Past perfect, future tense
The main road that leads from Bilimora railway station to the Ambika river at the other end of town is almost devoid of trees. Cows saunter past. Modern one-storey structures line Station Street, as it is referred to, with an occasional relic from the past. Only the majestic edifice of the Mancherji and Ratanji Tata High School, now run by the municipality, harkens back to the glory days when the town gave rise to the Parsi surname Bilimoria.
Located in the South Gujarat district of Navsari, taluka Gandevi, and under the purview of the Surat Metropolitan Region, Bilimora’s Parsi population is down to around 200 from a peak of several hundred more, decades ago. The young have all left in search of jobs as industry shifted to the neighboring towns/cities of Surat, Vapi and Baroda.
"Bilimora used to be called the Manchester of India although it is now largely a residential area. It was very popular for business,” notes Wikipedia. "There used to be 37 working companies. LMP was inaugurated by the then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. Other famous factories like Gujarat Chemicals, Gaikwad Mills, Wood Polymers (said to be the biggest garage for vintage cars in Asia) and also Vania Mills and the Paper Mill which were among the top ten companies not only in Gujarat state but also in India were in Bilimora. Many scenes of the film Mother India were shot here.”
Many Parsis lost their jobs and financial dues with the closing of the Parsi run Gaikwad Mills. Why Bilimora lost out to the neighboring towns/cities of Surat, Vapi, Baroda and elsewhere could not be ascertained from talking to the local residents. Aside from shops and a few small businesses, employment openings are almost non-existent. A Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation zone exists but the Parsi presence is scarce.
The well maintained Tata Baug dharamshala has few takers for its four rooms and cavernous dormitory hall. The spacious Rustom Baug dining facility next to the dharamshala sees few weddings and navjotes being performed. The spacious Doongerwadi grounds with their manicured gardens and neatly kept bunglis, prayer hall, pavilion, two dakhmas may be put to use once or twice in a year. The Bilimora Zoroastrian Club is frequented only in the evenings by a handful of the older members.
The head priest at the spacious, walled Seth Dadabhai Dhanjibhai and Sorabji Shapurji Gabba Daremeher, Parcy Panthaky says devotees stop by during the day. Opposite are a few houses still owned and occupied by Parsis. A single-storey anjuman building lies vacant.
The town has few hotels which is why the Bilimora Parsi Zoroastrian Anjuman Trust Funds (BPZATF), probably the second richest Parsi association in Gujarat, has refrained from hosting a Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India (FPZAI) meeting, explains the 177-year-old body’s managing trustee Marazban Baria. He and his wife, Jasmine, continue to live in Kaizad Cottage, a quaint, single-storey structure with a Mangalore tiled roof on the town’s main thoroughfare. Their children are settled elsewhere. Baria’s brother, Kersee, runs the Jehangir Cinema/Talkies, one of the few single screen movie theaters in Bilimora. There are no multiplexes. Kersee is also a correspondent for the Gujaratmitra published from Surat.
But while it may not have been practical to host a full-fledged FPZAI meet, on October 19 this year the BPZATF held a one day West Zone B get-together to felicitate their neighboring anjuman, Valsad’s managing trustee Sam Chothia on his election as vice president of the zone. Representatives of the nearby anjumans and those as far away as Rajkot and Ahmedabad gathered, most arriving that morning and departing that evening. Many of the associations in the zone comprising the anjumans of Gujarat are supporters of the World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis (WAPIZ), hence the two Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) and WAPIZ founder trustees Khojeste Mistree and Yazdi Desai were special invitees at the meet. But the BPZATF, in the tradition of many of the Gujarat anjumans and those elsewhere, makes all guests feel welcome, regardless of their political leanings. While much has changed, much remains the same.
Save Pervin Jehangir who represented the Ilav anjuman there were no other women delegates present. The other elegantly dressed ladies at the meet were wives of the host anjuman trustees and Desai’s wife, Anahita. The constitutions/trust deeds/rules and regulations of many of the anjumans while permitting women to vote, refer to "he” for those eligible to hold office. The Iranian Zoroastrian Anjuman in Bombay similarly discriminates against women, a cause for much heartburn among several of the ladies present at the last September 28 elections.
The gender bias was also manifest in the selection of Chothia as zonal vice president versus the more liberal Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat president Brig Jahangir Anklesaria (Retd). The Valsad Parsi Anjuman bars women married to non-Parsis entry to the local fire temple and Doongerwadi even if they are married under the Special Marriage Act, 1954 and continue to profess the Zoroastrian religion. Ahmedabad permits women to hold office as does Bardoli, which backed Anklesaria’s candidacy.
But even in this conservative bastion, questions are being raised on the efficacy of certain customs. After Mistree spoke for an hour on the religious and practical advantages of the Parsi mode of disposal of the dead, several delegates asked what was to be done regarding the stench from corpses in the dakhma. Mistree was dismissive of their claims stating they had not either heard him properly or had closed minds. He claimed that though he resided barely 100 meters from the Towers of Silence in Bombay, no smell emanated in the vicinity. When someone mentioned the residents of Godrej Baug (GB) built next to Doongerwadi complained about the stench, Mistree countered that Bombay Parsis always complained about everything. Another delegate suggested the GB residents could move elsewhere!
Many of the dakhmas in Gujarat lie unused as residents transport the corpses to nearby towns/cities where the Towers are more frequently used. What was then to be done with the land? Could the government acquire it? Could it be used for other purposes? Taking a more practical approach, Desai promised the FPZAI would look into their concerns.
But the FPZAI has been notorious for overlooking the problems of the smaller anjumans and paying scant heed to their needs. At the West Zone B meet held in Bardoli on August 24 this year, many delegates complained about guest speakers’ talks that left precious little time for the anjumans to discuss their problems, achievements, etc. Even at the Bilimora meet, Mistree’s talk and subsequent discussion on Doongerwadi took up two hours out of a total of around five working hours, not including an hour and a half for lunch.
If the apex body of the Indian Parsis and Iranis cannot or will not move to resolve contentious issues and if even the occasional zonal meets are unable to serve the purpose, how else can structured, uniform, well thought-out and planned change occur?