“No longer impartial”

It amused me to go through the views propounded by Areez Khambatta in his letter "No longer impartial” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, December 7, 2006). Khambatta says that Parsiana is no longer impartial. However, I have been observing that your magazine lends space to age-old dogmatic and traditional views as well as the modern, rational ones.

On the other hand Khambatta, prompted by a pseudo messiah, propagates his dogmatic views through the hired pages of an English tabloid in Bombay. Why should he insist that all the Parsis look at events through his tinted glasses? In the world’s largest democratic country everyone has the right, guaranteed by the constitution, to express his views.

Khambatta should realize that change is the order of the day and that the "old order changeth, yielding place to new.” Even the noble spirit of the Gathas was obliterated in the Avestan and Pahlavi periods. The Vendidad and Dinkard came into existence much after the Gathic period. These scriptures were the product of the thinking of the then Zoroastrian priests. Modern priests do not strictly follow all the rituals suggested in these scriptures.

If the Parsis fail to keep pace with our fast changing world they will be left far behind. Many old traditional practices have been discarded by Parsis in the 20th century. How many Parsi ladies wear a mathubanu (head covering)? How many of them wear long-sleeved blouses and long sudreh? How many of them remain secluded during menstruation and avoid going near the fire? How many of them take nahan after the period is over? How many remain detached for 40 days after delivery and take nahan thereafter?

There was a time when orthodox Parsis believed that it was a sacrilege for Parsi women to act in films. When Veera Anklesvaria acted in a film Parsis registered their strong protest at the theater where it was released. Now they take pride when Perizaad Zorabian acts in films. Nobody objected when Shernaz Patel acted in a serial and a film. There was time when Parsis would have murdered a Parsi woman showing her scantily clad body in public. But when Persis Khambatta, Meher Mistry and Mehr Jesia appeared in bikinis in full view of the public there was not a whimper. In fact, when they became beauty queens Parsis took great pride in it.

Our scriptures forbid any practicing priest from crossing the sea. When eminent Parsi scholar K. R. Cama and Dastur Manekji Dhalla went abroad orthodox Parsis raised a hue and cry. The diehard fanatic Khojeste Mistree has crossed the sea umpteen times. Does he strictly adhere to our scriptures? When will Khambatta realize how much Parsis have changed and stop foisting his age-old traditional views on them?

After coming to India Parsis changed a lot. They adopted the dress worn by the local people, forgot the Persian language switching over to Gujarati and even adopted local names like Ratanji, Ratanbai, Hiraji, Hirabai, Kuversha, Kuverbai, Limji, Manekji, Maneckbai, etc. Later, under the British regime they adopted English dress and names like Jimmy, Freddy, Percy, Pinky, Sweetie, Daisy, etc. Today, several Parsis cannot read the Gujarati script.

I am glad that Parsiana has recognized the wind of change and instead of being rigid has adopted a flexible and pragmatic approach. Khambatta should see the writing on the wall. Instead of behaving like a bull in a china shop at every Federation of Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India meeting he should allow wiser counsel to prevail. Why is he postponing the long overdue Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat elections? Because the Parsi Press does not buy his views he uses hired pages in the non-Parsi Press.

Instead of squandering lakhs of rupees to hire two pages in the name of WAPIZ (The World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) for airing his own views, the money could be used to ameliorate the tragic condition of poor Parsis who find it difficult to make two ends meet due to spiraling prices, or to award scholarships to deserving Parsis.

JIMMY H. HAVEWALA

Baroda