In response to my simple email informing the community about the felicitation function for Dastur Khurshed Dastoor (pictured) on his appointment to the National Comission for Minorities (NCM), without any provocation, the chairman of the Bombay Parsi
Punchayet Yazdi Desai remarked, "At least the over confident ‘parké paisé charity’ (charity done with others’ money) Dhongi (Dinshaw) Tamboly has been knocked off.” The need for Desai to write such an uncomplimentary remark cannot be fathomed.
He further added, "Kudos to Orthodox... A High Priest has been chosen!” as though he and a handful of his WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) colleagues had proposed the name of the High Priest.
Desai assumes that public memory is short and that the entire community suffers either from amnesia or Alzheimer’s. Is it not on record that it was he who first proposed Tamboly’s name to the government and later withdrew his recommendation under pressure from dhongis (phonies)?
Why did Desai and WAPIZ never think of proposing any high priest? When Dastoor was appointed to the post, defamatory and derogatory remarks were made by dhongis on a social networking site (and suddenly deleted though some have kept screen shots on record). Now Desai wants to show that the appointment of a High Priest to the NCM was based on his ‘weighty’ recommendation!
Let there be a referendum on certain controversial issues and then it will be crystal clear the support they claim is from the majority is actually only a minuscule minority.
Dinshaw Tamboly (pictured) is not a dhongi as people have voluntarily given him the money for charity and he fulfils their wishes. It is the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustees who have criminally betrayed the trust of the donors and fraudulently cheated them. Whereas Tamboly’s image keeps improving, BPP chairman Yazdi Desai’s first blunder was recommending Tamboly’s name
without consulting his co-trustees; second, withdrawing his recommendation after being pressurized by his cronies; third, recommending three names, none of whom were selected. He is now taking praise for Dastur Khurshed Dastoor’s nomination. In fact Dastoor is liberal in his views and believes in giving individual freedom.
"Parké paisé charity (with others’ money)” is justified as people have voluntarily given their money, reposing their trust in Tamboly. But parké paisé Diwali is a fraud; spending someone else’s money to your benefit. Can they ever justify the draining away of over three crores (USD 4,63,213) of community wealth, donated for the welfare of the community, on meaningless litigations against the so-called renegade priests? Was it the wishes of the donors that their hard earned money be frittered away at the whims and fancies of the trustees elected to preserve and protect the wealth of the community? This is truly parké paisé Diwali! If the trustees had to pay from their own pockets, would they have pursued this meaningless, extravagant litigation?
As a social worker, Tamboly enjoys the trust and confidence of the entire community. Even his hardcore opponents cannot fault his mode of working. For him, real charity is not in flinging doles, but giving support to enable a person to stand on his own feet and live with dignity. His mission is to serve, whether it is the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) or the donors or the poor and needy beneficiaries. Due to misappropriation of trust funds, and many other such acts, the BPP trustees no longer enjoy the trust of the community. The donations the BPP has received are drying up.
Trusteeship elections by adult franchise have not fulfilled the aspirations of the community. The BPP, once a prestigious House of Fame has become a House of Shame. Bickering and abuse have become the order of the day, not forgetting the physical scuffles in the court premises between the trustees and former trustees. We cannot put the blame solely on former BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta.
A fervent appeal to all: please end this tussle, stop abusing one another, let us practise religion, carry the gift of goodwill and try to live in peace forgetting the past and forgiving all who have wronged us! PIROJA JOKHI
piroja.jokhi@yahoo.com