Obsessed with trusts

I have often wondered, and not without reason why some Parsis are obsessed with trusts, trustees and the word trusteeship. Nobody in this materialistic world comes out openly with a view to serve the community. Where is the time? There has to be some reason why a person should rack his brains, waste his time and energy, face the commu­nity’s wrath and be answerable to a myriad questions.

Eighty years back, it was an honor to be a trustee. Today it is a joke. The early trustees gave munificence from their pockets. Ask how many shawls have been collected by the modern day trustees, and the answer will be legion. By modern I do not only mean today’s trustees, but also the akabars who were in office during the last 60 years. As the years rolled by, the real sethias gave way to run-of-the-mill mediocrities who, in turn, passed the mantle to a bunch of jokers.

Do not give importance to these so-called akabars. Instead, give greater respect to the dasturjis and vada mobed sahebs. It is a shame that in no other community is the clergy given so little honor as Parsis do to their priests. No wonder then that the community is adrift like an unmanned ship and is heading for extinction. When every second Parsi who can hardly distinguish a Vendidad no potho (volume of the Vendidad) from a regular sampurna Avesta ni chopdi (complete book of the Avesta) professes to be a scholar of Zoroastrianism, the time has come for the community to say Ashem Vohu.

ROINTON H. ANDHYARUJINA

jerhomi1@yahoo.co.in