Sarosh prayers: Family, friends, prominent citizens pay their respects

The funeral prayers would be open to members of all religions, “as he had insisted.”

KARACHI:

Dozens of people streamed in and out of Ardeshir Cowasjee’s residence on Sunday evening - the first of the two days of Sarosh prayers organised for the departed soul.

The priests performed the prayer at one side of the house while the lawns were filled to capacity with mourners, mostly Zoroastrian families and friends. The residents of Karachi who knew him, were so varied in their professions that it was an indicator of how many lives he had touched.

Dawn Group CEO Hameed Haroon, lawyer Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, Institute of Business Administration Dean Dr Ishrat Husain, architect Habib Fida Ali, Oxford University Press’ Ameena Saiyid, Newsline editor Rehana Hakim, photographer Arif Mehmood, artist Shehnaz Ismail and designers Maheen Khan and Deepak Perwani were among those who attended the prayers.

One by one, the mourners went up to family members and offered their condolences. The silence was only interrupted by the barking of Cowasjee’s beloved dogs.

As per the Zoroastrian faith, the Sarosh prayers are organised according to the time of the death of the deceased, a family friend explained. She said that the funeral prayers - which are scheduled for 11 am on Tuesday - will last for an hour after Cowasjee’s body is brought into the house from the morgue and the rites are completed. The prayers, she said, would be open to members of all religions, “as he had insisted.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2012.