Editorial Viewpoint
Come all ye faithful
“Pass this SMS 2 all Parsees. Plz b at TATA AGIARY, Hill Road, BOMBAY on SAT, 22th Nov ’06 at 10 a.m. 2 protect our AGIARY from being tkn over by BMC. Plz cum, evry1 counts.”
The cryptic text message written in modern day acronyms and disseminated through mobile phones performed an ancient function: rallying the faithful.
The familiar cry of ‘religion in danger’ saw close to 1,000 Parsis and Christians converge at the 122-year-old Agiary in the Bombay suburb of Bandra. A scheme to widen the arterial Hill Road meant the front porch of the fire temple would be demolished along with property belonging to two Christian churches and a school further along the road. The Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) had threatened to begin the demolition on Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
Government acquiring land for road widening is not a new development in Bombay. Many community trusts have had to reluctantly hand over portions of their land for such schemes. Several fire temples abut the pavement, their compounds and walls being long gone. What perhaps made the Hill Road structures different is that an actual portion of the Agiary building was to be razed and as church property was also implicated, the citizenry was galvanized.
Thus it was a gratifying sight to see non-Parsis crowd the agiary compound in an effort to safeguard a building to which they are denied access. Ironically the justification given for preserving the agiary grounds from the BMC’s acquisition was that during obsequial ceremonies non-Parsis perforce must have place to sit outside; their presence in the holy precinct “polluting the fire” and “disturbing” the electromagnetic vibrations that are peculiar only to a Parsi Zoroastrian place of religious worship!
The main cause of unrest was that the BMC acts “arbitrarily,” as chairperson of the H West Ward Civic Trust Shyama Kulkarni told the gathering. Illegal structures not only abound but are given legitimacy. Numerous buildings are constructed in violation of every conceivable law.
Pavement dwellers and railway line squatters are allotted alternate accommodation. Shopkeepers who trespass on municipal property are offered substitute premises. New structures abutting the road are constructed making future road widening impossible.
The Siddhivinayak Temple trustees built a protective wall for their landmark institution that not only denied pedestrians their pavement but also narrowed one of the city’s main arterial roads. That too reportedly without municipal permission. Only when local residents objected to the intrusion, the matter went to court. The temple trustees argued there was a possibility of a terrorist attack and hence the wall.
In the crowded Bhaji Gulli, the primary fruit and vegetable market for south central Bombay residents, vendors’ produce spill on to the road, making passage difficult. And to add to the chaos, during the Ganpati festival days a mandap is erected that makes walking through the narrow lane even more of an obstacle course.
As hawkers squat on pavements, pedestrians are forced to walk on the road and motorists are squeezed for space. And the pavements themselves are so uneven that people prefer to walk on the road anyway, further endangering their lives.
The transgressions are condoned by the politicians while the courts are often forced to remain helpless spectators. So what is the justification for minority religious and educational institutions being targeted? Or so the reasoning goes.
Whatever the merits or demerits of the BMC action, the agitation made for an intriguing sociological study. Protesters were instructed to assemble in the agiary ground and not stand on the road. The organizers had assured the police the meeting would be orderly and would take place on private property. On this assurance the police had not arranged for any bandobast.
Standing on a low wall skirting som
The cryptic text message written in modern day acronyms and disseminated through mobile phones performed an ancient function: rallying the faithful.
The familiar cry of ‘religion in danger’ saw close to 1,000 Parsis and Christians converge at the 122-year-old Agiary in the Bombay suburb of Bandra. A scheme to widen the arterial Hill Road meant the front porch of the fire temple would be demolished along with property belonging to two Christian churches and a school further along the road. The Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) had threatened to begin the demolition on Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
Government acquiring land for road widening is not a new development in Bombay. Many community trusts have had to reluctantly hand over portions of their land for such schemes. Several fire temples abut the pavement, their compounds and walls being long gone. What perhaps made the Hill Road structures different is that an actual portion of the Agiary building was to be razed and as church property was also implicated, the citizenry was galvanized.
Thus it was a gratifying sight to see non-Parsis crowd the agiary compound in an effort to safeguard a building to which they are denied access. Ironically the justification given for preserving the agiary grounds from the BMC’s acquisition was that during obsequial ceremonies non-Parsis perforce must have place to sit outside; their presence in the holy precinct “polluting the fire” and “disturbing” the electromagnetic vibrations that are peculiar only to a Parsi Zoroastrian place of religious worship!
The main cause of unrest was that the BMC acts “arbitrarily,” as chairperson of the H West Ward Civic Trust Shyama Kulkarni told the gathering. Illegal structures not only abound but are given legitimacy. Numerous buildings are constructed in violation of every conceivable law.
Pavement dwellers and railway line squatters are allotted alternate accommodation. Shopkeepers who trespass on municipal property are offered substitute premises. New structures abutting the road are constructed making future road widening impossible.
The Siddhivinayak Temple trustees built a protective wall for their landmark institution that not only denied pedestrians their pavement but also narrowed one of the city’s main arterial roads. That too reportedly without municipal permission. Only when local residents objected to the intrusion, the matter went to court. The temple trustees argued there was a possibility of a terrorist attack and hence the wall.
In the crowded Bhaji Gulli, the primary fruit and vegetable market for south central Bombay residents, vendors’ produce spill on to the road, making passage difficult. And to add to the chaos, during the Ganpati festival days a mandap is erected that makes walking through the narrow lane even more of an obstacle course.
As hawkers squat on pavements, pedestrians are forced to walk on the road and motorists are squeezed for space. And the pavements themselves are so uneven that people prefer to walk on the road anyway, further endangering their lives.
The transgressions are condoned by the politicians while the courts are often forced to remain helpless spectators. So what is the justification for minority religious and educational institutions being targeted? Or so the reasoning goes.
Whatever the merits or demerits of the BMC action, the agitation made for an intriguing sociological study. Protesters were instructed to assemble in the agiary ground and not stand on the road. The organizers had assured the police the meeting would be orderly and would take place on private property. On this assurance the police had not arranged for any bandobast.
Standing on a low wall skirting som
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From the archive