Readers' Forum
“Poonawalla’s patronage”
On reading the item "Poonawalla’s patronage” (Events and Personalities, Parsiana, September 21, 2015) I was filled with nostalgia as my mother hails from Udvada. We have a very strong connection with the place which houses the holy Atash Padshah. I spent all vacations during my growing years at my grandmother’s place, Bharda House, which has been mired in various controversies of late.
When I last visited Udvada in October 2013, I walked about the whole town after leaving my mother at the fire temple. I literally know every lane and where it will take me. Once a buzzing place with loads of activities in every household, I found it to be a different town. There are more non-Parsis than Parsis in Udvada today. At night it feels like a ghost town with Parsi houses unoccupied or occupied by just one or two elderly residents, with a small bulb lighting the otla.
The most disturbing development is the spate of robberies that take place there. The "gaam gherna chhokrao (town’s lads)” are absent. Nothing has been done over the years to develop the place or provide security, so houses and old residents have become soft targets for people to plunder. Who will stop them? Most visitors go there for a day or two and then return to their lives in the cities. Serious efforts will have to be made, if we really care to preserve our heritage.
I know I will be considered an outsider, and that I have let down my religion because of my name, but at heart I am still a Parsi to the core.
Udvada does not have a police station or any police presence. I suggest that philanthropists first organize safety and security for the Parsis remaining in Udvada and then celebrate utsavs which, according to me, are just fun and games which last for a day or two and may even strain the town’s limited resources.
NAWAZ VIJAYAKUMAR
Poona
nawaz.v@rubyhall.com
When I last visited Udvada in October 2013, I walked about the whole town after leaving my mother at the fire temple. I literally know every lane and where it will take me. Once a buzzing place with loads of activities in every household, I found it to be a different town. There are more non-Parsis than Parsis in Udvada today. At night it feels like a ghost town with Parsi houses unoccupied or occupied by just one or two elderly residents, with a small bulb lighting the otla.
The most disturbing development is the spate of robberies that take place there. The "gaam gherna chhokrao (town’s lads)” are absent. Nothing has been done over the years to develop the place or provide security, so houses and old residents have become soft targets for people to plunder. Who will stop them? Most visitors go there for a day or two and then return to their lives in the cities. Serious efforts will have to be made, if we really care to preserve our heritage.
I know I will be considered an outsider, and that I have let down my religion because of my name, but at heart I am still a Parsi to the core.
Udvada does not have a police station or any police presence. I suggest that philanthropists first organize safety and security for the Parsis remaining in Udvada and then celebrate utsavs which, according to me, are just fun and games which last for a day or two and may even strain the town’s limited resources.
NAWAZ VIJAYAKUMAR
Poona
nawaz.v@rubyhall.com
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