Evolving the WZO

"We still have a number of issues to resolve,” admitted World Zoroastrian Organisation (WZO) chairman Sammy Bhiwandiwalla in the course of a brief interview with Parsiana on the sidelines of the Eighth World Zoroastrian Congress (8WZC) at the Wembley Conference Centre in London on June 26, 2005. He was referring to the membership and functions of the World Zoroastrian Organization of Individuals (WZOI) into which the WZO will be transformed as the individuals’ counterpart in the International Zoroastrian Organization (IZO). A few "pluses and minuses” remained to be ironed out before the World Body (WB) deliberations scheduled for June 30 and there was a measure of apprehension that the arrival of the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ) could delay the birth of a representative WB, he noted.

"We did invite Khojeste (Mistree, founder of WAPIZ) to come and speak with us. We sought a meeting of minds. But he refused unless we first agreed that the membership clause of WZOI would be amended to restrict it to Parsi/Irani Zoroastrians,” said Bhiwandiwalla. He referred to "false accusations flying around” such as the WZO being a fount of conversion activity just because its journal Hamazor had published pictures its editorial board had found on the Internet featuring navjotes of some Russians and other Europeans who had voluntarily accepted the religion of Zarathushtra. "General interest in the religion is waxing,” he added, bemused that some members of the community viewed the development as a source of distress.

Bhiwandiwalla: "charitable activities of WZO would continue”

A member of the WZO for nearly 20 years and a year into the chairmanship, Bhiwandiwalla says, "Until the Federation of the Zoroastrian Associations of North America (FEZANA) came into being, the WZO was the WB…(WZO founder) Shahpur Captain’s contribution was phenomenal. But he had very strong points of view. He and certain other people resisted the idea of a (different) WB of anjumans. But ultimately it was accepted that we would have to change, that anjumans and individuals would comprise separate organizations… Anjuman members of the WZO will remain with the WZOI but while we won’t debar them, we won’t encourage others to join… It was decided that the social and charitable activities of the WZO would continue in the WZOI and that matters of governance would be left to the WZOF (World Zoroastrian Organization of Federations).

"Some people were not elated at the concessions that have been made, but the matter could not have gone forward without concessions. New thinking got underway after Rumy Sethna took over the chairmanship. He spoke to all the major bodies involved. The basic constitution (of the WZOI) is not very different. The WZO’s social and charitable aspects continue with it. We have put the changes to the International Board (of the WZO). We will accept their majority recommendation. The International Board has always functioned well. There are differences, but people are not at each others’ throat!”

Bhiwandiwalla speaks of the change in the constitution effected by the WZO about 12 years ago when the membership voted in favor of accepting the non-Zoroastrian spouses of intermarried couples as members because "people saw and responded to changes in the community.” Emphasizing that though the change had been put to the entire membership for its vote, "There are those who say we tried to slip it in!” he shrugs in his gentle way. He finds the thought that "some people have rejected their kids who have married out” more painful to accept.

Bombay born, Poona schooled, this son of the late Hormasji and Avabai Bhiwandiwalla came to the UK after two years in Bombay’s St Xavier’s College. A businessman whose company Sourcematch Limited supplies chemicals to the foundry industry, he says he is on the "verge of retirement.” Sammy and his German wife Ursula have two children — daughter Nicola, a housewife in Bath married to David, a British banker, and son Cyrus, also a banker, who lives and works in Frankfurt with his French wife Christine – and four grandchildren.