The dismantling of the monument, built in the early 20th century by Parsi philanthropists, had created a furore in the...
Bombay Articles
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...
Bringing up the mediums: Parsi Mobeds
Parents make the heartbreaking decision to send their children to residential schools for various material reasons. It's seldom for a cause. But last year, parents of 30 Parsi children decided that...
Tehmulji Parsi Lying-In Hospital May be Demolished
Parsi maternity home on the block Tucked away in a quiet lane off D N Road is one of the city's oldest infirmaries--the charmingly named Dr Tehmulji's Parsi Lying-in hospital. Built more than a...
Zoroastrianism dying out in modern times
Many young boys being trained as priests will instead follow other careers Like most 12-year-old boys, Rayan Dastoor watches movies, goes to school and surfs the Internet for the latest tunes by...
Parsis in world can become members of Bombay Parsi Punchayet
In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court cleared the decks for over 1.25 Parsis in the world to gather under one roof. Justice AM Khanwilkar ruled on Thursday that any Parsi in any corner of...
Mumbai: Parsi community celebrates Navroze
The Zoroastrian community in India, particularly those in Mumbai, is all set to celebrate the beginning of the New Year or Navroze. For Mehrad Faroudi, this day is special as his grandmother Audokht...
Parsi Demographic Statistics
This article was sent to us by our regular reader Dilnaz Mory Indian census data (2001) records 69,601 Parsis in India, with a concentration in and around the city of Mumbai. There are approximately...
A Glimpse of Things to Come
Architect Jimmy Mistry's daughter's Navjote is the setting for the Parsi community's vast and varied cultural heritage serving as a precursor to his May festival "The Parsi youth today have become...
Sonia buries ‘drug’ for Parsis
Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s intrepid letter writing activity, one particular missive — in no way as contentious as her intervention on FDI in retail — stands out for reaching out to a...
Persian Festival in Mumbai
As a prelude to eight-day Persian festival in Mumbai, the grandeur of the Persian empire is being re-awakened by the city architect Jimmy Mistry in the heart of the metropolis. It intends to...
HC verdict on Parsi trust row soon
Come Thursday and the Parsi community will know whether most of the trustees including chairperson Minoo Shroff can continue on the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) board. The Bombay high court will on...
Dwindling Numbers in India
Concerns for dwindling numbers. Seminars on how to save their race. In 1940, when their number in India was a sizeable 1.14 lakh, the community probably never imagined that 67 years later, it would...
Rebel Parsis ready with agiary plan
A group of reformists acquires land at Malad to build a fire temple that will be open to even spouses of community members married outside the fold It could be an event quite unprecedented in the...
Zo Child Day for Zorastrian children only!
Organised by Vispy Kapadia, the event saw over 2,600 children from India and abroad participate in the event The fourth Zo Child Day, which took place recently at Shanmukhananda Hall, saw 2,600...
Sorabji Byramji Sanatorium residents allege harassment from BPP…
The 46 Parsi families residing there live in deplorable conditions and according to them the BPP Trust does nothing about it. Instead they want them to vacate the premises, they declare The Parsi...
Hill Road hawkers
Hill Road has long since been a bone of contention between the shopkeepers, the residents, the ward officers and the hawkers. Protests were evident when the BMC announced their plan of widening the...
Safe in Poonawalla’s hands
Dara Bhesania: Life at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse
It’s not just the members, horses, trainers and jockeys who make things happen at the Mahalaxmi Race Course. There are many others who play vital roles in their own capacity. Sadly, limelight...
Yazdani Bakery Fights Inflation and Globalization
The nearly century-old bakery, set amid crowded streets lined by massive stone Victorian-era buildings near the city’s Stock Exchange, looks like a gingerbread house and stands out in sharp...
Out with the Old
A similar situation exists across the 120-foot Road at Parsi Colony where as many as 45 out of 225 four-storey building plots have been cleared. A multi-storey building, complete with a swimming...
Redevelopment doesn’t enthuse all
Sporting a fresh court of paint, a group of 70-year-old cessed buildings at Dadar and Churchgate are enjoying a new lease on life. Even as incentive floor space index (FSI) lures landlords and...
Mumbai’s Parsis do a Dhoom 2
Big boys like playing with their favourite toys and while they are at it, their girlfriends are keeping a watchful eye on their men who for one day seem to be paying a lot more attention to other...
Parsi youths come together
Mumbai, December 10: The message was clear. The Parsis are here to stay and pave way for their next generation through their innovative Parsi Resource Group (PGR) programme. At least, that was the...
BMC has no permit, says heritage panel
The three heritage structures on Hill Road, Bandra, portions of which were to be acquired by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for its road-widening project, may find the Mumbai Heritage...
A Few Stray Thoughts by Farzana Contractor
Sweet Dadi, younger brother of Behram is here, all the way from the South of France, St Rapheal, where he now lives It's not often that I have house guests. And rarely if ever as welcome as the one...
Bawa Bikers on a roll for a good cause
Led by Jimmy Mistry, 300 Parsi bikers will spread the message that Parsis do a lot more than just bicker On Sunday morning when the roads of Mumbai are still sleepy, around 300 Parsi bikers will don...
Parsi apex body seeks universal franchise
By Nauzer Bharucha MUMBAI: Parsis may be one of the most literate and progressive communities in the country. But for the past 350 years, a vast majority of them in Mumbai had no stake in appointing...
Bandra residents want BMC chief’s written promise
The Bandra Hill Road Citizen's Committee movement to save old heritage structures, including the Tata Parsi Agiary, St Peter's Church, St Stanislaus' High School and St Andrew's Church, from being...
It’s a small but powerful community and Parsis…
It's a small but powerful community and Parsis in Mumbai are joining hands to protect a 123-year-old community temple. Built by the Tatas, the agiary on Bandra's Hill Road is under threat from the...
1400 people turn up to save Bandra Agiary
Parsis from Mumbai gather at agiary gates after SMS campaign Never underestimate the power of people. That's what the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) discovered on Saturday morning. About 1,400...
Bandra Agiary Wall Demolition Stopped
BMC defers demolition at Bandra agiary As anger built up among residents and activists of Bandra (W) against the proposed widening of Hill Road, the civic administration on Friday called off its...
Restoring the old world
At the 'Community Museum', there are plenty of things to catch your attention - rare photographs, antique porcelain vases, Gandhara sculptures and much more... The quaint Parsi colony at Hughes...
Discovering some curiosities in Mumbai
Nearby is the Parsi Tower of Silence. Parsis follow the ancient religion of Zoroastrianism. They believe in the purity of the four elements and are not allowed to bury or cremate their dead. Instead...
The Fun of Being a Parsee
[received via email. Author Unknown] It lies in many things .... It's like belonging to an exclusive Club worldwide. Birth, the only credential and consideration; nothing, but nothing else works, no...
Mumbai’s Irani hotspots
With distinctive ambience and mouth-watering fare, Irani cafes enthrall Mumbaikars. Largely frequented by the working class, these cafes are a big draw because they are reasonably priced and...
The burden of a song
By Farrokh Dhondy The Archbishop of Canterbury wants to kill the tradition of singing hymns in colonial places. I can’t imagine Bishops School, Pune, without the hymns, alien songs to the alien...
Indian dairy workers protest salary delays
Parsi Diary Farm employees picketed the company's head office at Marine Lines in Mumbai on July 10, protesting the late payment of salaries and the non-payment of bonuses for the past two years. One...
New jewels for Queen’s Necklace
The MMRDA's facelift plan for Marine Drive includes landscaping, re-paving, subways, better lighting and two amphitheatres Mumbai Mirror Bureau The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority...
Jimmy Boy: A restaurant review
Dhoomketu @ 22nd Floor writes a great review on Jimmy Boy the famous Parsi restaurant in Bombay. More on Jimmy Boy here. Jimmy Boy is located at 11 Bank Street, Fort Bombay 400 001 Tel: (022) 2270...
Of myths, legends and fabled Parsi gems
SHAPURBAUG: A retired school teacher is trying to cull out fables and legends about the Parsis in a bid to retrace the path trodden by the community and record people's lives for posterity. Article...
Pleasure palace
... Its walls have seen so much, heard so much, kept so many secrets, shared so many memories - built in 1903 by the Parsi industrialist Jamsetji Tata (his Tata ... Read on...
Going, going, gone?
Only four of these rare trees, popularly known as branching palms, remain in the city. They are found in an open plot between buildings A and B at Godrej Baug in Hanging Gardens. But they may cease...
The hotel that was
The Statesman - Kolkata,India ... it. "In the Thirties the hotel was run by three directors, including a Parsee gentleman, HR Billimoria who loved horse racing. ...
Trees hacked in Parsi colony
Mumbai, November 28: DADAR Parsi Colony, one of the few residential areas in Mumbai that still enjoys the shade of hundreds of trees, got a taste on Monday of construction frenzy. Three trees were...
Taj Mahal Hotel
Mirror.co.uk - UK ... Ironically, the hotel is not a legacy of the British Raj at all - it was built in 1903 by a Parsi Indian industrialist, JN Tata, apparently miffed because he ...
My kind of town
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom ... I window-shop on Fashion Street, explore the Jewish and Parsee history pealing from the fa?ades of Dhobi Talao, circumnavigate the narrow Catholic by-lanes of ...