the doten of the Godrej empire Mr. Naoroji Godrej ultimately leading to his resignation in disgust.

Please don’t get me wrong, the state of affairs plaguing the BPP and our community is historic though to an extent shameful. However, we have dealt with controversy several times in the past and overcome it time and again with strategies formulated by the collective intelligence of prominent Parsis. In the past, incidents of both a positive and negative nature were known and discussed only within the community. If an issue was reported, it was within our community presses, hotly debated among us and ultimately resolved by us.

Unfortunately, times have changed. Since the BPP elections under adult franchise in 2008, we have deemed it acceptable to report our problems and controversies to the cosmopolitan press on every occasion, making our private community affairs public knowledge and airing dirty laundry to the general masses. Damaging the impeccable reputation our forefathers worked so hard to build and embarrassing the community as a whole has become commonplace.

Till the much-needed Universal Adult Franchise system of voting was introduced, there was a sort of un-written rule that Parsi affairs would stay within the community, and controversies were not frequently published in cosmopolitan newspapers. Of late, however, we have been very vocal with both our views and interviews, and allowed most of the national media to report a multitude of incidents which, in my opinion, outsiders (non-community members) should not be privy to in the first place.

For instance, Doongerwadi is a sacred piece of our land and heritage, where we pay last respects to the dearly departed. How we wish to beautify it or changes that need to be implemented in its functioning should be discussed within us and only by us and should not be an issue debated in cosmopolitan press. If Parsi numbers are falling, we should aim to create internal programs to drive our community youth to marry within, instead of advertising procreation programs that amuse the rest of society. If there is a salary dispute between the BPP staff and trustees, there is no requirement that it be advertised to the whole city.

While those speaking about and reporting community affairs to the outside press may feel they are doing their respective ‘faction’ or ‘group’ a favour, in reality they are harming us all as a whole by making non-Parsis privy to our many internal issues, washing our dirty linen in mainstream press. We have a strength of approximately 45,000 in Mumbai, yet we wish to circulate our news to a city which has a population of over 12 million. Why? It is even more saddening that we have become a regular feature in most cosmopolitan publications for negative news, often of the petty kind. I am sure each of us has, by now — I know I certainly have — been met with the customary ‘Kya bawa, yeh sab kya ho raha hain?’ from non-Parsi/Irani friends.

On the flip side, it would seem that the outside press has gotten a far better grasp on our affairs than our own community papers. Looking at the current state of things, the community press today are either entirely biased or lack a certain depth in their reporting.
What we as a community require is an un-biased, smart and independent reporting system from our Parsi presses.

Without meaning any disrespect to our publications, I have no hesitation in stating that they have inadequately reported our current affairs. Where one publication is blatantly biased, the other seems to obtain news by way of advertisements in order to stay neutral and avoid being branded as belonging to a particular faction and the third has an agenda interwoven in various garbs. No doubt all publications have rules and limitations which they abide by; however, the role of the Parsi press is to report current affairs independently, without trying to manipulate stories or divide us.The cosmopolitan press seems to understand this and so finds it easy to adequately cover news from within the community, publishing accurate and sometimes embarrassing reports.

One might say that I have a vested interest in stating the above, but let me assure you that my family and I stand strong and firm for what we independently believe in, despite what gets reported, many a times inaccurately. I know my position and background within the community. It is something I cannot and will not shy away from. I will openly say that to me, the reputation of my community is paramount, above all else. We have to preserve it at all costs. Yes, there are and always will be incidents and differences of opinion among us that need resolving, but that can be done within our own members and without resorting to the outside media. The Parsi press needs to refrain from dwelling on petty politics and instead report in a fair, transparent, and independent manner.

There is absolutely no need for our sensitive issues to be reported in cosmopolitan press. Some may continue to flock cosmopolitan press with community stories for personal gain or their egos. But as a whole we need to realize the long term damage this is doing to our community’s reputation and goodwill amongst the other communities which has been built upon for hundreds of years.

As we all know – BPP elections are around the corner and it is in everyone’s best interest that we confine our reporting to the Parsi Press. It is a collective responsibility and duty to ensure that what we report henceforth to the outside press is positive, shedding good light upon our community, and showing those outside why we are truly unique. The community Press should take a pledge to offer fair and independent reporting and automatically there will be no need to resort to outside media.

Over to you Presses.