To all of us who hold our heads up high and are proud of being a Zarthosti.

I happen to stumble upon some documentaries on you tube and have had a reality check. Below are links to them and I urge each one of you to watch them from start to end and not stop halfway. At first, that is what I did myself, I couldn’t watch them and found them extremely disturbing and depressing. But soon my slumbering conscience realised that the people in these films are in that state today, because Zarthosti’s like me have turned a blind eye to them. I sat and watched them again and this time did not stop halfway.

It opened my eyes how we consider us Zarthosti’s a privileged lot and put on our blinkers of prosperity. We have not only ignored the less fortunate but also ignored those remote places where our forefathers were born and brought up. We have forgotten that we owe our privileged existence in the cities of India and the World, to these less known and forgotten parts on India that we have abandoned. Being such a wealthy community and considering that we are just a handful, we have failed to look after our elderly and the less fortunate.

These videos have made me realise that poverty and loneliness are two of the hardest circumstances that a person has to face in their lifetime. The people in these videos are faced with both.

So I have made a pledge to myself that wherever I shall travel in India I will track at least one needy Zarthosti every time and to whatever I can in my capacity to help, be it financial or spend some time to ease their loneliness. Rather than worrying about our dwindling numbers, think its time we help the ones in existence that need help.

I urge each one of you who receives this to do the same. It is only after easing the troubles of our fellow needy Zarthosti, we can bask in the glory of being one.

Zameer Palamkote

Courtesy : Zubin Wadia