“The nightmare and...”

The navjotes of Zinatra and Tushar D’Souza ("The nightmare and the navjotes,” Parsiana, May 7, 2010) reminded me of another brother-sister navjote that I attended a few months back where the mother is a Parsi Zoroastrian and the father, a Hindu. It was celebrated openly with family and friends, luckily without any hiccups.

Maybe the winds of change in the community have started as a light refreshing breeze. Only time will tell whether it will sweep away the detritus of the withered and bogus orthodoxy.

It is right that the change should come from common Zoroastrians like Roshni Maloo-D’Souza and not our intellectuals and reformers. This would be a genuine change from within. Even if Parsis have passed the point of no return, Zoroastrianism will survive. We may have to thank the D’Souzas for the survival and not the false saviors who have embraced racism and apartheid in the garb of religion.

One more aspect remains. Why did the self appointed defenders of the faith and the issuers of fatwas not do a Sanjan in Bandra where the navjotes were performed? Were they scared of the precautions taken by the D’Souzas of going to the home minister and the police in advance? Or did they regard a night or two in a police lock-up as too high a price to pay for defending the faith?

Congratulations to Roshni and Savio D’Souza.

E. P. BHARUCHA

epbharucha@gmail.com