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ZOROASTRIANS ABROADCOVER STORY

Seve t successoKatayun Kapadia, FEZANA's newly elected president, intends to further

foster a unified North American Zarathushtrian community

"I look forward to ... reaching out toevery one of you," declared KatayunKapadia, addressing the delegates ofthe XVI North American Zarathush-ti Congress (NAZC) twodays after she was elect-ed the seventh presidentof the Federation of Zo-roastrian Associations ofNorth America (FEZA-NA) on August 3, 2012.Having been associatedwith FEZANA for the last20 years, the New Jerseybased certified internal au-ditor and certified fraud ex-aminer enjoys the distinction of beingthe only president who has also servedas secretary, treasurer and vice presi-dent of the apex body.

Setting aside 15-25 hours a week tocommunity activities depending on theissues that need to be addressed, Kapadiaclarifies that at FEZANA "it is the pres-ident who puts in the maximum effortall the time; next is the treasurer, thenvice president, and pre and post-AGM(annual general meeting) the work loadfor the secretary and assistant secretaryincreases." When an AGM approach-es, "a lot of time goes into reviewingthe financials, committee reports andbudgets, minutes of the AGM, discus-sions with committee chairs, and pres-idents and repres~nt~tives fof member aSSOCIatIOns," .•she adds. With FEZANAexecutive members beingbased in different states ofNorth America (NA), theymonitor progress at theirmonthly conference call"to discuss and address ac-

Parinaz M. Gandhi

tions taken and identify next steps. Weshare and discuss things by telephoneand email as deemed necessary," sheexplains their style of functioning. The

FEZANA executive elect-ed for 2012-2014 includesvice president Homi Gan-dhi, treasurer Ratan Mis-try, secretary Nahid Dash-taki and assistant secretaryShiraz Italia.

"Privileged" to be~ president of 26 member

associations and 12 cor-responding members thatconstitute FEZANA, Ka-

padia had spelt out the goals before thecoordinating body: "fostering harmony,religious education and awareness, ad-vancing interfaith dialoging, improvingfinancial stability, proactive communi-cation and social networking, fosteringhamazori between various Zarathushtientities and groups (to create) a robustimage of FEZ ANA."

Elaborating on her mission state-ment, in an email response to Pars i-ana's queries Kapadia further assert-ed, "To build, enhance and promote aunified North American Zarathushtri-an community requires a direct, clear,systematic, well-planned. and organ-ized communication strategy" suchthat information is disseminated from

Katayun Kapadia (aboveand alongside) with Far-rokh, Zarin and Kersi

18 Parsiana December 21,2012

FEZANA to "the stake holders" - itsmember associations - and thence tothe individual members at the grassrootlevel. Likewise reverse communicationfrom the members could be leveragedup to FEZANA and shared with othermember associations so that it couldresult in "mutually collaborative andsupportive solutions."

Proposing to draw in the "talent-ed, passionate and committed youngadults in NA who are coming forwardto shoulder community responsibil-ities," she has mandated that everyFEZANA· committee have a youngadult as its co-chair. Subsequent to herelection last August, she has nominat-ed six youngsters as co-chairs and re-vived two committees - Zoroast-rianYouth of North America (ZYNA) andZoroastrian Youth Without Borders(ZYWB), she reports. Over the yearsthe FEZANA committees with whichKapadia has been associated are theCoordination and Planning Committeethat she chaired, Academic ScholarshipCommittee, and Funds and FinanceCommittee.

A resident of US for the last 33 years,she has continued to be a pillar for theZoroastrian Association of Pennsylva-nia and New Jersey (ZAPANJ) servingas its secretary for two years, treasurerfor six years and president for seven

years. The ZAPANJ com-munity has grown from 15families to 120 families"with an influx of youngmembers every year," con-veys Kapadia who has un-der Lovji Cama's guidancebeen instrumental in co-ordinating religion classeswhich are attended by about30 children and 60 adults,as also organizing Nav-

continued on page 20

marriages. I have no objection knowingthat in this cosmopolitan country wheremembers of the community are widelyspread, they may not ha-ve any coreli-gionists in the same school or college.In their daily life they may hardly en-counter one or two Parsis. Should wethen expect that they will not marryout?" If anyone is to be blamed for in-terfaith marriages, "it is the parents," hebelieves. "It is the responsibility of theparents to bring the kids to the commu-nity center. If they miss the opportunityof mixing with community members,"the youngsters will naturally seek otherbonds.

"Most frustrating" for him is to see"youth not coming forward to partici-pate (in community events) althoughwe are trying hard. We need moreyouth to take interest." At the time ofthe North American Youth Congress in2008 "they (the youth) did everythingwell; then fizzled out as they returnedto their education and careers." Theyoungsters often lose touch with theirhome base because "after their school-ing they move to other states for higherstudies ... Here the youth move fast."

SEVENTH SUCCESSORcontinued from page 18roz, Pateti and gahanbar functions towhich members of neighboring asso-ciations of New York and Washingtonare invited. Since 2003 Katayun andher husband Kersi have been activelyinvolved in developing the Zarathush-ti Cultural Center (ZACUCE) for theZAPANJ community in Delaware Val-ley. In community service, 61-year-oldKatayun considers North Americanstalwarts Roshan Rivetna, Dolly Das-toor and the late Khorshed Jungalwalaas her mentors.

"We should be like one happy fam-ily working together for the commongood. Stop using the term 'Parsi/Irani.'Say 'I am a Zarathushti,'" recommendsthe president. Besides their concertedefforts to induct Iranians on the FEZA-NA executive, Kapadia will be endeav-oring towards joint congresses, sportsevents, celebration of festivals betweenParsis and Iranians across North Amer-ica. Collaborative participation will besought from larger member associa-tions to assist smaller associations andcorresponding members pursuing mu-tual community goals.

In her view the North AmericanMobeds Council (NAMe) has "a treas-

20 Parsiana December 21,2012

Aventis Pharma had taken herto Paris for five years from1998-2003 during which timeshe served on the board oftrustees of the Zoroastrian As-sociation de France (ZAF) andheld the positions of treasurerand vice president, workingclosely with ZAF presidentMeherafsoon Sassanfar.

Born in Bombay, Kata-yun (nee Dinshaw), studiedat the J. B. Vachha High

School, earned her BCom from PodarCollege and subsequently qualifiedas a chartered accountant and workedfor the South East Asia Shipping Com-pany Limited owned by the Dhunjib-hoys. After her marriage to Kersi, amechanical engineer with a masters inmathematics, she migrated to USA in1979. She was active in the Girl Guidesmovement when she was in Bombayand subsequently in the Girl Scouts ofUSA. Kersi is currently retired after hislast job as an engineering analyst forSyntex Dental Products. Katayun toohas taken time out since 2012 whenshe was vice president and chief auditexecutive at Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc,"to spend some quality time with myfamily and also devote time and effortto perform my duties as FEZANA pres-ident." They have a daughter Zarin whois a High School counsellor based inWashington and son Farrokh, a lieuten-ant in The US Navy, Submarine Corps,based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

The youth should remember wheretheir parents' roots were, reiterates Ka-padia. c c c Zoroastrian Return to RootsProgramme' (an initiative supportedby the UNESCO Parzor Foundationencourages Zoroastrians overseas tospend some time in India to understandthe lifestyle of the community there) isan excellent idea. It is important for theyouth to recognize what is out there."Keen to promote youth involvementso that "things move into the 21st cen-tury," the FEZANA president urgedthe North American associations tosponsor youngsters who are interest-ed in visiting India: "When they go,they will understand there is a wholeworld out there, become aware, realizethat everything is not so rosy. Whenthey see infighting they lose interest.The youth are not afraid to speak theirminds. There is no posturing or takingsides ... We need to empower them butmake them accountable." 0

At the last FEZANA AGM (from left)Nahid Dashtaki, Katayun Kapadia andRatan Mistry

ure chest of knowledge on our religion,history, heritage, culture and traditions"that needs to be communicated to theNorth American community. "FEZA-NA will solicit member associationsto support the NAMC and religionclass teachers to develop, implementand monitor a curriculum for properreligious education of Zarathushti chil-dren in NA." To augment their limitedknowledge on the religion, member as-sociations will be encouraged to spon-sor and host religious seminars, sympo-sia and programs.

She considers herself "very re-ligious" with the wearing of thesudreh-kusti "important" to establishher religious identity. The asho faroharround her neck reassures her that shehas the protection of a guardian an-gel, she says. "We made the decisionto come to the US so we now need toadapt," Kapadia recommends. "In theNorth American diaspora we have ourown way of life, our own rules. Mypersonal views are conservative." TheNorth American Zoroastrians don'thave much interaction with the com-munity leaders in India. "We just readabout what goes on in India ... " For theWorld Zoroastrian Congress scheduledin Bombay in December 2013, FEZA-

.NA has been "requested to send in top-ics ... of importance to NA ... that wouldenable discussions at global level. ..(and) suggest names of speakers."

With over 30 years of accounting andauditing expertise in heathcare, bighereducation, shipping, public accounting,pharmaceutical and biotechnology in-dustries, Kapadia has worked for theUniversity of Pennsylvania and HealthSystem, Philadelphia, Rhone-PoulencRorer, Aventis Pharma, Sanofi-Avent-is, Elan Pharmaceuticals. Her stint with