Around 1,000 Parsis from across the globe got together at National Sports Club of India(NSCI) in Worli on the second day of 10th World Zoroastrian Congress — a platform for Parsis to socialize with members of their community once every four years.
The four-day long conclave comprises sessions on Parsi culture, art and community-based issues. On Saturday, the sessions were on topics like Parsi contribution to media, Zoroastrian legacy, laws affecting Zoroastrians and Parsi literature.
A 45-minute-long session on ‘Late marriages and divorce amongst Parsis’, which focused on declining count of Parsis due to no or late marriage and high rate of divorces, drew maximum crowd. Burjor Antia, session chairperson, said, “Divorce cases based on mutual consent has increased. In high court we found that 10 per cent of the 900 marriages of the community ended in divorce.” Another panelist, Firoze Andhyarujina, Supreme Court senior advocate, claimed that with no parental guidance, low tolerance and increasing incompatibility, couples are separating frequently. “Girls are not interested in marrying early and if they do, they marry outside their community,” said Andhyarujina.
While the last conclaves — in 2005 and 2009 — were held in London and Dubai, this one was held in Worli after 23 years.
