Proud to be a Parsi
I was in a store on the second day of the Iranshah Udvada Utsav which The Times of India had covered very well. Suddenly the shopkeeper asked me in Gujarati: "Tamé Parsi chho? Khabar padi, khaali tamé lokoj étlu madhur ané mitthu Gujarati boloch (Are you a Parsi? I came to know. Only you people speak such melodious and sweet Gujarati)” He said it so genuinely that I began to grin from ear to ear, feeling partly embarrassed, partly proud. This is a general opinion about us amongst all and sundry. It’s in our genes to be caring, honest, happy go lucky, khao-piyo-maja-masti, (eat, drink and make merry) and always with a smile. Non-Parsis believe even when a bawa utters a gar (swear word) it sounds sweet to their ears!
It was very heartening to read about the Udvada festival. We have to admit the Bharatiya Janata Party government has given us a lot of ‘maan chaan’ (respect) right from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bigwigs in the government like Union finance minister Arun Jatiley and Gujarat finance minister Saurabh Patel paying glowing tributes to the community.
At the Utsav two ratnas of the community were honored — Ratan Tata and Dr Cyrus Poonawalla. Both these men have earned millions by way of personal wealth; one gave employment to millions and dignity to workers in industry, while the other saved millions of lives through the vaccines manufactured by his company.
If only the orthodox would allow the changes needed for our survival it would be a turning point in the growth of our community. Dr Shernaz Cama’s push for surrogacy through the Jiyo Parsi project, if accepted wholeheartedly, would be a boon for all. When a high priest like Dastur Khurshed Dastoor is ready for the change, why are we shying away from it? This dastur has the guts to talk about change, but the orthodox are hell bent on thwarting it.
We must take cognizance of men like Dastoor and former advocate general of Maharashtra Darius Khambata who are scholars of our religion and would never go against the tenets of what is stated in our holy Gathas. Really speaking, we have hardly any choice. It is time to face reality as time is running out for us. We must confront diehard orthodoxy which does not wish to budge from its stand to save ourselves from extinction.
Our Parsi genes are extremely strong, and even with dilution they resurface. I have seen this in many children of Parsi women married to non-Parsis. The Parsipanu or Parsi traits survive despite mixed marriages, so why not accept the situation? A half Parsi is as much a bawa as a so-called pure Parsi.
Like it or not, dilution has always taken place amongst us, and so it’s time we got rid of these false racist values and notions. RODA D. HAKIM
Baroda
vadhakim@yahoo.com
Your letter contradicts... If you say Parsi genes are important... today 50% , then 25%, 12.5% n 6.25% ...WILL THE GENES REALLY BE EFFECTIVE? HOW ON EARTH WILL U FIND PARSIPANU IN LATER GENERATIONS? Today, what we really should do, is STOP GOING AGAINST NATURE. Marry early when one can produce children. when Hindus n Muslims become grandparents we have children in Primary schools... so many unmarried people, can you find this ratio in any other religion? It is common sense that Dilution will destroy us. Puchhi kon mithhu mithhu bols-e? If tigers can be bred n survived can't we help ourselves? instead of mud-slinging, sarcasm, ego clashes, can't we work amicably to revive ourselves? If we inculcate love, respect n faith in ourselves n our gen. next. If we put our religion, above our selves, marry a Humdin early n have children 3-4 things will MOST Definitely CHANGE. If the rich form a corpus, children of mid. class can be educated easily. May wisdom prevail. Armin Dutia Motashaw.