even hampers which are put together when supermarkets patronized by Parsis are approached by Avari to pitch in with their contribution. The proceeds from the sale of specially printed wall calendars bearing advertisements of suppliers to Beach Luxury and Avari Towers help too in generating income.
The Navroz Mela at the Beach Luxury Hotel was instituted in 1948 by Byram’s father Dinshaw, erstwhile president of the KPATF. He was keen that "the old and young, the rich and the poor get together to celebrate Navroz. After my father’s demise, I continued the legacy and now my children and grandchildren have joined me,” wrote Byram.