Readers' Forum
The mulching method
Readers will recollect the promises — nay pledges — of various candidates standing for the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trusteeship elections in 2008 to strengthen the system of disposal of the dead in the community. Those who were elected forgot this promise and instead engaged in litigation to ban priests.
It is entirely due to the indifference of these trustees that many in the community, including myself, have chosen to opt for an alternate method of disposal. It is not that such people are reformists or deen dushman (anti religious) or have family members married outside the faith, as falsely stated.
During the past eight years, some of the trustees revived the idea of a vulture aviary at an astronomical cost without there being any certainty of its success. Since there has been absolutely no attempt in that direction, I propose a system which may be termed mulching (decomposition of organic matter) where the entire body is turned into mulch within two to three months.
Some years back I had tried this experiment using decomposition powder on a dead cat. The cat’s carcass disintegrated within 15 days. At that time, it did not strike me that the same principle could as well be applied to human bodies. However, the idea recurred after I read an article about the Urban Death Project by Seattle based architect Katrina Spade. In the interest of the community, I sent an email to many eminent individuals, including the high priests and BPP trustees, requesting them to consider the proposal on a trial basis. Please note that I had not used wood. It was only dead leaves, garden soil and composite powder.
To my dismay, with the exception of BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta and self proclaimed BPP scholar trustee Khojeste Mistree, no other trustee seems to have the inclination to attend to the pressing problem of rotting corpses. While the response of the chairman was to shift the onus on the high priests, Mistree has come out with the excuse that wood cannot be used on theological grounds, though he has not cited any scriptural reference to substantiate his contention.
Assuming that the population of crows and kites may have multiplied, as claimed by Mistree, the issue is whether crows and kites have the capacity to devour a corpse. For, if that was the case, why is there the stench of rotting corpses?
HOMI DALAL
homeedalal@gmail.com
Readers will recollect the promises — nay pledges — of various candidates standing for the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trusteeship elections in 2008 to strengthen the system of disposal of the dead in the community. Those who were elected forgot this promise and instead engaged in litigation to ban priests.
It is entirely due to the indifference of these trustees that many in the community, including myself, have chosen to opt for an alternate method of disposal. It is not that such people are reformists or deen dushman (anti religious) or have family members married outside the faith, as falsely stated.
During the past eight years, some of the trustees revived the idea of a vulture aviary at an astronomical cost without there being any certainty of its success. Since there has been absolutely no attempt in that direction, I propose a system which may be termed mulching (decomposition of organic matter) where the entire body is turned into mulch within two to three months.
Some years back I had tried this experiment using decomposition powder on a dead cat. The cat’s carcass disintegrated within 15 days. At that time, it did not strike me that the same principle could as well be applied to human bodies. However, the idea recurred after I read an article about the Urban Death Project by Seattle based architect Katrina Spade. In the interest of the community, I sent an email to many eminent individuals, including the high priests and BPP trustees, requesting them to consider the proposal on a trial basis. Please note that I had not used wood. It was only dead leaves, garden soil and composite powder.
To my dismay, with the exception of BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta and self proclaimed BPP scholar trustee Khojeste Mistree, no other trustee seems to have the inclination to attend to the pressing problem of rotting corpses. While the response of the chairman was to shift the onus on the high priests, Mistree has come out with the excuse that wood cannot be used on theological grounds, though he has not cited any scriptural reference to substantiate his contention.
Assuming that the population of crows and kites may have multiplied, as claimed by Mistree, the issue is whether crows and kites have the capacity to devour a corpse. For, if that was the case, why is there the stench of rotting corpses?
HOMI DALAL
homeedalal@gmail.com
It is entirely due to the indifference of these trustees that many in the community, including myself, have chosen to opt for an alternate method of disposal. It is not that such people are reformists or deen dushman (anti religious) or have family members married outside the faith, as falsely stated.
During the past eight years, some of the trustees revived the idea of a vulture aviary at an astronomical cost without there being any certainty of its success. Since there has been absolutely no attempt in that direction, I propose a system which may be termed mulching (decomposition of organic matter) where the entire body is turned into mulch within two to three months.
Some years back I had tried this experiment using decomposition powder on a dead cat. The cat’s carcass disintegrated within 15 days. At that time, it did not strike me that the same principle could as well be applied to human bodies. However, the idea recurred after I read an article about the Urban Death Project by Seattle based architect Katrina Spade. In the interest of the community, I sent an email to many eminent individuals, including the high priests and BPP trustees, requesting them to consider the proposal on a trial basis. Please note that I had not used wood. It was only dead leaves, garden soil and composite powder.
To my dismay, with the exception of BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta and self proclaimed BPP scholar trustee Khojeste Mistree, no other trustee seems to have the inclination to attend to the pressing problem of rotting corpses. While the response of the chairman was to shift the onus on the high priests, Mistree has come out with the excuse that wood cannot be used on theological grounds, though he has not cited any scriptural reference to substantiate his contention.
Assuming that the population of crows and kites may have multiplied, as claimed by Mistree, the issue is whether crows and kites have the capacity to devour a corpse. For, if that was the case, why is there the stench of rotting corpses?
HOMI DALAL
homeedalal@gmail.com
Readers will recollect the promises — nay pledges — of various candidates standing for the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trusteeship elections in 2008 to strengthen the system of disposal of the dead in the community. Those who were elected forgot this promise and instead engaged in litigation to ban priests.
It is entirely due to the indifference of these trustees that many in the community, including myself, have chosen to opt for an alternate method of disposal. It is not that such people are reformists or deen dushman (anti religious) or have family members married outside the faith, as falsely stated.
During the past eight years, some of the trustees revived the idea of a vulture aviary at an astronomical cost without there being any certainty of its success. Since there has been absolutely no attempt in that direction, I propose a system which may be termed mulching (decomposition of organic matter) where the entire body is turned into mulch within two to three months.
Some years back I had tried this experiment using decomposition powder on a dead cat. The cat’s carcass disintegrated within 15 days. At that time, it did not strike me that the same principle could as well be applied to human bodies. However, the idea recurred after I read an article about the Urban Death Project by Seattle based architect Katrina Spade. In the interest of the community, I sent an email to many eminent individuals, including the high priests and BPP trustees, requesting them to consider the proposal on a trial basis. Please note that I had not used wood. It was only dead leaves, garden soil and composite powder.
To my dismay, with the exception of BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta and self proclaimed BPP scholar trustee Khojeste Mistree, no other trustee seems to have the inclination to attend to the pressing problem of rotting corpses. While the response of the chairman was to shift the onus on the high priests, Mistree has come out with the excuse that wood cannot be used on theological grounds, though he has not cited any scriptural reference to substantiate his contention.
Assuming that the population of crows and kites may have multiplied, as claimed by Mistree, the issue is whether crows and kites have the capacity to devour a corpse. For, if that was the case, why is there the stench of rotting corpses?
HOMI DALAL
homeedalal@gmail.com
◆ ◆ ◆
From the archive