Geriatric community
Out of 57,264 Parsis in India, how many are of marriageable age? Many would be married. Ours is the only community with preponderance of those over 60 years of age. Call it a geriatric community. In my society of 300 flats, I have observed that 80% of the residents are senior citizens. Would the position be different in other baugs and Parsi housing societies? One pointer to our declining population was the closure of the Parsi Lying-In Hospital over 25 years ago.
There is greater demand for senior citizens’ homes than for crèches. Just a glance at the statistics in Parsiana regarding the births/deaths ratio will confirm this. Why expect the few youngsters to take the onus of increasing the numbers, when such an action plan should have been started 80 years back?
Some Parsis are inter-married. Dhongis restrict the children of outmarried females into our community. Even if there were no such impediment, I wonder how many non Parsi sons-in-law would allow their children to become Zoroastrians?
The writing is on the wall. Parsis will vanish from the face of this earth but Zoroastrianism will survive and flourish in the world. HOMI DALAL
homeedalal@ gmail.com
In Kurdistan and Tajikistan there is a revival of Zoroastrian. In Iraqi Kurdistan it is being officially recognized. The Kurds will keep the religion of Zoroaster alive long after the last Parsi has vanished.