Adel Baugh, the Mandvi Mangrol Taluka Zarthoshti Anjuman Fund’s renovated Parsi Dharamshala, and the party space on its verandah were inaugurated on May 31, 2015 at a well attended function where Burjor Antia, solicitor and former Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee was chief guest. Among the invitees present that morning were BPP trustee Yazdi Desai and his wife Anahita, managing trustee of the Valsad Anjuman and vice president of the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India Sam Chothia, managing trustee of the Billimora Parsi Anjuman Marazban Baria, president of the Surat Parsi Panchayat (SPP) Jamshed Dotivala, SPP trustee Yazdi Karanjia and trustees of several neighboring anjumans including Mahua. Vyara, Navsari, Umbergaon, Sanjan, Nargol, Pardi, Valsad, Billimora, Chikhli, Vansda, Bardoli and Gandevi, mentions an email received by Parsiana from Darayes Gandhi, managing trustee of the Mandvi Anjuman.
A jashan was performed after which the chief guest unveiled the plaque. Gulshan Vandriwala of Navsari compered the proceedings. Mandvi’s former managing trustee Jehangir Munshi was honored for years of service to the community as was Ervad Pervez Mandviwala for his decade long honorary work for the agiary and performing religious rituals without charging any fees, the email notes.
(Clockwise, from top): Darayes Gandhi honoring Burjor Antia; Marazban Baria; Yazdi and Anahita Desai,
Sam Chothia, MLA Anandbhai, Antia, Pervez Mandviwalla,Jehangir Munshi, Mehernosh, Gandhi,
Jamshed Dotivala; Antia unveiling plaque; jashan
In his speech Antia stressed the need for the Parsis of today to continue to follow the tenets of the Zoroastrian religion, while Desai praised the teamwork of the trustees and Zoroastrians of Mandvi. Chothia admitted that it is not an easy task to maintain an agiary, dharamshala and Doongerwadi with a corpus of just around Rs 15,00,000 and urged residents of Mandvi to support the trustees in all vital matters. Baria felt that the larger anjumans should take a lesson from smaller ones like that of Mandvi in how to work for the benefit of the entire community. Sam Patel, trustee of the Patel Dar-e-Meher donated funds to the trust. Anandbhai Choudhary, Member of the Legislative Assembly from Gujarat, who was also present, congratulated the trustees of the Mandvi Anjuman for this accomplishment and lauded the community for being peaceful and generous, the email mentions.
Gandhi, who was largely instrumental in garnering donations and introducing facilities like the air conditioner, refrigerator, water plant, etc thanked the prominent citizens of Mandvi who had helped the trustees to remove the encroachments on its Doongerwadi lands. He also appreciated the efforts of fellow trustees Munshi, Godrej Hansotia, Mandiviwala, Yezdi Gandhi, Firoze Jokhi and Mehernosh Devgadhwala, as well as others like Delzad Gandhi, Firoze Patrawala and Jerksis Hansotia for their assistance. The donors were thanked for their magnanimity.