I am in agreement with the writers of the letters titled "New Year musings” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, August 21-September 6, 2020) about a minuscule community like ours having three calendars!
As a youngster living in Udvada I used to visit the Iranshah Atash Behram and was surprised to find an array of prayer books in Gujarati, English and in the Persian script on the bookshelf, some marked Shahenshahi and others Kadmi.
My mother explained to me that her mother was a Kadmi and her father a Shahenshahi but there were no conflicts and what eventually counted was faith in the religion, whether one followed one calendar or the other, prayed the Avesta written in Gujarati or in English. Other than scholars, many people like me may not understand the meaning of the recited prayers. However, the solace and the peace of mind that follow after saying the prayers are of prime importance.
In extremely rare cases, I find that the same word in Gujarati is pronounced differently in the Srosh Baj and in the Nirangs (for example "Fara” in the former but "Fradha” in the latter), both brought out by the same publisher. Dr VISPY M. MEHER-HOMJI
vispymeherhomji@gmail.com
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