A token of appreciation

The minuscule Parsi community has caught the attention of the finance minister who has earmarked a token one crore rupees for tackling the problem of our dwindling population. We appreciate the fact that even the government has woken up to this issue. History has recorded that Parsis have always gratefully given to India much by way of educational institutions and business houses with the sweetness of sugar promised by intermingling with all Indians. Our contribution can never be doubted or weighed.

Coomi Kapoor has rightly written about the reasons for our near extinction (The Indian Express, March 7, 2010). Sooner or later the Parsis in India will only be the old, for the youth, strangled with the diktats of unreasonable orthodoxy, will opt for favorable pastures abroad. We are left with two choices: either we bring into our fold the children of Parsi girls married to non-Parsis or emigrate to the West where Zoroastrianism will progress and prevail. Trying to resurrect Parsis from certain extinction will be a mammoth exercise. Even the tiger has a better chance of being saved than the Parsis and only a miracle can save us.

RODA D. HAKIM

Baroda

vadhakim@yahoo.com