Parsi wedding

I went to my first Parsi wedding this weekend (you’re a rock star, Arzan), and at first glance it seemed quite similar to a Hindu reception. You had the 500+-person guest list, the huge outdoor space, the older people skipping the ceremony and coming only for the food, the uncles hanging out by the bar sipping Johnny Walker.

There were differences, of course: the groom wore a pure white jacket closed with two ties, the bride wore an iridescent belt tied at the back, the setting in a Parsi colony… And oh yes, the DJ played Queen

The reception was held in the communal banquet space of Malcolm Baug:

The mill owning family of Wadia promoted the Baugs (Parsi colonies) in a big way. These acts of philanthropy are visible all over the island city stretching from Cusrow Baug in Colaba, Jer Baug, Rustom Baug and Ness Baug in Central Bombay, right up to Malcolm Baug in Jogeshwari… [comprising] spacious bungalows, some two stories high.

The grounds are laid out… with large avenues lined with shade giving trees and adequate car parking… gardens for recreation, volleyball and football facilities, pavilions for indoor sports and social events… some baugs even have Fire Temples within their precincts.

Although this community housing is a boon, it tends to generate a ‘ghetto’ mentality. In contrast to the low housing provided by other communities in what is referred to as ‘chawls’, the Parsis lived very differently and this led to a certain feeling of distinctiveness… In 1992-1993, when the fabric of Bombay’s physical and emotional life was devastated by communal riots, the Parsis living in the baugs were almost paralyzed. Their gates, which normally had their ornate wrought iron grills open 24 hours a day, suddenly acquired the image of fortresses… [Link]

… Malcolm Baug stirs as dusk settles. Its residents ~ 350 Parsi families ~ walk heavily tree-lined lanes, play carrom in their gymkhana, visit each other in bungalows dating back to the 1920s and prepare for weddings and navjotes celebrated at a century-old hunting lodge… [the Baug was] acquired by a trust from Sir John Malcolm who was then Governor of Bombay…

Just off the heavily congested S. V. Road one can get lost in the many tabelas, or stables, that house water buffalos and smell of sweet hay and dung and fresh warm milk. There are fields here on either side of the railway tracks and these spill over, and blossom, all over the Aarey Milk Colony in neighbouring Goregaon. [Link]

Ahura Mazda in lights: