The bat and the baton

What a milestone for Parsiana — 50 years of non-stop publishing and going strong! Despite my obsession with cricket, I have yet to score a 50; my highest score being 43 runs.
As Parsiana readers would know, "You can take Kersi out of cricket but you cannot take cricket out of Kersi.” Hence cricket will play a big role in showing the difference in the Parsi-Zoroastrian morphology from 1960s to 2010s.
Let’s go back to 1962, two years before Parsiana was born. In the first two test matches in the Caribbean against the West Indies, the Indian XI included four Parsis; skipper and gutsy opener Nari Contractor, former captain and palm-tree hitter Polly Umrigar, dashing debonair wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer and all-rounder Rusi Surti described as "poor man’s Garry Sobers.”
Thus the Parsis made up almost 37% (four out of 11) of the team. At that time the Parsi-Zoroastrian population was 100,000, about 0.00001% of India’s, making 37% representation on the national team absolutely phenomenal.
However, since 1974, not one Parsi has represented India. Zubin Bharucha showed promise, scoring well for Bombay along with the great Sachin Tendulkar in the early 1990s. Then he migrated to England. In 17 first-class matches for Bombay and Surrey he scored over 1,000 runs with three centuries and four fifties. Of late he has been running the World Cricket Academy in Bombay and has been involved in the coaching of Rajasthan Royals for the Indian Premier League.
Only one Parsi has played international test cricket since 1974. He is Ronnie Irani who figured in three Tests and 31 one-day internationals for England in the 1990s.
And in the 2011 cricket World Cup held on the Indian subcontinent, Zubin Surkari represented Canada.
Coming back to my rant, no Parsi has represented India in cricket in 39 years. Worse, no one is knocking on the door either!
Where has the talent gone, the will power to reach the top among Parsis in India?
Still on the cricket motif but not on cricketers. In the 1960s, A. F. S. Talyarkhan (the greatest cricket commentator India ever produced) was still writing his hard-hitting columns for The Times of India (ending with his famous line "Do you get me Steve?”), Dicky Rutnagur was the new voice on All India Radio as a fluent commentator and Bapoo B. Mama was establishing himself as a world-class cricket statistician. All three have gone to a better world.
Fredun DeVitre began his career as a Test cricket commentator in 1973 when only 21, perhaps the youngest ever. He was associated with Bombay Doordarshan since 1972. But he has not been heard of much these days. A professional lawyer, he has perhaps less time for broadcasting. I occasionally reread his hilarious book Willow Tales, published in 1993.
Then of course there is the prolific sports writer and former NDTV personality Gul-Fraaz (Gulu) Ezekiel. He has authored over a dozen books including Cricket and Beyond, Sachin, Captain Cool (The M.S. Dhoni story), Sourav (Ganguly), Great One-day Internationals, Book of Cricket Lists and Icons from the World of Sports, among other best sellers. He is very proud of his Parsi heritage, his mother Khorshed being a Parsi.
Who else? Apart from umpires Piloo Reporter and Keki Doodhwalla, the cricket field appears barren.
Not so the music hall. Lead vocalist and lyricist Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar in 1946) is no more with us but his legacy lives.
World renowned Zubin Mehta, 77, still wows audiences wherever he conducts. His recent tour of India was a grand success, especially his ground-breaking concert in Kashmir this September where western and eastern music blended tastefully. Although living in the USA and conducting many orchestras around the world, he has retained his Indian citizenship. A proud Zoroastrian he speaks in Gujarati to us whenever in Sydney and enjoys chilli-hot Parsi food.
Another Zubin is on the way up. He is Zubin Kanga, born in Sydney Australia. In his 30s, he has won many international awards as a contemporary pianist. He is doing his PhD in music at the Royal Academy of Music in London. A student of famous composer and pianist Rolf Hind, he is a passionate advocate of contemporary classical music. He performs with internationally renowned new music ensembles such as London Sinfonietta, Halcyon and Kreutzer Quartet. Recipient of the prestigious 2012 Art Music Award, he was the winner of the Best Newcomer Award at the 2010 ABC Limelight Scholarship.
In comic Parsi nataks we had Adi Marzban, Pheroze Antia, Dorab Mehta and Homi Tavadia regaling us with laughter in the 1950s and 60s. Like in cricket, there have been no replacements for these mega-personalities who extracted chuckles from disasters. From pioneers in politics, cricket, films and humor, champion Parsis with few exceptions are becoming also-rans.
Also, isn’t it time, we have a meaningful translation of Khordeh Avesta in a language we understand? For example, if we get lost when driving a car and ask for help, we would like to be guided by people in the language we understand. Not in Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Telugu or Chinese! It is this language barrier which leads to many interpretations and misinterpretations of our beautiful religion.
I applaud Parsiana’s single-minded mission to convince the orthodox among us that there is nothing wrong in intermarriage. We should embrace non-Parsi spouses, and children born from such unions in our religion. Of course, no one should be forced to be navjoted. But spouses genuinely wanting to embrace Zoroastrianism of their own free will should be welcomed.
This may solve the population problem but to produce future Mehtas, Umrigars, Engineers, Contractors, Surtis, Marzbans, AFSTs ... is far more complex. We need Parsi role models to inspire youngsters, not the ones who harp on "aapro dharam doobi jasé (our religion will sink)” at the drop of a phèto (hat).
Congratulations, Parsiana, on your golden jubilee. Hope the picture is pleasanter in 2063 although I won’t be around to greet you on your centenary!

Kersi Meher-Homji is a prolific cricket author having published 14 books on cricket and also a columnist. He is a retired research virologist having worked on poliomyelitis in India and on hepatitis and AIDS viruses in Sydney. At the blood bank he was in charge of the National Quality Assurance Programme for HIV and hepatitis virus detection with a view to make blood donations safe.