Letters To The Editor

In Appreciation

Thank you for mentioning about the passing on of our young family member Mehernosh Freddy Sanjana, in Chennai. Your mention about the accident and the understanding evinced by you in the editorial, gave us much solace.

Mehernosh was indeed a fine young man, a topper in the Commerce stream in the State of Tamil Nadu. The State Government had sponsored his further studies in Chartered Accountancy and he was also doing his internship at a top CA firm. Mehernosh was ever ready to help all his fellow classmates and colleagues, and seeing the mass turnout on hearing of his accident, it was clear that he was a favourite among all his acquaintances.

We take this opportunity to also thank the Parsis in Chennai who rushed to our help and arranged for the last rites. This is indeed a tragedy which has befallen our family and it will take a long time to overcome it, if at all!

With renewed thanks and regards,

Yasmine Sanjana (yas_sanjana@hotmail.com)

Editor’s Note: Dear Yasmine, our community and all at Parsi Times stand by you and your family in this hour of grief. You are in our prayers and we hope God gives your family every strength to cope with this tragic loss.

A  Simple Step Towards Peace 

As rightly pointed out in your editorial, an overdose of entitlement has a toxic effect on our community that has doused the fire of ambition burning in our bellies, and we find no guilt or shame accepting favours, which we consider as our legitimate rights or privileges. Recently our youngsters have made us proud achieving very high standards in academics. We should encourage our youngsters to reach the zenith of excellence as our forefathers did. Instead we are busy fighting on the matter of disposal of dead bodies!

As our vada Dastur Khurshed recently commented, “Ours is not a religion of force or violence. We cannot force, threaten or arm-twist people into choosing who they wish to marry, or the method they choose to dispose their dearly departed ones”. Real words of wisdom from the head priest! As our religion gives us the freedom to act, let every member of the community decide what is good for him/her.

All community members, without exception, prefer to perform the last rites of their dearest departed with prayers and ceremonies from the serene peaceful environment of our Doongarwadi. There is no justification in denying access to Doongarwadi where all amenities are provided for the community members to perform the last rites on the dead body, no matter if they prefer to cremate the body. If these controversial bans are lifted, people can offer a dignified farewell to their dear departed from our peaceful hill garden. This simple step will bring back the golden era of unity, peace and prosperity for the community. We just need not interfere in the way people practice their religion or lead their personal lives, as long as they do not cause any harm to others.

Let the BPP trustees, the High Priests, the stalwarts of the community, the reformists and the traditionalists, all forget their differences, and open a new chapter to revive the past and bring peace and prosperity to our very dear community. It is not advisable to divide the community further into two factions, each having their separate places of worship and separate places to dispose their dead bodies as suggested by some. Peace is not the absence of conflicts, it is the ability to handle conflicts by peaceful means.  We are one community, we all pray to our supreme Lord Ahura Mazda, we all believe in our prayers and ceremonies, we are proud of our unique Parsipanu. Our vibrant peace-loving community cannot be divided on this issue of disposal of dead bodies.

-Piroja Jokhi (piroja.jokhi@yahoo.com)