Editorial Viewpoint
Those who serve
A recent article in The Times of India by correspondent and Dadar resident Bachi Karkaria bemoaned the state of the locality's Five Gardens landmark.
The area abutting the Mancherji Joshi Parsi Colony was in a state of disrepair. The local residents blamed the municipality for not doing enough, if anything. The area municipal corporater cited a lack of funds as the reason why the gardens were neglected. One read the article in vain to see if any individual or association in the Colony would offer to upgrade the area's major green lung.
The Five Gardens area and the Colony are like jewels in the city's swamp. Many Parsis and others, young and old, walk or jog around the gardens daily. Children from the Athornan Madressa play on its grounds. A host of people gather at the benches in the evenings to chat and idle away the time.
When non-Parsi builders acquired several colony properties in the late 1970's and built additional floors on existing structures, the Parsi residents took the matter to court and prevented anyone other than Parsis from occupying the flats. The lawyer who fought the case without charge, Nadir Modi, was not even a resident of Dadar.
So why the apathy now? The chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) Minoo Shroff often states in exasperation that people are always ready to criticize the Punchayet for the slightest failing, but overlook censuring other community founded public trusts with huge corpora and properties. If the guardians of the public well-being spent even a fraction of their time studying the working of other public trusts, the community would stand to gain phenomenally.
The orthodox elements cried hoarse over the construction of a multi-storied residential building they alleged "desecrated" the Wadia agiary at Lalbaug. But they appeared oblivious to the fact that by drawing more Parsi residents to the vicinity, the trust and builder were actually preserving the long-term interests of the fire temple. Plus the enlarged corpus would ensure the fire temple's financial viability.
Whatever the pros and cons of the matter, one also should examine the state of all the other 49 fire temples and other Parsi monuments that are in a state of disrepair.
The edifice to honor Bomanjee Hormasjee Wadia, Esq. J. P., built in 1880 from public subscription on Parsi Bazaar Street (now Perin Nariman Street), lies unattended with vendors hawking their wares from its grounds. Its base is filled with litter. Spotlights and a water fountain, sponsored by a socially conscious Lions' Club lie in shambles. From a bust inside the monument, Wadia's cold white marble eyes stare vacantly at the bustling, crowded street. The Parsis have migrated from the Fort area but had they remained would they have looked after the structure? And what became of Wadia's descendents? Have any remained to witness the state of ruin or to set it right?
H. D. Darukhanawala's classic, Parsi Lustre on Indian Soil notes Wadia "was a well-known merchant. In 1839 he was appointed Commissioner of the Court of Requests, which post he held for eleven years, he being the first Indian gentleman to enjoy such a unique honor. He was also a member of the Parsi Punchayet, vice-president of the Bombay Association, and in 1859 was appointed Sheriff of Bombay. A little before his death he consented to give up his ancestral property for the improvement of the Bombay Green and the creation of the Elphinstone - now Horniman - Circle... In the words of the Bombay Gazette of July 7, 1862: 'No man was held in greater veneration and respect by the native community, Parsi and Hindu, nor did any native ever enjoy the confidence and regard of Europeans to so great an extent as Bomanjee Hormasjee.'")
There are organizations like the Bombay Parsi Association that every year garland and ensure maintenance of a certain number of Parsi statues in the city. But as its president Vispi Dastur<
The area abutting the Mancherji Joshi Parsi Colony was in a state of disrepair. The local residents blamed the municipality for not doing enough, if anything. The area municipal corporater cited a lack of funds as the reason why the gardens were neglected. One read the article in vain to see if any individual or association in the Colony would offer to upgrade the area's major green lung.
The Five Gardens area and the Colony are like jewels in the city's swamp. Many Parsis and others, young and old, walk or jog around the gardens daily. Children from the Athornan Madressa play on its grounds. A host of people gather at the benches in the evenings to chat and idle away the time.
When non-Parsi builders acquired several colony properties in the late 1970's and built additional floors on existing structures, the Parsi residents took the matter to court and prevented anyone other than Parsis from occupying the flats. The lawyer who fought the case without charge, Nadir Modi, was not even a resident of Dadar.
So why the apathy now? The chairman of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) Minoo Shroff often states in exasperation that people are always ready to criticize the Punchayet for the slightest failing, but overlook censuring other community founded public trusts with huge corpora and properties. If the guardians of the public well-being spent even a fraction of their time studying the working of other public trusts, the community would stand to gain phenomenally.
The orthodox elements cried hoarse over the construction of a multi-storied residential building they alleged "desecrated" the Wadia agiary at Lalbaug. But they appeared oblivious to the fact that by drawing more Parsi residents to the vicinity, the trust and builder were actually preserving the long-term interests of the fire temple. Plus the enlarged corpus would ensure the fire temple's financial viability.
Whatever the pros and cons of the matter, one also should examine the state of all the other 49 fire temples and other Parsi monuments that are in a state of disrepair.
The edifice to honor Bomanjee Hormasjee Wadia, Esq. J. P., built in 1880 from public subscription on Parsi Bazaar Street (now Perin Nariman Street), lies unattended with vendors hawking their wares from its grounds. Its base is filled with litter. Spotlights and a water fountain, sponsored by a socially conscious Lions' Club lie in shambles. From a bust inside the monument, Wadia's cold white marble eyes stare vacantly at the bustling, crowded street. The Parsis have migrated from the Fort area but had they remained would they have looked after the structure? And what became of Wadia's descendents? Have any remained to witness the state of ruin or to set it right?
H. D. Darukhanawala's classic, Parsi Lustre on Indian Soil notes Wadia "was a well-known merchant. In 1839 he was appointed Commissioner of the Court of Requests, which post he held for eleven years, he being the first Indian gentleman to enjoy such a unique honor. He was also a member of the Parsi Punchayet, vice-president of the Bombay Association, and in 1859 was appointed Sheriff of Bombay. A little before his death he consented to give up his ancestral property for the improvement of the Bombay Green and the creation of the Elphinstone - now Horniman - Circle... In the words of the Bombay Gazette of July 7, 1862: 'No man was held in greater veneration and respect by the native community, Parsi and Hindu, nor did any native ever enjoy the confidence and regard of Europeans to so great an extent as Bomanjee Hormasjee.'")
There are organizations like the Bombay Parsi Association that every year garland and ensure maintenance of a certain number of Parsi statues in the city. But as its president Vispi Dastur<
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