The song To Parsi Girls We’ll Wrong No More and its lyrics are a musical representation of Prochy Mehta’s 2022 book Who Is A Parsi? stated song writer Yezdi Karai in communication with Parsiana on February 18, 2023. A retired consulting professional and active member of the Calcutta Parsi Amateur Dramatics Club, Karai noted: "Our conscience should lead us to question the discriminatory practice of intermarried Parsi women and their children being deprived of their rights to worship as Zoroastrians.”
Sung by Samara Mehta Vyas, Prochy’s 16-year-old granddaughter, the video was posted on YouTube on February 14 and has been doing the rounds on Parsi WhatsApp groups, Karai noted. Prochy and her daughter Sanaya Mehta Vyas have filed an Originating Summons in the Calcutta High Court to inquire into who has the right of entry to that city’s only agiary. Prochy’s grandchildren were debarred from visiting the fire temple as their father is a non-Parsi (see "The concept of gender equality,” Parsiana, July 21, 2017).
Promo for Prochy Mehta’s podcast
Prochy contends in her book that the child of an interfaith married Parsi woman is as much a Parsi Zoroastrian as one of an interfaith married Parsi male (see "A compelling case,” Parsiana, August 7-20, 2022). She did a 60-minute podcast with media personality Cyrus Broacha on his Facebook channel, Cyrus Says. "For those who don’t get to the book, the podcast is informative,” Karai noted.
"Prochy’s research over many years reveals much that we did not know before… The book enables an open-minded person to challenge long held beliefs… The many messages in this book needed a voice,” Karai stated.
"We thought a song would help viewers recall the book,” Prochy added. "It is very emotional especially for the girls who are experiencing this (discrimination)… My own sister-in-law Shirin Mehta started crying when she heard the song and that is the message I have got from hundreds of viewers. We hope this song will be like an anthem for equality for Parsi girls.”
Selected by Prochy, the lyrics are set to songster Julio Iglesias’s To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before written by Hal David with music by Albert Hammond. "The lyrics evoke a realization that it is time to end gender discrimination and needless controversy. The words recognize that trust deeds and people won’t change. The winds of change continue blowing and a Civil Code is the only instrument that will give intermarried Parsi women and their children relief from discrimination,” Karai noted.
Samara lends her voice to the lyrics "with a soulful poignant reminder of the grief she suffers, (along) with many affected children of intermarried Parsi mothers,” stated Karai. The lass communicated to Parsiana via Karai that she cannot believe that a community "as small as ours would decide to make ourselves a little more endangered with this sexism.” Finding it "bizarre” that she was not allowed to worship at the agiary, Samara shared that entry was barred to her by a gatekeeper who shut the door in her face. "I felt I was an imposter… My song absolutely conveys what I feel.”
Karai shared the lyrics of the song he wrote:
To Parsi girls we’ll wrong no more/ Our boys and girls must live their lives/ Equal rights are on/ We dedicate this song/ To Parsi girls we’ll wrong no more
Our genes are mixed and well believed/ Our history says it best of all/ Our men have sowed their seed/ They claimed their rights with greed/ Parsi girls have rights no more
The winds of change are always blowing / Our trusts and priests won’t change/ The winds of change continue blowing / Will blow us Parsis away
To Parsi girls we’ll wrong no more/ Whose children we do welcome now/ Some priests do come along/ Mixed navjotes can’t be wrong/ For Parsi kids we’ll wrong no more
To old trusts from times before/ Good thoughts words and deeds we see/ When siblings marry out / Parsi girls are cast out / Their kids have rights no more
The winds of change are always blowing / Cruel rules have tried to stay/ The civil code our need is growing/ Parsi girls need rights today
To all our children we love you so/ We never give up for you/ We’re glad, we can fight/ We dedicate this song/ To Parsi girls we’ll wrong no more. Farrokh Jijina