The 6th edition of this trip would not have been possible without the support of the countless people who have now become the backbone of the programme. We would like to extend our gratitude to all our supporters, patrons, donors, and to the volunteers who have helped in building this programme.
Download RTR 6: 2020 Annual Trip Report
To Neville Shroff and his fellow trustees at the Incorporated Zoroastrian Charities of Hong Kong, Canton and Macao for their continued support over the years.
To Homi Gandhi, the President of FEZANA, for providing us the time, space and support to ensure RTR was well understood and embedded within the FEZANA networks, and continues to be one of our most helpful supporters as we build Roots in North America in partnership with FEZANA.
To Rooky Fitter, FEZANA Treasurer who has so capably lent her support in the role FEZANA plays to assist the Roots programme in all its financial management in North America.
To Dinshaw and Bachi Tamboly and Aspi Ambapardiwala of the World Zoroastrian Organization Trust Funds India for their continued support and for taking us to see the various sights in Navsari and the hinterland villages.
To Astad Clubwala and the Board Members of the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York (ZAGNY) for their unstinted support since the inception of the programme.
To Kermin Parakh, Meher Cawasji and the Board Members of the Karachi Zoroastiran Banu Mandal (KZBM) for their continued support through the years.
To the Trustees of the Hommie and Jamshed Nusserwanjee Charitable Trust for their valued assistance to individual participants.
To Feroze and Shernaz Bhandara of the Bhandara Foundation for their contribution to the RTR programme.
As the programme involves a great deal of travelling and making sure every participant is comfortable throughout the trip, we would like to extend our gratitude to our travel and logistics partner Trail Blazers India(TBI); in particular, Mrs. Hutokshi Marker, Mr. Kurush Charna, Mr Homa Mistry, Mr Cyrus Parbhoo and Mrs Morina Fernandes.
We are particularly indebted to Vada Dasturji Khurshed Dastur for aiding us in expediting the visas of many participants and ensuring they could reach India in time and for spending time with the participants in Udvada.
To Mehernaaz Shovir Irani, who put in a great deal of time and support in ensuring the visa process went smoothly.
Thanks to Mr. Bomi Patel from BB Travel Experts for making our travel arrangements for overseas participants, and for his constant assistance to the team and participants.
Special thanks to Mr. Hoshang Jal for welcoming us to Cusrow Baug and helping make the beginning of our journey a memorable one.
Our deep gratitude to our dear friends and programme mentors Mr. Khojeste Mistree and Mrs. Firoza Punthakey Mistree for their hospitality and guidance, which has assisted in building the structure of the programme since its inception. Special thanks to Khojeste in particular, for the knowledge imparted to us during the visit to the Doongerwadi, a very engaging session at the Mistree residence explaining the intricacies of our religion, and for an amazing open bus tour and guided walk of the heritage precinct of Mumbai city.
To Mr. Yazdi Desai and his fellow Trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet(BPP) and Mr. Vistaspar Mehta, Manager of the Doongerwadi, for granting us permission to visit.
Thank you to Mrs. Shernaz Acharia and her wonderful staff for a tour of the Ratan Tata Institute (RTI), a behind-the-scenes look at the effort involved in making Parsi food and embroidery, and for sharing with the participants their ingredients while allowing us to work in their kitchen.
To the World Zoroastrian Organization Trust Funds India (WZOTF) for their generous time and showing the participants some of the great initiatives in place for Parsis in the rural areas of Gujarat.
To Ervad Dr Ramiyar Karanjia for enlightening us during our visit to the Dadar Athornan Institute about the training of young priests.
To Binaifer Sahukar and everyone involved with the Empowering Mobeds programme, for spending time with the group and explaining the work they do towards an amazing cause.
To our dear friends and programme mentors, Jimmy and Delna Mistry and their family, who welcomed us into their home in Mumbai, treated us to the finest of Parsi hospitality while inspiring our participants to dream big, and generously hosted us at the Della Adventure Park and Della Adventure Training Academy (DATA) resort in Lonavala. Thanks to Pearl Mistry for an exciting tour of their upcoming furniture business “Della by Jimmy Mistry”, which the participants enjoyed a lot.
To our alumnus Jamshed Bhagwagar for helping us plan our first visit to Baroda.
To Jeroo Contractor and Ervad Kersi Bhesania for their generous time and presentation about the history of the Contractor Agiary and the work carried out for the community.
To Jeetendrasingh Gaekwad for enlightening the participants about the strong ties between the Parsis of Baroda and the Royal Family.
To Nikitin Contractor for hosting us at his beautiful establishment for an interesting afternoon of dialogue and networking.
To Mr. Xerxes Dastur and the trustees of the Ripon Club for welcoming us for lunch.
To Kurush Dalal and Rhea Mitra for their insightful presentations on the history and anthropology of Parsi food and settlements.
To Dr Cyrus S. Poonawalla, Founder of the Serum Institute of India, Ader Poonawalla, CEO and Sarosh Bokdawalla for allowing us to visit the Serum Institute in Pune and for their tremendous hospitality. Also deep gratitude for the gift of the Khordeh Avesta books to all the participants.
To Zubin Mistry, F N Subedar, Rajendraprasad Narla, Pramila Nathan, Freddy Talati and the staff of the Tata Central Archives for welcoming us and showing us around.
To Darius Dorabjee for the wonderful hospitality at his famous Pune establishment.
To Mabrin Nanavatti for all his help with the visas for our Pakistani participants.
To Rati and Farhad Forbes, Naushad Forbes and Chhaya Gogate and the Forbes-Marshall Group of Companies for welcoming us to their factory and hosting a fantastic tour, presentation and lunch.
To Niloufer and Kersi Mandviwalla of Jamshed Baug and their staff who hosted us for several delicious meals in Navsari.
To Navaz and Khorshed Bamji for sparing their valuable time and giving an insightful toran and kusti making demonstration in Navsari.
To Katy Antia and the Trustees of the Meherjirana Library in Navsari for welcoming us.
To Behzad Suraliwala, who’s help and logistical support always makes our visit to Navsari a memorable one.
To Yazdi and Vera Karanjia and Mahrukh Chichgar of Surat for their hospitality and hosting our group in a lovely manner.
To Mr Neville Borzu of Ahura Restaurant for the fantastic hospitality and the tasty treats they give every year to our participants.
To the staff and management of the WZO Sanatorium in Sanjan, as always, for the delicious lunch.
To Adil Cooper of Ahura Educational and Corporate Solutions and Uraaz Irani for gifting t-shirts to our participants.
To Anita Contractor, our deepest thanks and gratitude for her effort and action, beyond the call of duty to bring the Pakistani participants back to Karachi safely.
To Meher Noshirwani for her coordination of the Pakistan component of the RTR 6 programme, and to Cyasp Noshirwani for accompanying the Pakistan participants on the RTR 6 trip.
To Rukhsana Lawyer, our immense gratitude for all the hours she has cheerfully put in to support Roots from its inception, and to Suwapee Duanjam, for her kind assistance in this process.
To Fabian Dias for his support in the complicated administrative and logistic process for the Pakistan participants.
To Abdul Jalil Baig for compiling the Financial Report, and supporting the coordination of the Pakistan participants visa process.
To Homi Khushrokhan, Zarir Cama and Bapsy Dastur for their constant support and guidance over the years.
Amongst our Alumni, we would like to thank the wonderful volunteer team who helped put this trip together and without whom this trip would not be possible: Tanya Hoshi, Kayras Irani, Zubin Gheesta and Sheherazad Pavri who organized, accompanied and assisted the participants on this trip.
The writing and compilation of the RTR 6 Report was a team effort; special thanks to Meher Noshirwani who led the Report writing process along with Leea Contractor, who was responsible for the design. Sheherazad Pavri and Tanya Hoshi for their valuable perspective as Alumni’s into the Report, and to Zruvan Chothia, Zubin Gheesta, Safna Virji, and Zeritta Mavalvala, for their input to the report. This amazing new avatar is a combined team effort of dedication to the RTR programme.
To our amazing co-chairs Aban Marker Kabraji and Dr Shernaz Cama and Programme Director Arzan Sam Wadia, our grateful thanks for the leadership, oversight, and coordination of the programme at all levels.
And finally, thank you to our Donors who have given so generously over the years to enable youth from every corner of the globe to share in our journey across India, forge lifelong bonds with their fellow participants and take back the best parts of their experiences to share with their communities at home.