“Spring cleaning at…”

This refers to the letter by Bachoo Sam Rao titled "Spring cleaning at…” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, May 7, 2009).

Hailing from a family of athornans with the men from the family being navars, performing muktad ceremonies at home and with her husband a trustee of several agiaries and atash behrams, Rao’s sentiments regarding the rituals should be stronger. It is a shame that the very people who are performing the rituals laid down by our tenets are seeking to bring about a reformist change that is not acceptable.

Jimmy Mistry, a behdin, holds the interest of the community very close to his heart. His desire to lift the social and financial standing of our mobed fraternity has seen him contribute close to Rs 1.5 crore every year for the past three years (this is being continued for the fourth year as well) to provide cashless medical insurance for them, through his organization, the Parsi Resource Group. The policy is for mobeds and their families and covers all pre-existing diseases with no age barrier. Mistry has also started a pension scheme for mobeds above the age of 65 and an education scheme for their children from birth to 24 years. This speaks volumes for his service to the mobed class. For the youth of our community he hosts get-together events, training programs, job opportunity cells, career and vocational counseling, national and international professional education opportunities and addresses other youth related issues.

Mistry has some very ambitious schemes for housing, medical assistance to the poor and needy of our community, an old age home, medical and recreational centers for the elderly of our community and crèches for working couples. As Rao has rightly stated in her letter, community affairs need to be managed by the young, such as Mistry.

The dictionary meaning of "bigot” is violent and unreasonable adherent of a creed or a view. Describing Mistry as a bigot reveals that Rao as a Zoroastrian advocates the reformist movement. If being orthodox entails traveling a self-destructive path, please let me know what the path of a reformist is. In my opinion if the letter writer had the inclination to amend the rituals under the reformist label and allow non-Zoroastrians to practice our religious rituals, she should hang her head in shame for such persons would not hesitate to sell their values and relationships for personal benefits.

FAREDOON KAPADIA

The editors reply

Webster’s Dictionary defines a bigot as a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one who rejects or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred or intolerance.