"This newsletter is a small but important step towards keeping every member of our community informed, included and connected. Inside, you’ll find updates on the work being done by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), stories of progress and glimpses of our shared journey forward,” wrote Punchayet chairman Viraf Mehta in the inaugural August 15, 2025 issue of the newsletter, From the Chairman’s Desk. Sadly, part of "the shared journey forward,” is a circular one and much travelled. We pass the same landmarks: the BPP insurance scheme launched in the first quarter of this year; the reopening of the Framji Dadabhoy Alpaiwalla Museum in March; a "trailblazing” second bike rally (no date mentioned) by the enigmatic ZYNG 2.0 (Zoroastrian Youth for the Next Generation), an organization no one knows who heads, whether elections are held, how members are enrolled, the annual fees, if any, charged, how finances are raised and managed and by whom, etc?
The workings of ZYNG are as opaque as that of the BPP. Nothing is disclosed to the public. Formal queries sent to BPP trustees remain unanswered. Only the trust’s accounts are accessible on their website, bombayparsipunchayet.org. The newsletter, however, does not feature on the website, reinforcing the impression that the missive is the chairman’s initiative and states only his point of view. This is rather apparent because the editorial is replete with "I” instead of "we.” As it is, the BPP as a whole does not inspire much confidence in the community; an independent trustee less so. Community members visiting the website in anticipation of reading any current news are in for disappointment.
One would feel more optimistic about the newsletter if it were from the boardroom as versus an individual trustee’s desk. The communique, however is keen to burnish the overall image of the trust and its multiple activities. But it is scanty on specifics. Even the periodicity of the newsletter is not mentioned. It could be next month or next year. Why commit to a time frame when it is so much easier to publish on a need-based requirement?
Since the newsletter is online and distributed on WhatsApp, most may read the text on their mobile phones. Allowing for the small screens, this is a tedious and tiring exercise. When we managed to print it, the type was so minuscule that we needed a magnifying glass to read it. Email addresses may not be easily available as versus cell phone numbers and hence the resort to the popular and easy-to-access WhatsApp. Plus the groups formed on the App ensure any information a wide and immediate reach. But not all community members are enlisted on the various WhatsApp groups so how many received/viewed the electronic communiqué is uncertain. Emails have a restricted appeal. Printing and distributing a newsletter is an expensive proposition.
The new board of trustees took office end May 2022 and Mehta became chairman on January 3, 2024 when Armaity Tirandaz stepped down after fracturing her hip. For our January 2024 issue of Parsiana we had asked Mehta what he felt were the major challenges facing the trust. "Our number one priority is to improve the financial health of the BPP by generating funds,” he replied. "Apart from raising enough to cover costs, we need to restore all the commitments made to the community like second and third child subsidy, financial aid to our mobeds, etc.”
He reiterated his ambitious though impractical scheme of monetizing trust property. In a contentious community like ours where even the construction of a cosmopolitan hospital funded by an overseas Parsi Zoroastrian donor can be successfully stymied, what hope is there of selling or developing trust property? It takes years of litigation and perseverance, assuming all the trustees have agreed to the proposition in the first place.
Mehta’s newsletter makes no mention of finance. Whether the auctions of charitable flats — the BPP’s main resort to raise funds — is tapering off is not mentioned nor is the number of tenancies so transferred. Instead, there is talk of a new fund to be set up "to support mental health care within the Parsi Irani Zoroastrian community.” And if you were imagining the formation of such a scheme would be announced by the BPP board through their website or a press release, think again. The news was broken by the mid-day newspaper on a front page story on August 4, 2025. How the financially bankrupt BPP which is unable to meet its existing social welfare commitments would raise additional funds was not explained. Instead, Mehta’s newsletter states, "Today we are making a heartfelt appeal to help us build a dedicated corpus fund.” Does the BPP have the personnel and expertise to manage such a scheme? Of course they run the F. S. Parukh Dharamshala in Khareghat Colony and the Lady Hirabai Cowasji Jehangir Health Unit in Gamadia Colony. One would think partnering with The B. D. Petit Parsee General Hospital with its underutilized facilities or the Masina Hospital which has experience in the field would be worth exploring. But as usual the plans for the scheme are sketchy.
When we inquired from Mehta on August 13 whether any official statement had been issued on the founding of the mental health project, he replied, "We just launched the scheme and an appeal.” He added, "No official statement yet” has been issued. BPP trustee Xerxes Dastur when asked about the program replied, "It’s set up, we are now collecting funds for the same. Eligibility will be decided case per case. We are already looking after quite a few cases.”
The newsletter also referred to the launch of a "Kathi Fund spearheaded by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet… providing targeted financial support to vulnerable Parsi individuals and families who have served — and continue to serve — the community in humble but essential roles.” The BPP defines kathi not as firewood but "Parsis from working class backgrounds who took on jobs as security staff, Baug assistants, service workers and caretakers of our shared spaces.”
There is no mention in the newsletterof the non-functioning solar panels at Doongerwadi or reports of drones flying overhead that can capture the images of bodies rotting on the pavis. Nor why the Federation of the Parsi Zoroastrian Anjumans of India is not holding meetings.
The newsletter reads more like an election manifesto than a report of the Bombay trust’s functioning. Is it just another missed opportunity or can we hope for something more meaningful? Perhaps the next issue — if there is one — may help answer the question.