Archive

What are the expectations of parents of athornan boys before encouraging their sons to pursue full-time mobedi? Financial security, said one father. Medical benefits, said another. Other concerns were retirement benefits, a uniform remuneration system, substitute mobeds when one goes on leave, an attitudinal change from behdins, respect for the white pugree, no spouses, income disparities between frequently visited agiaries and those with less footfalls.
Apprehensions were voiced at a half day seminar organized by the Empowering Mobeds (EM) group at the Mancherji Joshi Memorial Hall of the Dadar Athornan Institute (DAI) on April 20, 2019 for which 55 athornan parents had registered. EM is a joint venture of the Athornan Mandal and the WZO (World Zoroastrian Organisation) Trust Funds (WZOTF) Mobed Welfare Scheme.
The morning was divided into two sessions. The first half comprised a panel of some EM core team members, Ervads Hormuz Dadachanji and (Dr) Ramiyar Karanjia and Dinshaw Tamboly, chairman of WZOTF which was moderated by Ervad Kaizad Karkaria. After a humbandagi led by Dadachanji, Tamboly shared his apprehensions with the audience. For the around 156 agiaries and atash behrams in India, the number of mobeds is reducing rapidly. "Our mobeds are the foundation on which the community survives. We will ensure that this profession continues,” he assured, adding, "mobedo ni sankhya ochhi thati jaich (the number of priests is reducing). What is it you want us to do to make mobedi the glorious profession that it once was?” he asked the parents. Education schemes for the children, provident fund, pension schemes were other remedies suggested.

 

 

 

 

 

After EM’s youngest core team members Ervads Shahvir Panthaki and Farzad Driver highlighted EM’s activities during the last calendar year, co-coordinator Binaifer Sahukar shared her experience of interacting with the students enrolled at the DAI.
"Bachchaoné janam aapvu ék chamatkar chhè (To give birth is a miracle). Nasibdar loko parents bani sakéch (lucky ones can become parents). Né tamé loko tau athornan families ma janam lidhoch (and you have taken birth in athornan families). So you all are incredibly lucky to belong to this illustrious lineage,” said Sahukar. Smart and talented, the 23 boys who are currently enrolled at the DAI "are the best hope for our community,” she opined. Commending the madressa’s faculty for nurturing the community’s future mobeds, she said the children learn time management, discipline, how to care and share for each other because there is no addiction to electronics… We want to make your sons into superheroes and super mobeds,” she gushed.
"Pugree pervama koi jaatni sharam nathi (there is no shame in wearing the priestly headgear). Saféd pugree tau aapuné joiyé nai tau 156 agiario né atash behramo ni paasbaani kaun karsé (we need the white headgear, otherwise who will look after the 156 agiaries and atash behrams)?” queried Ervad Asphandiar Dadachanji who was asked to say a few words. He narrated his experience of the respect that the white headgear has. After he had attended to nature’s call at a London railway station, two young girls, seeing him perform his kusti, came up to him and addressed him reverently saying, "Dasturji, we too are Zoroastrians.”
Equip priests with religious skills to excel in their profession, was the opinion of Karanjia. If you want the clergy to become leaders of tomorrow, impart soft skill training to them. "Mobedi is a profession and a vocation. It’s not a job. Pursue a job if you must, but don’t give up mobedi,” counseled the principal of the DAI.
Secretary of the Mandal Ervad Cyrus Darbari also briefly addressed the gathering.
"Mobedi ma aagal vadhvana scope bau ochha chhè (there is little scope to go further in this profession),” rued participant Ervad Noshirvan Kanga when the audience was invited to participate in the discussion. Another very vociferous participant was Ervad Pervez Karanjia who mentioned that "aajé mobedo na bachchao mobedi nathi karva mangta karan ké é lokoé potana baap ni halat joili ché (today priests’ sons don’t want to pursue the profession because they have seen their fathers’ fate). He was referring to the meager financial remuneration in the profession. "Baap nathi kamaiyo tau dikro su kamasé (If the father has not earned well, how will the son earn)?” one would wonder, he said, advising future priests to take up a business or a profession to augment their income.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A parent-child session was conducted by a panel of mental health specialists, moderated by Ervad Firdaus Pavri. The panel comprised psychiatrist Dr Kersi Chavda and psychotherapists Hvovi Bhagwagar and Tanya Vasunia.
Speaking on "How to handle our parents with love and patience as they age,” Chavda said, "Parsis live forever. We’ve got some strange gene in us that doesn’t allow us to die (early)… If parents are mentally and physically fit then life is a little bit easier, you don’t have to babysit them all the time.” Dementia is a growing epidemic in the community, according to the medical practitioner. He recommended a largely vegetarian diet and daily exercise to evade this disease.
Bhagwagar, who has an independent psychotherapy practice in Powai, spoke on how parental interaction with one’s child has a profound impact on the young mind. "What we can do for our children is to inculcate in them a passion for things. Give them the best environment to grow up in,” she advised. She shared her son’s navjote preparation experience with those present, saying how a navaria’s (boy training to become a priest) motivating presence made her son learn the Patet Pashemani prayer which he recited at his initiation ceremony.
A psychiatrist working with MPower whose forte is dealing with adolescents, Vasunia grew up in the UK but retained her Parsipanu thanks to her grandparents. Speaking on peer pressure and performance, she mentioned that once a child is 12 years old, "we start noticing a change in them. They get exposed to the world and start behaving differently. It’s a difficult time for some. They start getting attracted to the opposite gender.” Parents need to provide them with support, accept them as they are, "give them their space, create a bond with the child. Ask them what they want to do. Don’t lecture them,” was her advice.
A few under-25-year-old EM volunteers were felicitated by Ramiyar Karanjia: Pashang Dadyburjor and Jereemy Guarrd for making the football posters (see "Fun, football and a happy meal,” pg 28); Shazen Elavia, Jehan Fouzdar, Driver, Panthaki, Avan Ardeshir and Parena Sahukar for organizing the football match and Urveez Kakalia for conducting the team building workshop for the madressa boys. After a vote of thanks by Ervad Marazban Kanga, the program ended with a buffet lunch catered by Jimmy Gadiwalla.

Fun, football and a happy meal

"Mobeds come bond with your kids,” invited the poster circulated on WhatsApp and Facebook. Empowering Mobeds (EM) conducted a morning of fun with a football match which ended in a ‘Happy meal’ for all on April 14, 2019 at the Dadar Parsee Colony Gymkhana grounds.

 

 

 

 

The football match was the outcome of a team building workshop held by Urveez Kakalia, a youth volunteer with EM, with boys of the Dadar Athornan Institute (DAI). When asked what they would like from EM, the youngsters said that they love football.
The April heat did not deter the enthusiasm displayed by around 50 fathers and sons — who had come to enjoy the morning of fun which started as early as 7.30 a.m. Four teams of eight players sweated it out, some fit as a fiddle, some out of shape. Young Fravash Gulestan, a residential student of the DAI was declared Mobed of the Match who had the honor of cutting a football shaped cake. The happy meal, chocolates, water, soft drinks and gifts were sponsored by anonymous donors.