"Though my grandparents were separated, my grandmother’s house was stoned in Navsari,” thespian Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal told us. She was speaking to Parsiana on February 20, 2024 about the aftermath of what is popularly known as the Vansda navjotes. Performed in 1942 for the offspring of Parsi land owners and tribal women, the navjotes evoked little support and gave rise to considerable criticism. Public meetings were called in Bombay censuring those involved. Among the prime movers of the navjotes were Dastur (Dr) Framroze Bode and social worker Burjorji Bharucha. Mody-Kotwal said her maternal grandfather Pestonji Cassad was an associate of Bode.
Cassad......