Irrespective of whether sandalwood trees can grow productively in the Bombay Doongerwadi grounds at Malabar Hill, surely Parsi chemists can innovate and bring out a synthetic material which can be shaped into sticks of similar color so that Zoroastrians do not grow trees only to cut them down!
Artificial meat and milk will soon be commonplace, offering great benefits to the environment, so why not synthetic sandal sticks which can burn bright and smokeless? Candles in churches are an example.
I love watching the fire at jashans and other Zoroastrian ceremonies. The flames evoke a dance of memories, longing and hope. Yet, when I think of natural sandalwood — or any other wood — being burnt, I feel a sense of loss, of waste.
Parsis, globally, are known for their ingenuity. That is how we have not only survived but prospered, despite diminishing numbers. So, my Parsi friends in the field of chemistry, put on your thinking caps and come up with an attractive, inexpensive alternative.
NAWSHIR D. KHURODY
ktsplkhurody@gmail.com
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