Activate AIMZ

The Association of Inter-Married Zoroastrians (AIMZ) is trying to identify a family where a young initiate has been denied entry to a fire temple on the grounds that his/her mother has married outside the faith. Thereafter, subject to support available, they may consider moving the court and preparing themselves for a protracted legal battle to establish the religious rights of the offspring of outmarried Zoroastrian women.

Currently AIMZ has 351 members, 122 of whom are full members and 229, associate members, reported honorary treasurer Khursheed Narang. "That’s a sorry state after being in existence for so many years,” candidly declared president Meher Amersey at the 17th annual general meeting of AIMZ on June 23, 2009. Since the annual expenditure incurred on postage is in the region of Rs 7,000 it was decided that rather than spend their limited interest income on this head, beginning 2010 circulars and announcements will be conveyed only by e-mail. Members were therefore requested to register their e-mail addresses with the AIMZ secretariat (milton1@ vsnl.net or meharsh@vsnl.com or sms Vera Mahajan on 9821038389).

As there were no new nominations for the year 2009-2010, the same managing committee was reelected with Amersey as president, Smita Crishna as vice president, Mahajan as honorary secretary, Narang as treasurer, Meher Rafaat as honorary editor and committee member, with other committee members Ave Mehta and Kavas Petigara, Darius Shroff and Berjis Desai, the last two lending legal expertise. Burzy Maneksha and Company, who have been auditing accounts free of cost for the last 16 years, were once again reappointed as auditors.

"Start a Sunday School for children of intermarried couples,” Amersey repeatedly urged the two priests in attendance — Ervads Framroze Mirza and Khushroo Madon — sympathetic to the AIMZ cause. "We are not as close to our religion as we were decades ago… Our community life revolves around rituals but unfortunately there are no community teaching sessions,” she added. Sarosh Manekshaw of Houston who had been invited to the AGM, referred to the utility of Sunday School sessions for Zoroastrian youngsters and the adoption of certain practices in Houston as an aftermath of increasing interfaith marriages, like dual muktads where one room is restricted to prayers of and by "pure Parsis” and the second room is open to anyone (Zoroastrian or non-Zoroastrian) who may want to witness the prayers.

To outmarried Zoroastrian ladies who were smarting for their marital union being labeled as "adulterous” and their children as "bastards” by orthodox priests, Manekshaw advised them to consider that as "noise, don’t let that factor influence your decisions.” Rather than "go to a place where you are not welcome,” and force trustees to open their doors when they feel obliged to adhere to certain rules, he urged them to build their own temple on the land donated by Byram Jeejeebhoy at Goregaon. "Try and find a common solution so that peace reigns.”

When Manekshaw tried to impress on the members the "patrilineal tradition of the Aryan culture” Meher Rafaat questioned, "Is it part of the philosophy of the religion or the social patterns?” Nearly every lady present seemed to have her own reasons for rejecting his line of thinking with Rafaat summing up, "Bombay has become the stranglehold of the community, not the stronghold.”

Parinaz M. Gandhi