The rationale offered by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s (BPP) Organising Committee (OC) for changing the venue of the 10th World Zoroastrian Congress (10WZC) three months prior to the December 27, 2013 inaugural is based on an optimistic presumption. The apex trust claims that the registration of delegates to the international meet "has exceeded our expectations” and hence the move from the prestigious National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) at Nariman Point to the newly opened, reportedly swish National Sports Club of India (NSCI) stadium at Worli "in the heart of South Bombay.”
In the Chairman’s Message in The BPP Review of August 2013 Dinshaw Mehta has quoted a figure of 800 plus registered delegates. The NSCI stadium "has an impressive seating capacity of up to 5,000,” writes Mehta, citing this as a reason to extend the early bird offer of Rs 8,900 per person indefinitely. At the NCPA the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre has a capacity of 900, thereby requiring the overflow to be seated in the adjacent Tata Theatre and "view Congress proceedings and the entertainment programs through video conferencing. The OC wasn’t very happy with this arrangement,” explained Mehta.
In contrast the last Congress held in Bombay in 1990 at the 1,075 seater Birla Matushree Sabhagar auditorium on Marine Lines saw empty seats and even vacant rows throughout the five-day proceedings. The inauguration, however was held at the Parsi Gymkhana grounds on Marine Drive which could accommodate a larger crowd. The delegate fees for the Fifth Congress were also a pittance as food was not included (Rs 100 for a delegate and Rs 50 for the spouse; Rs 20 for a student, no charge for practising priests). A grand dinner for which additional monies had to be paid was optional. At that time the Parsi population in India according to the Government of India census figures was 76,382. The 2011 census figures for the community are still awaited but the figure is expected to be around 61,000 to 62,000, 15,000 to 16,000 less than in 1990.
The North American Zoroastrian population figure is no doubt higher than it was 23 years ago, but how many will attend is a question mark. The OC has not done much marketing outside of Bombay. Aside from The BPP Review and a few advertisements in the Jam-e-Jamshed Weekly no advertisements promoting the Congress have appeared in the FEZANA Journal published from North America nor the Hamazor quarterly of the World Zoroastrian Organisation. Of course both publications’ editorial policy is alien to the views held by outwardly traditionalist leaning BPP trustees. Parsiana also falls in the same category. Parsi Times is shunned because it is owned by Kersi Randeria, sometime foe, sometime ally of Mehta.
So it is unlikely that the 5,000 seating capacity will have more than a 25 percent occupancy. Aside from the inaugural function, attendance at the various sessions is considerably less. Even if the enrolment for the Congress reaches 2,000 — an unlikely eventuality allowing for the Rs 8,900 price tag (including tax and meals) — how many will commute daily to the new venue which is not easily accessible? Worli is hardly "the heart of South Bombay,” as claimed. It is on the fringe of South Bombay at best. The nearest train station is Mahalaxmi which is quite a distance away. The only plus point the organizers state is ample parking space, a great boon in Bombay for those with cars.
The OC has yet not made public the names of the speakers. In the same Review edition Mehta states, "We are expecting responses from various speakers after which the detailed program will be announced.” It is only from the grapevine and other sources that we know that the President of India Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the Congress and that Lord Karan Bilimoria is expected to deliver the keynote address. This is surprising allowing that Bilimoria is married to a non-Parsi and at least one BPP trustee has recommended that Parsis emulate the Taliban in ensuring that community members marry only their own kind.
A major attraction for attending any Congress, aside from the social networking and food, are the speakers. Without finalizing and announcing the names, how is one to decide if the meet will have substantial intellectual and innovative content and not be a boring talkathon? And even if good speakers are invited barely three months prior to the meet can they prepare thoughtful, researched papers geared for a lay Zoroastrian audience?
This underlying fear may deter the more thoughtful community members from attending. Even if one can afford the delegate fee, manage the transport and spare four days, will it all be worthwhile?
The BPP ventured into the Congress without any preparation or plan. The application was a scrawled handwritten one on a sheet of paper borrowed from a panel member deciding on the venue. Four years later the BPP is beginning to realize the full implication of hosting an international meet. All the necessary formalities and permissions for holding the event at the new venue will have to be gone through again. The trust is already burdened with the day-to-day routine of managing 5,500 to 6,000 flats, running several institutions, looking after various other properties and contesting numerous court cases.
In the renegade priests case the Supreme Court has stated that if by this November 26, 2013 mediation fails to resolve the dispute, the Court may start to hear the matter. That may mean in the throes of the preparations for the Congress the trustees will have to spend crucial time gearing for the case and attending hearings in Delhi. The BPP had banned two priests from performing religious ceremonies at Doongerwadi and two agiaries managed by them as they were performing funerary services for those opting for cremation, albeit not at Doongerwadi.
To add to the trustees’ woes the dogged Meher Master-Moos, Jamshed Salamat Irani and their pugnacious lawyer Bapoo Malcolm are pursuing allegations of "big frauds played” by the BPP. They allege purloined photographs were used as evidence by the trust to discredit Ervad Khushroo Madon, one of the two so-called renegade priests.
The BPP Review also carries Mehta’s wish list of nine items, eight of which refer to property disputes and one pertaining to setting up the vulture aviary at Doongerwadi. "In the spirit of goodwill and communal harmony we would request all of our community members to cooperate with the trustees and unilaterally work for a better tomorrow,” pleads Mehta. Perhaps he should have also wished for the holding of a successful world congress. That may be the only wish that could still remotely come true.