Said so much with understatement: Gieve Patel’s life in art and poetryBorn in 1940, pursuing medicine for most of his...
Books Articles
One Woman’s Fight for Justice & Equality in Historic Bombay: Book Review
The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujata MasseyWhat's it About?Bombay’s only female solicitor, Perveen Mistry, grapples...
Bakhtiar Dadabhoy’s Homi J Bhabha: A Life
Bakhtiar Dadabhoy’s Homi J Bhabha: A Life chronicles not only the life of an exceptional scientist, but an important era in Indian scienceThe biography of Bhabha, who established India's nuclear...
The Colonial Public and the Parsi Stage : Book Review
This book explores how theatre enabled Parsis to negotiate the growing challenges of colonialismIn ‘The Colonial Public and the Parsi Stage’, Rashna Darius Nicholson is particularly interested in...
The Parsi Theatre’ is an important addition to the sparse information available on the matter
Somnath Gupt’s book is an immensely readable account of the history and development of the Parsi theatre and its influences on early Hindi cinema.Actor Sohrab Modi (left) and playwright Agha Hashr...
Dukhi Dadiba and the Irony of Fate
In this 19th-century tragic love story, a young Parsi woman has to choose between money and loveAn excerpt from ‘Dukhi Dadiba and the Irony of Fate’, by Dadi Edulji Taraporewala. Translated from the...
Memoirs of a Parsi daughter: Book review |
THE STORY OF MY LIFEby Dosebai Cowasjee JessawallaSPEAKING TIGER ₹799; 344 pagesArticle by Shabnam Minwalla | India TodayIn 1842, Meheribai, a widow, enrolled her daughter in Mrs Ward's Seminary in...
Book Launch: WHO WANTS TO MARRY KAI JUICEWALLA
This Valentine month author, former flight attendant and columnist, Kainaz Jussawalla’s fun, crazy and action packed memoir “ Who wants to marry Kai Juicewalla?”( one life, many loves, endless...
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...
Peril at the Exposition by Nev March: Book Review
Captain Jim Agnihotri and his new bride, Diana Framji, return in Nev March's Peril at the Exposition, the follow up to March's award-winning, Edgar finalist debut, Murder in Old Bombay. 1893:...
Bapsi’s Crow Eaters and the art of moralising
The debate that art should work only as art to entertain, called Art for Art’s sake, or that art should have some didactic purpose has converted into one in the writings of Bapsi Sidhwa. In her...
Sohrab Homi Fracis Releases His Third Book
Award-winning author and alumnus Sohrab Homi Fracis's third book, True Fiction, has been published in Texas this October by Stephen F. Austin State University Press. Sohrab Homi Fracis's innovative...
Victim To Victory Co-Authored by Feritta Khambata
Our dear friend and amazing artist and singer Feritta is part of a series of authors in a new book titled Victim to Victory.Feritta writes…Today is my book launch on Amazon!!!!!! The messages of...
Tata Administrative Service: Here’s the book review on six-decade old journey of leadership programme
The story of Tata Administrative Service provides valuable insights into the changing business environment in India The book explores the journey of TAS over the past six decades, and examines where...
The Travel Writer as Soldier: The First World War Adventures of Nariman Karkaria
The memoir of a Parsi 'Tommy' from Navsari, Gujarat, reflects his investment in the power of the British empire but also his pride in history and myths located in the pre-Arab Persian empire, and an...
Tanaz Bhathena wins inaugural Bapsi Sidhwa Literary Prize
The Inaugural Bapsi Sidhwa Literary Prize was announced at a glittering Award Ceremony at the 12th World Zoroastrian Congress 2022 in New York on Saturday July 2, 2022. The genesis for the Bapsi...
Who Is A Parsi: Prochy Mehta
Author Prochy N. Mehta is a daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, school leader and hockey and basketball player. She has represented India in Masters Athletics. Mehta is the first female president...
Homi J Bhabha: A Renaissance Man among Scientists by Biman Nath
The book “Homi J Bhabha: A Renaissance Man among Scientists” by Biman Nath is a compelling monograph that brings to light the life and times of Homi Jehangir Bhabha.Homi Bhabha was a nuclear...
Bapsi’s portrayal of Parsi paradigm
It is because of this that we always find a very comprehensive discussion very humorously, though not always, composed on the men and women of her communityArticle by Dr. Zia Ahmed | Daily Times...
Leeya Mehta: A Story of the World Before the Fence
Leeya Mehta’s A Story of the World Before the Fence is a collection of poems which traverse time, space, and human emotion. Over the span of eighteen poems, Mehta, an award-winning poet, weaves...
Parsi Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family by Anahita Dhondy
HarperCollins presents 'The Parsi Kitchen: A Memoir of Food and Family' by Anahita Dhondy HarperCollins is proud to present a warm and whimsical memoir about embracing the cuisine that one grew up...
Parsi chef Anahita Dhondy on her newest passion
The young food expert launches a book and a passion project that focuses on her Parsi roots at the same timeBy Karishma Kuenzang | Hindustan TimesPUBLISHED ON SEP 04, 2021 09:43 PM IST Last year was...
Book Review: The British Raj Was Once a Narco-State
Thomas Manuel's book 'Opium Inc: How a Global Drug Trade Funded the British Empire' shows how the Raj transformed entire farming economies in Bengal and Bihar into opium-producing machines.Britain...
How did the Mistrys of the Shapoorji Pallonji group manage to acquire shares in the Tata Group?
An excerpt from ‘The Story of Tata: 1868 to 2021’, by Peter Casey.By Peter Casey | ScrollNobody can hurt me without my permission.— Mahatma GandhiThere are a great many erroneous stories about the...
When Shapoorji Pallonji funded Mughal-e-Azam and Khojeste Mistree became a religious pop star
A new book, 'The Tatas, Freddie Mercury & Other Bawas' by Coomi Kapoor, offers a ringside view into the lives and contributions of some of India’s most well-known ParsisShapoorji Pallonji Jr was...
Coomi Kapoor: The Tatas, Freddie Mercury & Other Bawas: An Intimate History of the Parsis
Bombay’s first rioters and go-getters Spurred by the events of the now infamous Ratan Tata versus Cyrus Mistry controversy, Coomi Kapoor explores the history of the Parsi community through its most...
India’s Mini-Craze for Bicycling Around the World
In the 1920s and 1930s, a dozen adventurous young riders went on the ultimate journey. In 2017, Anoop Babani, Goa-based former journalist, was recuperating from a cycling accident when he...
Zarathushtra: The Man And The Message by Meheryar Rivetna
Meheryar Rivetna, an active member of the library committee of the Zoroastrian Association of Houston (ZAH), has written and published a book Zarathustra: The Man And The Message. The book aims to...
Book Review | The TATAS — How a family built a business and a nation
Girish Kuber’s book has many interesting anecdotes of stories, struggles, trials and tribulations, and many jubilations behind the family’s journey.A lot is already known about the Tatas; one of...
When Arthur Conan Doyle responded to the call of a Parsee Lawyer
Shrabani Basu’s latest book is about an unexpected friendship in the 20th century In the village of Great Wyrley near Birmingham, someone is mutilating horses. Someone is also sending threatening...
A Portrait of Ruttie Jinnah That Doesn’t Hold Up
There is much that is debatable and untenable in the new book on Jinnah’s wife.Who goes into history?Who is worthy of a biography?The shakers who change civilisation and our view of the world – the...
The Parsis who pedalled across the world
‘The Bicycle Diaries’ details how 12 cyclists set out as global explorers from 1923 to 1942 Last November, tired of being cooped up at home, travel enthusiasts Bakcen George, Allwyn Joseph and...
Timeless Mahindra: Tracing the roots of Mahindra to the new Thar by Adil Jal Darukhanawala
No matter how much you know about Mahindra or how many Mahindra vehicles you've owned, it's only when you read Adil's Timeless Mahindra that you'll realise the ocean of information you missed out on...
Crossroads by Armeen Kapadia Basavaraju
Crossroads is a delightful window into the Parsi community. This collection explores the day-to-day conversations, emotional landscape and events that alter and shape the lives of different Parsis...
From Tendon Transplants to Eradication of Smallpox: What Pesi Did: A Surgeon’s Story
From Tendon Transplants to Eradication of SmallpoxEngaging and lively memoir of an outstanding surgeon and humanitarian‘What Pesi Did: A Surgeon’s Story’ by Dr Azmy Birdi tells the story of Dr Pesi...
Mystery Murder Story Set in Colonial Bombay
Set in 1892, Murder in Old Bombay addresses issues prevalent at the turn of the 20th century which are very present today: discrimination against those who do not belong to our ‘in’ group, misogyny,...
Fluid Jurisdictions and Solid Perpetuities: A Review By Leilah Vevaina
Editors’ Note: Continuing HistPhil‘s forum on waqfs, Leilah Vevaina reviews Nurfadzilah Yahaya’s Fluid Jurisdictions (2020), while discussing her own research on religious endowments in India and...
“Timeless Mahindra” by Adil Jal Darukhanawala Hits The Stands
New automotive history book on the Mahindra vehicles by Adil Jal Darukhanawala explores the Indian automaker’s 75-year journey, from the CJ-3B to the TharChronicling a large and rich mass of stories...
Fashion Musings by Meher Castelino
Meher Castelino’s Fashion Musings takes a humorous, saucy, cheeky, tongue-in-cheek look at the fashion, beauty and film world in her unique style. The unconventional Q & A format of the book...
India’s Parsi Community and the Making of Modern Iran: An Interview with Afshin Marashi
Afshin Marashi is Professor and Farzaneh Family Chair in Modern Iranian History at the University of Oklahoma, where from 2011 to 2020 he also served as the founding director of the Farzaneh Family...
At Last, a Biography of India’s Grand Old Man
Dinyar Patel's splendidly researched, elegantly written book traces the life of a memorable pioneer.‘A Parsee is no more a representative of Indians, than a Nestorian Christian would be of...
The Adventures of the Pillow Gang: Illustrated by Delzin Choksey
Ace illustrator and our dear friend Delzin Choksey informs us of a new book out on AmazonDelzin writes…I wanted to share my latest children's book. it's on Amazon, here https://bit.ly/AmazonAPG...
How the first English novels by Parsis were written in the backdrop of the plague and politics
The histories of the novels ‘My Friend, The Barrister’ and ‘Pootli, A Story of Life in Bombay’ The library of the University of Mumbai, housed in an 1870s edifice flanked by the Rajabai Tower, is...
The Bundahisn
The Zoroastrian Book of CreationEdited and translated by Domenico Agostini, Samuel Thrope, Preface by Shaul Shaked, and Afterword by Guy StroumsaFirst complete English translation of the Bundahisn...
Dadabhai Naoroji: A new life for the grand old man of India
Dinyar Patel’s biography of the politician shines a light on his multifaceted career, especially his campaign to be elected to the British parliamentDadabhai Naoroji reached Bombay (now Mumbai) from...
The story of Vividh Vaani
How a Gujarati cookbook came to symbolise love and gratitude during the bubonic plague in Bombay As I joined the cricket fans milling out of the Brabourne Stadium on a crisp Mumbai...
Exile and the Nation: Afshin Marashi
The Parsi Community of India and the Making of Modern Iran By Afshin Marashi Connecting oft-disparate fields, this book explores the Zoroastrian diaspora living in India and its role in using...
Tanaz Bhathena: Hunted By The Sky
Tanaz Bhathena is an author based in Mississauga, ON, Canada. She previously published two books for teenagers, including the critically acclaimed A Girl Like That, which was named a Best Book of...
“Naoroji: Pioneer of Indian Nationalism” Review: Portrait of an Independent Mind
A member of the British House of Commons at a time when Indians in India couldn’t vote, he argued that the empire was impoverishing his homeland. By Tunku Varadarajan | Wall Street Journal When the...
World Central Kitchen – a fundraiser by Niloufer Mavalwala
Our dear friend and award winning cookbook author Niloufer Mavalwala writes in... Blogging is all about storytelling. Instead of people being the center of attention on my blog food is the star....
Rustomji Cowasji Banaji: A friend of Dwarkanath Tagore, this Parsi Babu loved Calcutta
Rustomji Cowasji Banaji, who brought his family by sea in 1838, played a major role in the making of the modern cityArticle By Prochy N. Mehta | The TelegraphThis is the story of “intrepid men who...
‘Pioneering Parsis of Calcutta’ launched in city
A book launched in Calcutta on Tuesday speaks about “intrepid men who had left settled homes in the west to journey to Calcutta to start a new life” two centuries ago. It goes back to men “who made...