The Congress organizers were hoping to propel resurgence but they had not anticipated such a hunger for convergence. Within three hours of opening registrations in June 2024 for the 18th North American Zoroastrian Congress (NAZC) in Houston six months later, they had reached their maximum capacity of 725. Many could have been the reasons for "the mad rush,” states Ervad Kayomarz Sidhwa, co-chair of the Congress and the 10th president of the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA), the first priest to head the USA and Canada based body.
"The first time we had to close registration was within two-and-a-half hours of opening due to a technical issue with the software we were using when we were at 90%+ capacity (approximately 600),” reveals Sidhwa. Seeing the overwhelming demand, they sought approval from the fire marshal at Royal Sonesta Houston Galleria (the Congress venue) to increase the capacity to 725, the maximum permissible. Once the technical glitch was resolved and registrations resumed, the remaining seats were filled in 20-25 minutes. When registrations were closed, "the waitlist kicked in and we got 250+ in some hours so had to close the waitlist too,” added Sidhwa.
Involved in community service in the US for nearly three decades, Sidhwa reiterates that "Congresses are one of the best avenues to meet old friends and make new ones. Besides, it is an opportunity to voice your opinions and learn from each other regarding our faith, our perspectives, and getting into discussions related to our religion, history, culture and contemporary existence.” Additionally the success of the World Zoroastrian Congress in New York in 2022, and the World Zoroastrian Youth Congress in London last year where too there was a scramble for registrations had left "prospective attendees worried that they may not get a chance…Together with that our focus on Gen Z and the competence and charm that our Houstonians show when staging such gigantic events could also have been some of the contributing factors.”
The theme of the Congress being "Generation Z: Propelling Zarathushti Resurgence,” the host organizing team includes nearly 75 volunteers headed by chairs Aderbad Tamboli and Sidhwa. As they commented on their website nazc2024houston.com: "We are excited about the future of Zoroastrianism, as the unexpected and unprecedented high response to our registration shows that our faith is strong and vibrant.”
Top and above (l): Ervad Kayomarz Sidhwa with (from l) FEZANA past presidents
Bomi Patel, Arzan Wadia, Rohinton Rivetna, Katayun Kapadia,
Dr Dolly Dastoor, Homi Gandhi and Firdosh Mehta
Alongside his professional management commitments, Sidhwa finds that currently community engagements keep him occupied 24x7. Yet juggling his priorities he accommodated our request to answer Parsiana’s queries and thoughtfully adhered to our deadline too.
Known for his ability to raise funds within the Houston community, he is keen to bring that experience to FEZANA. Sidhwa has long been a treasurer for the Zoroastrian Association of Houston (ZAH) that is hosting the Congress and currently heads its Fundraising Committee. "With the scale and breadth of activities that FEZANA is involved in, fundraising is a very important component,” he reiterates. Soon after he took over as president in April 2024, "We formed a Fundraising Committee with (his predecessor FEZANA president) Arzan Wadia and (Zoroastrian Association of Chicago president) Jamshed Rivetna as the co-chairs… I am happy to note that by the end of 2024 we will have added over one million dollars (Rs 8.48 crore) to the FEZANA corpus. Our goal during my presidency is to raise a total of four million dollars (Rs 33.94 crore) or more. Towards that we have started the Pledge For Four (P44) program.”
Issuing their P44 appeal on December 3, to coincide with Giving Tuesday (a global movement to reinforce generosity), an email from Wadia and Rivetna urged Zarathushtis to make an annual pledge for the next four years. The amounts could vary from $ 5,000 to 100,000 (Rs 4.24 lakh to 84.86 lakh) "to secure FEZANA’s future… help fund initiatives that uplift, educate and strengthen our community worldwide.”
As part of his president’s message at the last annual general meeting, Sidhwa had elucidated on his priorities for the next four years (FEZANA presidents who are elected for two years can on re-election serve another two-year term). In his statement, "A Shared Vision: Our Ambition 2028,” he indicated that FEZANA should strive to raise one million dollars each for the Legacy Endowment Fund and the Unity and Welfare/Critical Assistance Endowment. The largest target of $1.5 million (Rs 12.73 crore) he advocated for Infrastructure Endowment with smaller amounts ranging from $ 500,000 to 200,000 (Rs 4.24 crore to 1.69 crore) for Scholarships, FEZANA Journal (their quarterly magazine) and Youth Empowerment.
Top: Sidhwa (2nd row, 2nd from l) at a youth camp;
above center: with FEZANA executives (from l):
Xerxes Commissariat, Zenobia Damania,
Khodarahm Partovi, Farzin Avari
For efficient governance, Sidhwa is of the view that the documents that were framed nearly 40 years ago need to be revisited to make them compliant with current legal practices and procedures. As explained by him, "Over the years there have been amendments, additions and deletions. However, a few years ago it was felt that the entire constitution required an overhaul... Under the guidance of FEZANA’s general counsel Sean Elavia and with legal luminary Kersi Shroff as advisor, this exercise started under Homi Gandhi’s presidency and continued through Wadia’s. Some of the revisions are to keep up-to-date with technology like electronic voting, etc. Others are to revisit elected positions on the executive. However, the major changes included separation of the bye-laws into those that would require 75% majority and those that would require a simple 50% majority. The challenge for both co-chairs of the ad hoc committee, Arnavaz Sethna and Mahrukh Motafram, was to keep the original articles of incorporation sacrosanct and not change the vision of the founding signatories of the constitution.”
Yet another priority for Sidhwa is "to strengthen our operations by streamlining redundant committees” and to reduce the workload on the treasurer while maintaining "the sanctity of the operations at FEZANA.” Regarding transparency in operations, he declares, "We have always been accountable although my focus is to make all aware that it will be a two-way street when it comes to accountability and every member association and small group will also be accountable. So, in a way, we are creating that culture for the entire FEZANA family.”
Under the auspices of ZAH, Sidhwa has been running the Z-Camp since 2013(bringing together Zarathushti youngsters between five and 22 years over a weekend). "I have always believed that our youth and young adults are the future torchbearers of our indomitable Zoroastrian faith. They are the ones we need to concentrate on and nurture… They should be looked after from a really young age (10-11 years) rather than when they are 18-20 years. Those formative years are when we can help them into becoming future leaders and visionaries.”
Sidhwa has been involved in community service since the age of 25. He recalls coming to Florida as a student in 1992. "I realized very soon that we did not have an association. I always had a passion for service so together with our dear friend and uncle, Ervad Darab Unwalla, we decided to form one in South Florida. After all the necessary formalities that took a while we formed the Zoroastrian Association of Florida with me as the treasurer. It had its teething problems but it was a lot of fun working with all the committee members.”
When work took him to Sydney, Australia for a short spell, he served as vice president of the Zoroastrian association there for "I saw a lot of potential where I could make a difference. I always believe that if you want to see change, you need to be an integral part of the change rather than give opinions and feedback from the sidelines.”
Having completed 20 years last month with a software company SAP America, Inc., he has been serving in Customer Success, Relationship Management, Premium Services, etc. Sidhwa acknowledges, "I really like my company due to its culture and practices.” An alumnus of Bombay’s Jaihind College and Sydenham College, after completing his commerce graduation he earned his Master’s in Business Administration from the Nova Southeastern University in Florida in 1994.
Although his upbringing was orthodox under the influence of his maternal grandparents from Udvada, Goolbanoo and Jamshedji Unwalla, Sidhwa reveals, "I did not find much difficulty in adapting to the western culture as such and the credit for that should go to my mother Dolly. She has always taught us to be balanced in our thoughts and views. She believes if we are steadfast, maintain our values and traditions, and try our best to do the right thing, we should be ok.” His father Yezdi who was a deputy general manager at Godrej Soaps Pvt Ltd passed away the same year Kayomarz earned his Master’s degree.
Kayomarz admits that he "never had a chance to get involved in community work” when he was in Bombay. Initiated into priesthood at the Banaji Limji Agiary in Fort, in an article he had contributed to the online news portal Parsi Khabar 10 years ago, he wrote that for a few years he would pray during the 10 days of muktads in Poona. "It was a lot of hard work and our throats would be sore and aching but good fun at the same time and those Rs 1,000 that I would get were… like extra pocket money.” In South Florida, being one of only two priests, he would be invited to perform jashans every second weekend. "I really enjoyed praying and started to develop an interest in reading about what I was praying…and realizing the true significance of our Gathas…”
From l: Yazad, Friyana, Farzana and Kayomarz Sidhwa
Although FEZANA’s first mobed president, Kayomarz is emphatic, "I would like to leave any and all religious aspects to the NAMC (North American Mobeds Council) friends to comment on and take it forward… There have been a lot of dialogs and discussions regarding the next generation of priests in North America.”
Alongside Kayomarz, his wife Farzana and children Friyana and Yazad too are active in community affairs. On our request, Kayomarz provided the details: "Farzana has recently taken a break from her accounting career and is involved with the NAZC as the co-chair of the Entertainment Committee (besides taking care of me)! Friyana works as a Human Relations manager in Portland, Oregon after completing her master’s degree and is currently a member of the Youth and Young Adults (YaYA) Committee of NAZC. Yazad will earn his master’s degree in computer science this month. He is an ordained priest (from Bombay’s Vachagandhy Agiary) and prays in Houston during muktad days. He too is a member of the YaYA Committee.
Looking ahead, Houstonians are planning to carry "the post-Congress momentum towards making the Zoroastrian Museum a reality in the next five years,” said Kayomarz specifying that this project to display and preserve the treasure trove of old artefacts is "the vision and brainchild of Aban Rustomji, a lifelong Houstonian. After the original plan was announced and voted upon by the FEZANA member associations, we have had town hall meetings in Houston to discuss this further. However, all of 2024 has been focused on the 18th NAZC.”
To Kayomarz, "Community service is awesome… Although all roles are challenging, varying in magnitude, I believe there is always a bright light at the end of the tunnel. The maximum fulfilment that I get is not when my objectives are met, or my goals are accomplished but when the community realizes the benefits of those goals and objectives.”