India’s iconic Parsi magazine to shut down after 60 years

In an old building of the new Gothic in Fort, a high-end area in the financial capital of India Mumbai, it is an office run by one of the oldest and most prominent Parsi magazines in the country-Barriana.

The magazine began in 1964 by Pestonji Warden, a Parsi doctor who also engaged in sandalwood trade, to accelerate society in the city.

Since then, the magazine has grown in subscribers and access. For many Parsis, a window has been offered to the neighborhood in society, which helps members all over the world feel connected and considered their numbers scattered and differentiated.

After 60 years, Parceana will be closed in October due to the decrease in subscribers, the absence of money, and no successor to operate it.

The news saddened not only subscribers but also those who knew the magazine’s legacy.

“It is like the end of an era,” says Sushant Singh, 18, a student. “We are used to displacement about how” Parsi is not real “if you did not know Parsiana or a wavy eloquent on this topic.”

Since news of the magazine was announced in one of its opening articles in August, the greeting was flowing.

In its release in September, a Mumbai reader wrote: “To believe that our small society can be listed with such care and emotion, it seems that Bidfoore is hard. However, Parceana has proven more than just the mission.”

Another reader, based in Pakistan.

The Washington -based reader praised the magazine to keep the community in view, “But also brought a touch of realism in controversial issues.”

Jehangir Patel, 80, who has led the magazine since purchasing it for only one rupee in 1973, says he always wants to be a “journalistic endeavor”.

When Warden began the magazine as monthly, articles were not implemented by PARSIS or Medical Warden.

After assuming him, Mr. Patel turned him into two weeks with sharp stories, columns and clarifications that address the sensitive Parci problems with honesty and humor.

He employed journalists and coaches, established a subscription model, and finally, about the Lions and White Magazine to color.

Mr. Patel remembers his first story after taking over the magazine; It was about the high divorce rate within society.

“Nobody expects to read something like this in Parceana. It was shocking to society.”

In 1987, the new magazine was separated by publishing marital advertisements – a bold step in a society known for the strict space.

“The ads have created anger in society. Many readers have written to us, asking us to stop this practice. But we did not.”

He says that Parceana has never been controversial, as it always provides multiple views, over the years, highlighting issues such as the inhabitants of society and the decline in the towers of silence – a place where Parsis is buried their dead.

The Journal has also accelerated the achievements of society, the main social and religious events, and the new PARSI institutions. In May, Parceana covered the opening Alpaiwalla Museum in Mumbai – the only Parce Museum in the world.

Now, the 15 -member team, many of them in the sixties and seventies who joined Patel, are preparing to end both the magazine and their professions in the press.

“There is a feeling of tiredness mixed with sadness,” says Patel. “We have done it for a long time.”

The office, stressed with old versions, shows its age with peeled paint and dilapidated ceilings. Located at the former Parsi Hospital, she stood up for four decades.

Mr. Patel says that the team does not have major plans for their last day, but the upcoming issues will include stories that revive and inherit the Persiana’s long journey.

For the team, Mr. Patel says they may have lunch in the office. No cake. No celebrations.

“It is a sad occasion,” says Patel. “I don’t think we will feel celebrated.”

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