"The plaque is little bigger than a dinner plate,” wrote journalist Mark Manuel proffering his reflections over WhatsApp on the signpost the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) has installed on the pavement, about 20 ft from the front gate of the Doongerwadi estate at Kemps Corner. He noted the sign (pictured) was "mounted on a pole that must be 9 ft tall, jostling for space alongside a lamp-post and street sign.
"It’s easy to miss. It has a QR code giving information on the Tower of Silence, if anybody can aim their cell phone that high. It’s unimpressive, as well.
"This is regrettable, because the plaque bestows heritage status upon the Tower of Silence — the final resting ground of Bombay’s minuscule and endearing community of Parsis and Iranis in a 55-acre forest on Malabar Hill. And though this green and gorgeous cemetery has been here since 1672, the appreciation of its legacy though coming late in the day is still a solemn moment for the community.
"To my mind, the Tower of Silence should be declared a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site. It is one of the city’s most picturesque and peaceful places. But to be there means there has been a death. And I have gone to pay my last respects to the departed. Also, condolences to the bereaved. Or to attend the uthamna on the third day. When prayers are offered that help the dead make the final journey from this life and world into the other side. I am not a Zoroastrian. But I have always felt the Tower of Silence is a blessed place to be interred in. I am respectful of the dakhmenashini, the centuries-old tradition of leaving the deceased open in a stone well closed to the rest of the world until the elements gently nudge the body back into Mother Nature’s warm embrace.”