I always enjoy Berjis Desai’s articles on Navsari, having spent most of my vacations there at my grandmother’s house in Dastur Vad.
His piece "How orthodox was Navsari?” (Parsiana, July 21-August 6, 2021), on the superstitions followed there, brought back memories of what my maternal grandfather, Pestonji Ratanji Edulji Cassad, had once told me.
When Pestonji was born, the astrologer mentioned by Desai (I presume it’s the same, as my grandfather had spoken about the royal connection), told his parents that the child would not live beyond 15 years of age. His childhood was devoid of simple pleasures which were denied to him. His mother literally kept him in a cocoon and except for attending school, he was not allowed to go anywhere without one of his parents accompanying him.
So, the day he turned 15, my grandfather recalled, he walked down the entire lane using the bundles of limboos (limes) and green chillies meant to ward off the evil eye as a football, much to his parents’ consternation. Pestonji lived to be 95 years old. So much for superstitions and astrology!
My grandfather was a man much ahead of his times. A scholar and a barrister, he practiced law in Aden, Rangoon and Africa. He was one of the persons responsible for initiating into the Zoroastrian faith children of Parsi fathers and tribal women in the state of Bansda. A more gentle, generous (even though he himself had not much) and erudite soul would be difficult to find. I am so proud to have descended from this extremely progressive thinker and humanitarian human being.
I had shared a post about his arranging the navjotes of several children of Parsi fathers and tribal mothers and was surprised to receive photographs of the same from a friend.
MAHABANOO MODY-KOTWAL
mahabanookotwal@yahoo.com