The Bombay Parsi Punchayet’s (BPP) April election is going to be a women’s power war with sitting trustee Armaity Tirandaz’s term coming to an end. Challenging her candidature is former trustee and social worker Arnavaz Mistry, who in the last election trumped her opponent with an 80 per cent majority. Mistry’s efforts at encouraging young Parsis to marry (and within the community) and her work for senior citizens finds permanent place in community newsletters, with elders and the Parsi press gushing over her “obvious victory”.

Arnavaz Mistry and Armaity Tirandaz

“I am not bothered about anything else other than helping people. The election is a way for me to reach out [to the community] better. Barring a few, the new trustees have not really done anything worth mentioning,” Mistry told this diarist.

Given Mistry’s fan following, the defiant Tirandaz is quick to say, “I have never indulged in a popularity contest in any case, I have always been a silent worker.” Tirandaz, who earned the not-so-flattering sobriquet of Rabri Devi after she won the seat that was left vacant by her husband and trustee Rustom Tirandaz’s demise in 2009, is known to be a staunch traditionalist, trashing reforms that the community is debating, given the falling numbers and endogamy’s fading sheen.

If aggro and April go together, it is not just because of the alliteration. The BPP is a battlefield.

Mid-Day, Friday, February 19, 2016