Libelous attacks

I have just returned after a two month sojourn abroad. In Bombay, purely by accident, I managed to lay my hands on The Free Press Journal of July 9, 2010 which contained one-and-a-half pages of WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) articles which were largely libelous attacks on Parsiana, its editor and its contributors.

Parsiana is a fine magazine. It represents the thoughts of Parsis who accept that the only constant in this world is change. Parsiana has seen the shift that is taking place all over the world and remained in step. But bigoted narrow-minded fanatics just won’t accept reality. They are so full of hatred and lard that they cannot even be physically removed from doing more damage to the community. Noshir Dadrawala has decided not to stand for re-election as Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee in 2015. He has announced that all is not well with the BPP and he wishes to distance himself from the cesspool. Maybe he is right, and perhaps he is wrong in walking away instead of challenging his detractors.

The editor is neither ungrateful nor warped in his assessments. The ten so-called "solid reasons” to boycott the magazine are hollow and meaningless tripe and it appears as if they were included only to fill up the space which WAPIZ chairman Areez Khambatta continues to supply the money for to spread venom (akin to distributing his juice far and wide all over India) among the community and shame us in the eyes of all other communities who purchase this newspaper.

In a democracy the right to think, speak and write freely is available to one and all. Some of us express ourselves; others hide behind the skirts of whoever is politically stronger even though their views may be questionable. The editor is expressing his views (shared worldwide) and just because a few ready-for-the-graveyard-types don’t see eye to eye with him, the magazine need not be condemned. There are many readers like me who enjoy every bit of every page of every issue.

As for Ker-fer-gar Antia, I read his letter and all I can say is that I don’t ker fer his gar (swear words). (Incidentally, unlike what was claimed, his letter appeared in Parsiana dated July 7, 2010.) For his enlightenment, I must add that the discourses by Behram Aga are realities expressed succinctly by a man of knowledge and experience. Behram Dastur, the ex-CEO (chief executive officer) of the BPP and a product of an athornan family, speaks his mind after careful study of every situation, never to be found wanting or lacking in facts. He must have seen the rot seeping into the BPP boardroom and distanced himself in time, to the loss of the whole community. As against these two, as well as others like Jamsheed Kanga and some foreign based contributors, Ker Fer should take Kar that no one reads or hears his gars.

During my interactions abroad with members of our community, the views of the moderns and moderates were all that could be heard. The time has come to accept that a change has already taken place. To safeguard their own positions, the BPP satraps should cool it or else, in the next election, they may not appear as hot as the properties they control!

JAMSHED IRANI

Calcutta

Show me one single Parsi family today that does not have an inter-community marriage. With all the sanskars (values) and paramparas (traditions) rooted since childhood our priests and vada dasturs have been unable to influence their own children from marrying outside the community, so why talk about us lay Parsis? It was up to us as parents to ensure that our children married within the community. We failed. Where is the question of blaming anyone else? To find a solution one needs to first of all accept that there is a problem. If we behave like ostriches and hide our heads in the sand we will not succeed. Parsiana is just stating facts that are happening amongst us today.

This is my simplistic way of looking at our history. We came to India, a group of Zoroastrians from Iran, and accepted the reet, rivaj (customs) and language to some extent of the Hindus, though maintaining our faith. This was the first change. Then, being a male dominated community, we allowed the children of male Parsis married to non-Parsis to be navjoted. This again was an accepted change. Surely the scriptures did not say so, but we bypassed that. So what is wrong now when a woman married to a non-Parsi wishes to have her children navjoted and remain in our fold? It just shows that she remains proud to be a Parsi and wants to have her children follow our religion. It is time this change is accepted. The trend is already prevalent in the west and in India too, though not openly.

In the case of dakhmenashini, scientifically it’s a very eco-friendly system but if you see the topography of Bombay, Doongerwadi is like an island surrounded by a concrete jungle literally breathing down the Towers of Silence. Even in the olden days aramgahs existed along with the dakhmas and the prayers for the deceased were recited at both places. If that was fine, why raise this senseless controversy now? The self created euphoria about the system at Doongerwadi in Bombay working satisfactorily will catch up with us when we least expect it. We still have the time to correct its functioning and bring it back on track, but for that we all have to sit down together and solve the problem — not fault a magazine!

Let’s not forget we live in the 21st century and solutions to these problems are very important because change evolves due to compulsions and necessities rather than following outdated orthodox diktats.

RODA D. HAKIM

Baroda

vadhakim@yahoo.com