Heritage Articles

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 Mumbai. Few note, however, that this site –...
Rustom Baug Is 100 Years Old

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...

Multi-Faceted Sapal Balaporia

Multi-Faceted Sapal Balaporia

Our dear friend and contributor Havovi Govadia sends us another beautiful memory about times, places and people of yore.To read all of Havovi’s previous articles on Parsi Khabar click hereIn my...

A piece of Parsi history in Sukkur

A piece of Parsi history in Sukkur

After partition, many Parsi families resided in Sukkur. Creating a piece of history in the form of a Parsi compoundArticle by Sarfaraz Memon | Tribune PakistanSometime in the recent past, there used...

Diwan Bahadur M M Mullan: Father of Balaghat

Diwan Bahadur M M Mullan: Father of Balaghat

Our dear friend and contributor Havovi Govadia writes in… A notice was put up on our community WA group. The Municipal Corporation of Balaghat and the Mullan Trust had invited the Parsis of Nagpur...

Fading Sweetness: A Parsi Story in Pakistan

Fading Sweetness: A Parsi Story in Pakistan

The Beginning In the masterfully tucked away Dinshaw Avari colony in Karachi, Syrus Doctor spends every business day looking after a tiny and all-but-forgotten library towered over by the Tower of...

Navsari: Home to the Parsis

Navsari: Home to the Parsis

Live History India present a great visual treat about Navsari. Archeologist Kurush Dalal and historian and author Pheroza Godrej are featured on the video and explain some of the history of the...

The Runaways

The Runaways

Bolting from their village homes to build better lives, plucky young boys landed in Bombay with no more than a coin rattling in ragged pockets. Years of slog later, they contributed considerably as...

Digital Zoroastrian at the British Library

Digital Zoroastrian at the British Library

The British Library is fortunate in having an unparalled collection of over 100 Zoroastrian works ranging from the oldest, the ninth century Ashem Vohu prayer written in Sogdian script discovered by...

Parsis in Pakistan: A life in photos

Parsis in Pakistan: A life in photos

Photojournalist Mobeen Ansari has spent close to a decade capturing facets of the Parsis — a community that has contributed immensely to the building of Pakistan Walking around Jamshed Baugh, a...

Sanjan: Digging Deep into History

Sanjan: Digging Deep into History

On a dark and stormy night, a ship full of Zoroastrian refugees from Persia was lashed by the wind, rain and waves off the west coast of India. The refugees in the ship, fearful for their lives,...

A Tribute to the Feriyas

A Tribute to the Feriyas

Feriyas is a colloquialism from Feriwalla, Gujarati for someone who takes a 'Fero', a round of some place. During the struggle for Indian Independence, people used to have Prabhat Feri, a small...

Dadar Parsi Colony: A Photo Tour

Dadar Parsi Colony: A Photo Tour

My first encounter with Dadar was back in 2004 when I used to travel from Churchgate to Dadar during the evening rush hour. Most of my journey would go in planning my exit strategy from the crowded...