Be grateful

Have the Parsis of today heard the dictum "Don’t wash your dirty linen in public" or an extremely crude one which should not shock most Parsis, but under the circumstances needs to be mentioned, "Don’t s… on your own doorstep"? I refer to the article in The Times of India of August 11, 2018 entitled "Parsi Hospital Row Reaches Charity Chief." [The article referred to the controversy over a new cosmopolitan hospital to be constructed in The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital (PGH) complex from a munificent donation of Rs 150 crores from Jal and Pervin Shroff of Hong Kong. The profit accrued from the venture would be used to subsidize the PGH’s losses.] Why all this is made public is beyond me. Why do we always find faults with our own? With our dwindling population, how can the Hospital carry on serving our community unless we bring in more patients from other communities?

Can we deny the fact that we are the envy of all due to the facilities we enjoy? A beautiful Hospital, in lovely surroundings, catering to both the rich and the poor. If I may add, yes, even to undeserving ones. Does the Bombay Parsi Punchayat have a solution? If so, please, make it clear as to how they will help. Are they going to subsidize or could it be that they are somehow seeking a subsidy themselves? Just a hypothetical question! Or are they saying "Let the Hospital go to the dogs"?

In today’s day and age, Parsis from all over the world are getting together to preserve our identity by dropping norms we were brought up with, finding ways of attracting the young, trying to explain what was taken for granted by us. When Parsis from abroad choose to financially help those of us in Bombay, instead of appreciation they hear objections! All I say is be grateful for what our community has done for us instead of picking on those whose intention is to help.

We have changed over the years. We are certainly not what our ancestors were when we first landed. So why can’t we accept what is happening today?

MEHROO S. KHAREGAT

meherbai36@hotmail.com