Dinshaw Avari- Trying my Hand at Blogging!

March 26, 2020   (source- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_armed_conflicts ) Insurgencies, ethnic violence, civil wars, conflicts and over 200,000 deaths in 2019 alone! ·         Afghanistan conflict ·         Yemen crisis ·         Syrian civil war ·         Kurd conflict ·         Iraq conflict ·         Libyan conflict ·         Kashmir conflict ·         Palestinian conflict (source- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_armed_conflicts ) This list doesn’t even touch on intra-country “insurgencies”! …and now a virus pandemic… My personal belief is that with the current Coronavirus trajectory, COVID19 has the potential to overshadow all the...

March 18, 2020 We Karachiites are foodies!  So, when we received a circular for a Bohri food night, we jumped at it, on the roof of TDF “Ghar” (“house” in Urdu)- super dinner, pleasant weather, outstanding view of Quaid-e-Azam’s Mausoleum, typical Parsi loudness and laughter, great service by our Bohri hosts & excellent value for money! However, what was just as interesting was TDF Ghar- one of the old, pre-partition houses in the old city of Karachi, wonderfully restored by TDF.  Quoting from TDF’s history – “TDF Ghar was built in 1920-30’s.  This house was initially owned by a Hindu woman, Haribai Motiram, which she sold in April 1948 to Hajiani Hanifabai for her daughter Aisha Bai Dawood in June 1948 as a residence. In April 1961 the House was donated to The Dawood Foundation.  In 1965, Ahmed Dawood established Hanifa Hajiani Haji Gani Vocational Training Center for Women.  The training center used to enroll over 150 student...

March 13, 2020 REPLY ADDRESS BY MR. DINSHAW B AVARI ON THE OCCASION TO COMMEMORATE HIS 85 th  BIRTHDAY on NOV 5, 1987- (3 of 12) (Vita steamship- Photo credit- https://picclick.co.uk/CANARA-1942-British-India-Steam-Navigation-Co-cargo-233507144190.html ) “ I accepted Karachi because I used to read articles on the Late Mr. Jamshed Mehta in the Jam-e-Jamshed and was highly impressed. He asked me in how many days I would like to go over and open the Karachi )Office. I told him within 48 hours I would go to Karachi, as I require one day to go to Udvada and Navsari for Prayers and for meeting my relations and friends and the next day I would go to Karachi. He told me that the Manager's Agreement require  at least 8 days to be made ready, signed, stamped and completed and therefore, I could go within 10 days. This Offer was a God sent gift to me. When coming to Karachi, I travelled by Steamer 'VITA' in the first class, and I became acquainted with Mr. Pesi, So...

March 11, 2020 I was invited by the British Council on a documentary on the ‘Mangroves of Sindh’, directed by Anam Abbas & sponsored by the Dawood Foundation- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE5V221BvUg , alongwith a group of school children. One of the greatest advantages of the Mangrove ecosystem are their intricate roots- they slow water flow thus protecting shorelines during storms by absorbing & reducing wave energy and water velocity respectively.   (Photo credit- https://nukualofatimes.tbu.to/2019/09/19/nature-one-of-most-effective-ways-of-combatting-climate-change/ ) Besides being a habitat for birds and sealife, mangroves act as a natural barrier for land erosion due to currents and wave velocities. Unfortunately, villagers in Pakistan cut down these life-saving trees for the wood and their rich, mineral-based leaves, as a fuel source and income. ‘Mangroves of Sindh’ identifies a practical SOLUTION – create cheap, alternate fuel sourc...

March 5, 2020 (Photo credit-  https://images.app.goo.gl/mA2M8UzXegxhzH266 ) We Zoroastrians love to swear … I know, I love it – especially when I’m behind the steering wheel! For many of us, swearing is part of our life, our idiosyncrasy, what makes us ‘whole’ and ‘completes’ us! There’s hardly a Parsi I have met to date who doesn’t swear. You feel good after letting off a stream of expletives … however dirty, vulgar or crude (especially the ones in our local dialect 🤣 ). When I’m behind the wheel, my creative instincts take over when I’m blind sided, cut across, signal run or whenever.  It’s just feels so good to ‘have it out at the world’! However, one thing about our expletives – there’s no vile in it; there’s no malice or intent to hurt; while guttural there’s no mean intent behind it…and that’s a fact.  We do it because we love it and can’t live without it but never with an evil intention nor from the heart! So, when you are w...

March 2, 2020   There were many interesting sessions at this year’s Karachi Literature Festival; and naturally, it’s just impossible to visit many of them due to clashing schedules. However, I found a certain “theme” which seems to emanate this year - the NEED FOR QUALITY EDUCATION AT THE PRIMARY LEVEL.   Let me explain in brief with examples of the sessions at KhiLF 2020- ·         At the Opening , the Education Minister’s frank remarks on the state of primary education in Pakistan for the last 50 years; ·         The Political Character of Pakistani Middle Class – I touched on this   https://dinshawavari.com/2020/02/29/at-the-karachi-literature-festival-2020-the-political-character-of-pakistani-middle-class/ o    The panelists said teach them to THINK FOR THEMSELVES –we “follow the State’s narrative”.   We can’t be civic minded because of this. · ...