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| By Narayan Murthy, Infosys No Indian community internalized the civilizing mission of the British as did the Parsis. Only 50,000 remain in Bombay today, mainly in South Bombay, the most disciplined and cultured part of India In South Bombay, the cutting of lanes by drivers is punished, jumping a red light is impossible, parking is possible only ln allotted areas, roads are clean, service is efficient, the restaurants are unmatched - civilization seems within reach. South Bombay has some of the finest buildings in India, many of them built by Parsis. The Parsis came to Bombay after Surat's port silted over in the 17th century. Gerald Aungier settled Bombay and gave Parsis land for their Tower of Silence on Malabar Hill in 1672. The Parsis made millions through the early andmid-1800s and they spent much of it on public good. The Ambanis built Dhirubhai Ambani International School , where fees are Rs. 348,000 (US $8,000 a year in a country where per capita income is $ 600 per year) and where the head girl is Mukesh Ambani's daughter.!!! The Kingfisher Mallyas gilded the insides of the Tirupati temple with gold. Lakshmi Mittal, the fourth richest man in the world says he's too young to think of charity!! He's 57 and worth $45 billion. The Birla Family built 3 temples in Hyderabad , Jaipur and Delhi . Hindu philanthropy means building temples. They do not understand social philanthropy. The Hindus' lack of enthusiasm for philanthropy is cultural. The Hindu cosmos is Hobbesian and the devotee's relationship with God is transactional. God mustbe petitioned and placated to swing the universe's blessings towards you and away from someone else. They believe that society has no role in your advancement and there is no reason to give back to it because it hasn't given you anything in the first place. Two centuries of British education was unable to alter this. The Parsis, on the other hand, understood that philanthropy - love of mankind - recognizes that we cannot progress alone. That there is such a thing as the common good. They spent as no Indian community had ever before, on building institutions, making them stand out in a culture whose talent lies in renaming things other people built. The Parsis built libraries all over India , they built the National Gallery of Art. The Indian Institute of Science was built in 1911 by Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was built by Dr Homi Bhabha, the Tata Institute of Social Science was built in 1936 by the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. The Wadias built hospitals, women's colleges and the five great ow-income Parsi colonies of Bombay . JJ Hospital and Grant Medical College were founded by Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy. By 1924, two out of five Indians - whether Hindu, Muslim or Parsi - joining the Indian Civil Services were on TATA scholarships.They gave Bombay the Jehangir Art Gallery, Sir JJ School of Art , the Taraporevala Aquarium. The National Center for Performing Arts, the only place in India where world-class classical concerts are held is a gift of the Tatas. There are 161 Friends of the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) 92 of them are Parsis. For an annual fee of Rs 10,000, Friends of the SOI get two tickets to any one recital in the season, they get to shake hands with artistes after the concert and they get toattend music appreciation talks through the year. The Parsis dominate high culture in Bombay. This means that a concert experience in the city is unlike that in any other part of India . Classical concerts seat as many as two thousand. Zubin Mehta, the most famous Parsi in the world, is Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra since 1969. He conducts the tenor Placido Domingo, the pianist Daniel Barenboim and the soprano Barbara Frittoli. Fourconcerts are held at the Jamshed Bhabha Opera House and then one at Brabourne Stadium with a capacity of 25,000. No other city in India has this appetite for classical music and in Bombay this comes from the Parsis. Despite their tiny population, the Parsi presence in a concert hall is above 50 per cent. And they all come. Gorgeous Parsi girls in formal clothes - saris,gowns - children, men and the old. Many have to be helped to their seats. Most of them know the music. The people who clap between movements, thinking that the 'song' is over, are mostly non-Parsis. Symphony Orchestra of India concerts begin at 7 pm. Once the musicians start, latecomers must wait outside till the movement ends. The end of each movement also signals a fusillade of coughs and groans, held back by doddering Parsis too polite to make a sound while Mendelssohn is being played. No mobile phone ever goes off as is common in cinema halls: his neighbors are aware of the Parsi's insistence of form and his temper. The Parsis were also pioneers of Bombay's Gujarati theatre, which remains the most popular form of live entertainment in Bombay. Any week of the year will see at least a half dozen bedroom comedies, murder mysteries, love stories and plays on assorted themes on stage. The Paris's were the pioneers of this, writing and acting in the first plays of Bombay. They also built the institutions that supported this. Bombay 's first theatre was opened by Parsis in 1846, the Grant Road Theatre, donations from Jamshetjee Jejeebhoy and Framjee Cowasjee making it possible. Want to add about the generosity about Ratan Tata who did so much about the staff of Taj Hotel during the terrorist attack in Mumbai. Not only that but he also set up camps for all the other victims and their families who suffered during the attack at Bori Bunder. The Parsi in Bollywood caricature is a comic figure, but always honest, and innocent as Indians believe Parsis generally to be, rightly or wrongly. In the days before modern cars came to India the words 'Parsi-owned' were guaranteed to ensure that a second-hand car listed for sale would get picked up ahead of any others. This is because people are aware of how carefully the Parsi keeps his things. His understanding and enthusiasm of the mechanical separates him from the rest. Most of the automobile magazines in India are owned and edited by Parsis. The Parsis are a dying community and this means that more Parsis die each year than are born (Symphony concert-goers can also discern the disappearing Parsi from the rising numbers of those who clap between movements). As the Parsis leave, South Bombay will become like the rest of Bombay - brutish, undisciplined and filthy. Preserve this race...You are privileged if you have a Parsi as your friend...He/She is indeed a "Heritage" to be treasured for ever. |
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