The Delhi Parsi Anjuman does not follow the diktats of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet. They have happily accepted change and gone about their business without any qualms. Children of non-Parsi fathers are navjoted and accepted. Cremation and burial are the mode for crossing the Chinwad Pul. Calcutta, Jamshedpur and Madras have followed suit. What’s heartening is that Ahmedabad, at one time the bastion of World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis, has gracefully learnt to walk with the times. They elected a president whose wife is not a Parsi. Cheers to that!
Right now Navsari is creating ripples in the community, having voted for an aramgah. Hats off to them for demanding change. But at Baroda, located between Ahmedabad and Navsari, it is a different story. We follow a policy of "do what you wish but don’t drag the Panchayet in. Jé karvu hoi té karo!” Despite knowing that there are no vultures available and the sorry state of the dakhma, people lack the guts to usher in change. A person with a non-Parsi spouse is not permitted to stand for election to the anjuman because of an outdated constitution. Since the last three decades a committee is supposedly reviewing it, but I am told the matter is still under debate! However, they are not high-handed, and when someone is cremated, all rituals and prayers are allowed with members of the community in attendance. Any talk of burial in the dakhma grounds is, however, met with stony silence. That is why I applaud Navsari for doing what they have done!
A burial ground is not against the tenets of our religion, and neither does it make one anti-Zoroastrian. But who can reason with closed minds? Nevertheless, let us not give up. We must keep on trying.
RODA D. HAKIM
Baroda
vadhakim@yahoo.com