In the editorial "Religion and recreation” (Parsiana, January 7-20, 2025), the editor rekindled my childhood memory of Udvada when he recalled that "children and adults loitered on the beach, swam in the shallows, collected sea shells, maneuvered between the rocks when the tide was low.”
The popular hotels sent their rattling seven-seater jalopies to the railway station to pick up their respective guests, with multiple families being collectively rumbled over rough roads, and finally deposited at the destination. There was no electricity in Udvada then, and I was awestruck by a refrigerator running on kerosene in the hotel’s kitchen.
Today — when we have progressed not only to electricity but also to the internet, artificial intelligence (AI) and more — it is understandable that we shall need an inventive cement to adhere to our faith, and an effective magnet to lure us to Udvada to express our loyalty to Iranshah. Hence, the idea of an Udvada Utsav is laudable. Instead of raising a controversy it should be welcomed. We should leverage the festival to not only motivate Zoroastrians to visit Iranshah, but also to enliven the sleepy town and, in the bargain, begin to better appreciate the noble basics of our religion and the idiosyncrasies of the Parsis.
The dedicated museum can lend its synergy to the effort by adding the missing flavor to religious fervor. Pristine history is not the layman’s cup of tea, and when our glorious past is sought to be thrust upon a generation focused on the future, the tea becomes medicinal, not refreshing. Having an attached cafe, selling relevant mementos for keepsakes, and converting an insipid museum into a buzzing center for generating an atmosphere for intellectual discussion and debate on Zarathushtra’s message would arouse curiosity and offer an opportunity to our generation and the next to look upon our religion with affection instead of indifference or outright rejection.
PHIROZE B. JAVERI
phiroze,javeri@gmail.com
In your editorial "Religion and recreation” (Parsiana, January 7-20, 2025) you refer to the objection to non-Parsi tourists visiting Udvada for the Iranshah Udvada Utsav. This is is the height of absurdity. Do only Parsis reside in Udvada? Are there not non-Parsi residents in the town? The traditionalists need to get real, instead of objecting to everything for the sake of objecting.
POURICHISTI MEHERHOMJI
Thana, Maharashtra
pourushah@gmail.com