A delightful Parsi New Year

NEW DELHI: A delicious aroma fills the air as cooks at the Delhi Parsi Anjuman ready crates of marinated chicken gizzard and fish. It's for the big Navroz feast today, when 200 Parsis from across Delhi and Gurgaon are going to usher in the New Year together at Anjuman, the only Parsi community institution here.
It will be an occasion to feast, catch up with old friends, dance and make merry."We Parsis believe in enjoying life. Navroz is all about food and getting together," beams Dhun Daraius Bagli (81). Dhun and her family have been managing the dharamshala at Anjuman since the 1950s and her son is the priest at the fire temple here. Anjuman will have the minister for minority affairs, Najma Heptulla, as chief guest and honour Supreme Court judge Fali S Nariman on Monday. "Talented youngsters will get scholarships. As we meet twice or thrice a year in such large gatherings, it calls for a good celebration," says Yezad Kapadia, president of Anjuman.
Much has changed over the years. The community has been shrinking in the NCR-from being well over 1,000 in the 1960s to just about 750 now. About 200 live in Gurgaon and more than 50% of the members are married outside the community. Dhun feels the difference sometimes. "In Mumbai you stumbled upon another Parsi at the market. That doesn't happen here. To shore up the numbers, we guide couples," she says referring to medical support for fertility and hunt for Parsi partners. The dining hall has a poster of a Parsi matrimonial service.
Many Parsi families here have moved to Gurgaon. Dhun, a Mumbai girl, missed the excursions to Cuffe Parade and Marine Drive on taking charge of Anjuman following her husband's death in 1979. Dhun makes sure that the food is every bit Parsi and she often serves it herself.
The group in Gurgaon is knit more closely. "We meet once a month at each other's houses rotationally. I feel at home," says Kapadia who lived and worked in Jamshedpur for several years before moving to Delhi to head a German company. After retirement he moved to Gurgaon. "The government had announced Rs 10 crore for families wanting to have children. I gather that seven to eight couples have also conceived after treatment. We don't ask children from mixed marriages to do Navjote. It's up to them if they want to induct their children," adds Kapadia.
Children start wearing the customary sedreh and kushti after Navjote. Dhun's daughter in law, Benaifer Bagli, who helps her with the cooking and organizing, pulls out a sedreh. "Many youngsters have stopped wearing these now," says Dhun. She finds the drop in the number of Parsis quite natural. "With education people's ideas about life have changed. Also, you cannot afford to have too many children these days. They intermarry quite often or marry late. Even those who intermarry, their partners are welcome here. We want to keep the Parsi partner to be in touch with the community. That will help us preserve our rich culture," she adds.
Unlike most other cities, Delhi doesn't have a Tower of Silence. One of the main reasons is the dwindling population of vultures. "We don't have the option of leaving the body for birds. One reason is the depletion of vultures and because people chose burial instead in Delhi. Since fire is holy for us, we don't cremate we bury. The burial in Delhi now takes place in Prithviraj Lane," says Dhun. Delhi Parsi Anjuman was started in Delhi in 1926 by about 40 trustees who came to Delhi mostly from Gujarat and some from Bombay. According to DPA, there is a lore that Dastur Meherjirana of Navsari in Gujarat impressed Emperor Akbar with his knowledge and humility. As a result, Akbar invited him and other learned Parsis to his court in Fatehpur Sikri.