“The Russian retort”

I refer to the letter "The Russian retort” by Faredoon Kapadia (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, December 21, 2010) in which he writes: "What surprises me is that people who want to bring about a change in our rituals and who project themselves as ‘reformists’ have no definite agenda for positive change. Theirs appear more as action for opposition.”

I am neither a reformist nor an orthodox person and wish to draw Kapadia’s attention to two burning issues that are dividing the community: acceptance into Zoroastrianism of children of inter-married couples; performing last religious rites for those not opting for dakhmenashini. Some of us have been crying hoarse asking our high priests to kindly show us the religious scriptures that support their stand. In response we have received a stony silence. Will Kapadia be able to elicit any response from these high priests?

Kapadia writes: "If we contribute our time, money and energy in a positive direction, our past glory of Zoroastrians would not be lost.” What does he really mean by "positive manner”? If some valid questions are responded only by stony silence, where is positivism?

How does Kapadia propose to combine contributions from all community members? And why bother about losing the "past glory of Zoroastrians?” Should we not be concerned with what can be done to enable present day Zoroastrians to attain glory? No community can survive on past glory as the only constant in life is change. Until our high priests and trustees of punchayets and anjumans recognize the changes taking place and are ready to respond to them in a positive manner, it is difficult to foresee any great future for our community.

KERSEE KABRAJI

Poona

kerseekabraji@gmail.com