Archive for 'Bombay'

The Story of the Taj Mahal Hotel

Posted 29 August 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, Heritage, Mumbai | 1 Comment

The Taj Mahal Hotel was founded, according to legend, after Jamsetji Tata was refused entrance into a European-owned hotel which displayed a sign forbidding entry to dogs and Indians. He vowed to build a luxury hotel that would be open to Indians and where Indians could entertain and be entertained without being insulted. There is, [...]

A Longer Wait for BPP Flats

Posted 17 August 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, Bombay Parsi Panchayat, Housing, Mumbai | 1 Comment

It appears that the wait for Parsi families to move into Bombay Parsi Punchayat (BPP) flats just got a little longer. Justice (retd) B N Srikrishna, who was appointed to verify the eligibility of members of the Parsi-Irani community last year, has resigned. By Shibu Thomas / Times News Service The former judge of the [...]

Dalal Estate Mumbai: Transformation

Posted 14 July 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, Housing, Mumbai | 2 Comments

One of the oldest and largest residential complexes in south Mumbai is all set for a makeover. By Nauzar Bharucha / TNN Dalal Estate, the more than seven-decade-old landmark residential enclave along the Mumbai Central bridge, will be demolished later this year to make way for a 64-storey skyscraper, TOI has learnt. The project is [...]

By The Way: Mumbai Restaurant With A Cause

Posted 09 July 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, Food and Drink, Mumbai | No Comments

Sitting in this quaint restaurant, just gullies away from the furious churn of the Arabian sea, watching the rain steam up the glass double doors that open up to a leafy Grant Road lane, it’s hard not to fall in love with the monsoons again. By Mahithi Pillay / DNA The quiet clatter of cutlery, [...]

Unused Urinal At Cross Maidan Behind Bhikha Behram Well Raises A Stink

Posted 02 July 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, Issues, Mumbai | No Comments

Residents want the toilet block – locked in a dispute since 1996 as Parsis fear it would contaminate water in their sacred well, located at Bhikha Behram – demolished By Manoj Nair / Mumbai Mirror With a section of the Cross Maidan showcasing a new, green look, Oval residents want the urinal near Bhikha Behram [...]

Bombay Panjrapole

Posted 28 June 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, Heritage, History, Mumbai | No Comments

If you aren’t looking for it, you’d probably miss it. Tucked somewhere in the by-lanes of the crowded Bhuleshwar bazaar is the Bombay Panjrapole, a 176-year-old infirmary that primarily looks after 350 cows and other stray animals like donkeys, hens, birds, dogs, goats, parrots and ducks. By Humaira Ansari / DNA The shelter, painted bright [...]

Britannia restaurant: Flying food and other Parsi tales

Posted 08 June 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, Food and Drink, Mumbai | 10 Comments

Boman Kohinoor and his son/chef Romin tell CNNGo the long history of Britannia & Co. and share the sacred sali meat recipe from one of Mumbai’s best loved restaurants Article by Aarthi Gunnupuri / CNNGo In 1923, like a few other Zoroastrian immigrants from Iran, Rashid Kohinoor decided to get into the restaurant business in [...]

A Crisis for the Faithful

Posted 30 April 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, Issues | 27 Comments

The Parsi bodies are piling up in India. Parsis are modern adherents of the ancient Zoroastrian faith that emerged in the 6th century B.C. in Persia, predating Christianity and Islam. According to many scholars, Zoroastrianism influenced these religions and Judaism with its fundamental concept of a dualistic world of light versus darkness, with a good [...]

Road to be named after Rustom Tirandaz

Posted 26 April 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, Events, Mumbai | 2 Comments

Rustom Tirandaz who passed away recently will be honoured by the naming of a road in his honour. In the Dadar Parsi Colony, Mumbai; the road opposite Rustomframna Agiary, popularly known as Volleyball Gardens, is to be named after the respected leader Rustom Tirandaz. This will be at a special event on Sunday May 2, [...]

Exhibition gives city a peek into the Parsi way of life

Posted 23 April 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, Events, Mumbai | 2 Comments

Curious about how a Fire Temple looks from the inside, what goes into the making of an Agiary, the ceremonies and the procedures at the Tower of Silence where the dead are laid and much more, here is your chance to get an inside look into Parsi culture. Frohar Foundation, a charitable trust, is organising [...]

Exhibition: Zoroastrianism Through The Ages

Posted 22 April 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, Events, Mumbai | 4 Comments

The Frohar FoundationPRESENTS “ZOROASTRIANISM THRU THE AGES” An Exhibition on the Parsee Zoroastrians Showcasing The History of the Iranian Dynasties from Peshdadian to Sassanian The Journey from Iran to India and their contribution to India And their Rites & Rituals. At Albless Baug, Charni Road, Mumbai 400004. ON 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th of April, [...]

A Navjote Ceremony with full security

A Navjote Ceremony with full security

Posted 21 April 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, Issues, Mumbai, News | 1 Comment

Two children of a Parsi woman and her Catholic husband were initiated into the Zoroastrian community on Friday under police security as the Parsi community had objected to the Navjyot Ceremony. Police protection was provided after the couple, Roshni Mallu and Savio D’souza, approached Home Minister R.R. Patil through the organisation Association for Revival of [...]

Parsi lady seeks cop cover for Navjot of kids

Posted 15 April 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, News | 72 Comments

Wants protection for the initiation ceremony of her children born of a Catholic father after threats from disapproving community elders By Manoj Nair / Mumbai Mirror A Parsi woman and her non-Zoroastrian husband, who planned the Navjot or initiation ceremony of their two children – a seven-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl – into the [...]

Matrimony: The Great Parsi Pursuit

Posted 22 March 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, India, Issues | 8 Comments

An enterprising 55-year-old bachelor claiming to have almost made it to the portals of the Forbes list of billionaires was reluctantly but firmly refused entry to an exclusive party last Saturday. So were pushy parents and wannabe in-laws eager to gatecrash the meet. By Mahafreed Irani for TNN The unlikely bouncers were hoary-headed and fragile [...]

Nanabhoy made mota-bhai Mumbai

Posted 12 March 2010 | By arzan sam wadia | Categories: Bombay, History, Mumbai | No Comments

Fleeing from tormentors in the Middle-East, this community first found refuge in Gujarat. They speak the Gujarati language and every chronicle of Mumbai’s history has them at the centrestage. By Ashish Vashi & Harit Mehta, TNN An important Gujarati export to Mumbai, Parsis fought wars, contributed to business development and built dockyards. This community, which [...]

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