“Clothes maketh the Parsi?”

"Clothes maketh the Parsi?” (Editorial Viewpoint, Parsiana, May 21, 2010) was an eye-opener. The actions of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustees in the matter of the Maloo-D’Souza navjotes have exposed their violent tendencies. It took eye surgeon Dr Kuresh Zorabi, Kersee and Vispy Wadia, Bapoo Malcolm, the gutsy Maloos and Firoze Kotwal to show that the law of the land prevails and not the diktats of the BPP. It’s a shame that home minister R. R. Patil had to intervene to stop this dadagiri (goondaism). All rational thinking Zoroastrians are thankful to the vigilantes for dealing suitably with people who tear sudrehs (as in Sanjan), threaten assault and indulge in acts completely repugnant to Zoroastrianism.

What is baffling and bewildering is that BPP trustee Yazdi Desai pleaded with Sohrab Zorabian of Cheron Caterers to desist from catering for the Maloo-D’Souza navjotes as God would never forgive him. God can forgive a dakhma becoming an inferno at Doongerwadi; God can forgive the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis for "saving” Ervad Behram Dordi in a notorious case of trying to expedite the prayers of an old Parsi gentleman who had been done to death, with evidence of his strangling being "destroyed,” a serious offence under the Indian Penal Code; and God can forgive the burial of rotting corpses at Doongerwadi lying naked for days on end under the pretext of "speedy disposal,” a total lie exposed by Dhun Baria with her bold photographs that shook the community from Bombay to Iran to Canada. But, Desai feels God will never forgive the caterer!

Parsiana has taken giant strides in the past few months to awaken the dormant, docile members of our community who are being misguided by dhongis (pretenders) who lie, cheat, manipulate and fabricate in the most unZoroastrian manner.

From scholar Farrokh Vajifdar of London with his blistering attacks on dhongis, to the vigilant rationalist Kersee Kabraji of Poona, from Roda Dara Hakim of Baroda who has upheld BPP trustee Noshir Dadrawala’s justification for prosecuting his co-trustees, to Calcutta’s Jamshed Irani who wants us to throw out these "fake” constituents of the BPP board, and of course the mockery of these materialistic mischief-makers by Bombay’s ever-entertaining Behram Aga, the wake-up call to the community is apparent.

History will never forgive this ineffective BPP board who spent Rs 24 lakhs on frivolous litigation, allowed a hungry little girl to die without aid because her mother was a non-Parsi, who believe in tearing sudrehs, indulging in violence, assaulting women, lying about a Russian Zoroastrian being a "terrorist” and trying physical violence on a fellow trustee who was threatened with "sign or resign” to get rid of genuine dissidence.

RASHID G. KHOSRAVI

There is no longer any doubt in my mind (and, as I see it, in the minds of many other Parsis) that the present lot of trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) are totally out of their minds (perhaps, with the exception of one or two free thinkers who are not being allowed to express themselves).

They are not borrowing a page from the Shiv Sena book of records; they are copying it page by page. First, there was the vulgarity of the photograph of the chairman in a boxing ring delivering a knock out to his opponent. Then came the episode when his group of hooligans attacked Meher Master-Moos at Sanjan, under the august leadership of the chairman. All these self-appointed guardians of our religion and culture deserve to be fed alive to the non existent birds!

The trustees should be preserving the wealth of the BPP and utilizing it only to help the needy. They are wasting away the money on one to one-and-a-half pages in The Free Press Journal, a fancy The BPP Review and free dinners with vociferous speechifying.

We are a peace loving lot and this regular adverse washing of dirty linen is ruining the very fabric of the community and all it has stood for. I suggest they be ousted by a group of young leaders with 21st century views and who wish to see us prosper, grow and maintain a broad mind.

JAMSHED IRANI

iranjams@yahoo.in