‘Parsi lifestyle is not going to die away in a hurry’

‘Parsis are brought up with a great sense of the importance of truth and speaking your mind.’

When journalist Coomi Kapoor set out to meticulously research and write a book on the Parsis and their unique, plucky journey to success, she understandably, quite naturally, found herself embarking on a memorable and perhaps emotional personal voyage of her own.

It was an embarrassing ignorance of her roots and ancestors that sparked the idea for her book, The Tatas, Freddie Mercury and Other Bawas: An Intimate History of the Parsis. As Kapoor worked to uncover the story of the Bawas, she was able to quickly and satisfyingly remedy the lack of knowledge about her own background.

“I really learned a lot, because I’m ashamed to say I didn’t know that much about my community. Researching it was fun… I think after writing the book, I became prouder of the fact that I was a Parsi. I always proud of being a Parsi but it made me understand much more about the community. I hadn’t given too much thought to the whole thing before.”

In writing Intimate History of the Parsis on the “flavour of the community through the stories of its people” Kapoor offers an extraordinary and touching legacy for her own half-Parsi daughters — stories about the forefathers ‘who traveled far and fought fiercely to preserve their faith and identity’.

“It was also to show them about (their heritage) because they were upset and felt excluded,” she says.

Because it is certainly not implausible or inconceivable that even half-Parsi daughters, with non-Parsi surnames, can bring a proud Parsi tradition forward, add value to it and build on it — think Dina Jinnah Wadia, dignified matriarch of the Wadias.

Kapoor’s book, in its conclusion, looks at the divisive views about the thorny question of augmenting membership of the community and its future.

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