Kadimi Navroz Mubarak!

Dear Readers,

How absolutely wonderful it is to belong to a community that celebrates its occasions twice over!! While the rest of the world celebrates its special days once a year, we get to revel in our joys twice – once on the ‘Roj ni’ date, based on our Parsi /Irani calendars, and the second time, as per the English calendar, with the Roj-based occasion preceding the latter. So, we have multiple birthdays, anniversaries and New Years… all in one year!

Maybe it’s this unique ‘twice-over legacy’ that adds to the overall quirkiness that is the hallmark of our community… take for instance, how often do we hear some of our fellow diners, seated next to us in lagans and navjotes, quipping to the servers, “biji taang aavva de” or “Raja, bijo piece naakh, naa sharma!” to bump up our patru with the yummy lagan-nu-bhonu!

Or, even how so many who own accommodations outside Baugs still hang on to their Baug residences, giving their ownership flats on rent! Yes, we want it all, twice over… and then some! But the most unfortunate of this ‘twice over’ legacy is when it comes to Parsis litigating each other – with the number of cases of Parsis suing each other, being many times over, the total number of existing Parsis!

A little more gratitude, a little less entitlement… a little more open-heartedness, a little less small-mindedness would go a long way for us all.

On a more positive note, as a community, with our love for ‘more’, we also heartily celebrate the diversity within – as our fellow Zarathushtis belonging to the Kadimi /Kadmi sect celebrate New Year on Sunday, 17^th July, 2022! Truth is – as long as we nurture unity in our diversity and have reason to get together as a community to feast, celebrate and bond – ‘twice over’ is surely the way to go!

Here’s wishing our Kadmi brethren a Happy and Prosperous Navroz Mubarak! Have a lovely weekend!

– Anahita