The telephone rang early in the morning. At the other end was a very old school days friend who was in a Karachi hospital. “I have a high fever and the doctors say its Covid”. A few hours later he was no more. Everyone who knew Adi Cowasjee admired his friendly disposition. He was kind beyond measure and his humour was never-ending, for he spoke chaste Lahori Punjabi as well as Urdu in the Delhi accent what to mention crisp English and Old Persian as was his want.

The Parsis of Pakistan were and are still admired for their transparent honesty and law-abiding disposition. Their belief has three basic tenets: “Good Deeds, Good Words and Good Thoughts”. That is why they never lie.

In 1947, Lahore had over 2,700 Parsis almost all in businesses. They were all known as very honest and paid all their taxes. A friend in the taxation department mentioned to me that the corrupt officials of their department avoided Parsis as they never gave a single rupee. “We sent the clerk with a form and accepted whatever they claimed”. In school Adi loved cricket. “it’s in our blood”, he used to say. As I researched cricket and the Parsis it came as a shock to me that the very first local cricket team in the sub-continent had Parsis only way back in 1721, for they played a match against visiting English sailors in Bombay (now Mumbai). The very first Indian team to tour England in 1886 consisted only of Parsis. They played against W.G. Grace and Balla, a Karachi cricketer, caught him out against a Karachi bowler Dastur. The names still sound familiar to cricket lovers, as is Jamshed Markar, Pakistan’s famed commentator.

Just last week, a video went viral the world over in which the famous Lahore educator Mrs Perin Boga of Kinnaird College fame spoke about Lahore having only 12 or 15 Parsis left. Almost five years ago I wrote a piece on their dwindling numbers when then 37 families were left. An elderly Parsi I spoke to predicted that “within the next 15 years there will be none left”. What could be more depressing? The finest citizens of our amazing city have passed away and their children have left.

The special Parsi Hostel built by the late businessman Bhandara in Gulberg has only four old members left. Just why has this happened. So, I tracked down a well-known Parsi doctor now working in Liverpool in England for a short conversation. Being a ‘pucca Lahori’ he started off with how much he missed Lahori food and then got down to what I sought. My first question was: “why have the Parsis left Lahore, especially the younger one?” His answer was simple and short, and that was: “There is so much dishonesty at every step of life that we just cannot function”, he said. After a pause he added: “Our strategy is to educate ourselves to the optimum and then move abroad. It’s as simple as that. Living in honesty is so satisfying”. He then went on to explain how his father and his father-in-law spent the last days of their lives. His father was a businessman who simply refused to give the tax official any bribe. The result was that one day he walked into the office of a top tax bureaucrat and said: “I will not give a single paisa as bribe; you are welcome to take over my entire business and bank account”. The Liverpool doctor then mentioned his father-in-law, who was a judge of the Lahore High Court. He fully declared all his assets and as tax collectors were scared of him he always warned them to mend their ways. He would visit their office, collect a form himself, and return it filled up with the tax deposited. My doctor connection mentioned Lahore time and again but regretted that things have reached a point of no return. “But no matter what happens I will once a year pay a short visit, enjoy my school-day friends and the amazing Lahori food. That is what life should be all about”.

Without any Parsi our city will be the poorer. In 1947, the city lost all its Hindu and Sikh inhabitants. Inside the walled city there are still four Hindu families who live a secluded life. Even their neighbours think they are not Hindus for they visit the local mosques too. In the house of the Almighty everyone should be welcome. But that is not the way our communal population thinks. But the most welcome change has been the return of Pakistani Sikhs from the trouble-ridden regions of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They are into fabric businesses and have done exceptionally well. As their numbers increase they are now more visible. The best thing is that people love them. Local shopkeepers sometimes do not even charge them for minor purchases. But the diminishing number of Parsis is a real tragedy for Lahore. When we lived on Rattigan Road their temple near our house was a busy place. That is no more, and the building sold. There is one small place on Ravi Road which serves for the city. But given numbers the caretaker thinks it will also be closed. It is sad that the people of Lahore just do not know anything about this religion. It might come as a surprise that Zoroastrianism was the very first religion that acknowledged that there was only One Almighty, and that all religions that were to follow, Abrahamic that they are, would have Messengers. It was founded in Iran, but when the Indus Civilisation was collapsing this religion had the greatest influence in the entire Indus Valley region.

The concept of One Almighty was then taken up by the Abrahamic faiths, they are the Jewish, the Christian and the Islamic faiths. Their Zoroastrian holy book - The Avesta’ - clearly calls on its followers to respect all belief systems that have faith in one God Almighty. It says that the manner of prayers and rituals are not important, what is critical is their faith in the One and Only Almighty. This brings us to the point where we must, all of us, search within ourselves just why have we as a nation become so intolerant of other faith systems. Sadly, even within our amazing faith we have 73 recorded sub-sects. This is not a question of doubt, but the wish of priests to profit. The answer lies in tolerating beliefs opposed to ours. One wishes Lahore once again becomes the haven of multiple beliefs. Better still facts should prevail.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2024