Readers' Forum
50th anniversary issue
Saal Mubarak! Pachaas varas naa thayaa (Happy birthday. You are now 50 years old), and still like a child exploding bombs as if it were Diwali. What thought provoking articles there are in your 50th anniversary issue (November 7, 2013).They created in me a greater appetite for palav-daar and chhatopaani (alcoholic drinks).
Former Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) chairman Minoo Shroff writes that the decline in numbers is a matter of serious concern for the community. He does not want to sound cynical, but let’s face reality and not get too exuberant about the government sponsored Jiyo Parsi project. The gap between deaths and births is currently 500 per annum. It will be impossible to bridge this with Jiyo Parsi which will at best arrest the rate of decline.
Shroff claims there is lack of leadership and divisiveness in the community is tearing at its very fabric. There is growing acrimony leading to proliferation of litigation between trusts and stakeholders arising out of a clash of egos. He wants a forum to resolve disputes: 50% legal eagles, and 50% community leaders and social activists. Where are the leaders and who are they? Also, the aam (ordinary) bawa, for whom this forum is being formed has been totally excluded and will have no say whatsoever. When leaders themselves are at loggerheads with each other as is the case today, who will solve the problem except the courts of the land?
Shroff then laments that during the last few years, meetings of the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India have been mere slugfests. Hardly any positive suggestions have emanated from them for the betterment of the community. He asks what purpose this body serves. The answer is simple. After capturing the anjumans and the Federation, people get power which they have been seeking; after capturing the BPP they get absolute power.
Shroff’s advice is to form a council of advisors of young individuals with great credibility who should be selected in a transparent manner through informed public discussion. Who will be the wise ones to select such a fabulous team of experts, and what qualifications will these selectors possess or be required to possess?
Former BPP trustee Dinshaw Tamboly insists that it is essential that problems confronting the community be brought into the public domain. If they are not resolved they will overwhelm the palav-daar bawas in the next few decades. He warns that our family system and economic health are in crisis. Bawas are staring at extinction with a fertility rate of 0.8% children per family. He pooh-poohs the notion that giving a few thousand rupees and expecting bawas to marry early and within the community will solve the problem. Tamboly questions how with such a small population one can expect bawas to marry only within the community. He lambasts the conservative elements for the step-motherly treatment meted out to those who have married out and their offspring. But is there any hope of a change of mindset in practical and realistic terms? The answer is blowing in the wind.
On the economic front Tamboly says a small fraction of the community exists below the poverty line, and the economic situation of families availing of aid has been aggravated. Increase in the number of the aged has resulted in more families facing economic hardship. Sadly, despite there being plenty of trusts/charity funds the level of poverty continues to rise.
Tamboly asks what the elders have done or are doing to cultivate, motivate and encourage our youth to hold their own in a progressive world which is very competitive. He blames the elders for the shortcomings of the youth as they have done precious little to mold the latter to take on challenges.
The community’s leadership is at its nadir with political partisanship and divisive religious leanings amongst them. They are unfit to find solutions to the community’s vexed issues. As for the clergy, Tamboly feels they have been unable to speak with one voice, creating divisiveness in the community.
He writes that it will be a great tragedy for humanity if the Parsi community fades away into oblivion. And going by the present trend, before the end of the century Parsis as a race would have perished and after some time, like the Sasanian and Peshdadian dynasties, bawas will be forgotten.
Arnavaz Mistry, BPP trustee and matchmaker, reminds me of the song from the movie Fiddler on the Roof, "Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch.” She is disturbed about the declining bawa population and goes on to tell us about all her own activities. She says that other communities have a negligible percentage of population above the age of 65 and a huge population under 15 years, whereas amongst the bawas it is the reverse. Well, other communities don’t live as long as the bawas who hit a century or just miss it in their 80s, 90s.
Old age homes are always full, with a long waiting list. The young, for various reasons, are unable or unfit to look after their old relatives. Men and women marry late, she laments. Her marriage bureau has met with limited success, because the vast choice that other communities have is not available to bawas. That is precisely why the latter marry non-Parsis. The akabars and Parsi Popes should put on their thinking caps and find a solution.
BEHRAM AGA
behram_r_aga@yahoo.co.in
Former Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) chairman Minoo Shroff writes that the decline in numbers is a matter of serious concern for the community. He does not want to sound cynical, but let’s face reality and not get too exuberant about the government sponsored Jiyo Parsi project. The gap between deaths and births is currently 500 per annum. It will be impossible to bridge this with Jiyo Parsi which will at best arrest the rate of decline.Shroff claims there is lack of leadership and divisiveness in the community is tearing at its very fabric. There is growing acrimony leading to proliferation of litigation between trusts and stakeholders arising out of a clash of egos. He wants a forum to resolve disputes: 50% legal eagles, and 50% community leaders and social activists. Where are the leaders and who are they? Also, the aam (ordinary) bawa, for whom this forum is being formed has been totally excluded and will have no say whatsoever. When leaders themselves are at loggerheads with each other as is the case today, who will solve the problem except the courts of the land?
Shroff then laments that during the last few years, meetings of the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India have been mere slugfests. Hardly any positive suggestions have emanated from them for the betterment of the community. He asks what purpose this body serves. The answer is simple. After capturing the anjumans and the Federation, people get power which they have been seeking; after capturing the BPP they get absolute power.
Shroff’s advice is to form a council of advisors of young individuals with great credibility who should be selected in a transparent manner through informed public discussion. Who will be the wise ones to select such a fabulous team of experts, and what qualifications will these selectors possess or be required to possess?
Former BPP trustee Dinshaw Tamboly insists that it is essential that problems confronting the community be brought into the public domain. If they are not resolved they will overwhelm the palav-daar bawas in the next few decades. He warns that our family system and economic health are in crisis. Bawas are staring at extinction with a fertility rate of 0.8% children per family. He pooh-poohs the notion that giving a few thousand rupees and expecting bawas to marry early and within the community will solve the problem. Tamboly questions how with such a small population one can expect bawas to marry only within the community. He lambasts the conservative elements for the step-motherly treatment meted out to those who have married out and their offspring. But is there any hope of a change of mindset in practical and realistic terms? The answer is blowing in the wind.
On the economic front Tamboly says a small fraction of the community exists below the poverty line, and the economic situation of families availing of aid has been aggravated. Increase in the number of the aged has resulted in more families facing economic hardship. Sadly, despite there being plenty of trusts/charity funds the level of poverty continues to rise.
Tamboly asks what the elders have done or are doing to cultivate, motivate and encourage our youth to hold their own in a progressive world which is very competitive. He blames the elders for the shortcomings of the youth as they have done precious little to mold the latter to take on challenges.
The community’s leadership is at its nadir with political partisanship and divisive religious leanings amongst them. They are unfit to find solutions to the community’s vexed issues. As for the clergy, Tamboly feels they have been unable to speak with one voice, creating divisiveness in the community.
He writes that it will be a great tragedy for humanity if the Parsi community fades away into oblivion. And going by the present trend, before the end of the century Parsis as a race would have perished and after some time, like the Sasanian and Peshdadian dynasties, bawas will be forgotten.
Arnavaz Mistry, BPP trustee and matchmaker, reminds me of the song from the movie Fiddler on the Roof, "Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match, find me a find, catch me a catch.” She is disturbed about the declining bawa population and goes on to tell us about all her own activities. She says that other communities have a negligible percentage of population above the age of 65 and a huge population under 15 years, whereas amongst the bawas it is the reverse. Well, other communities don’t live as long as the bawas who hit a century or just miss it in their 80s, 90s.
Old age homes are always full, with a long waiting list. The young, for various reasons, are unable or unfit to look after their old relatives. Men and women marry late, she laments. Her marriage bureau has met with limited success, because the vast choice that other communities have is not available to bawas. That is precisely why the latter marry non-Parsis. The akabars and Parsi Popes should put on their thinking caps and find a solution.
BEHRAM AGA
behram_r_aga@yahoo.co.in
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