I was patiently awaiting to see the response to my letter ("Volunteer pallbearers,” Readers Forum, Parsiana, May 2004) on the deplorable conditions of the khandhias and nassessalars.
If it’s a "harrowing experience,” emitting "ghoulish smell” does this have to be tolerated by the khandhias? This is true of Bombay and places where the dakhmas are prevailing. Does a ‘second class Zoroastrian’ title befit the khandhias? A good majority of Parsis, though aware of it all, will not go for a change: So what if there are no birds anymore? So what if the conditions in and around the dakhmas are intolerable? What was good for us in the old days parampara thi chaltu ayuj is just as good now. So like always we will succumb to the ostrich-syndrome!
I have been asking this question time and again: What happens in places where there are no dakhmas like Hubli, Calicut and many more and in the West? Burial and cremation is totally accepted with proper religious rituals. If this is allowed according to our scriptures there, then why not in Bombay and elsewhere? At least show a sense of decorum and let every individual have a choice.
It’s not only the khandhias, but the dignity of our beloved-departed that’s at stake! To know something is not right any more, and still do nothing about it, is not a Parsi trait. We who have wholeheartedly accepted change are now shying away from it. Why wait for something to go out of hand before sense prevails?
RODA D. HAKIM
Baroda