“Strange and confusing”

Soonu Jal has written about the "Strange and confusing” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, January 21, 2010) ways of our community in the treatment of people from other communities and labeled us as discriminatory, heartless and inhumane. Except for some religious ceremonies, she did not consider the charities done by our community, the schools, colleges and hospitals we built for other communities, while raising an issue over the word darvans (non-Zoroastrians).

We are not the only ones to exclude people of other faiths from religious ceremonies and customs. Though Christianity is known for being humane and non-discriminatory, it has many denominations (Catholic, Protestant, Evangelist and many others), and each one has its particular customs and ceremonies. The other day I attended the funeral of an office friend. After we had all eulogized him, saying how friendly and helpful he was, the priest announced: "Christ is coming to take possession of his soul. Please leave if you are not a Christian.” To us, all followers of Jesus Christ are "Christians,” but to them the term means those belonging to a particular denomination, so I left, along with many others. These people were not Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims. They all believed in Christ in one way or the other, yet they were not deemed "Christians!”

When someone says "Patel” either in India or in any foreign country it refers to the largest group in the Hindu community comprising mainly motel operators in Europe, England or America. Under the umbrella of the Patel community there are many sub-sects like Ladva, Kadva, Charoteri, etc, each having its own customs which are followed strictly. In some cases they don’t intermarry with other groups of Patels.

We all know Muslims and respect their beliefs and tenets. They have one law: "If you want to marry a Muslim, you have to be Muslim.” Can anybody point a finger at them? No. It is their custom, belief and religion. The whole world has accepted their way of life without question.

A long time back a friend was visiting me and I asked him about the condition of members of our community. He jokingly replied: "They all consider themselves as reincarnation of Prophet Zoroaster and want us to follow them.” In one little sentence, he said it all.

During my childhood in Navsari we went to Adarji Master to prepare for our navjote ceremony. Our teacher was very humble and knowledgeable. I was one of a group of five or six boys from Motafalia. We walked from there through Sangawad, which connected to Gadher and then took a left turn to Asparwad which was adjacent to Desaiwad. One day our group leader told us that since sewage carriers are sitting in Gadher we should keep away from them and take the long way round to the master’s house. We followed him. But one boy took the short cut as usual and reached before us. The master asked why we were late. In order to impress him our leader told him that we took a longer route to avoid the sewage carriers. Master did not say a word and we started reciting our prayers.

After the prayer class, which lasted about 30 to 40 minutes, the master would tell us stories from the Shahnameh and educate us on the meaning of being a true Zoroastrian. On that particular day he asked us what the three cardinal principles of our religion are. We all said humata, hukta and huvarashta. He then asked the leader of our group what the meaning of humata is. He promptly replied "good thoughts” and was commended for the correct answer. Master then asked him: "Where was your good thought?” in leading your group away from the sewage carriers, adding that scavengers are important for society as they keep the city clean. He advised us to follow another humble Zoroastrian, Kohlaji Icecreamwala who, daily on his way to the atash behram, gave alms to every sewage collector he saw.

Master explained that many of the customs we have adopted in India are based on the promise given to Jadi Rana. In short, discrimination has nothing or very little to do with religion or our community. We adopted many discriminatory customs from the persons we lived with.

ADI B. GANDHI

Los Angeles, USA

adibg@aol.com