The iconic Parsi magazine in India to close after 60 years

In an old, neo-Gothic building in Fort, an inscription area in the financial capital of India Mumbai, a service was destroyed, which produces one of the oldest and most famous magazines of Parsi in the country-Parsiana.

The magazine was created in 1964 by Pestonji Warden, a Parsi doctor who also deals with the sandalwood trade to chronicle the community in the city.

Since then, the magazine has grown into subscribers and has reached. For many Parsi, he offered a window in the community movement, helping members around the world to feel connected and to consider that their number is decreasing and scattered.

In 60 years, Parsiana will close this October due to decreasing subscribers, lack of funds and no heir to manage it.

The news saddens not only subscribers but also those who knew about the magazine’s heritage.

“It’s like the end of an era,” says Seshant Singh, 18, student. “We used to joke about how you didn’t have a” real Parsi “if you didn’t know about Parsiana or a wax eloquent about it.”

As the news of the closure of the magazine was announced in one of its edits in August, the stands are poured.

In its edition in September, a reader in Mumbai wrote: “To think that such a small community as ours could be chronic with such diligence and passion, it seems a frightening enter. Parssiana turned out to be more than equal to the task.”

Another reader, based in Pakistan, says the magazine is “more than a publication; it is a satellite and a bridge connecting the Zoroastrians around the world.”

The reader, based in Washington, praised the magazine to inform the Community, “but also brought a touch of realism on controversial issues.”

Jehangir Patel, 80, who led the magazine since he bought it for just one Rupea in 1973, says he always wanted it to be a “journalistic endeavor”.

When Warden started the magazine as a month, it only wore essays through medical scriptures of Parsis or Ward.

After taking over, Patel turned it into two weeks with reported stories, sharp columns and illustrations that dealt with the sensitive problems of Parsi with honesty and humor.

He hired and trained journalists, created a subscription model, and ultimately turned the black and white magazine into color.

Patel remembers his first story after taking over the magazine; It was a high rate of divorce in the community.

“Nobody expected to read something like this in Parssiana. It was a little shocking to the community.”

In 1987, the magazine broke a new foundation by publishing interconfidence – a bold move in a community known for strict endogamy.

“The messages created a furore in the community. Many readers wrote us and asked us to end the practice. But we did not do it,” says G -n Ptel.

He says that Parisiana has never deviated from disputes, always offering many perspectives and over the years have projected problems such as the declining population of the community and the decline of the towers of silence – a place where Pars are burying his dead.

The magazine also chronicles community achievements, key social and religious events and new institutions of Parsi. In May, Parssiana covered the entry into office of AlpaIwalla Museum in Mumbai – the only Parsi Museum in the worldS

Now the 15-member team, many of the 1960s and 1970s, who joined Patel, is preparing to end both the magazine and their career of journalism.

“There is a feeling of fatigue mixed with sadness,” says G -n Ptel. “We’ve been doing this a long time ago,” he adds.

The office, arranged with old editions, shows its age with peeling paint and crumbling ceilings. It has been housed in a former hospital in Parsi, which has been free for four decades.

Patel says that the team does not have big plans for their last day, but the upcoming problems will present stories in memory of the long journey and heritage of Parsiana.

As for the team, D -n Ptel says there may be lunch in service. No cake. There are no celebrations.

“This is a sad occasion,” says G -n Ptel. “I don’t think we’ll feel like a celebration.”

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