“Hugely entertaining”

Reader, reputed scholar and hard-hitting critic of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s (BPP) dhongi trustees, Farrokh Vajifdar of London has, in a telling letter ("Hugely entertaining,” Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, April 7, 2011), written: "Parsiana is nothing if not hugely entertaining.” And why not? Where else would one read about Vajifdar’s wake-up call to "sleepy heads” regarding the BPP chairman’s preparation for grinning with the pin-ups of the forthcoming 2012 and 2013 ZYNG (Zoroastrian Youth for the Next Generation) calendars? Where else would one read Simin Patel’s suggestion to the BPP trustees for generosity toward Zoroastrian ladies by supporting "bottom less, sudreh wearing, debagged male models” in a male pin-up calendar to ensure their economic welfare?

Nor should Phiroze Javeri be excluded for his forthright views. What better entertainment than marching up to the BPP headquarters with slogans, placards and demands that the trustees should themselves pay for "vexatious litigation?” Readers Homi Dalal and B. T. Dastur have stressed the imprudent, stubborn, face-saving efforts of the BPP trustees who have incurred legal costs of one crore so far. And this, as Dalal points out, when they claimed that they had no funds for an audit of the past 10 years’ accounts!

Sadly, Vajifdar fails to mention that Parsiana’s entertainment potential has suffered recently with the irrepressible Behram Aga’s juicy digs now in hibernation. But his son has taken over and writes to inform us that famed music conductor Zubin Mehta, who has a son out of wedlock with an Israeli violinist, visits fire temples when he is in Bombay but no priest has had the gumption to stop him. Well done, Barak Aga. It’s entertaining to know that orthodoxy and hypocrisy are so inextricably intertwined. Three cheers for Homi Mistry who has thanked Areez Khambatta for pointing out that Parsi women are inferior to their male counterparts!

The greatest entertainment was provided in "The Federation in isolation — I” (Parsiana, April 7, 2011) where our eyes have been opened to the farce in Valsad where, but for two, only minor anjumans were represented at the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India (FPZAI) meet and Pervez Irani of the Iranian Zoroastrian Anjuman delivered a snub to an absurd egomaniac.

Dinshaw Mehta, chairman of the BPP as well as the FPZAI president repeatedly apologized to delegates for not replying to their letters due to the BPP’s other preoccupations. When Homai Engineer of Daman/Vapi suggested that Parsiana be involved in a certain matter, Mehta bellowed: "We want nothing to do with Parsiana.” But the very fact that Engineer thought of Parsiana proves that representatives of small anjumans are becoming aware of the dangerous mischief of ignorant priests and trustees who have done no constructive work but rely on fatwas and diktats which are not going to be honored any more because sycophancy is dying and BPP/WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) are heading for the intensive care unit!

Keep it up, Parsiana. We need more such entertainment!

RASHID S. KHOSRAVI