Born in Pune, raised in Mumbai, India and emigrated to Canada with my parents when I was nine years old. Shirin (Silla) Behziz, my maternal grandmother lived in Pune. Growing up in Toronto, Canada I was not close with her. However, after completing my education, a sudden urge took me back to India where I re-connected with her. Unfortunately, this was only to be short-lived for about six months. It was late in the day that I observed she had limited energy, and minor age-related health issues. She was known to be loving, kind-hearted, generous, led a simple life, and was tolerant of all religions. Having lost her husband in her early 50’s, she had raised her children well. She was a devout Zoroastrian, who prayed daily and practiced the three-fold Zoroastrian tenets of Good Thoughts, Good Words and Good Deeds to the core. Silla, a great-grandmother to two, grandmother to five, and mother to four, born and lived a Zoroastrian, passed on at the age of 96, in her home of natural causes. (Khushnum Bhandari)
