This book explores how theatre enabled Parsis to negotiate the growing challenges of colonialismIn ‘The Colonial...
Books Articles
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...
Zerbanoo Gifford & Farida Master Embark on USA Book Tour
FEZANA informs us about the upcoming book tour by Zerbanoo Gifford and Farida Master in the United States. They will be starting in Los Angeles, and making their way through Houston, Chicago,...
Book on Parsis traces their demographic decline
Four-volume compendium highlights issues plaguing community A four-volume compendium that traces the demographic decline of the Parsi community in India was released recently at the Max Mueller...
A book on the Singapore Parsi community launched
Labour of love started by late wife comes to life as book on local Parsi community launched After his wife Suna died in 2015, retired pilot Mr Rustom Kanga knew what he had to do. He and his two...
Zerbanoo Gifford: Parsi Philanthropist To Bring Her Message Of Love To Toronto
Toronto: ’An Uncensored Life’ published by HarperCollins and authored by veteran journalist Farida Master is a compelling biography of Zerbanoo Gifford, a human rights campaigner, philanthropist,...
A Wicked Wit Sums Up the Parsis: Book Review
A couple of days ago when I started working on my third book, I asked a friend in Mumbai to help me straighten up a Parsi character. Having spent a good part of my life in Chandigarh, I had no idea...
The Real Mrs Jinnah: New Book Offers Insights Into the Fascinating Life of Ruttie Petit
“What put it into her silly little head to suddenly fall in love with a man old enough to be her father?” mused Sarojini Naidu’s son Jaisoorya, in a letter to his sister Padmaja. He was referring to...
Go Home: A Book by Sohrab Homi Fracis
Exile on Main Street A book review by by Tadzio Koelb | The Brooklyn Rail Go Home is the story of Viraf, who, like author Sohrab Homi Fracis, is an immigrant to America from India’s Parsi community,...
Pride of Pakistan : Bapsi Sidhwa
In lieu of Independence Day on August 14, all of August, the Daily Times will highlight individuals who continue to make Pakistan proud. Our 29th feature is on the renowned award-winning novelist...
Book Launch: Lt General Faridoon Bilimoria: His Life & Times
On Monday 25th July, Lt General Bilimoria: His Life & Times – a biography of Lord Karan Bilimoria’s father, was launched at the Nehru Centre, the cultural wing of the High Commission of India,...
Book launches for Dadabhai Naoroij: Selected Private Papers
Zoroastrian scholar and our friend Dinyar Patel informs us about a new book he has co-authored, that will be released soon in India. Dinyar writes… In early August, Oxford University Press will be...
In Search of Bobby Mugaseth Bags Raghu Karnad the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Award
The writer’s search into his family’s history is a riveting biography, that recently won the Sahitya Akademi Yuva Puraskar. If you don’t know your history, you cannot fully fathom the present or...
The First Navjote: A Book By Ava Mehta.
'The First Navote ' is a new book written by Ava Mehta for both children and their families in the same style as her first very successful book, now in 4 th edition 'The story of the religion,...
Of affaires d’amour and princely intrigues
Firmly intertwining the personal with political history, this brilliant novel’s strength lies in Keki Nusserwanji Daruwalla’s trademark wit and underscored humour, effortlessly flowing prose, and a...
ABC For Zarathushtis
Anaheet Gazder is the author and illustrator behind this new beautiful book ABC For Zarathushtis. This is a self-published book put together painstakingly over 6 years. In an email Anaheet informs...
The Parsi demi-god of Israel: Zubin Mehta
Biographies written about artist-celebrities by Indian writers often read like extended Wikipedia pages. Or like a résumé running into hundreds of pages. Most of the information is either known, or...
Ancestral Affairs: Poet Daruwalla’s latest novel is a runaway romp
When I begin reading Ancestral Affairs, my only reference point is Rohinton Mistry’s Family Matters — a Parsi family saga that had left me with much heartache. Keki N. Daruwalla’s second novel, with...
Parsiana at its best
"When I proposed this idea to Meher (Marfatia) so many years ago, she coincidentally had the same idea along with her friend, psychiatrist Dr Parveen Dadachanji. Article by Malavika Sangghvi | Mid...
Zubin Mehta launches his biography
World-renowned orchestra conductor Zubin Mehta launched a biography based on his life and work on Friday. Titled Zubin Mehta: A Musical Journey by Bakhtiar Dadabhoy, the book narrates the story of...
Book Launch: My Mother Used To Say
FEZANA Announces the launch of a new book My Mother Used To Say Parsi and Persian Quotations and Vignettes of their Inimitable Language and Lifestyle by Roshan Rohinton Rivetna and Dinaz Kutar...
Architecture Beyond Platitude: Aspi H. Patel
Architecture Beyond Platitude is the title of a new coffee table book by Aspi Patel. Readers of Parsi Khabar will remember Aspi’s 2014 exhibition at the Jehangir Art Gallery by the same name. The...
The Contribution Of The Parsi Community During The First World War
A new book titled “The Contribution Of The Parsi Community During The First World War (1914-1918)” by community Historian Marzban Jamshedji Giara was recently launched. This book is the culmination...
Say it like the bawas
It was all laughs and some pretend gaffes at the launch of Parsi Bol-2, an anthology of unique Gujarati-Persian-Urdu mix of phrases and words used by the Zoroastrian community in India. Actor Boman...
Parsi Bol 2: Book decoding Parsi-Gujarati lingo gets second edition
Two years and 1,058 crowd funded phrases later, the Parsi Bol team of Sooni Taraporevala, Meher Marfatia, Farzana Cooper and Hemant Morparia are back with the second edition of the book this time...
Winning: Adil Jal Darukhanawala and Mercedes Benz in India
On Saturday March 12, over 150 die hard petrolheads gathered at the Mercedes Benz showroom at Shaman Auto in Kalina. The occassion was the launch of the fantastic tome Winning ! Mercedes Benz. It...
Ancestral Affairs: A Parsi writer and his take on India’s partition
Saam Bharucha, a Parsi lawyer from Bombay, has been sent to the princely state of Junagadh to be the legal adviser of the nawab there. The year is 1947 and there are talks about British plans to...
Parsi Bol 2 Launches on March 15, 2016 in Mumbai
Boman Irani Launches Parsi Bol 2 Complied by Sooni Taraporevala and Meher Marfatia Date : March 15, 2016Time : 5:30-7:30 pmVenue : Kitab Khana About the Event :Fans of the bestselling, out-of-print...
Rohinton Mistry Awarded the Order of Canada
Those also receiving the honour — author Rohinton Mistry, U of T president Meric Gertler and philantrophist Helen Vari — will be presented with insignia later this year. Some 69 Canadians are to be...
Cyrus Mistry Wins Sahitya Akademi Award
Novelist Cyrus Mistry and poet Ramdarash Mishra were among the winners of Sahitya Akademi award announced here on Thursday. Six books of short stories, six of poetry, four novels, two books each of...
Zerbanoo Gifford and Farida Master at the Ripon Club
Over 100 people filed up the 3rd floor of the Ripon Club on Wednesday December 16, 2015 for a book reading event organised by the Jame Jamshed newspaper. An Uncensored Life: Zerbanoo Gifford...
Ancestral Affairs by Keki N Daruwalla: First Read
There has been no news from Zarine for over ten days. I am worried. Resentments have been building up from her side. Resentments, in any case, are not hard to work on. I had put Rohinton, our son,...
Princeton’s Great Persian Book of Kings: Book Review
Imagine a 948-page book so large that, open, it stretches 3 feet across. Imagine further that as you read of heroism and intrigue, romance and war, bloody battles and festive celebrations, every so...
An Uncensored Life: Zerbanoo Gifford
The official launch of this book is planned during the Times Litfest in Mumbai on December 4th, 2015 ‘An Uncensored Life’ by seasoned editor Farida Master, is a compelling biography of the human...
Raghu Karnad: Farthest Field An Indian Story Of The Second World War
Frequent readers of Parsi Khabar will be familiar with the name of Raghu Karnad who has featured on the site in the past seeking information during the research phase of his first book “Farthest...
Lifegiver: The Biography of Dr Rustom P. Soonawala
One of Mumbai’s most celebrated gynaecologists gets a biography that connects his roots with medical innovation of the 1960s Watching him drive his sedan past some serious afternoon traffic to...
Farthest Field An Indian Story of the Second World War
Raghu Karnad the author of “ Farthest Field: An Indian Story of the Second World War” writes in about the new book. It features stories about Parsi soldiers in World War 2. Three young men gazed at...
Sohrab Homi Fracis: An Interview with the Author
What better metaphor for disorientation than an acid trip? Viraf has been in America for two months, and the differences from his home in Bombay might best be described by how he feels about Ali,...
Bapsy Sidhwa In Conversation with BBC
Leading Pakistani novelist Bapsi Sidhwa reflects on growing up during Partition and how it fed into her comedy novel The Crow Eaters. We examine the complicated relationship between Pakistan, its...
The Charm of Bombay: An anthology of writings in praise of the first city of India.
This chromolithograph is taken from plate 4 of William Simpson's 'India: Ancient and Modern'. The artist depicts the teeming street of the bustling city of Bombay (Mumbai), a hub of India trade. A...
Tinaz Pavri: Author of Bombay in the Age of Disco
An interview highlighting our newest author, Tinaz Pavri and her book Bombay in the Age of Disco. Keep an eye out for its release this spring! 1. In a brief summary describe your transition from...
The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism
Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina, eminent Zoroastrian scholar at Stanford University and a good personal friend of Parsi Khabar brings out the much-awaited Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism...
Enlarged Compendium of Zoroastrian Calendars
Rohinton Erach Kadva writes in Appeal to preview and purchase my book entitled ‘Enlarged Compendium of Zoroastrian Calendars’. I am a civil engineer settled with my wife in Bangalore for the past 36...
The Phoenix of Persia: A Book Review
The following book review was recently published in the FEZANA Journal. The FEZANA Journal is the leading publication of FEZANA and over the last two decades and more has become the leading...
Thrity Umrigar on her latest novel, and living in chilly Ohio
Who is Cleveland's most prominent writer? Kevin Keating seems like a rising star. Paula McLain found success with The Paris Wife. Mystery writers would likely mention Les Roberts. Science fiction...
Parsi Bol: A Book Review
Parsis have a comical way of describing their unfettered zest for life using an unusual mix of sarcasm and wit. Having adopted Gujarati as their mother tongue on their arrival to India in 1384 AC,...
Adil Jussawalla wins Sahitya Akademi Award 2014
Poet and critic Adil Jussawall's "Trying to Say Goodbye" is among eight books of poetry conferred the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award 2014, it was announced here Friday. Apart from this, five...
The Travelling Parsi by Kamal F. Sunavala
The book was an accidental baby. But being pro-choice (for books, at any rate) the author would not abort it, and raised it with love, satire and laughter. When the book was ready, it was sent off...
Master of the Field: Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw Soldiering with Dignity
This book is a revised and updated edition of Sam Bahadur's approved biography, written by his trusted military assistant. Many biographies tend to be anecdotal and chronological, and this one is no...
Rohinton Mistry Wins Lifetime Achievement Award at the Times Litfest
We still don't know how to make him talk, but if you want to hear Rohinton Mistry sing, give him a lifetime achievement award. The lawns of Bandra's Mehboob Studios turned into a makeshift Texas for...
Passion Flower by Cyrus Mistry: A Book Review
Mistry has the inspired storyteller’s knack of looking at finer details. Passion Flower has a cover of such exquisite charm that, like the hero of one of the stories in the seven short stories in...
Netagiri By Cyrus Broacha: Book Review
Cyrus Broacha is a morning person. He also seems to be one of those people who have a plan for each day, a schedule they rigorously follow. Coming up against that side of his personality can be...