The dismantling of the monument, built in the early 20th century by Parsi philanthropists, had created a furore in the...
Mumbai 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...
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...
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...
Dadar Parsee Gymkhana Membership Dispute: ‘Nobody seems to want to do anything in our case’
Five years on, Parsi woman’s fight continues for membership of son after five changes of dates for hearing in three months at the SC; Dadar Parsee Colony Gymkhana allegedly rejected it over his...
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...
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...
Who was Muncherji Cowasji Murzban?
The Esplanade area was still a blueprint when Muncherji Cowasji Murzban arrived in Bombay in 1863MUMBAI: The Esplanade area was still a blueprint when Muncherji Cowasji Murzban arrived in Bombay in...
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...
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,...
Prime Bandra plot de-reserved, Petit trust strikes deal for housing project
In 1909, Hamabai Framji Petit sold all her jewellery for Rs 12 lakh to buy a plot in Bandra to establish an orphanage for Parsi girls. In 2021, the Petit family, which controls the trust that runs...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Dadar Athornan Institute marks 100 years, struggles to stay afloat
The school estimates that it will be required to spend Rs 2 lakh per head for boarding, lodging and educating each student and has sought donations from both Parsis living in India as well as...
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...
Migrated but kept the Apartment ? Parsis must give ’em up
Is it fair to keep low rent, charity apartments in prime localities of the city locked while the tenants have migrated to the US or Canada? The Bombay Parsi Punchayat (BPP), the city's biggest...
Metro speedily realigned at BKC but not elsewhere
Work on the 2B corridor, which will connect D N Nagar and Mankhurd, has begun at several places along its 23.6km route. The corridor will run along the 3.6 km-long arterial BKC road. MMRDA...
Parsis last joined Mumbai police 21 years ago
The dwindling numbers of the Parsi community has cast a long shadow on its representation in the Mumbai police force, over the past five decades. The brick-red tiles of the Police Gymkhana on Marine...
Bombay High Court Permits Mumbai Metro 3 tunnelling under two fire temples
Senior Journalist and friend of Parsi Khabar, Nauzer Bharucha writesA COMMUNITY SCARRED “The Bombay High Court today allowed a metro rail tunnel to run under one of the most venerated Fire Temples...
Parsis oppose toilet block near Dadyseth Atashbehram
UPDATE: The contents of the article are not current. Senior journalist Nauzer Bharucha, in a facebook post had informed that he had spoken to the authorities and this proposal has been scrapped. Vow...
Parsis say no to flight path over Tower of Silence
Airports Authority of India may now have to revise the path flights will take to the Navi Mumbai airport. The Airports Authority of India (AAI) may have to alter the flight path for the Navi Mumbai...
Dadar Parsi Colony on Instagram
It is impossible not to be taken up by the verdant beauty of Dadar Parsi Colony, and it may so happen that the next time you are sauntering through its lanes or driving past its parks, you may take...
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...
The Fire Temple vs The Mumbai Metro: Bachi Karkaria
In early October, a petition was sent to the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, about the latest phase of the Mumbai metro – a 33.5km stretch that is currently under construction. The petition...
Christians, Parsis discuss Metro threat to structures
The controversy over the proposed underground metro rail tunnels at Jagannath Sunkersett Marg in Girgaum has brought together Christians and Parsis for the first time to discuss the project at a...
Milind Deora meets Mumbai Metro brass over Parsis’ fire temple issue
A delegation of Parsis led by former south Mumbai Congress MP Milind Deora on Friday met senior officials of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) to express concern about the rail tunnel...
Mumbai Parsis to meet Uddhav Thackeray for help
Members of the city-based Parsi community will meet Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray over the Metro-3 project’s alignment that passes below three of its fire temples in south Mumbai. According to...
A Year’s Membership To J N Petit Library in Fort Mumbai Only Costs INR 1,000
Eminent Parsi historian and our dear friend Marzban Giara informs us that the J. N. Petit Library Fort was started in 1895 and not 1856 (as stated in the article below) in memory of Jamsetjee...
In the city of Tata and Godrej, there’s no Parsi in BMC poll fray
For the first time in 50 years, the illustrious Mehta family won’t be contesting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls from what used to be its stronghold in Mumbai Central. The Mehtas...
132-year-old Ripon Club plans partial sell-off to cut rising losses
Although the 132-year-old Ripon Club has endured the vicissitudes of time and fortune, a part of the good old Parsi bastion may suffer partial eclipse. A controversial proposal to surrender or sell...