A very kind priest

Ervad Khushroo Madon is a great priest. He did the navjote for my brother and me because even though our mum’s a Parsi, our dad isn’t. He challenged the rules and made it clear that every Parsi is a Parsi and deserves to have a navjote if they want to.

Due to their past history, Parsis turned their religion from "anyone can join” to "no one can join.” The fact that Madon could be banned from doing prayers and navjotes is absolutely ridiculous. I mean, how else did Zarathushtra develop his group of followers in the first place?

It’s your choice whether you’re ready for a navjote or even a visit to an agiary. It’s not anyone else’s decision whether you can go in or not, because once you are born a Parsi or may have found a way to join the religion, it should be your choice to pray freely within the religion — not anybody’s else’s.

Madon is a nice guy, in fact a super nice guy, and all he deserves is thanks for helping families like ours. It’s a pity that some people think badly of him because he does the prayers, navjotes, machis, jashans and more stuff for people like us.

I think people should help Madon and get used to the fact that there are a lot of children like me (I am 10 years old) who would like their navjotes done. Thank you, Khushroo Madon for being a very kind priest and helping me to join the Zoroastrian religion. I am a Parsi and proud to be one.

NATASHA DAS

Poole, UK

ltigre@gmail.com