“There is pain”

"I am healing well, but today there is pain,” Ervad Mehernosh Bharucha told Parsiana from his home on November 25, 2023. Bharucha suffered burns on his hands when his jama caught fire while praying a frokshi at Hyderabad’s Bai Maneckbai Nusserwanji Chenoy Fire Temple (adarian) on November 11. Reportedly an ember fell on his outer garment which he tried to douse with his hands. He told us that he also tore apart the kuss (bows) on the jama, while agiary employee Percy Manekshana and a behdin, Cyrus Tarapore, for whom he was offering prayers, helped him remove the jama. Bharucha was hospitalized for five days. Parsiana was informed on December 2 that he would need to stay away from work for at least another month. Additional fire extinguishers have been added in the fire temple.

Ervad Mehernosh Bharucha

A priest of 50 years’ standing, including 18 full-time at the Hyderabad fire temple, Bharucha was not wearing the fire retardant jama, padan (mouth cover) and hand pockets that had been provided to all mobeds in India from the World Zoroastrian Organisation Trust Funds (WZOTF) in 2021 (see "Protecting priests,” Parsiana, April 21-May 6, 2021).

Dinshaw Tamboly, chairman of the WZOTF told Parsiana on November 28: "The fire retardant jamas were made keeping the safety of mobeds in mind… Whilst the jama may be a bit heavy compared to regular ones, it is always recommended they should be worn with a pichhori (waist band) which would make it a shade more comfortable.” He explained that with the pichhori, some of the weight on the shoulders may be taken off, which would not happen if it is worn without one.

Tamboly recommended that "mobeds who perform ceremonies seated on chairs should always bear in mind that the afarganyu is generally on the setranji (mat) on the floor and the edges of their pyjamas being near the fire can create issues for them. It is advisable for mobeds who perform ceremonies sitting on chairs to ensure that the afarganyu is placed in an elevated position (on a table).” Later, Ervad Hormuz Dadachanji told Parsiana that this is the method used in the two agiaries where he serves as panthaky — Mithaiwala and Vachaghandhy in Bombay.

The Bai Maneckbai Nusserwanji Chenoy Fire Temple and the residents in the surrounding flats are battling the entry of sewage water in their compound since March 2022 reportedly due to unauthorized construction by a neighboring eatery, Santosh Dhaba (see "Battling sewage ingress,” Events and Personalities, Parsiana, November 7-20, 2023).

"I am a beneficiary of this fire temple so I took up this cause as a challenge,” stated Bisney who prepared an online petition and liaised with the press to give wide publicity to the matter to bring awareness on the issue. His efforts have resulted in the Telangana High Court directing officials of the municipal corporation and the water and sewerage board "to stop the practice of passing the buck when it came to performing their duties and to resolve the complicated issue of contamination of the sacred well” (Deccan Chronicle, November 7).

Bisney supported petitioner Ervad Kerfegar Antia, also a PZASH trustee and part-time priest at the fire temple, who complained to the High Court that the two bodies were "lethargic as regards resolving the sewerage problem.” The eatery had "recently initiated a civil suit against the department, seeking an injunction to prevent access to its premises,” stated Bisney’s open letter to the community.

In a hearing on December 6, advocates Shireen Sethna Baria and Rajvinder Ahluwalia stressed that the sewerage body had spared Santosh Dhaba, and required the agiary trust to bear the cost of approximately Rs 61,00,000 towards the works required for the solution, stated Bisney. After hearing both sides, the Court issued an interim order directing the municipal corporation and the sewerage board to conduct a joint inspection and clear the sewerage lines twice daily. The next hearing was slated for December 20.