table every year. I think it is the Indian in us all which makes us traditional and so secular as a nation.

Mixed marriages are no longer a rare occurrence in our community and it is no longer a reality we can escape from. My own brother, best friend, and some of my closest Parsi friends and family, have found their soul-mates in non-parsis, and they are extremely happy and content with their lives, and I couldn’t be happier for them.

Over the last many years we have unnecessarily begun labeling persons to be either “reformists” or “orthodox”, a tag which has defined and to an extent divided the community. The fact of the matter is that, each one of us of this strong community vehemently believes and desires that our religion rather prosper than perish. In my humble view, the main difference between that of the “orthodox” and “reformists” is, our way of approach; whether we want to stick to our traditional beliefs and customs or let modern practices alter and perhaps, even displace them gradually with time.
Part of the “Reformists”, so to speak, advocate conversion into the community, and believe that our community and its laws should be flexible enough to keep pace with the winds of change. A view they are entitled to have. The “Orthodox” on the other hand, consider age old customs and practices of ours to be sacrosanct and endorse marrying within the community to sustain our existence. A statistical data of the number of deaths juxtaposed with the number of births as well as a tabulated chart of the number of marriages outside the community against the number of marriages within the community, throws light on the reality of our existence and consequently, our dwindling of numbers.

To put things in perspective, there are approximately 45,000 Parsi/Iranis left in Mumbai. Of these, one-third (i.e. 15,000) are above the age of 60. Of the remaining 30,000 who are below the age of 60, 25% (i.e 7,500) remain unmarried. The rest 22,500 who are married, almost 40% (i.e 9,000) marry outside. So, what we are left with is 13,500 Parsis who could marry within the community. The future and existence of our community rests in the hands of such a small number.

This topic has many branches: conversion, children of Parsi men and women who have married out, incentives but it’s sole root is this beautiful religion and culture that only thrives if we value it.

It can be said that there’s a sense of familiarity and convenience- in living together, commonality and harmony- in teaching to your future kin, when one marries within. For those of you who live in Parsi Baugs and Parsi Colonies, are used to the integrated way of life. One would think that it would be only natural for you to give the next generation what you enjoyed reaping all your life. Inter-colony football matches, athletics, ZYNG-organized events, HPY, World/Youth Congress Meets all over the world, your club-houses/ gymkhanas etc. – all, a manifestation of what makes our way of life, different from the rest. It is something we have today taken for granted, and we fail to acknowledge that we are one of the very few communities in the world who have so much to offer to every community member.

Some would postulate that the incentives and economic schemes offered by the Bombay Parsi Punchayat and also other philanthropic Parsi Trusts, to only Parsi/Irani recipients, might be a reason one must marry within the community. Or, the advantage of the subsidized housing and accommodation provided by these charitable trusts, to only Parsis/Iranis, would be another reason to marry within the community. But, I believe that material incentives should not be the basis for such an important decision, it should come from within.

Why is it important to marry within the community? Simply because, ours is a beautiful religion with great, loving people who constitute it. For someone who takes pride in being a member of this community, enjoying the goodwill our forefathers left behind, if there is anything I can give back to my community, it is to marry within the faith. Our present laws relating to religion, including the highly debated issue about why children of mothers married outside the community are not considered Parsis, may be something for our High Priests to dwell on and agree, in unison. However, be that as it may, our focus should be on our numbers. It seems to me that a fraction of today’s youth don’t pay much heed to our religion-related problems; they’re indifferent to community affairs. For them, being Parsi may not necessarily be a condition paramount to falling in love and getting married to a Parsi; one of the reasons attributed to our decrease in numbers,

As a community, we need to put aside our differences and come together in order to formulate a plan which addresses the biggest threat to our community As most of you are aware, the Government of India has sanctioned the ‘JiyoParsi’ scheme for containing our population decline. This initiative by the Government has shaken up our community in the right way. I hope and pray it continues to succeed in its purpose and future endeavors. A lot rests on the shoulders of the generations to come. The young are the future and all factions, loving and warring of our community, agree that the future of our existence lies in the hands of the sensibilities of our youth.

Learned members of our community, I urge you all to participate in, and spread awareness of, such initiatives so that the concern of our community can be solved by action in unison. We need to stop trying to save our race, but protect our religion. Henry Ford once said, “Coming Together is a Beginning; Keeping Together is Progress; Working Together is Success.”