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Cleanliness is an essential precept of Zoroastrianism but the visitors’ toilet blocks were a blot on both, the hallowed final resting grounds of traditionalist Parsis and the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) that manages the 55-acre Doongerwadi estate.
The shabby and unhygienic toilets for Parsi and non-Parsi, male and female mourners, priests and others have finally been given a facelift after much wrangling among the BPP trustees. The Rs 16 lakh (USD 22,464) required for the toilet blocks adjacent to the main pavilion and the bunglis is a negligible amount compared to the estate’s annual deficit of around three crore rupees (USD 420,796).
A proposal to accept assistance from Mangal Prabhat Lodha, member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Malabar Hill was shot down by the BPP claiming that MLA funds were from "tax payers” funds  and had to be used for the benefit of the general public. Also traditionalists questioned the merits of receiving funds from non-Parsis for a Parsi religious cause. But fortuitously, a Parsi donor, the Maneckbai P. B. Jeejeebhoy Trust Fund, emerged through the contacts of Dr Rashneh Pardiwala, founder-trustee of the Centre for Environmental and Research Education (CERE), that was undertaking a project for the greening of Doongerwadi. She had been told of the need to raise funds for the toilet blocks.

 

 

 

 

 

At the inaugural function on January 14, 2020, Pardiwala narrated that CERE had come in contact with Scylla Vatcha, the managing trustee of the Maneckbai Jeejeebhoy Trust Fund and her daughter-in-law Persis was undertaking a rain harvesting project at Warden Road’s Saher Agiary.  She, therefore, could approach Persis for the toilet repair funding. Persis visited the blocks and said they "would support” the project. Their largesse then extended to the area surrounding the block. "A cheque of Rs 16 lakh was handed over with the instructions to ‘Do the project,’” Pardiwala  recalled. "It’s  been a labor of love for Katy (CERE co-trustee Kitayun Rustom) and me.” Their contractor, Raju Prajayapati, did an admirable job, she added.
BPP chairman Yazdi Desai admitted the trustees had "ignored the bad condition” of the toilets and stated when visiting Doongerwadi, "I take the car down to Shalimar Hotel to use the toilets.” He rated the renovated toilets, "five star, actually seven star for toilets. I’m proud the BPP has done something, even (though) a urinal. I hope the BPP can maintain it.”
Persis told the gathering that she came three to four times to "see where the money goes.” Scylla’s philosophy that guided her Trust was "to give till it hurts.”
According to emails published  by the Parsi Junction of October 20, 2019, Pardiwala sent an email to BPP trustee Kersi Randeria and the other BPP trustees on September 26, thanking them for their "kind words of appreciation” towards the greening of Doongerwadi. "I have been planting trees in Ambawadi and Doongerwadi for the past five years and feel deeply connected with our Towers of Silence. I will always try and help as much as possible and I am keen to ensure that our Parsi properties are maintained as best as possible for future generations to appreciate and utilize.” CERE has planted "over 5,000 trees” at Doongerwadi and 1,200 in the adjoining five-acre Ambawadi, Pardiwala had noted.
"After many months of efforts I have finally con­vinced one Parsi donor to support the refurbishment of the main toilet block at Doongerwadi facing the main pavilion… I will undertake the entire refurbishment of the toilet block through my organization which shall receive funds from the donor and execute the project on a turnkey basis,” Pardiwala stated.
On the same day Desai replied that "we have already arranged to have the toilet block repaired through the MLA funds and it will be bad for the image of the BPP for the trustees to keep changing our mind… While we sincerely appreciate the donation brought by you, we would like to use it to either repair the mobed rooms at Doongerwadi… which are in a dilapidated condition with leakage and plaster falling; or on our dakhmas which are about to fall apart and require urgent repairs.”
Pardiwala replied that she would examine the mobed room "to judge the volume of work… and if it would fall within the budget.”
BPP trustee Noshir Dadrawala noted on the same day that "some of the BPP trustees are not in favor of MLA funds” for repairing the toilets and requested Pardiwala to use the funds for what they had been secured. The same day, BPP trustee Viraf Mehta replied that Desai "has rather hastily given approval to Mr Lodha… This was not approved by the board. In fact there is no resolution to that effect either… The only reason Mr Desai cited for using political money was no Parsi donor was coming forward.”  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After visiting the mobeds’ room which is housed in the mobed building at Doongerwadi, Pardiwala noted, "The entire building needs extensive repairs” and would exceed the present budget. "I am sure that if we execute the toilet block project well, we will be able to raise additional funds from Parsi donors for the mobed building and other projects.”
Pardiwala noted that the donor had visited Doongerwadi and "she has kindly agreed to confirm the project with immediate release of funds and also additionally sponsor the renovation of the urinal, bathrooms and water station outside and behind the toilet block so the entire zone is clean and hygienic.” She thanked the BPP trustees for granting permission and the project which was to start on October 21, 2019 was inaugurated in mid-January 2020. The bathing and toilet facilities for the pallbearers which are closer to the dakhmas and have been renovated by the BPP at a cost of Rs 6.12  lakhs (USD 8,584) were inaugurated half an hour earlier.