a sprawling city like Poona are available at affordable prices/rents. But even in Bombay, the Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s waiting list for houses has shrunk from thousands to hundreds. At the FPZAI meeting, the president of the Bilimora anjuman also said they had two vacant flats in their newly constructed building.
It is to the credit of the Poona occupants that some of them are able to shift to larger homes thereby freeing community housing. But in a depleting community, vacant houses could pose a problem if no one comes forward to occupy the accommodation. We have seen this in the plight of our community hospitals and schools. The schools have all become cosmopolitan and the hospitals have many empty beds and wards.
The Poona vacancies raise the issue of which norms charity accommodation should follow. Should the criteria for eligibility be tweaked? Should those with higher incomes be barred from qualifying? What should be the maximum cutoff? Should out-married Parsis be given allotment? Should the space and facilities be minimal? Should the occupants be denied a say in the running of the local anjuman that constructed the homes? Should the new occupants be made to feel they are recipients of charity?
Some tenants do abuse the privilege accorded, but the majority are grateful. The existing local Parsi community benefits from the infusion of newcomers who patronize neighboring Parsi institutions, are mindful of the welfare of fellow residents and take an interest in keeping their surroundings safe, secure and hygienic.
In the four-volume series The Parsis of India edited by professors Armaity Desai and Shalini Bharat based on surveys undertaken by the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Prof Lata Narayan notes in the conclusion to her chapter "Factors Influencing Personal Identity," in the volume titled The World of Parsi Youth, "Location of stay (urban - rural; type of city) and neighborhood (predominantly Parsi or cosmopolitan) influence their socialization processes and, hence their social identity."
When trusts create housing, they should do so to improve the quality of life of the residents. The Wadia baugs are a prime example of how community housing should be planned and executed: spacious flats, gardens, a pavilion or club, a canteen, sports facilities. Of course at the time the five colonies were built, families were larger, land was not at such a premium and the Wadia family possessed great wealth which they generously shared with their co-religionists.
In an interview with Parsiana this May 22, HDFC (Housing Development Finance Corporation) vice chairman and chief executive officer (see "The ‘largest investment,’" pg 27), while noting that the Parsis had done more for housing than any other community, cautioned that before building any further accommodation a survey/study should be done to ascertain the community’s requirements a 100 years hence.
Community leaders should also assess on an all-India basis the number of flats constructed, the number that are vacant, mired in litigation, under repair, being constructed or planned. They need to know the strength of the Parsi population, the rate of decrease, the age groups, the number of people in the child bearing age and so on. They can then decide if optimum utilization is being made of the existing stock and whether new accommodation requires to be constructed or bought commercially from the open market.
But the trustees are so pressured with the day-to-day functioning of their trusts and personal commitments, that most function on an ad hoc basis. Planning is considered a luxury, if not an encumbrance that delays execution of projects. As a result, the anjumans may rush to build housing that may remain under utilized instead of using the resources to assist the Parsi needy, the elderly, the infirm or even to build schools, medical centers, libraries for all sections of society.
Sadly, there are many in the community who deny the numbers are dwindling. They claim the missing Parsis have settled overseas. Bharat notes in the conclusion of her chapter, "Housing, Migration, Health Status and Use of Charities," in volume two, Contemporary Parsis Marriage, Family and Community: "The trend of migrating abroad for work or education was reportedly low. Only one-fifth of the study respondents reported migration of a primary family member, and about half that of an extended family member, to a foreign country in the past two or three decades. Nearly three-fourths had no plan to migrate abroad."
Interestingly the study also found, "nearly two-thirds reported to be living in their current location since birth." This implies people are either reluctant or unable to move to other locales. The Poona residents who moved, as well as those in Avan Baug in Navsari do so because the existing accommodation was not adequate for their needs and they had the financial liquidity to make a change.
If trusts want Parsis to continue residing in community housing, they’ll have to keep in mind the requirements of the beneficiaries instead of deciding for them.