Invitation to Neemuch

Neemuch is a small town located between the historic city of Chittor and the railway junction at Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh. It is also the headquarters of the Central Reserve Police Force as well as Opium and Alkaloid Works since British times. Neemuch had a fair number of Parsi families in days gone by but now there are only four families (comprising nine persons), though the atash dadgah has a resident priest.

My family has lived here since the past four generations. We had a general store and a petrol pump, which my brother is managing. I have been running a primary school in the ancestral building since the past 20 years. We face a crunch of English speaking teachers. Is there any adventurous Parsi male or female who would consider coming to Neemuch to work in the school for a few years? I may be contacted at the S. B. Jal Primary School, Pherozeshaw Road, Neemuch (Madhya Pradesh); Tel: 224972, 222235.

We could expand the school as a tribute to our community and my family and the town that has made my family what we are. I read with trepidation about Billimoria School in Panchgani whose management has passed from Parsi hands ("School centenary,” Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, June 21, 2008) and am writing this so that we think about what will happen to the Parsi properties which our ancestors sweated to leave for us. Come on Parsis, let’s do something other than being orthodox or progressive.

SOONU JAL

Neemuch