ZANT October 2012 Newsletter 1

www.zant.org October 2012

A Publication of Zoroastrian Association of North Texas

ZANT NEWSZANT NEWS

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

ZANT EVENTS & CALENDAR

* 10/06: Mehergan function

10/14: Children’s Religious

Class and Vohu Manah

Group meeting

10/14: Children’s Arts &

Craft Class

* 10/14: Green Thumbs of

ZANT

10/19 & 10/20: ZANT Garage

Sale

10/21: Sports Day

10/21: ZANT Teen Group

meeting

10/28: ZLC English High Tea

* 11/03: Gujrati Mela

* 11/10: ZLC November Fund

raiser

* 11/11: Children’s Religious

Class and Vohu Manah

Group meeting

11/11: Children’s Arts &

Craft Class

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Upcoming Events 2,3

Angels in the Background, ZANT News 4

Kids’ Corner 5

Past Events 6

FEZANA Corner, Lecture Series on FEZANA’S 25th. Anniversary, Communication with ZANT, ZANT Donation Form 7

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President Jamshed Rivetna

Vice President

Treasurer Neenaaz Dilucci

Secretary Ardeshir Mistry

Social Director

Director Dilnawaz Rustomji

Director Naazneen Johnson

MESSAGE FROM THE ZANT BOARD

ZANT COMMUNITY SERVICE SUB-COMMITTEE

ZANT began a telephone tree a week ago for Farsi-speaking mem-

bers to call a couple of our Iranian seniors who are alone during the

day. This has become a big success based on the feedback received

from their family members. Our seniors get one call every day,

Monday - Friday, (five new friends) and they love it and look for-

ward to the calls.

We are looking for more Farsi- and Gujarati-speaking volunteers who

would like to commit just 2 to 3 minutes of their time each week (just one

call every week) to bring joy to seniors who would love to chit-chat with

someone. Please contact Ruth-Dinaz Sarkari to volunteer.

Anyone with a senior at home or in a nursing home who would like

to get a telephone call Monday – Friday should please contact Sa-

ghar Behroozi or Farzeen Cama.

WHY VOLUNTEER?

Volunteering is the perfect way to feel connected to your community.

The simple act of offering your skills and enthusiasm will positively im-

pact the lives of others as well as your own.

ZANT October 2012 Newsletter 2

CHILDREN & YOUTH SEWING & ART/CRAFT

CLASS

Date: Sunday, October 14, 2012

Time: 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon

Place: ZANT Center

The kids will be cooking some delicious recipes which we

will share at the end of the October Religious Class. Hence,

Dilnawaz has requested that the kids be at the ZANT Center

at 11 a.m. so she can work with them on these recipes.

Please RSVP before October 9, 2012 so we can plan for in-

gredients and supplies.

Contact Dilnawaz Rustomji to RSVP or for information.

ZANT SPORTS

Date: Sunday, October 21, 2012

Time: 9:00 a.m.

Place: Hedrick Elementary School, 1526 Bellaire

Blvd., Lewisville, TX 75067; Potluck Breakfast at

the ZANT Center

Our Annual Sports Day will be held at Hedrick Elemen-

tary School. Please park in the elementary school’s

parking lot NOT in the middle school’s parking lot.

Wear suitable clothes for sports along

with a cap and running shoes and bring

water and snackS for yourself. After the

sports there will be a potluck breakfast

and music at the ZANT Center. We en-

courage all of you to participate and en-

joy the event. Please contact Barjis Ghadially for more

information on the sports and RSVP Dilnawaz Rustomji

for the pot luck breakfast.

UPCOMING EVENTS

MEHERGAN CELEBRATION Date: Saturday, October 06, 2012

Time: 6:30 pm

Place: ZANT Center

Celebrate Mehergan with friends and family at the Center. Following community prayers, younger children will be

paired with older ones to create the Mehergan table. No practice meeting is necessary but children are requested to be

at the Center no later than 6:15 p.m. There will also be a melon carving contest for kids and adults. Please decorate or

carve your melons at HOME and bring them to the function. Music and food will follow.

Please bring a main or side dish to share. ZANT will make arrangement for desserts, tea and soft drinks. No RSVP is

required. For more information, please contact the following: Event Director and pot-luck coordinator, Armin Da-

roona or Persian pot-luck coordinator, Azita Kiumarsi.

ZANT GARAGE SALE - one man’s trash is another’s treasure

The annual ZANT Garage sale is scheduled for two days, October 19 and 20, at the ZANT Cen-

ter. We encourage our members to donate items to be sold off at this sale with all profits going to

ZANT. Please bring your items to the ZANT Center during the next couple of months

and leave them in the library. Pick-up for large items can be arranged if needed. For the Plano

area, please contact Darys Reyes Irani or please contact Keshvar Buhariwala. PLEASE

BRING US YOUR DISCARDS WHICH WILL HELP RAISE $$$$$ FOR ZANT!

ZANT October 2012 Newsletter 3

UPCOMING EVENTS (CONTINUED)

ZANT TEEN GROUP (ZTG)

Date: Sunday, October 21,

2012

Time: After ZANT Sports

Place: ZANT Center

The ZTG will meet after the ZANT

Sports at the Center during the pot-

luck breakfast. The Group will get

together at their own table to paint

their white ZTG visors and person-

alize them. For more information

contact the Board Liaison, Neenaaz

Dilucci .

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

On Sunday, October 28, 2012 ZLC will host an English High Tea at Yas-

min Gupta’s home. Join us for an elegant afternoon and a sumptuous feast.

Please watch for your Evite for this event.

Are you looking for friends and fun? Come and see what ZLC is all about. You can also find ZLC on Facebook. Join and share

with your friends. Check out our August activity article on page 7 in this newsletter. ZLC Coordinators: Mary Tengra and

Rakshi Dhalla

CAMPING AT CANEY COVE MARCH 29-31, 2013

Do you know about orientation, geotracking or star gazing? Want to share? Want to

learn? Come to the “ZANT Life Is Good Annual Campout.” Check out

www.caneycove.com for pictures of the campsite. Please email Mary Tengra to re-

serve your spot. Reservations will be on a first-come- first-served basis. Let Mary

know the number in your party to determine the size of cabin and your final cost. Also inform her if

you’d like a RV or pop-camper site or a screened shelter. Deposit and payment information will be

sent to you after she receives your email confirmation. No phone calls please! Reservations MUST

be received by December 15, 2012.

VOHU MANAH GROUP

Date: Sunday October 14, 2012

Time: 1:30 p.m.- 3:00 p.m.

Place: ZANT Center

Topic: "Travel from the plugged-in present through

the murky millennia.

- Were the builders of Persepolis the grand children of Cy

rus?

- When was the Pazend Tandarosti composed?

- How old is the fire in Udvada?

Interested in these historic events? The Vohu Manah

group will be an interactive session to construct a physical

time line of Zoroastrian events chosen by our community

members. Join us and feed your mind! For more information

contact Anahita Sidhwa.

DIVALI MELA

Date: Sunday, November 03, 2012

Time: 4:00 p.m. to midnight

Place: Cotton Bowl Stadium, Dallas

The Diwali Mela is a fundraiser for

ZANT. It is hosted by the DFW Indi-

an Cultural Society which is involved

in charitable endeavors, like running

two free primary- care clinics for unin-

sured patients. Over 11,000 people

were treated last year at these clin-

ics. The Association also supports

various Indian charities and the United

Way. This year they are working with

the North Texas Food Bank.

Please contribute to defray ZANT’s

cost for supplies and the booth. When

you contribute to ZANT's Diwali Mela

fundraiser, you are helping raise funds

for our association. Our involvement

also helps various DFW charities.

Please donate generously!

If you would like to help at the booth

please contact Khurshid Jamadar.

We work hard but have a lot of fun!

ZANT October 2012 Newsletter 4

Angels in the BackgroundAngels in the Background

Our ZANT Center would not be in such good shape if it weren’t for Jamshed Jamadar,

Feroze Sidhwa, Spenta Irani and Kamran Behroozi. Jamshed, Feroze, Spenta and

Kamran painstakingly work on small repair jobs at the Center and make sure that larger pro-

jects, when needed, are taken care of by other competent people. We sincerely want to

thank these gentlemen for their selfless work to help our community and Center. You are

truly our Angels in the Background. Thank you for your continuing help!

OUR NEW WEBMASTER

Please welcome our new webmaster, Kurush

Dehnugara. Kurush volunteered to take over these

responsibilities as our previous webmaster, Veera

Sidhwa, is unable to continue in this capacity.

ZANT would sincerely like to thank Kurush for step-

ping up and helping out. ZANT appreciates the help

from Veera and Eric Engineer for the smooth transi-

tion.

ZANT NEWS

GREEN THUMBS OF ZANT (GTZ) - “Painting our ZANT landscape”

At 11:00 a.m. on Sunday September 9, 2012 while the children were in their Religious Class,

some parents sportingly helped weed the front flowers beds and bushes at the ZANT Center.

We would like to thank the following Green Thumbs for their hard work: Kali Buhariwalla,

Hormuz Birdie, Neenaaz DiLucci, Delnaaz Irani, Spenta Irani, Denaz Jas-

sawalla, Naazneen Johnson & Kashmira Mistry.

Anyone interested in sharing the experience of nature and wanting to help make

our garden a beautiful masterpiece may show up at 11:15 a.m. on the second Sun-

day of each month immediately following the group prayers. Please wear clothes

suitable for gardening along with a cap. Also, bring along your garden gloves,

spade and good humor. We’ll enjoy the fellowship as we weed and seed and help

make our Center more beautiful!

OUR DEEPEST CONDOLENCES

The ZANT Community would like to offer their sincerest

condolences to Farzeen Cama and her family on the

loss of their mother and grandmother, Bapsi Daruvala.

May her soul rest in eternal peace. Tishtrya Cama has

written a short article in memory of her grandmother

which follows.

My grandma, Bapsy, was a very humble person. Her

mother had passed away when she was very young so she

was brought up by her very protective and strict, but lov-

ing father, Rusi. She grew up in Bombay, India and com-

pleted her B.A. and L.L.B. degrees from St. Xavier’s Col-

lege. After marrying my grandfather, Adil , they had

three children, Zareen, Yezdi and my mother, Far-

zeen. My mom would always call my grandma Maai,

meaning mother in Gujarati, which is how we began call-

ing her that too. She adored all seven of her grandchil-

dren. Grandma loved to make all young boys and girls

smile and laugh. She was an exceptional reader, reading

bedtime stories to us or just making one up from the

memories of her own children getting into all sorts of

mischief. She believed strongly in the Zoroastrian reli-

gion and in Good Thoughts, Good Words and Good

Deeds. My grandma was peaceful, sweet, loving and car-

ing, and although she forgot most other things, she al-

ways remembered to give us a hug every night and a kiss

every morning. We will miss her but her legacy will live

on through us.

(Article edited by the ZANT Board)

ZANT October 2012 Newsletter 5

Jashn-e Mehergan -

The Autumn Festival of Harvest

On this auspicious occasion Aunty Pearl would like to

share this poem from an Iranian Poet :

Human beings are members of a whole,

In creation of one essence and soul.

If one member is afflicted with pain,

Other members uneasy will remain.

If you have no sympathy for human pain,

The name of human you cannot retain.

The same poem, with its call for breaking all barriers,

graces the entrance to the Hall of Nations at the United

Nations’ building in New York. Source :

www.Iranreview.org

Religious Class:

At our September class, our little ones learned about

the celebration of Mehregan. They heard the story of

Shah Faridun and the evil King Zohak, and the victory

of light over darkness. The children have a brochure on

Mehergan and there is a short poem in it. Parents,

please have the kids practice the poem so that they are

familiar with it for the Mehergan function in October.

We look forward to seeing you then!

Returning after Summer break, our middle-age group

had a Power Point presentation about the Origin &

History of Jashn-e-Mehregan. They learnt …..

What “Mehr” means & represents

It’s a name-day feast—16th day of 7th Zoroastrian

month (Mehr Roz & Mehr Mah)

It’s Origin / Roots:

Harvest time

Victory of Faridun & Kaveh over the evil

King Zohak (Azydahak)

Birth of the Sun

Mashia & Mashyaneh

Sofreh Mehergan

Celebration in Ancient Iran vs celebration today

We ended our class watching a video about Jashn-e-

Mehergan.

Our teen group welcomed the children who have

"moved up". They are starting the year with discussions

and activities revolving around the spiritual attributes

of the Amesha Spentas. Haurvatat and Ameretat are

the first two studied. The children are working together

in groups to brainstorm these attributes and make posters

to share with each other.

Hope we see you all at the Jashn-e-Mehergan celebra-

tion!

Thoughts for the Month:

To accomplish great things,

We must not only act, but also dream

Not only plan, but also believe!

Every sunset gives us one day less to live

But every sunrise gives us one more to hope!

So, hope for the BEST!

Have a determination of a MIRROR

It never loses it’s ability to reflect

Even if it is broken into thousand pieces

Source: Internet

Children’s Religious Class:

Our next religious class will be held on Sunday, Octo-

ber 14, 2012 at 12 noon.

Please bring your kids/teens at 11 a.m. for the Activi-

ty planned by Dilnawaz, before the October Religious

Class.

For further details about the Religious Classes, please

contact Pearl Balsara.

KIDS’ CORNER

(Kid’s Corner logo courtesy of Zoroastrian Studies, India)

ZANT October 2012 Newsletter 6

PAST EVENTS

CHILDREN & YOUTH SEWING & ART/CRAFT CLASS

At the last class the children created their own wind chimes to hang outside and listen to wonderful music.

They also created a Halloween reflector toy from a craft kit to use when they go trick or treating in October.

ZANT TEEN GROUP

We held our first meeting on September 16, 2012 at the Cama Residence. At this meeting we formed the

ZANT Teen Group which has taken many months of planning. On the Group’s inception Tishtrya Cama,

Stivant Cama, Manijeh Rustomji and Zayne Patel were chosen as our leaders. During our first meeting we

completed the following items:

1) Brain-stormed for our motto, coming up with three suggestions that are being voted on by ZANT teens.

2) Solicited new ideas for our group to work on.

3) Determined dates and venues for the next few meetings.

4) Attempted to come up with a new logo to accompany the motto.

5) Discussed the reasoning behind the formation this group.

This meeting went well even though there wasn’t a large turn out. Many issues

were debated and we achieved more than expected. We hope that our next

meeting will be just as successful, if not more! Thank you for all the hard work

and cooperation that went into making this Group. We hope it also changes the way teenagers look at

ZANT!

The Teen Group has come up with a few ideas and hopes to accomplish as many as of them as possible. We

will do community service work and as a group socialize, host fundraisers and find ways to raise money for

donating to charities and hospitals. With help, support, practice and guidance we can transform it into a fun-

loving, outgoing, social and educational (community service) group that can work within the principles on

which ZANT was formed while expanding our new visions for enhancement of ZANT’s values. In time, we

hope that our group will not only be instrumental to our generation but will endure and expand to the next

generations. Thank you for all the help and support that was put into the formation of this group. We hope

to meet soon and finalize our guidelines and other important issues. (Article contributed by Tishtrya Cama

and edited by the Board)

Future events are tentatively scheduled for: October – after ZANT Sportss (10/10/12) at the ZANT Center

November – Anaiza Irani December – Zayne Patel

Z L C - “The ZANT Ladies Club”

Caring, Sharing, Daring – Living Life to the Fullest

Our artistic energies were flowing at “Painting with a

Flair.” All types of designs were thought up by the artists. Our

plates have been painted, baked and are now ready to hold candles

or snacks or just to be displayed. We’ll be updating you on our

bowling adventure in the November newsletter.

ZANT October 2012 Newsletter 7

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.

ZANT has the pleasure of hosting the next FEZANA Annual General Meeting (AGM). Save

the dates over the May 03 to May 05, 2013 weekend. We look forward to hosting delegates

from across North America. We are also needing volunteers to help with various aspects of

the AGM. If interested please contact Sherazade Mehta.

FEZANA CORNER

Please contact Ardeshir Mistry if you know of a community member who is not receiving our news-

letter and e-flashes. Also, let him know if your email address changes so you experience no break in

communication with ZANT. Thanks.

COMMUNICATION WITH ZANT

LECTURES SERIES HOSTED BY THE ZOROASTRIAN ASSOCIATION OF

HOUSTON (ZAH)

To celebrate FEZANA’s 25th. Anniversary, ZAH is presenting a weekend with two eminent scholars of Zo-

roastrianism and a fun-filled Saturday night gala diner. On Saturday, October 27, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. Dr.

Touraj Daryaee, from the University of California Irvine will present his lecture “Sasanian Empire and

the Creation of a Persianate Identity.” This will be followed at 1:00 p.m. by a lecture presented by Dr.

Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina from Stanford University. The title of this lecture is “Knowledge From

The Teachers of Old: Zoroastrian Theology and Religious Practices in Ancient Antiquity.” Dinner that

evening will be at 8:00 p.m. with a gala show. FEZANA’s new president, Katayun Kapadia, will be a guest

at the dinner.

On Sunday, October 28, 2012 there will be an “Informal Discussion” with professors Daryaee and Vevaina.

The discussion will be from 11:00 a.m. through 1:00 p.m. There are charges for most of these events. For

more details on this program please go to the ZAH website at www.ZAH.org or call Arnavaz Sethna.

LECTURE SERIES ON FEZANA’S 25th. ANNIVERSARY