The Parsi story...
"Nahi saamne...ye alag baat hai..."
This is the song which plays in the background as of now. It's 01:13 AM at night and it's raining outside my house.It is slightly humid but it's nice and wet in general.
I traveled across the city last night to shoot my first ad. The time was not exactly night, but it somehow looked like night. It was 4 am when we got into the taxi, and the feel of the sleeping city felt more like night than an early morning. With the cold monsoon breeze touching me, I would like to call it 'Night'. The place where we went was an old Parsi colony in Byculla in Mumbai ( formerly Bombay).
I must tell you that we had to meet the rest of the crew by 7:00 am but we reached there at 6 and the place was beautiful. It was not completely day-break, but there was enough light to admire the beauty of the place. There were just a few close knit buildings of the old times architecture- neat and clear. The buildings were made in 1908 but the freshness of the place was refreshing. It was all for real.
The Parsi community came to India in the early 12th century to the village of Sanjan in Gujarat. They are believed to be descendants of the present day Persians, but there is no present day contact between the two. A true Parsi kid is the one who has both his parent as Parsis. If one of his parents is a non-Parsi, the kid is not a Parsi anymore. So, the community is fighting for its presence in India. With the population of the Parsi community to be around 70, 000 in the 2001 census, their struggle continues.
I got into the Udipi cafe right next to the colony. I had ordered for a chai. As I had chai, I thought more about the Parsis.
Parsis are people who are physically different from the rest of us. They are fair, good-looking men and women whose fairness sometimes hides their facial features!
Parsis are the people who got cricket and films to India with pride. From Tatas to Manekshaws, they were all Parsis... I was lost in all these thoughts about Parsis and people's faces came to my mind who had been my friends and were Parsis- Shahrukh Pithawala and Farzan Dalal. Both of them very bright individuals, but I never regarded them to be of this community. But both... very good freinds of mine!
I finished my chai, the crew was there and we started shooting. Very soon on the shoot, there was this superstar who was a muslim- SRK.
There were Parsi kids in the colony who had come to see the film star. There were women peeping from their windows and smiling at SRK. Some kids came to him and shook hands too.
It's around 2 now and this series of visuals crosses my mind when I think of yesterday's shoot. These are weird visuals of Parsi kids lining up to catch a glimpse of this superstar. These are weird visuals which do not make a lot of sense to me but they are visuals which are stuck with no notes: Fair Parsi kids...a wheatish SRK... An old community coming to India from Iran...STAR!
I just thought I should share this and I did that :P You know what, it is still raining, and I think I should bid you Goodnight on that happy Parsi thought... Goodnight :)
This is the song which plays in the background as of now. It's 01:13 AM at night and it's raining outside my house.It is slightly humid but it's nice and wet in general.
I traveled across the city last night to shoot my first ad. The time was not exactly night, but it somehow looked like night. It was 4 am when we got into the taxi, and the feel of the sleeping city felt more like night than an early morning. With the cold monsoon breeze touching me, I would like to call it 'Night'. The place where we went was an old Parsi colony in Byculla in Mumbai ( formerly Bombay).
I must tell you that we had to meet the rest of the crew by 7:00 am but we reached there at 6 and the place was beautiful. It was not completely day-break, but there was enough light to admire the beauty of the place. There were just a few close knit buildings of the old times architecture- neat and clear. The buildings were made in 1908 but the freshness of the place was refreshing. It was all for real.
The Parsi community came to India in the early 12th century to the village of Sanjan in Gujarat. They are believed to be descendants of the present day Persians, but there is no present day contact between the two. A true Parsi kid is the one who has both his parent as Parsis. If one of his parents is a non-Parsi, the kid is not a Parsi anymore. So, the community is fighting for its presence in India. With the population of the Parsi community to be around 70, 000 in the 2001 census, their struggle continues.
I got into the Udipi cafe right next to the colony. I had ordered for a chai. As I had chai, I thought more about the Parsis.
Parsis are people who are physically different from the rest of us. They are fair, good-looking men and women whose fairness sometimes hides their facial features!
Parsis are the people who got cricket and films to India with pride. From Tatas to Manekshaws, they were all Parsis... I was lost in all these thoughts about Parsis and people's faces came to my mind who had been my friends and were Parsis- Shahrukh Pithawala and Farzan Dalal. Both of them very bright individuals, but I never regarded them to be of this community. But both... very good freinds of mine!
I finished my chai, the crew was there and we started shooting. Very soon on the shoot, there was this superstar who was a muslim- SRK.
There were Parsi kids in the colony who had come to see the film star. There were women peeping from their windows and smiling at SRK. Some kids came to him and shook hands too.
It's around 2 now and this series of visuals crosses my mind when I think of yesterday's shoot. These are weird visuals of Parsi kids lining up to catch a glimpse of this superstar. These are weird visuals which do not make a lot of sense to me but they are visuals which are stuck with no notes: Fair Parsi kids...a wheatish SRK... An old community coming to India from Iran...STAR!
I just thought I should share this and I did that :P You know what, it is still raining, and I think I should bid you Goodnight on that happy Parsi thought... Goodnight :)
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