Younger readers may not recall an English theatre production called, No sex please, we are British. Our chillingly declining numbers are a testimony to our empathy with the Brits. Though some macho Parsis may contend that we are firing alright, but mostly blanks. While those on the Fringe (Editor's Note: the "Lunatic Fringe", is an expression one would read here often) maintain that the second coming of the Lord shall reverse demographic trends (‘Gayomard and a Soshyosh aideryad bad’, our prayers recite), their estranged brethren in the mainstream accuse this publication of manipulating statistics (and exposing damned lies).
A decade ago, the above para would have elicited a wry smile. Today it evokes anger and indignation (though not of the righteous kind). The-facts-are-incorrect-denial mode. Even-if-they-are-correct-why-publish-it-ostrich approach. You-are-an-enemy-of-the-community Taliban attitude. "Even if you are only the messenger, we shall shoot you, for bringing bad news. Leave us alone in our cocoon of disbelief. Voltaire may have said that I disagree with you and I shall defend to my death your right to disagree with me. Voltaire be damned, unity of the community is the need of the hour and your dissent is pernicious and we shall not tolerate it. We may have mingled like sugar in milk, as promised to our royal shelter giver, but now like lactose intolerance, we are allergic to criticism."
In fairness to the orthodox, this intolerance is not limited to them. It pervades across the spectrum of thought. Is this then the extreme prickliness of those feeling doomed or is it a new-found feeling of bristling aggression. When one is aware of the weaknesses in his case, he does not want any public expose of such weaknesses. He goes the extra mile, therefore, to stifle any criticism. Respect for the other viewpoint is lost, the moment you doubt bona fides. These days, there is too much doubting of bona fides. It is quickly presumed that anyone in community service must be having a personal agenda. It is true that many do. However, you cannot paint with the same brush, those few who don't.
The biggest problem facing the community today is not decimating demographics but cold indifference. The very fact that you are reading this shows that you do have some interest in the community. Unfortunately, you are in a minority. Most Parsis have a soft corner for the community but nothing more. Only a micro minority is concerned with what happens to the Parsis.
Overwhelming numbers believe that the trustees of our charities are a bunch of clowns viciously fighting each other. The beneficiaries greet a trustee with a polite smile only so as not to affront him. Privately what the community thinks about our trustees is unprintable. The much abused phrase Parsipanu is not that annual visit to the Agiyary or watching a putrid Parsi comedy or gorging at the Ripon Club on Wednesday afternoons. Even the intelligent spare little thought about the issues threatening the very existence of the community. This has led to the affairs of the community being handled by, believe it or not, a dozen odd Parsis.
This concentration of power amongst this dozen (we shall eschew the adjective), needless to state, is dangerous. The vicious hatred amongst them is very un-Parsi. Like battle scarred gladiators, they lick
their bruised egos and yearn to see their opponents humiliated. These war games have now spilled over from the media into the Courts. Many of these worthies are street fighters who love a bloody brawl, for the sake of it, as their non-community careers are uniformly boring and pedestrian. They and their followers, of liberal or orthodox hue, sincerely believe that they are the saviours of the community. The indifference of the community feeds their delusions of grandeur. And why blame the tadpole for thinking that he is the master of the cesspool?
As a result, there is no dispassionate expert thinking on how to tackle issues. The cesspool is so turpid that none wants to step into it. Painstaking sociological research is dismissed as biased. Suggestions to reform charities are seen as motivated. None wants to be shown a mirror. They do not want a confirmation of the ugliness.
A few years ago, only those, whom we affectionately like to call fruitcakes, reacted angrily to criticism. Now, all do. When few can even bear to be told the truth, disaster is not far away. Our much-touted sense of humour was founded on the fundamental premise of having the ability to laugh at ourselves. We have so terribly lost that ability, in the process of protecting our puny egos.
The community is already mentally extinct.
- first published in the Parsiana, April 2014
A decade ago, the above para would have elicited a wry smile. Today it evokes anger and indignation (though not of the righteous kind). The-facts-are-incorrect-denial mode. Even-if-they-are-correct-why-publish-it-ostrich approach. You-are-an-enemy-of-the-community Taliban attitude. "Even if you are only the messenger, we shall shoot you, for bringing bad news. Leave us alone in our cocoon of disbelief. Voltaire may have said that I disagree with you and I shall defend to my death your right to disagree with me. Voltaire be damned, unity of the community is the need of the hour and your dissent is pernicious and we shall not tolerate it. We may have mingled like sugar in milk, as promised to our royal shelter giver, but now like lactose intolerance, we are allergic to criticism."
In fairness to the orthodox, this intolerance is not limited to them. It pervades across the spectrum of thought. Is this then the extreme prickliness of those feeling doomed or is it a new-found feeling of bristling aggression. When one is aware of the weaknesses in his case, he does not want any public expose of such weaknesses. He goes the extra mile, therefore, to stifle any criticism. Respect for the other viewpoint is lost, the moment you doubt bona fides. These days, there is too much doubting of bona fides. It is quickly presumed that anyone in community service must be having a personal agenda. It is true that many do. However, you cannot paint with the same brush, those few who don't.
The biggest problem facing the community today is not decimating demographics but cold indifference. The very fact that you are reading this shows that you do have some interest in the community. Unfortunately, you are in a minority. Most Parsis have a soft corner for the community but nothing more. Only a micro minority is concerned with what happens to the Parsis.
Overwhelming numbers believe that the trustees of our charities are a bunch of clowns viciously fighting each other. The beneficiaries greet a trustee with a polite smile only so as not to affront him. Privately what the community thinks about our trustees is unprintable. The much abused phrase Parsipanu is not that annual visit to the Agiyary or watching a putrid Parsi comedy or gorging at the Ripon Club on Wednesday afternoons. Even the intelligent spare little thought about the issues threatening the very existence of the community. This has led to the affairs of the community being handled by, believe it or not, a dozen odd Parsis.
This concentration of power amongst this dozen (we shall eschew the adjective), needless to state, is dangerous. The vicious hatred amongst them is very un-Parsi. Like battle scarred gladiators, they lick
their bruised egos and yearn to see their opponents humiliated. These war games have now spilled over from the media into the Courts. Many of these worthies are street fighters who love a bloody brawl, for the sake of it, as their non-community careers are uniformly boring and pedestrian. They and their followers, of liberal or orthodox hue, sincerely believe that they are the saviours of the community. The indifference of the community feeds their delusions of grandeur. And why blame the tadpole for thinking that he is the master of the cesspool?
As a result, there is no dispassionate expert thinking on how to tackle issues. The cesspool is so turpid that none wants to step into it. Painstaking sociological research is dismissed as biased. Suggestions to reform charities are seen as motivated. None wants to be shown a mirror. They do not want a confirmation of the ugliness.
A few years ago, only those, whom we affectionately like to call fruitcakes, reacted angrily to criticism. Now, all do. When few can even bear to be told the truth, disaster is not far away. Our much-touted sense of humour was founded on the fundamental premise of having the ability to laugh at ourselves. We have so terribly lost that ability, in the process of protecting our puny egos.
The community is already mentally extinct.
- first published in the Parsiana, April 2014
Very interesting blog. Happened to chance upon it. Plan to visit regularly.
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