“Priests differ on Metro”

Dastur (Dr) Firoze Kotwal did the right thing to accompany Dastur Khurshed Dastoor and have his verbal say in the underground Metro matter by offering a religious perspective to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and city Bharatiya Janata Party chief Ashish Shelar ("Priests differ on Metro,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, November 21, 2017). Fadnavis not only gave a patient hearing to both these keepers of the faith but also instructed Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) officials to give an assurance in writing that no harm would come to the H. B. Wadia and Anjuman Atash Behrams as also to their wells, along with the Bhikha Behram Well. What else does the community want?
According to this understanding, the Metro tunnel is not passing underneath our sanctum sanctorums, thereby the diagonal distance between the closest point of the tunnel to the point of the keblas is 82.80 feet for the Anjuman Atash Behram and 68.82 feet for the Wadia Atash Behram. Can the self-appointed keepers of faith dispute these figures?
Today, all those who claim to be "staunch, orthodox and traditional” are in reality persons with zeal to be in the limelight. For them covering their heads with a cap is more important than leading a life on true principles of Zoroastrianism.
It is easy for parvarta (idle) Parsis to sit in the comfort of their homes and criticize on social media those who do constructive work for the community. The only aim of these self-styled keepers of the faith is to create mass hysteria among their four dozen followers and mislead the simple minded.
Of late, Dastoor has been subjected to totally unfair criticism and below the belt comments. One such confirmed Dhong Parast (phony) went to the extent of commenting on social media that the jurisdiction of Dastoor as the Udvada High Priest is restricted to his parish (panthak) Udvada and that his views concerning Bombay should be ignored. At the same time, this Dhong Parast found nothing wrong in relying on the "support” of the Surat and Navsari high priests!
The same dhongis earlier preferred to seek the intervention of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, expecting to put pressure on the authorities. They even got Kotwal and Dastur (Dr) Kaikhusroo JamaspAsa to sign a letter expressing their concern that the Metro rail work would affect the sanctity and safety of the two atash behrams. HOMI DALAL
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