Because Jinnah had lots of money and less melanin. The true religion is good bank account and lighter shade of brown”"

I think Mahesh of Boston is obsessed with his Browness…I am a parsi and My ggrandparents married outside the community. I think it is only people from South asia that are so obsessed with having less melanin in their skins…If you go to the villages you will see that parsis also come in various shdes of barown. Most modern Parsi’s dont hold with traditional beliefs…To be fair these traditionalists are simply holding forth on the promise that was made to the local king who granted our ancestors santuary. In todays day and age what makes a Parsi a Parsi is following 3 simple truths that our whole religion is based on. Good Thoughts, Good Words Good Deeds. To be the better human being is what our religion is all about. Most people confuse relion with socio-cultural beliefs that have accumulated to become traditions. But Traditions change as the environment and time changes…So Muslims are forbidden Alcohol..but even Arabs (the so called Hardcore ones..drink somthing called madira…a fermented alcohic drink…its even talked about in the koran….Hindus dont eat beef..but look around you and count the number of timesyouve see the mahesh’s of the world dig into a nice juicy steak…or Tandoori chicken.

Skin tone is genetics…we have no control over that but a true human being strives for a pure soul which is a universal belief in all religions…So lets stop all this hogwash and focus on whats important…being a good human being.

Because Jinnah had lots of money and less melanin. The true religion is good bank account and lighter shade of brown.

11 · Suhail Kazi said

I have a strong liking for the Parsi community in Bombay. They are the most cultured of the lot, and their contribution to the city has been immense. I also like the way old Parsi ladies loaded with righteous indignation facing off with rude, risque BEST bus-conductors and drivers or any other fellow who dares to take the old/ladies seat in the bus. And the way they haggle with sabziwala in the markets. They are the “qaada+kanoon” community – in a v.quirky/likeable sort of way. For starters, people might want to watch awesome Naseeruddin Shah in Pestonjee However I do find some of their stuff intriguing. Arzan, nothing personal here, but you might be able to answer it. Why do Parsi homes smell so differently? I have been to quite a few Parsi homes in Tardeo, Byculla, Dadar(Bbay suburbs for all u guys) — had some Parsi friends in school — and in each and every case there is this ubiquitous dark/smelly and old-untouched feel to the entire setting. I have never smelled anything quite like that anywhere else, and can’t put it in words. One more clarification, since we are on the topic. I don’t know if it’s apocryphal or not. Do almost all Parsis really marry within their first blood-cousins? And is that the reason their numbers are dwindling (aka fewer progenies)? Have heard this argument quite often from non-Parsis in Bbay. Surely that sounds questionable, coz I know quite a few Muslims marrying their first-cousins and fortunately/unfortunately there is no dearth of little Mohd/Mariams in their family albums. Razib, could it be just the genes/ethnicity thing or what? I do feel, that Parsi numbers dwindling down is a bad thing. And they should be actively adopting policies which advocate high procreation rates. It’s sad to see amidst the clutter in Bombay, a clean expansive Parsi colony, with exactly zeros kids playing in their lush-green parks and gardens. All you can see there are old, and I mean really old(70-80+) uncles and aunties in their white attires. My $0.02

“PARSIS: the Zoroastrians of India – a Photographic Journey” is a pretty damn stunning coffee table book. And it seems to present a pretty diverse spectrum of Parsis (socioeconomically), debunking some of the myths talked about here. There’s a beautiful section on Parsis in Gujarati villages actually. She apparently was a professional photographer before becoming a screenwriter; and never gave it up.

She was featured on NPR late last year, and a bunch of other places; a bunch of different papers (Orange County Register) picked up a great story from the NYTimes wire service too. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4223182

I really learned a lot — especially about these woman-centered water festivals for which Parsis gather at waterfront areas and pray- the photos were really beautiful.

Interestingly, most Iranian American Zoroastrians (you know that there are 2 main kinds of Zoroasttrians in the diapora- Parsis and Iranians- right?) I’ve encountered have no problem with conversion of kids or spouse of a Zoroastrian. However, back in Iran, they were prevented from marrying non-Zoroastrians not by convention but by law. Even now, marriage to a non-Muslim is not legal or at best subject to all sorts of legal hurdles, and the Zoroastrian spouse must legally become Muslim.