“A tale of two cities”

Your editorial ("A tale of two cities,” Parsiana, May 2004) not only makes very interesting reading but makes one feel so sad and dejected that this brilliant community of ours is being reduced to a state of extinction by the dominating minority voice of the orthodoxy.

A letter written by Roda D. Hakim ("Upkeep at Udvada,” Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, September 2004) in regard to the upkeep of Udvada should also act as an eye-opener. The Foundation for the Development of Udvada (FDU) was set up with the intention of rejuvenating and renovating the city of Udvada so that it could become for all Parsi Zoroastrians from all over the world an attractive place of pilgrimage. A place where with the growth of some economic activity younger people could be attracted so that the township would prosper and the holy Iranshah would receive greater and better benefit.

For reasons which I and many others cannot even begin to fathom, there is a small number of people who have even gone to the extent of representing before the Government of Gujarat against this project when in actual fact it is with the assistance and grant of a large sum of money from the Government of Gujarat and the Central Government that this entire project was started. Dastur Khurshed Dastoor and the Udvada anjuman are totally in favor of this project and yet some narrow-minded and paranoid persons are going out of their way to obstruct the achievement of this laudable objective. It would appear that these persons are more interested in creating a controversy and tearing the community apart rather than seeing a worthwhile development project go through merely to satisfy their own egocentricity.

The development of Udvada has nothing to do with the "destruction of religion” as propagated by this rabid minority and it is nothing to do with bringing of five star culture to the city. It is merely an attempt to safeguard and protect the immediate environment and to preserve for the generations to come the ambience and atmosphere of our holiest place of worship and to try and perpetuate the life-style, culture and environment so that Parsi Zoroastrians from all over the world could be attracted to visit and to pay homage and to understand our roots.

As can be inferred from your editorial, if even in the 21st century we continue to try and live according to the belief of a few self appointed guardians of the faith (who has given them such right or authority is a matter of total mystery) we will surely perish not only as a community but would do irreparable damage to the religion itself and destroy its very ideals of broad-mindedness and progressive tolerance.

The very beautiful concept of the "milk and sugar” being the basic reason for our ancestors having been granted asylum and the total acceptance that we have received from every quarter in India for constantly giving to this mader vatan (motherland) would be totally nullified if we continue to persist in alienating our community from mainstream society.

JEHANGIR R.J. CAMA

Ahmedabad