ZANT July 2013 Newsletter 1

www.zant.org

A Publication of the Zoroastrian Association of North Texas

ZANT NEWSZANT NEWS

We welcome and encourage feedback from our community. For comments or suggestions please call the Board members, fill in the “Contact Us” section on our web-site (www.zant.org) or mail them to ZANT, 1605 Lopo Road, Flower Mound,TX 75028.

July 2013

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Upcoming Events 2

Upcoming Events (Shahenshahi Navroze flyer and form) 3

Upcoming Events, Past Events 4

Angels in the Background, ZANT News 5

ZANT News, FEZANA Corner 6

FEZANA Corner 7

Our Sincere Thanks, ZANT Pledge from 8

Muktad Jashan form 9

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President Keshvar Buhariwalla

Vice President Farshad Bidanjiri

Treasurer Neenaaz Dilucci

Secretary Ardeshir Mistry

Social Director Farzeen Sukheswalla

Director Dilnawaz Rustomji

Director Naazneen Johnson

ZANT EVENTS & CALENDAR

07/07: Jashan-e-Tirgan

07/20: Kadmi New Year Event

07/28: ZLC Event

08/04: Children’s Arts & Craft

Class

08/13 through 08/16: Muktad pray-

ers followed by pot luck dinner

08/10: Anand Bazaar

08/17/2013: Muktad prayer jashan

followed by pot luck dinner

08/24: Shahenshahi New Year

Event

08/25: ZLC Event

09/08: Children’s Religious Class

09/08: Children’s Arts & Craft

Class

09/08: Vohu Manah meeting

09/29: ZLC Event

MESSAGE FROM THE ZANT BOARD

CHANGES ON THE ZANT BOARD

Jamshed Rivetna, the ZANT President, has relinquished his post as he

is moving to Chicago. However we are very lucky that Keshvar Buha-

riwalla has volunteered to take over the President’s position. Also, we

are very happy to announce that Farzeen Sukheswalla has decided to

join the Board as our new Social Director. No other nominations for

these positions were received. Please welcome both Keshvar and Far-

zin to the Board. They have each provided some information about

themselves below.

Keshvar Buhariwalla has been a part of the Zoroastrian Association of

North Texas since 1995. She has served on two previous ZANT boards

and is excited to serve again. Keshvar is married to Kali and they have

three boys. She feels strongly that open dialogue is the key to a suc-

cessful organization, therefore your comments and participation are

welcome in every aspect of ZANT.

Farzeen was born in Karachi, Pakistan and moved to Chicago when she

was 13 years old. She studied Nutrition and Dietetics at the University

of Illinois-Chicago and received her M.S. in Nutrition at the University

of Alabama. She moved to Dallas about 10 years ago and really loves

it here. She is married to Zubin Sukheswalla and is mom to Neville, 6

and Freeya, 3. She currently works as the Clinical Nutrition Manager

and Internship Director at Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas.

ZANT July 2013 Newsletter 2

UPCOMING EVENTS

Z L C - “The ZANT Ladies Club” Caring, Sharing, Daring – Living Life to the fullest!

Date: Sunday, July 28, 2013

Time: 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Place: ZANT Center

You are invited to come and enjoy some friendly games and participate in a tea party that the ZLC is hosting

for the month of July. Please respond to the Evite notices that you will be getting so Rakshi can get the ball roll-

ing for a rollicking good time! Contact Rakhshi Dhalla for more information. ZLC Coordinator: Rakhshi Dhalla

CHILDREN AND YOUTH

ARTS & CRAFT CLASS

No Arts & Crafts Class will be

held in July 2013. An announce-

ment on the resumption of this

class will be made in a future

newsletter. For information re-

garding this class, please contact

Dilnawaz Rustomji.

CHILDREN RELIGIOUS

CLASS

There will be no Children’s Reli-

gious Classes in the months of

July and August 2013. Classes

will resume in September 2013.

For information regarding this

class, please contact Pearl Bal-

sara.

VOHU MANAH GROUP

The Vohu Manah Group will

not be meeting in the month of

July 2013. Resumption of this

activity will be announced in a

future newsletter. If you have

questions or need information

about this group, please con-

tact Anahita Sidhwa.

TIRGAN EVENT

Date: Sunday, July 7, 2013

Time: 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Place: ZANT Center

Please join us for an afternoon of fun to cele-

brate Tirgan!! On Sunday, July 7, 2013, we will

meet at the ZANT Center from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00

p.m. There will be water games at

5:30 p.m. for kids and adults and a

potluck thereafter. Please bring a

towel to dry yourself and a main

dish to share!! Drinks and ice cream

will be provided. For more infor-

mation, please contact Afsaneh

Samiya.

KADMI NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

Date: Saturday, July 20, 2013

Time: 6:00 p.m. Jashan followed by din-

ner (about 7:30 p.m.)

Place: ZANT Center

Come one, come all, bring your friends and enjoy the evening with Jashan prayers by

our priests, followed by a pot luck meal, socializing and chit chat! For more infor-

mation, please call Neenaaz (Nina) DiLucci. The actual date of the Kadmi New Year is

July 19, 2013.

ZANT July 2013 Newsletter 3

warmly welcomes all of you to the

2013 Shahenshahi New Year Celebration

1383 Y.Z.

Date: Saturday, August 24, 2013 Address: 1001 W. Pres. George Bush Hwy,

Time: 6:30 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Richardson, TX 75080

Place: Hilton Garden Inn Dallas/Richardson Phone#: (972) 792-9393

BUFFET MENU

House salad with ranch and balsamic dressings

Baked chicken with sundried tomato cream sauce

Grilled tilapia with lemon butter and capers

Mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables

Assorted rolls

Chocolate cheesecake, raspberry cheesecake and

chocolate cake

Starbucks coffee - Hot tea - Lemonade

Reservations: Please submit this form with the correct amount on your check. Late fee of $10 person after August 18, 2013.

Name: _________________________________________

ZANT Members: $29/adult _____ × $29= $________ (No. of Vegetarians ______ )

Child (ages 4-9): $17/child _____ × $17 = $________

Non-members: $39/adult _____ × $39 = $________

International Students (if members) _____ × $0 = $_FREE__

Donation $________

(Children 3 years and under - Free) Total Payment =

Mail form and check to:

ZANT Center

1605 Lopo Road

UPCOMING EVENTS (CONTINUED)

NAVROZE CELEBRATION

We are planning a wonderful evening to celebrate the

Shahenshahi New Year 1383. Pearl will have a “Tall Tales”

competition for kids and games for all. Details will be pub-

lished in the August newsletter but parents can contact her

for advance information. There will be a delicious dinner

buffet and DJ Kaizer will entertain us and help us dance the

evening away. Bring yourselves, your friends and family

and wear your dancing shoes! We hope to see you there.

Details of the evening’s program will be in the August news-

letter.

ZANT July 2013 Newsletter 4

PAST EVENTS

ZANT ANNUAL GRADUATION EVENT AND GHAMBAR

The company was delightful, the food delicious and the occasion worthy of its acknowledgement. A very big thank

you to all those who attended and participated in the May 23 Graduation and Ghambar event at the

ZANT Center. We would also like to express our thanks to Yazdi Dastur and his family for tak-ing time out of their busy evening to come and start off the evening conducting the Atash Niyaesh

prayers. Hearty congratulations once again to all the graduates and their families. Each graduate

was honored with a ZANT Certificate of Accom- plishment, a commemorative pen, and a hand-made card (a very big thank you to Autusa Behroozi) that was signed by the evening’s participants.

Starting with this year, we have also created a ZANT “Record of Graduates” folder, that will stay in

the Center Library, marking the names and biodata of our graduates every year. Please feel free to look at it the next time you are visiting the Center. This event would not have been possible with-

out the help and coordination of Delna Godiwalla and Saghar Behroozi, our Event Directors. Thank you both so

much!

ANAND BAZAAR 2013

Date: Saturday, August 10, 2013

Time: 5:30 p.m. to midnight

Place: Lone Star Park, Grand Prairie

Once again it’s time to sell falooda at this

year’s Anand Bazaar. Anand Bazaar is one of

our biggest fundraisers of the year and all pro-

ceeds benefit ZANT. Costs for this event in-

clude booth rental and supplies and are subsi-

dized by donations from ZANT families.

Therefore, we look forward to your continued

support and generosity. Donations in any

amount to support this event will be greatly

appreciated. We also need volunteers to make

and serve falooda. It’s fun and the food is al-

ways delicious. Contact Khurshid Jamadar for

information and volunteering opportunities.

MUKTAD PRAYERS AND JASHAN

ZANT will host the Muktad Jashan on Saturday, August 17, 2013 at 6:30 p.m.

There will be catered Indian food for the evening. Please look for more details from

our event director, Pouroo Dastoor, in next month’s newsletter. If you would like to

have the names of your departed, loved ones mentioned in the Jashan, please fill out

the form on the last page of this newsletter and email it to Farzeen Sukheswalla or

mail the form to ZANT at the address shown on it by August 12, 2013.

This year ZANT will host Muktad prayers, from August 13 through August 17, 2013 (the five Gatha days).

We will include finalized details in next month’s newsletter.

UPCOMING EVENTS (CONTINUED)

ZANT Moveds performing a Jashan – Internet

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

The numbers are in! Our Anniversary Celebration Fundraiser raised approximately $ 3372.62 for ZANT. This in-

cludes income of about $ 2748.62 from the sale of tickets, sandalwood, raffle and the silent auction. In addition,

many of our guests, both out-of-town and in-town made generous donations totaling $ 624.00. All amounts are sub-

ject to change as the Treasurer updates them. Once again we thank all our participants who generously donated their time, talents, and materials to make this event possible. And to everyone who attended and enjoyed the evening's fes-

tivities, we appreciated your presence and generosity. Let's keep it going for ZANT!

ZANT July 2013 Newsletter 5

ZANT NEWS

Angels in the BackgroundAngels in the Background

Many of our members recently helped set up a drip-irrigation system and plant several trees that were gener-

ously donated to ZANT. Kashmira Mistry purchased and

transported the new trees to the Center. Aspi Irani’s

knowledge of drip-irrigation systems saved

ZANT a lot of money. Kamran Behroozi,

Kambiz Behroozi, Armand Behroozi, Far-

shad Bidanjiri, Rostam Bidanjiry, Keshvar

Buhariwalla, Rustom Dinyari, Aspi Irani

and an anonymous donation of four com-

plimentary laborers helped with planting

trees, mulching and installing drip-irrigation lines. Ros-

tam Bidanjiry transported a truck of mulch from the

Irving Landfill, while Adi Vakharia sprayed weed killer on the grass and Dilnawaz Rustomji brought lunch for the

volunteers. Ladies and gentlemen, without your hard work

and dedication we could not have achieved all this!

Thank you for coming together and spending the time to

do these back-breaking chores. Your hard work will pre-

vent our trees from succumbing to the summer heat. You

are indeed our Angels in the Background!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Jennifer Jassawalla, daughter of Denaz Jassawalla, graduated from the McCombs School of Business at

the University of Texas with a Bachelors of Business Administration degree in Accounting. She complet-

ed the program in three years instead of four and was a member of several honor societies

including the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Alpha Lambda Delta, Phi Eta

Sigma, and National Residence Hall Honorary in which she was the President. In the

fall of 2013, she will go on to the Masters Program for Accounting at the University of

Texas and sit for her licensing examination next spring. The ZANT community would

like to offer Jennifer its heartiest congratulations and wishes her the best in her future endeavors.

KUDOS TO OUR BUDDING PIANIST!

ZANT would like to congratulate Zahira Raghani for winning First Place in the Music Memory Con-

test held at the Myerson Symphony Center, on May 16th, 2013. Zahira was one of five team members

representing Jerry Junkins Elementary School in the annual contest held this year. One-hundred and thirteen students from 68 schools participated in this district-wide contest. The focus of the Music

Memory contest is an in-depth study of fine pieces of classical music taken from a wide spectrum of

music genres to expose students to great composers, their lives and their music. Students had to listen to approximate-ly 20 seconds of up to 20 musical selections and identify the name of the major work, selection and the composer.

Way to go Zahira!

GOOD BYE TO THE RIVETNA FAMILY

Jamshed and Tamara (Tammy) Rivetna along with their children, Olivia, Natasha, and Alea, will be

moving to Chicago in July to be near their families. This is a great loss for ZANT. Jamshed and Tam-

my have been an integral part of ZANT for many years. They moved to Plano in 1998 and since then

Jamshed has served on various ZANT Boards and Committees. Until June, 2013 he was the President

of ZANT and was the Vice President from 2004 through 2006 and from 2006 through 2008. He joined

the Building Committee in 2002 and has been a member ever since. Jamshed has helped our Associa-

tion, particularly during the construction of the ZANT Center. He has dedicated many long hours to

ZANT and has volunteered his time, energy and calm leadership to help out the Association whenever

needed. On behalf of the current Board and the ZANT community, we would like to sincerely thank

Jamshed and the Rivetna family for their contributions over the many years they have been in Dallas

and wish them all the very best. We hope you have a safe move to Chicago and to see you again soon

and often at the Center. THANK YOU for all your hard work.

ZANT July 2013 Newsletter 6

ZANT NEWS (CONTINUED)

FEZANA CORNER

ZANT received an email with information on this event. The full email with all details has already been sent

to the community in June. The article below is an abridged portion of it if you missed the eflash.

Young Professionals’ Team Building Retreat

July 19 - 21, 2013, Vancouver BC

Zoroastrian Youth of North America (ZYNA) will be exploring the great outdoors of British Columbia! Join us, in Vancouver, for a celebration of team building, friendship, and fellowship. This will be a unifying retreat geared towards established professionals (ages 25-45) who will get to know one another on a deeper level. The new generation of Zoroastrians will be able to strengthen friendships and connect with like-minded professionals who live and work by the core beliefs of our religion through excursions. Mingle and surround yourself with energetic, ambitious individuals. ZYNA is on a mission to give professionals the opportunity to connect, share ideas, resources, thoughts and opportunities. Our vision is to cultivate a community of young Zoroastrians who are focused on building relationships and working together to learn, grow and make a difference in the world we live in. Professionals from North America, and possibly even abroad, will come together to connect. You will be surrounded by like-minded people who want to build UNITY in our religious community.

ZYNA is committed to establishing FEZANA’s legacy by preservation through generations!

Registration Deadline: July 9, 2013 (12:01 a.m., PDT)

Space is limited, so please register early

Age Requirement: 25-45 years of age

Cost: US $250 per attendee

Registration fee includes transportation to certain events from downtown Vancouver, breakfast, lunch and dinner and all teambuilding events. Partial registrations will not be accepted and refunds will not be issued.

Save the date, an exciting adventure awaits you! Get ready for a weekend getaway.

Questions and to register:

Please contact Behrose Taraporewalla. You will receive a response within 48 hours.

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NAVJOTE

The Sarkari twins, Serena and Cyrus, had their Navjote ceremonies performed

by Poras Balsara and Yazdi Dastur on Sunday June 9, 2013. They now join the

Zoroastrian fold and will (hopefully!) practice Good Thoughts, Good Words

and Good Deeds in the essence of a true Zoroastrian. The ZANT community

would like to extend its congratulations to Serena and Cyrus on this joyous oc-

casion. (Photos by Ruth-Dinaz Sarkari)

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NAVJOTE

With great joy, we’d like to welcome our newly confirmed Zarathus-

tis, Danesh, Faryan and Ruzbeh Irani, who celebrated their ceremo-

nies to mark their “rites of passage” into the Zoroastrian religion on

June 2, 2013. Congratulations from all of us at ZANT on this very

important, wonderful and joyous occasion. Navjote Mubarak!

(Photo by Darys Reyes Irani)

ZANT July 2013 Newsletter 7

FEZANA CORNER (CONTINUED)

To ensure participation of the younger members of the community to the 10th World Zoroastrian Congress and its delib-erations, especially as it pertains to the future road map of the overall growth of the community, the Organising Commit-tee is pleased to announce a special rate for youth delegates. This is applicable for the age group of 16 years to 25 years, i.e., individuals born after 26th December 1988 and those born before 26th December 1997. To avail of the special dis-count, you will need to send us a scanned copy of your proof of age at info@wzcmumbai.com OR courier it to us at the office of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet.

Special Registration Fees for persons under 25 years of age:

Indian Delegate: Rs. 5,000 + Rs. 618 service tax per delegate

Foreign Delegate: $125 + $16 service tax per delegate

This offer is valid only till July 31, 2013

The World Zoroastrian Congress is a forum for discussion on all issues pertaining to the community, including social, economic, cultural and religious. There are academics and experts from other communities who will share their knowledge and views as in past Congresses. In that respect, it is an open forum.

The Organizing Committee of the 10th World Zoroastrian Congress has received many queries on whether non-Zoroastrian spouses of Parsi/Iranian Zoroastrians and their children can register as delegates to the Congress. In light of the above, it stands to logic and reason that the Congress should not be exclusionary but be inclusive for all those who have an interest in the community, its affairs and in its future. Accordingly, the Organising Committee has decided that non-Zoroastrian spouses and their children (16 years and above) can register as delegates for the Congress.

Further to my e-mail dated May 10th requesting names of delegates who previously held Pakistani passports, wanting to at-tend the World Congress, I have received confirmation from Mr Dinshaw Mehta - Chairman- X World Zoroastrian Congress as under:

The Organizing Committee of WZC is very confident of securing permission from the Indian Home Ministry for the Con-gress before the deadline of July 31 for the early-bird registration.

If you wish you can register before the early-bird deadline so that WZC committee can issue each one of you a letter of ac-creditation for attending the WZC and accordingly apply for the visa. If there is any problem securing the visa due to issues at WZC / Indian government, the organizers will refund the delegate’s fees. It stands clear that only if the Indian govern-ment refuses to grant a visa that a registered delegate can avail of a refund in full.

Please note that the visa may take 12-20 weeks

Please register and send the following details to BOTH 10wzc@fezana.org & admin@fezana.org

Name of Delegate

Registration Ref #

Registration Date

Expected Date of Travel

Date of Arrival in India -

Date of Departure from India -

Best Wishes.

Bomi Patel

Chair FEZANA External Affairs.

ZANT received the following messages from the Organizing Committee for the 10th World Zoroastrian Congress, Mumbai, India :

The Taj Mahal Hotel and Gateway to India monument - Mumbai, India (Internet photo)

ZANT July 2013 Newsletter 8

Keep this stub Please detach and return this side Accept my contribution of: for your records. with your contribution payable to: “ZANT" and mail to: ( ) $10 ( ) $20 ( ) $30 ( ) $40 ( ) $50 ( ) $_____ To: ZANT ZANT Treasurer 1605 Lopo Road For: Check # Flower Mound, Texas 75028

Date ( ) General Fund ( ) Building Fund

Amount $ ( ) ZOMF ( ) Other_______

FROM:____________________________________

“Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.” Help us pass on the Good Religion to future generations.

For the second year in a row, we have asked our members to volunteer to host one or more events that ZANT will be holding.

Farzeen Sukheswalla, our new Social Director, will work with the event directors to help plan and host events. We are very

grateful to all our previous and new event directors for the time and dedication they put in to host ZANT events. Thank you

for your excellent spirit of volunteerism. A list of our event directors from July 2013 through May 2014 is shown below.

There are a few spots still available so please contact Farzeen if you would like to host those events.

MONTHLY ACTIVITIES (2nd. Sunday): Children's Religion Class - Pearl Balsara, Nina Kalianiwalla & Sherazade Mehta

Children's Arts & Craft Class - Dilnawaz Rustomji; Vohu Mana Meeting - Anahita Sidhwa

MONTHLY ACTIVITY: (Last Sunday) ZLC Rakshi Dhalla + OPEN*

Jashn-e-Tirgan 07/07/2013 Afsaneh Samiya & Shahin Samiya

Kadmi New Year 07/20/2013 Neenaaz DiLucci

Muktad Prayers followed by Pot Luck 08/13/13 thru 08/16/13 Anahita Sidhwa

Anand Bazaar 08/10/2013 Khurshid Jamadar

Muktad Prayers - Jashan and Pot Luck 08/17/2013 Pouroo Dastur

Shahenshahi New Year 08/24/2013 Pearl Balsara + OPEN

Youth Camp To be determined Delnaaz Irani

Mehergan 10/05/2013 OPEN

ZANT Garage Sale 10/18/2013 & 10/19/2013 Keshvar Buhariwalla & Darys Reyes Irani

Sports Day 10/20/2013 Barjis Ghadially

Gujrati Mela 11/02/2013 Khurshid Jamadar

Jashn-e-Yalda 12/21/2013 - 7:00 pm ;

12/22/2013 morning

OPEN

Zarthusht-no-Diso (Zarthustra's Death Anni-

versary)

12/28/2013 OPEN

Jashn-e-Sadeh 01/25/2014 Roya Bidanjiry & Arezoo Dinyari

Gahanbar Panjeh (Jashan & Potluck) 03/15/14 (Saturday) OPEN

Prayers for the departed (Jashan & Potluck) 03/16/2014 (Sunday) OPEN

Nourooz Function 03/22/2014 Delnaaz Irani + OPEN

Zarthushtra's Birthday 03/29/2012 Shahin Samiya

Camping 04/18/14 thru 04/20/14 Mary Tengra (tentative)

ZANT Center Anniversary - 3rd 05/03/2014 (Evening) Anahita Sidhwa, Kash Mistry & Nina Kalianiwalla

Graduation & Gahanbar 05/24/2014 Pearl Balsara

Our Sincere Thanks

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ZANT July 2013 Newsletter 9

FORM FOR SUBMITTING NAMES OF YOUR DEAR DEPARTED FOR THE MUKTAD JASHAN

This year our priests will perform the Muktad Jashan on Saturday, August 17 at 6:30 p.m.

If you wish to submit the names of your departed family members and friends for inclusion in

the Afringan prayers, please complete this form in block letters with the correct status circled

for each name. Return the completed form to ZANT, 1605 Lopo Road, Flower Mound, TX

75028 or email the filled out form to Farzeen Sukheswalla by August 12, 2013.

Name of the Deceased Name of His/Her Father/Husband

E O Oi B K ____________________________ E O B______________________________

E O Oi B K____________________________ E O B_______________________________

E O Oi B K_____________________________E O B_______________________________

E O Oi B K______________________________E O B_______________________________

(Please use additional sheets for more names.)

______________________________ _________________________________

NAME TEL. NO.

The names of the deceased are always recited together with their father’s/husband’s name along with their status, i.e.

Ervad, Osta, Osti, Behdin or Khurd, as per Zarthushti custom. No surnames are recited in the prayers.

E = Ervad (male who is /was a Navar)

O = Osta ( male from Athornan, or priestly family but not a Navar)

Oi = Osti (female from Athornan family)

B = Behdin (male/female from Behdin, or non-priestly family)

K = Khurd (child whose Navjote has not been performed)