ACCORDING TO THE calendar Parsis follow, today is my birthday. It is an event only family and very close friends know about, the more popular occasion being my date of birth next weekend. Of the seven people who wished me a Happy Birthday today, four followed it up with blessings for a good sasroo, i.e. marital home/in-laws’ home. All were women above 50, all educated, all married themselves and surrounded by several singletons of their age who appear fairly happy and not about to kill themselves from the ignominy of not being part of a pair. (Parsis have the lowest rate of marriage in India, with significantly higher levels of social acceptance for those unhitched than most other Indian communities.)
