Parsis offer daar ni pori, coconut, flowers, milk, sugar, etc to the waters on the auspicious Avan Yazad nu parav which some say is wrong because the offerings defile the water while others say one must continue doing so as is the custom.
I remember my conversation with an Irani gentleman, a cashier at the Central Bank of India, whose colleague had recommended my name to him for photography at his son’s navjote. After the booking was made, he asked me: "What should we do with the nariel (coconuts) and flowers? They all go waste!”
I told him what I had done after my son’s navjote when the following day, we went to the Sethna Agiary and fed the flowers to the bakri (goat) there and then to Victoria Gardens to give the coconut to the elephant and the rice grains to the birds.
He referred to the common practice of immersing the flowers, coconuts, etc in the sea. I told him I feel very sad to see such kachra (waste) in the sea. He insisted the items could not be called kachra since they produce microorganisms.
Different people think differently.
RUSTOM ADI HAVEWALLA
rustomhavewalla@gmail.com
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