Change of guard at Jamé

With the abrupt change of guard at the helm, the speculation within the community over the future editorial policies of the Jam-e-Jamshed publication is not without substance. Will unbiased editorship without conflict of interest be achievable in a scenario where the newly appointed young editor of the community’s sole weekly also happens to be the consulting editor of the BPP Review magazine at a time when the Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s trustee bandwagon is crammed with majority individuals wont to flaunt their pseudo orthodox leanings which the designated young lady is seen to approve?

Time will tell if toned down liberal views in the 177-year-old Parsi newspaper sees the resurgence of Mumbai Samachar’s "Parsi Tari Arsi” column in its earlier avatar (under erstwhile editor Jehan Daruwala) as the robust weekly platform for the reformist section of the beleaguered community. Will Bombay’s Parsis witness the emergence of another weekly tabloid that will be the voice of the logically thinking community brethren, who are no less ardent followers of our Zoroastrian faith, and of whom there are legion?

Will Parsiana find a financial backer to turn it into a weekly from its present semimonthly status? MICKIE SORABJEE

nashmick@hotmail.com

The editors reply

Shernaaz Engineer will no longer be consulting editor to the BPP Review.

Parsiana has its hands full as a semimonthly so a weekly would be beyond our personnel resources.