Persis Khatau (in red) enjoys a word game with daughter Dimple Makwana (right), grand-daughters Divyana Chikhal (far left) and Jiyah Makwana. Pic/Satej Shinde

Veera Sawkar's amusement at the mention of what is in fact, a serious matter affecting the lives of women from the Zoroastrian community, is understandable if you belong to the more-than-3500-year-old faith. She cannot comprehend how a Parsi can manage to stop being Parsi. "We are too proud of our faith," says the Tardeo resident.

And yet, the Gujarat High Court in 2012 ruled that Goolrokh Gupta, a Parsi woman born Goolrokh Adi Contractor, who married Mahipal Gupta, a Hindu in 1991, would cease to be Parsi, presumed to have acquired the religious status of her husband. If she wished to continue being Parsi, she would have to "give up her husband's religion in court or prove that she led the Parsi way of life".