Shy of being a Parsi?

A couple of years back, I visited the office of a Parsi trust. At the reception, several magazines were kept for the visitors to peruse. I did not find Parsiana there.

I made a polite inquiry with one lady there and she told me that her trust was not a clannish one, but national in character.

In The Economic Times of September 29, 2003 Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries Limited) is reported to have said, "We are first a Gujarati company, then Indian, then global,” when he attended the Vibrant Gujarat-Global Investors’ Meet.

Reliance is not only national in character but international in perception of its business.

For a century and a half, amongst the modern Indian communities, we have been truly international in character —settling and trading in Aden, East Africa, Shanghai, Canton, Hongkong, Tokyo and Osaka. It is nice to be inter- national in outlook, but it is not very right to give up our communal character and profess secularism. The two can co-exist, without any conflict.

B. T. DASTUR