My house guest, a Parsi from Austria, requested me to walk him around the Doongerwadi grounds. And, once again thoughts from the past arose.
The green forest cover has given way to scraggy, leafless, thin trees. No vultures will nest in these. Could a small area be reserved for people wishing to be laid in the towers of silence — and the rest converted into a park area where men, women and children can relax in clean air? This would be a service to the citizens of Bombay.
This park could contain a professionally curated museum in which Zoroastrianism is depicted in audiovisuals, libraries, artefacts and panels relating the story of Zoroaster and the spread of his principles and influence over later religions. The museum could also have a wing for research scholars and be the global focal point for the study of the Gathas, Zend Avesta, etc. At the moment, I am told, researchers go to institutions in Germany, so why not in Bombay?
Unless something on the above lines is done, the lands will eventually go under the hammer of property developers.
Just as I was about to end this email, I came across an article in The
Times of India dated March 2, 2019, in which Neil MacGregor, the famous authority on museums says, "Museums have become places where memories are celebrated and where public history is sought to be examined and rewritten." Apparently, MacGregor had delivered the Sir Ratan Tata centenary commemorative lecture at the Prince of Wales Museum a few days earlier.
NAWSHIR KHURODY
ndkhurody@gmail.com