Soldier and the Prophet

My father, the late Jamshed Maneckji Patell, had been a reputed photo artist of Allahabad and nearby cities as well as some of the royal Indian states. He was official photographer for all public organizations in the city.
On one occasion long before Indian independence he had gone to take photographs of the British garrisons in Akbar’s grand and imposing fort where their families had also been stationed. As my father was walking through the high walled and long dormitories, he saw soldiers standing near their beds with pictures of popular pin-ups of the day displayed on the walls. Mostly the soldiers were uneducated and spoke in cockney English.
At the head of one bed was a large, full length picture of Zarathushtra. To say that Dad was surprised would be an understatement! He asked the smiling soldier whether he was a Parsi. The man looked quizzically at my Dad and admitted that he did not understand the question. So Dad asked him why he had Zarathushtra’s picture near his bed. The reply stunned him: "I liked the face and I liked his fancy dress.” The soldier then wanted to know why Dad had asked. When told that it was the picture of our Prophet, the soldier looked at it with awe and reverence! MEHER D. DHONDY
Gurgaon, Haryana