Don’t degrade your roots

Our promise to integrate, we have

solemnly kept

To the best of our abilities, we have

honored the pact,

But I would not err, if I say with

pride, about our integrity,

We Parsis have always led upfront,

amongst the Indian community.

So in Maharashtra it is common to

find a Pesibaba speaking Marathi,

A Daraseth with acumen in business,

a pucca Gujju Amdabadi,

A Babu Moshai Shahzad from

Kolkata, fluent in Bengali

Kerala Zubin’s fluency in language

can shame a Malayali.

But still we have retained our special

traits, our Parsipanu,

Honesty, joie de vivre, laughter and

of course our khanu-pinu,

Then there is also the Propah-

Bombay-Angrez-Parsi enjoying his gin,

Loves the piano, English theater,

operas, and applauds apro Zubin,

Silloo is Sil, Jamshed, Jim, though Roda retains her original Rodabeh,

Gujarati is not spoken here, as it’s

only English all the way.

This too my friend, we smile, and let

it ride and rest,

But how can one bear the pseudo

from the West?

"It’s hot, filthy, stinks, polluted, how

can one live here?”

Their days of Khetwadi forgotten

over lucrative dollars, my dear.

Yes, you have a right to do better for

yourself my friends,

But don’t degrade your roots for someday only India will welcome

with open hands.

RODA HAKIM

Baroda