Seeking polite Parsis

The other day I got an e-mail from a 60-year-old Parsi woman who said, "My mother and I do not attend any Parsi meeting in London as at the annual general meeting an actual physical fight broke out. Since that day my mother and I have not returned.”

When I asked a young Parsi woman aged 32 why she did not want to go to a Zoroastrian picnic in a major US city she said, "The Parsis are mean.”

A year ago a 29-year-old Parsi lady from a major city close to Bombay said, "Parsis are controversial and I got more help from Buddhist philosophy.”

Now a recent article in Reader’s Digest indicates that Bombay is the rudest city.

As the largest population of Parsis live there, I discussed this with a Zoroastrian ‘elder,’ as they prefer to be called in the US, who indicated that he agreed.

I would like to ask your readers and the Parsi males to explain how and why this change has come about in this decade. Is it because of the environment and climate in Bombay? Is it because of the conflicts between traditionalists and liberals? Is it because of a change from dakhmenashini to solar energy? Is it because of globalization and the movement of the Parsi diaspora?

Why are Parsi women getting the feeling that Parsis are violent, unhelpful, rude and mean across the globe?

Whatever happened to the Parsi "gentleman” in the solar hat by the Arabian Sea?

PORUS N. DADABHOY

Illinois, USA