Recently a friend of my called up to console me. She let me know that as per the Bombay Parsi Panchayat, anyone who is earning less that 90,000 rupees a month is considered a "Poor Parsi", and is eligible for some charity being doled out by the Panchayat.
The Parsis have always been an affluent minority with great business acumen. You only have to start taking names when you realize that the Tata's, Godrej's, Wadia's are all from this minority community, but have managed to make a major impact on the Indian Economy.
The community has a lot of money and is also known for its charitable acts. It is only natural that "Charity begins at Home" and the community leaders, aka the Parsi Panchayat, wants to dole out their largess to the not so fortunate members of the community.
Still in a country like ours where every 10th person is living below the poverty line (less than 100 rupees income per day), it does seem humorous that for a Parsi to be considered poor, he or she has to make less than nearly one lakh a month.
That said, since I am definitely not earning that kind of money a month with my freelance writing, I do qualify for the perks that the Parsi Panchayat seems to be keen on extending to me. Only trouble is, I don't think being a One Parent Parsi child will endear me to them much.
