I have read with interest the well written article on Zareer Masani by Venkat Iyer ("A maverick dissenter,” Parsiana, September 7-20, 2024).
Iyer refers to the "intolerance” with which Masani viewed dissenting views expressed by others and his sometimes rather rude and "arrogant” manner of his rebuttal.
I also read about Masani’s childhood with parents who were not on the same page about how children should be brought up or nurtured. This is a universal experience of millions of families when parents play out roles quite unconsciously and perhaps repeat the parenting styles they had themselves experienced. Pain begets more pain and suffering, and such intergenerational trauma is passed on, unless it is interrupted.
Zareer Masani: took charge
Taking a more compassionate look at Masani’s apparent "arrogance” makes me think that it was perhaps his way of handling what he had grown up to perceive as a "hostile and unsafe” world. Maybe his sense of hyper-vigilance and highly judgmental thoughts and actions were his own way of responding to situations and triggers from a place deep within that had not fully healed from hurts and wounds while in the process of growing up in a society and environment that was not always kind and supportive. Something all of us have to come to terms with as adults.
Therapy helps adults heal and change from within, so that automatic behavior patterns do not become the norm, and it is wonderful that today so many reach out for an opportunity to introspect and change.
What a bright, talented and successful individual Masani must have been. I salute the courage with which he took charge of his own life, in his own way, in his own time.
Dr DEENAZ DAMANIA
Tenerife Center for Counseling and Personal Growth
Bangalore