City Finds: A Look At The Best Of Mumbai's Parsi ArchitectureDuring the 17th century, the Parsis established...
Bombay Articles
Maestro Zubin Mehta returns to conduct the Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI)’s Autumn 2024 Season concerts
The Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI), the nation's only full-time professional orchestra, is delighted to announce...
J B Vachha School: On this day 100 years ago, my Zoroastrian high school was founded in Mumbai, India
Dear friends,I woke up today to the pleasant news of longevity and resilience—my high school located in the beautiful Zoroastrian enclave of Dadar Parsi Colony, Mumbai—The J. B. Vachha High School...
Parsis Protest Over Plans To Relocate Ranji Agiarry Fire From Falkland Road Fire Temple To Girgaum Shrine
Suggestion to shut down fire temple comes after former trustee of Bombay Parsi Punchayet wrote in community newspaper that community should sell off some of its 48 fire temples and use money from...
BMC Begins Work On Restoration Of Marine Drive’s ‘Parsi Gate’
The dismantling of the monument, built in the early 20th century by Parsi philanthropists, had created a furore in the Parsi-Zoroastrian community which uses the site for religious rituals...
Why Mumbai’s 300-year-old Bhikha Behram Well is more than just a sacred site for Zoroastrians
Why Mumbai's 300-year-old Bhikha Behram Well is more than just a sacred site for ZoroastriansA year short of turning 300, the Bhikha Behram Well in the heart of Churchgate is not only sacred to...
Fat deposit, low rent: Wealthy Parsis are moving into historic baugs
Bai Jerbai Wadia funded 1500 flats in iconic Parsi Baugs. Wealthy Parsis pay high security deposits for residences. The auctioning process has faced criticism for favoring the affluent over the...
Rattan Kunj–Talati Bungalow: One of last century-old seafront Seven Bungalows faces demolition
Natasha Patel writes….Throughout my life, I have spent countless man-hours explaining my building’s name to people - Talati Terrace. In a pool of new age, greek-god inspired Bombay building names...
Mumbai’s iconic Parsi eatery Sassanian turns 111, continues to offer value-for-money experience
As the Dhobi Talao-based Parsi food joint Sassanian Boulangerie completes 111 years, we look at the years gone by and how they managed to remain afloat.Article by Heena Khandelwal | Indian...
Churchgate’s Bhikha Behram Well Gears Up For 300th Birthday With Revamp Plans
Among the plans are a project to do up the compound, a small museum, a photo gallery, an arch, and a new drinking water fountain for the public who may want to drink the spring water from the well....
Mumbai Samachar, since 1822: Know about India’s oldest continuously published newspaper
Mumbai Samachar had its humble origins in the form of a handwritten weekly publication.Article by Khushboo Ali | KnocksenseMumbai Samachar stands as India's enduring beacon of information. Embarking...
Conservation & Restoration of Large Pavilion at Bombay Doongerwadi
Conservation & Restoration at Doongerwadi Large Pavilion Renovated in Honor of Roda & Noshir PardiwalaThe Conservation and Restoration of the Large Pavilion, officially known as the...
Mumbai’s Parsi Gate To Be Restored At 75m From Original Location
Here’s Why It Is So Sacred For ParsisIf you’ve been to Marine Drive before it was arrested by the development of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project, you must have noticed two brown pillars standing...
Malcolm Baug Parsi Housing Colony: A Century of Tranquility Amidst Mumbai’s Hustle and Bustle
Later this month, the colony will hold its centennial celebrations.Mumbai: As you exit the traffic-clogged S V Road near Jogeshwari railway station and enter the metal arches of the Malcolm Baug...
Mumbai City’s Parking Woes In Spotlight as Wadiaji Atashbehram Security Guards Accused of Allowing Illegal Parking in Compound
The trustees of the Wadiaji Atash Behram fire temple have called for a meeting on Monday after receiving complaints from devotees. Manoj Ramakrishnan | Free Press JournalMumbai: City's parking woes...
Heritage Parsi Bhikha Behram Well In Churchgate Ready To Defy Monsoon Flooding
This fresh-water well, situated adjacent to Cross Maidan, holds significant historical and cultural value for Parsi-Zoroastrians and is a designated landmark on Mumbai's urban heritage list. Article...
Mumbai: Proposed Dandiya Event At Doongerwadi Stirs Up Debate
Some residents of the area have claimed that the ground is part of the 300-year-old cemetery and the proposed dance event on October 23 will destroy the sanctity of the sacred place. Article Manoj...
Michael Stausberg: ‘Many cab drivers said that they “worship” their taxis. Is this religion?’
A new, fascinating volume of essays explores how people make sense of their religions in the fast-changing city of Mumbai, whether in a chawl, high-rise or kaali-peeliWhile it is widely known that...
Come Friday June 9 2023, Dadysett Agiary to open once again
The agiary will soon have an elaborate religious ceremony to have the sacred fire back in the Kebla, where it will burn 24 hours. Article by Ashutosh M Shukla | Free Press JournalMumbai News: Come...
Reverse Orientalism, Slander and the Origins of Bombay’s Once Fashionable Capitol Cinema
The theatre, now closed, began its life as the Gaiety for the upper crust of Bombay to see plays.The Victoria Terminus (today Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) is the undisputed highlight of any tour of...
Rustom Baug in Byculla celebrates centenary year
Built by Bai Jerbai Wadia in memory of her late son, the residential colony, continues to be a ‘self-contained’ thriving community centre for 330 families Rustom Baug boasts of a library, gymnasium,...
Carrom and camaraderie in the colony
With Rustom Baug just hitting a century, we revisit other Parsi enclaves founded by the community’s visionaries It’s a privilege I haven’t had. Of living in a baug, that quaint yet quintessential...
Rustom Baug Is 100 Years Old
Well done, bawa! Rustom Baug smashes a tonne Byculla’s 32-building Parsi housing enclave set to celebrate 100th birthday with year-long events planned by grateful residentsBuildings are being lit up...
Turmoil for Residents of Hong Kong House in Malcolm Baug, Jogeshwari Mumbai
The below is an article by esteemed journalist Nauzer K. Bharucha on the happenings at HongKong House in Malcolm Baug, Jogeshwari, Mumbai.WHEN PARSI FAMILIES ARE BULLIED BY THEIR OWN IS THE N M...
From India to Iran, via Bombay and its Parsis, Rabindranath Tagore and a forgotten book
Elements of Indian culture and pre-Islamic Persia that survive in India shape modern Iranian culture, even today. Article by Adhiraj Parthasarathy & Mohammad Dawood | Scroll A copy of The Blind...
Mumbai: Give defunct Parsi maternity home to Tata Memorial, says retired naval officer
Retired naval officer urges Bombay Parsi Punchayet to keep up the good work done by the community and facilitate cancer care at Parsi Lying-in Hospital, FortArticle by Suraj Pandey | Mid-DayVehicles...
Maharashtra govt wants to bring vultures back to life
State forest department and Corbett Foundation to take conservation measures to remote villages; seek to highlight the many threats to the birdThe poster that seeks to raise awareness about vulture...
Aur, Irani chai
Zoroastrian, Shia Muslim (Yazdi and Shirazi) and Baha’i Iranian migrants, and of course the Palanpur-hailing Cheliyas, have been feeding this city for over a century with cheap eats and colourful...
Empowering Mobeds Trust Inauguration Event
Saturday April 23, 2022 will forever be a red letter day in the annals of the Parsi Irani Zarathushti community in India, and all over the world. It was on this day that the Empowering Mobeds Trust...
Bandra Parsi Convalescent Home: Parsi trust sells sea-facing Bandra property for Rs 350 crore
The plot now contains this dilapidated early 20th-century bungalow, once used as a convalescence homeMUMBAI: A Parsi trust has sold its prime, sea-facing bungalow property at Bandra Bandstand to a...
Sir Homi Mody … Dadabhai Naoroji: Five Parsis behind Mumbai’s street names
These five roads in Mumbai are named after politicians, bankers, lawyers and activists who had two things in common: one, they were Parsi, and two, they all contributed to the development of Mumbai,...
Dadar Parsi Colony: Cherishing the Bombay that was
Inflatable pools, barbecues, open backyards…this is how architect Rooshad Shroff recalls the better part of his childhood spent with his parents in the Dadar Parsi colony. With the endless...
Mumbai: 100-year-old Parsi Gate to be relocated 75mt away
BMC has relocated the century-old Parsi Gate at Marine Drive to make way for the coastal road project. While one pillar of the gate was moved on April 17, the other was moved three days later. After...
Kayomi Engineer: Want to have every single building in Parsi Colony sketched for archival value
A Dadar Parsi Colony resident’s four-year-old attempt at using photos, anecdotes, municipal records, memories and sketches to the iconic neighbourhood in a book speaks of public participation in...
Mumbai: Parsis aggrieved as BMC plans to relocate Parsi Gate to facilitate coastal road project
Mumbai: Members of the Parsi community are aggrieved with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as the fate of the iconic 'Parsi Gate' continues to remain uncertain. In order to facilitate...
Maneckji Seth Agiary – Parsi Imprint on Mumbai
Anyone who has lived in or grown up in Mumbai would know at least one Parsi for sure. And if new, you will wonder about the fuss around Bun-Maska (Bun-Butter), Bhurji-Pav (Scrambled eggs-Bread) and...
Sign The Petition: Save Parsi Gate at Marine Drive
A group of concerned citizens have started an online petition to save the Parsi Gate at Marine Drive in south Mumbai, which is likely to be relocated by the BMC for the upcoming coastal road....
80-plus Irani brothers with a zest for life die of Covid-19 in Mumbai
Everyone who has known of the Ferzandi brothers — Darius, 85 and Plumarz, 81 succumbing to the deadly coronavirus within weeks of each other last month, have been aching with memories of the two...
Proposed shifting of Parsi Gates lead to a lot of shouting
Proposed shifting of Parsi Gates lead to a lot of shoutingDissent cleaves community after meet to move Parsi Gates at Marine Drive; social media the battlegroundThe Parsi Gates at Marine...
One of India’s richest minority groups enjoys some of Mumbai’s best rents.
"Imagine a world within a world." That is how Hormuz Bana describes the centuries-old community where he lives in Mumbai -- and which is in danger of vanishing. Article by Rhea Mogul | CNN Located...
Glimpses of Kekoo Gandhy’s Mumbai
Kekee Manzil - The House of Art chronicles a micro-history of the city anchored in a century-old family home Filmmakers Behroze Gandhy and Dilesh Korya’s documentary, Kekee Manzil - The House of Art...
Theft attempt at Bhikha Behram well
Caretaker of SoBo Grade I heritage site raises alarm after spotting signs of break-in and attempt to pry open the donation box. An unsuccessful theft attempt was made at the heritage Bhikha Behram...
Parsi Lying-In hospital must serve people once again
The plan to revive the dilapidated Parsi Lying-In hospital has run into problems once again, among the trustees of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP).The BPP has alleged that the bidding process for...
Three parties show interest in reviving Parsi Lying-In Hospital
BPP, hospital’s managing committee invite tenders In an attempt to give a new life to the defunct and dilapidated Parsi Lying-In Hospital (PLIH) in Fort, the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) and the...
ZYNG Relaunches on January 25th at Rustom Baug
On Saturday January 25, 2020; the widely successful ZYNG: Zoroastrian Youth for the Next Generation is being resurrected in its 2.0 avatar. In a mega event planned for the relaunch of ZYNG, the...
Ten Years Of ‘Pray Together, Stay Together’ Movement Commemorated At Bhikha Behram Well
Parsi Times shares the below update on the 10th anniversary of the prayer ritual at the Bhikha Behram well. Ten Years Of ‘Pray Together, Stay Together’ Movement Commemorated At Bhikha Behram WellA...
Mumbai Metro 3 affects iconic J. N. Petit Library
Percy Wadia, a staff member of the library told the Free Press Journal that they have around 3, 000 members as the regular visitors to the library before the Metro work began. Jamshetjee...
Mother takes on Dadar Parsi Gymkhana over membership for son
The Dadar Parsi Colony Gymkhana management has landed in the middle of a controversy over a membership demand of 36-year-old Sanaya Dalal for her son, who has a half Parsi father. The authorities...
Three prime Parsi baugs told to cough up over Rs 35 crore for lease renewals
The city collector has issued demand notices to the city's largest private landlord, Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP), for various properties, including prominent residential baugs built by...
Mumbai’s heritage Parsi Gate to be removed to make way for Coastal Road construction
RTI response says BMC will shift it back after work is done, but Parsis are worried about its condition Apart from marine life, the proposed Coastal Road will see another casualty: Parsi Gate, which...
The Secrets of Saher Agiary in Mumbai
Meher Mirza takes us on a walk around the delightful Saher Agiary.Mumbai has lost so many of its memories under highways and malls that I am loath to share the few pockets that remain, but I shall...
Metro realignment for Shiv Sena’s Matoshree irks Parsi community
Say all problems should have been taken into consideration, some call it blatant discrimination Reports of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) realigning Metro 2B near...