Re: Your Editorial In PT Issue Dated 10 November, 2018

Thank you for the very inspiring and motivating editorial last Saturday. It’s really a sad situation when seniors have to spend their last days lonely, ignored and sometimes at the mercy of maids who make their lives even more miserable.

We, the seniors of Rustom Baug, try to do our bit for the lonely occupants of flats in our Baug, by visiting them and also sending them sweets/gifts for Jamshedji Navroze and Parsi New year.

I wish more of our community members would come forward to do the same. Though there is always the feat that a few disgruntled people will whispering cast aspersions questioning their intent, but that is something we must take in our stride.

Zarine Bahmani

For the Senior Citizens Group of Rustom Baug.

 

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Re: Loneliness Amongst Our Seniors

I have been given to understand that in Calcutta, eminent persons, namely CA Bahadur Postwalla and others ensure all Parsi Senior Citizens are very well looked after, with helpers looking in on them, running errands for them, accompanying them to doctors, help them file IT Returns, assist in their banking works, and generally see to their welfare. They have a network of people/ volunteers that assist the elderly at all times.

Maybe some of our like-minded Parsis of Mumbai can contact persons of Calcutta or their Zoroatrian institutions and learn the ropes, so that senior Parsis of Mumbai too can be similarly assisted.

Dinyar Nakra (dinyar.nakra.dn@gmail.com)

 

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Re: Dara Khodaiji’s Letter ‘Orthodox V/s Orthodox’ (Abridged version)

Whilst I agree with Mr. Khodaiji on bridging the gap between segments, I sadly noticed the contradiction in his advice and his action of pinning the blame on only one segment. But more so distressing is his “one being those who believe in Zoroastrianism as given to the world by Asho Zarathushtra as laid down in His Gathas; and the other believing in traditions established after landing in India”. Mr. Khodaiji, with his good intentions, makes two glaring historical and factual blunders. One is the creating another segment and division where in reality and historically, none exists, but more so in debunking the saviours of Zoroastrians as being different and being ignorant of True Zoroastrianism. If not for those that saved the Zoroastrian flame and faith in India, Zoroastrianism in Iran and thus Zoroastrians of Iran would have ceased to exist and there would be no diaspora around the world to then sit jury, judge and Executioner that they no more than those responsible for Zoroastrianism surviving!

And for what was this faulty degrading and diminutive premise created in the first place? Just for a difference of opinion as regards conversions these now demean the saviours of Zoroastrianism. These even nearly achieved what hoards of Byzantines, and Fanatical Arabs and even Alexander could not achieve by burning our books. These Sherlock Holmes, to justify their POV, started debunking all other Zoroastrian texts other than the Gathas. If they would have just studied the subject, it would be clear that the Gathas act like synopsis of the entire gambit of books, some that lay destroyed by our adversaries, whilst the remaining they want to destroy by debunking them from within.

I would redirect Mr. Dara Khodaiji to the wars taking place today in what was Persian lands. Iraq, sanctions against Iran, Syria being bombed by two Non Islamic countries, both telling Syrians that it is for their good. Though the Taliban is composed of Islamists, the creators are not Islamists, same with the ISIS. If one studies the movement of ISIS, it would appear that ISIS is a tool of those that send it to a host country after weakening it and once chaos and anarchy is channelised, portraying themselves as fighting terror, being welcomed as saviours…after washing their hands off sin.

In short, the history of Sassanian Byzantine war and thirst to convert that is pulverising the human spirit and soul being replayed elsewhere too. In such a scenario, it would be prudent to take recourse in the wisdom of the saviours of Zoroastrianism in gaining solutions be it how to convert or whether to convert, instead of debunking them.

In words of a well-known professor, “Just by navjot-ing someone, one does not become a Zoroastrian, to profess its ways, to understand its concept, rituals and traditions makes one a Zoroastrian”. The Zoroastrians made sure that passage of Zoroastrianism is passed on every generation and not dying with books being burnt, was done by oral passage that are termed as traditions, rituals or concepts. For us to survive as Zoroastrians, it is imperative that Zoroastrianism through its traditions, rituals and concepts survive, and debunking the saviours of Zoroastrianism is a sure shot way of contradicting the promotion of Zoroastrianism.

I thank both, Parsi Times for giving us a platform and Dara Khodaiji, for sharing his views.

 Rustom (rustomjam@gmail.com)