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{{Infobox writer
|name = Meher Pestonji
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|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1946|9|19}}
|birth_place = [[Mumbai]], India
|death_date =
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|occupation = novelist, social worker, journalist
|nationality = Indian
|period =
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'''Meher Pestonji''' is an Indian social worker, [[freelance journalist]], and writer.<ref name="PCDS">{{cite web|title=Meher Pestonji – Biographical Sketch|url=http://www.pcds.co.in/celeb-author-meher-pestonji.php|accessdate=15 November 2016}}</ref> Pestonji has fought for the rights of the oppressed and underprivileged since the 1970s.<ref name="Muse India">{{cite web|title=Pervez – Meher Pestonji|url=http://www.museindia.com/regularcontent.asp?issid=42&id=3255|accessdate=15 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161115193620/http://www.museindia.com/regularcontent.asp?issid=42&id=3255|archive-date=15 November 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Pestonji was born on 19 September 1946. She comes from the [[Parsi]] community in India and lives in [[Mumbai]] with her two daughters .<ref name= "Muse India"/> Pestonji's marriage broke up when her children were four and five years old. She chose freelance journalism after that to have the opportunity to expand her areas of work and contribute freely.<ref name="PCDS"/>

Pestonji is a Psychology graduate and studied journalism.

==Career==
Pestonji participated actively in the campaign to change rape law in the 1970s. She fought for the housing rights of slum dwellers, children's rights and anti-communalism campaigns.<ref name="Book Chums">{{cite web|title=BookChums profile|url=http://meherpestonji.bookchums.com/|accessdate=15 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160219055117/http://meherpestonji.bookchums.com/|archive-date=19 February 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> After the Babri Masjid riots in 1992–93, she took up to fight communalism and parochialism. She was a part of group of communal harmony activists who worked to restore the peace after the Mumbai riots in which close to 900 people died.<ref name="TOI">{{cite web|title=Times of India|website=[[The Times of India]]|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Belief-beyond-borders/articleshow/5594830.cms|accessdate=15 November 2016}}</ref> Around this time, she took creative writing as a career.<ref name="Muse India"/>
In the mid-1980s, Pestonji worked with street children and mobilised support for filmmaker [[Anand Patwardhan]]'s campaign against slum destruction. During the Mumbai riots she worked with mohalla committees in [[Dharavi]].<ref name="India Today">{{cite web|title=Mixed Marriage – India Today|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/meher-pestonji-talks-about-her-book-mixed-marriage-and-other-parsi-stories/1/255360.html|accessdate=15 November 2016}}</ref>
For her work, Pestonji interviewed scientists, business people, and social workers.<ref name="PCDS"/>

In an interview to Times of India, she called herself 'an accidental parsi'. Pestonji's stance towards her own community also changed after the 1992–93 Mumbai riots.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/17449850701430465 | volume=43 | journal=Journal of Postcolonial Writing | pages=143–148| title=Troubled Times Test the Writer | year=2007 | last1=Pestonji | first1=Meher | issue=2 | s2cid=161790524 }}</ref> There has also been criticism and other interviews to challenge Pestonji's thoughts towards the parsi community. In a reply to her interview, a letter was sent to the editor talking about the bad taste the interview left o parsi readers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://tenets.zoroastrianism.com/toi33c.html|title = Reply to "An Accidental Parsi" in the Times of India}}</ref>

==Works==
Pestonji's writing is closely tied to her personal and journalist experiences along with the segment of society she is familiar with. Her storytelling is evident in the characterization of her work.<ref name="The Hindu">{{cite web|title= Mixed Bag|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2000/01/02/stories/1302017h.htm|work= [[The Hindu]]|date= 2000-01-02|accessdate=15 November 2016}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
She has the below novels to her credit:
# Mixed Marriage and Other Stories Parsi, HarperCollins 1999 – ''This book is a collection of stories and provide an insight into a community living. Written with Mumbai as the backdrop, the stories also reflect the mindset of the city at troubled times.<ref name="India Today"/>''
# Pervez, HarperCollins 2003 – ''This novel traces the political maturation of Pervez, a young Parsi woman based in Mumbai whose marriage to a Christian man has turned bitter. Coming from an affluent background, Pervez starts participating in an activist movement in the months prior to the demolition of the Babri masjid.<ref name="PCDS"/>''
# Sadak Chhaap, Penguin India 2005,{{ISBN|0144000245}}<ref name="Muse India"/> – ''This novel is the story of Rahul, a part-time rag-picker, pickpocket and petty thief who takes charge of an abandoned baby on a railway platform. His story as the new hero within his street community and his struggle as he finds himself spiralling into a vortex of crime, abuse and loneliness.<ref name="Book Chums"/>''
# Piano for sale, a play
# Feeding crows, a play
# Outsider, a play

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pestonji, Meher}}
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:Writers from Mumbai]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian journalists]]
[[Category:Indian social reformers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Women writers from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Activists from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Social workers]]
[[Category:Social workers from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Women educators from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Educators from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]

Meher Pestonji - Revision history

>Citation bot at 00:39, 10 January 2022