To have and not have

It was possibly the single largest ever gathering of Parsis/Iranis at a meal. Around 6,500 Zoroastrians supped at the Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) gahanbar on March 14, 2015 at the spacious Royal Western India Turf Club. No longer are gahanbars viewed as a forgotten relic of the past. Between the Mistry family of Shapoorji Pallonji and Dr Cyrus Poonawalla they have raised the ancient community feasting to a new high.

Both the alcohol and the several course dinners served in Poona earlier and Bombay were lavish. The generous patra bhonus comprised every gastronomical delight one can imagine.

The SP function was to celebrate the construction firm’s 150^th anniversary. Poonawalla’s events spread over several days in Poona and Bombay were in memory of his late wife Villoo and his late parents Gool and Soli. Between the two families, they rekindled the tradition of the Parsi sethias’ involvement with the community. Both families have been supportive of community institutions and charities.

The Mistrys funded the Pallonji Shapoorji Home for Senior Citizens of The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital in 2007. Poonawalla along with Nadir Godrej ensured the Tenth World Zoroastrian Congress was held in Bombay in December 2013 despite the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustees’ threats to abort the global meet. The Mistrys, Poonawallas and Godrejs are among the richest families in the country. Their affinity for the community brings to mind the involvement of Parsis of yore like Jamsetji Tata, Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy, Sir Cowasjee Jehangir, Sir Dinshaw Petit, Jerbai Wadia and others. Nusli Wadia is actively involved with the management and maintenance of the five Wadia colonies in Bombay.

What is it that ties these families to the community? Perhaps a realization that no one else will bother. The community is too small in number to be of any consequence politically. There are no quotas, no reservations. The 10 crore rupee grant sanctioned by the Congress led government and disbursed by the Bharatiya Janata Party for the Jiyo Parsi program as well as the additional 14 crores allocated in the latest budget by finance minister Arun Jaitley for an exhibition of Zoroastrian artefacts, is the first such consideration the Government of India has so thoughtfully and generously bestowed.

Perhaps there is a concern that this ancient religion and way of life will not last for long. The community’s political leadership and the clergy’s energies have all been directed to keep people out by enforcing rigid religious, racial and gender criteria.

But constructive intervention by high profile Parsis can bring about much needed change. In 1932 after S. F. Markham submitted "A Report to the Sir Ratan Tata Trustees on problems affecting the Parsee community" improvements were noted in all the parameters raised by the eminent academician. Parsi charities ensured literacy levels improved as did dental health, nutrition, education.

Today with the vast community reserves of assets, money and human talent available, it is pitiful to hear Parsis whine about their lot. They lament their ancestors founded colleges but did not specify seats be reserved for the community when relinquishing their management to the government. What stops the community from utilizing their immense reservoir of human, land and financial capital to once again establish such institutions? A lack of will. Education is not a priority. Housing was. Hence flats were constructed, often on the mistaken notion that they would boost the dwindling numbers. Today with possibly over half the Bombay community dwelling in trust housing, the population has declined.

Housing is a quality of life issue. It should have been viewed as such. The Wadia colonies, the Mancherji Edalji Joshi Parsi Colony in Dadar are well laid out complexes with gardens and open spaces. This is not true of many of the other colonies. Both S. B. Bharucha and B. S. Panthaki Baugs managed by the BPP in Andheri have garden areas but are almost bereft of landscaping and maintenance. The Doongerwadi environs, by contrast, are well designed and looked after. Perhaps a case of skewed priorities.

A trustee of the Tata Blocks in Bandra was quoted in The Indian Express of March 11, 2015 as stating tenants were not willing to pay even Rs 150 extra a month for security for the gated colony. People pay more than that towards cable television charges! An elderly man was murdered there earlier this month.

The crisis facing the community is as much of housing, education or numbers as of values and priorities. With the forthcoming BPP elections due five months from now one should be looking forward to crucial community issues being intelligently discussed. Though there is at present a dearth of sound candidates in the fray, an intelligent and enlightened electorate can still demand accountability. The BPP trustees held only two meets in seven years to give a report of their activities.

The community is more than the sum of its leaders. Had the trustees to meet the voters every year would they have ventured to squander three crore rupees on an ego fuelled litigation to bar two priests from performing funerary rites at Doongerwadi? Would they at their whim and fancy cancel/postpone the World Congress which they had committed to host? Would they have permitted 120 flats to lie vacant while they settled personal scores?

The community has availed of the generosity of the Mistry and Poonawalla families. They have availed of the hospitality of the Wadias, the medical attention of the Petits, the education opportunities at the Jejeebhoy schools, employment from the Godrejs and Tatas. Jal and Pervin Shroff of Hong Kong have pledged to give the single largest ever donation by any Zoroastrian to construct a new cosmopolitan hospital at The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital grounds. Having partaken of their largesse should not the community now also imbibe the qualities of integrity, innovation, hard work that made these families household names?