"Ratan Tata, for me, stands for all that is Parsi: elegant, principled, generous and loved," said actor Boman Irani, who, along with the former Chairman of the Tata group, and Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, was honoured at the recently concluded Iranshah Udvada Utsav, which saw the coming together of Parsis from all over the world. As is known, the Parsis had landed in India some 1700 years ago from Iran, to escape persecution. The story of the promise made by their head priest to the Rana of Sanjan who granted them asylum (that they would be the sugar in a brimmed pot of milk) is well known. Some years later a fire temple, the Iranshah Atash Behram was erected in the nearby village of Udvada, and it was here that the weekend celebrations were held.

Ratan Tata and Boman Irani at the Iranshah Udvada Utsav