The inauguration of The Sirpa Grove at the Karachi Parsi Institute (KPI) that serves as a club for the local Parsi community marks their efforts "to reduce carbon footprints and reintroduce the birds, bees and vital plants and animal life” in the densely populated area of Saddar in Karachi, noted a write-up in the November 2021 issue of What’s On, the newsletter of the Karachi Zarthosti Banu Mandal (KZBM).
World Environmental Health Day, September 26, 2021 was selected to launch the greening effort at the hands of barrister Murtaza Wahab, current advisor to the chief minister of Sindh, who has committed to donate 5,000 trees over the next three years. "We may not be able to accommodate all 5,000 trees at KPI but we are well on our way to planting 500 trees,” specified the write-up. The students from both the Parsi Schools, Mama Girls and Bai Virbaiji Soparivala, as also the KZBM Child Chapter donated and planted saplings, keeping in mind the soil and water conditions that are conducive for the growth of trees. They have been laid in a manner ensuring there are walking paths around the planted trees.
"The area initially earmarked for the Grove was approximately 600 sq m. However, once we started, the response was so overwhelming that private companies, government institutions, schools and individuals wished to participate,” stated KPI president Roshan Mehri in response to queries from Parsiana. "The area on which planting has been completed is now thrice the size earlier allocated, almost 1,800 sq m,” she added.
Top: Roshan Mehri; and above: members of the community, environmental and
educational organizations suppport the launch of The Sirpa Grove at the Karachi Parsi Institute
The project was initiated when Mehri met the president of I Am Karachi (IAK), Saad Amanullah Khan, and its executive director Ambreen Thompson in July 2021 when Mama School introduced murals on its walls. Mehri initially wanted IAK to paint the KPI walls, but during conversations with IAK, the idea of having an urban forest in KPI was suggested. This resulted in collaboration among like-minded associations: State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan (SLIC), Department of Parks and Horticulture of Karachi Municipal Corporation, Eden Gardeners and KZBM. "Recently an engineering firm sponsored a plantation and a group of differently abled children and a group of young engineers also came forward for plantation. The donation of tree saplings by all has been overwhelming and we had to request folks not to donate any more. The challenge now is to take care of these trees and nurture them well,” stressed Mehri.
The term Sirpa, derived from interchanging the two syllables around the central alphabet ‘r’ in the word Parsi, was first recommended by the late John Cowasjee for use for a restaurant opened at KPI when Toxy Cowasjee was its president. Other members of the Parsi community too generously donated saplings to reinforce the objective: "Plant a tree, save a life.”
"Saddar, in the initial years of the city, was where the majority of the Parsi population lived. All the important chawls/baghs are located in this area, for example, Khurshedbai Chawl, Cowasjee Foundation Compound, Katrak Compound, Rustom Bagh, to name a few. It was appropriate that the KPI which is used as a club also be in the same area. The Parsi population in Karachi is dwindling rapidly but KPI is still the go to place for sports and recreation for the community. KPI also has a very well-maintained swimming pool which is well used by the community,” Mehri provided relevant insights.