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I was having a massive argument with my wife. Neville, my son came downstairs.

I asked him “Neville, if I and Mummy separate, who would you like to live with.”

“Mummy of course” he replied, not even taking a second to think.

“Why?” I asked, my feelings were hurt.

“Dad, you can’t cook DHANSAK.” Neville said.

Neville has predominantly Parsi genes especially his food habits. He will not eat Biryani but loves Dhansak. He loves Salli-boti and wafer-per-eddu (eggs on top of potato chips).

He is a Parsi at heart, who cannot be a Parsi if he wants to. Reason: His father, yours truly, is a non-Parsi. You can only be a Parsi by birth in India. Parsis do not allow any conversions, they discourage it.

There is a gender bias in the community. If the father is a Parsi, then the children can become Parsis, even though the mother may be a non-Parsi, but not the other way around.

Parsi’s are one of the most educated communities. They are fun-loving, happy go lucky, and have a very unique style of speaking. Most of them speak Gujarati with a very beautiful and inimitable accent.

Parsi population figures have dwindled from around 100,000 at the beginning of the century to almost 60,000 right now. By 2050, it is predicted that only 25,000 Parsis will remain. The traditionalist has to do a lot of thinking if they want to save the community. Time is of the essence. With the success of Project-Tiger, the Tiger population may overtake the Parsi population by that time.

Will the community take a stand and allow kids like Neville to become Parsis?

Picture Credit: Shino Nk