Well update

The governor of Maharashtra Moham­med Fazal spent nearly an hour at the Bhikha Behram Well assuaging the hurt sentiments of the Parsi community which has found that despite assurances from the authorities no tangible result has been forthcoming regarding the apprehension of those responsible for the shattering and plunder of the Well’s stained glass canopy. What was even more galling was that the vandals cocked a snook at the community and the police when, in a subsequent sortie, they made away with the skylight over the Well that prevents dead leaves and debris from muddying the sacred water.

Despite a private security guard who maintains vigil between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. the skylight was found to have disappeared on the morning of Monday, May 23, 2004. Trustee Dr Viraf Kapadia told Mid Day (May 25, 2004), "I visit the Well every day and the skylight was there on Sunday.” Kapadia has noted that he was informed of the disappearance by the oil lamp seller when he reached the Well that Monday.

The incident, reported by the major English language dailies of the city, prompted Lt General (retired) Adi Sethna, Zoroastrian member of the National Commission for Minorities, to address an open letter to Fazal on May 27, 2004. He noted that while "there has been no loss of lives, the vandals have possibly inflicted more damage — the loss of the ethos of multicultural tolerance for which (Bombay) is famous...The challenge is the preservation not merely of the tangible heritage of the Well but even more the intangible heritage which is being eroded, of the brotherhood of man, in the country and in (Bombay) in particular. It is this which I urge you to take up through this public letter.”

Bhikha Behram Well: with skylight missing

The governor, who responded by visiting the site on June 7, 2004, was met there by the trustees of the Bhikha Behram Well Trust as well as Minoo Shroff, chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet, Shiv Sena MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) Dinaz Patrawala and about 40 members of the community as per the report in the Afternoon Despatch and Courier (June 8, 2004). Also on hand was Zone 1 DCP (deputy commissioner of police) Himanshu Roy who has been handling the case but alas, without a result worth noting. The Well trustees are said to have submitted a memorandum to the governor.

Kapadia, the most vocal of the Well trustees, says that the trustees are reluctant to go ahead with the commissioning of new panels as they are fearful of their safety. In a telephonic chat with Parsiana he averred that these incidents were the hawkers’ way of registering their displeasure with the judgement of Justice Sam Variawa of the Supreme Court which had maintained that hawkers should be kept at a requisite distance from heritage structures. "The judgement came in December (2003). We wrote to the BMC (Bombay Municipal Corporation) to implement the judgement. In February (2004) the scaffolding went up to prepare the Well for the jashan planned for March 21 and on March 11 the Well was desecrated,” he presented his reconstruction of the chain of events.

Referring to an earlier plan to install a public lavatory which the community had successfully scotched through a legal appeal upheld by the court, scholar Dr Homi Dhalla notes, "Since then, the space adjoining this lavatory has unfortunately become an open air toilet and a dumping ground for garbage... Besides being unhygienic, at times the terrible stench disturbs the devotees who come to offer prayers.” Referring to his earlier suggestion to create a small garden at this spot, Dhalla believes that it is time the community came forward to help the trustees "to preserve the sanctity of the Well which is now being violated through this nuisance.”

"Could not the trustees of the Well make easily available its healing water to the larger public free of charge in small bottles labeled suitably? It may even heal the bruised ego of the vandals!” writes the Delhi based Sethna (who may be unaware that the Bhikha Behram Well water is freely available to all, to drink, bathe, et al) in his letter to the governor, adding, "Should not the placing of a donation box for the restoration of the property at the Well be considered? It would indicate a requirement for public support for a public cause. The odd coin and note should be seen as a donation from the heart of someone who does not want to be named. The restoration of the damage may require lakhs of rupees. The hurt sentiment cannot be so easily mended, except through genuine public sympathy and support.”

Arnavaz S. Mama