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"Forget the newspaper, tell a bawa,” announced Bawatip #61 printed on the stand-up placed on our table. "You don’t need a TV if you have a bawa around you,” read #96 on its flip side. We were at The Parsi Culture and Cuisine Trail at the elegant Sofitel hotel located at BKC (Bandra Kurla Complex), Bombay to experience first-hand the 12-day festival from August 7-18, 2015 that had "everything Parsi.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As one stepped into Pondicherry Cafe — the venue of the festival — one was greeted with a warm "sahebji (hello)” by waitresses in Parsi style saris and waiters in crisp, white daglis, Parsi topis perched on their heads. Charts on display explaining each roz of the Parsi calendar or others giving an insight into the various dynasties during which the religion was practiced in Iran were enough introductions for a non-Zoroastrian to know about the origins of the community. Stained glass panels depicting fire and the rising sun and a clay model of the famous Naqsh-e Rustam in Iran gave a further insight into this "life celebrating community.” A Wall of Fame featured photos of Zoroastrian stalwarts.
"Zoroastrian Parsis have been the pioneers of modern India. (They) have excelled in every field,” is general manager of Sofitel Biswajit Chakraborty’s take on the community. Happy to collaborate with Sofitel in this endeavor was Ripon Club chef Tehmtan Dumasia and Xerxes Dastur, chairman of Ripon Club.
Chakraborty who was invited to the Ripon Club for a cigar club dinner liked the meal so much that post dinner he met up with Dumasia, exchanged visiting cards and floated the idea of having a Parsi festival where one could khao, piyo (eat and drink) in true bawa style. Playing his part, Dastur got in touch with various people to lend items and artefacts for the exhibition. Frohar Foundation supplied the stained glass panels, charts and the Naqsh-e Rustam model. Zenobia Davar was requested to lend some of her gara saris and kurtis which were on display and on sale. For the literary minded was a display of books on and about the community, courtesy Parsiana Book Club.
Known for their love for automobiles — whether two-wheelers or four — how could a Parsi festival be held without these? A gleaming old motocycle in pristine condition and a polished vintage car grabbed eyeballs at the venue.
Roger’s raspberry, ice-cream soda and masala soda rubbed shoulders with other regular cold drinks one could choose from. Nicknamed the Bawaji Café for the 12 days of the festival, décor depicting Parsi caricatures greeted all the guests. To provide a more Parsi flavor, each table was set with a banana leaf to eat off. Set cheek by jowl were various delectable dishes. Besides a Parsi counter, a guest could select from Chinese food, an assortment of cheeses, sushi platter, pizzas, tandoori items or a live barbeque. One could even whip up a salad of one’s liking from the varieties provided at the ‘make your own salad’ counter.
Dumasia and his wife Shernaz cooked up the traditional Parsi favorites like mutton dhansak, patra ni machhi, sali chicken, lagan nu custard and more. Each day’s menu was meticulously planned in consultation with the hotel’s executive chef Indrajit Saha. The buffet was priced at Rs 2,207 for lunch; for dinner one paid Rs 2,314. Taxes were extra.
On Parsi New Year day Pondicherry Café was packed to full capacity; they had two sittings for dinner — from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and another from 10 p.m. to midnight where the Dumasias cooked up 18 vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes plus two desserts. "The clientele comprised mainly non-Parsis. People loved it. The response was enormous,” Tehmtan mentioned. Bollywood actors Jackie Shroff, Rushad Rana and Vidya Malavde, and comedians Cyrus Broacha and Kunal Vijaykar were some of the celebrities who feasted at the Café. Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan, who was shooting at Sofitel, came down to see the exhibition displays. "I showed him around and even clicked a photograph with him,” said an exhuberant Tehmtan, an obvious fan. 
When we visited the festival we dined on eeda chutney na pattice, bheja (brain) ni gravy (more gravy than bhejas!), sali boti, patra ni machhi (though there were more patras than the actual fish) and chicken pulao dal. Vegetarians could choose from masoor (black lentils), vengna nu bhartu (brinjal), bheeda (ladies’ fingers) and titori. Among the desserts on display, the traditional sev and ravo took pride of place along with ice-creams, tiramisu, mango pudding, rasgollas and a platter of miniature cakes.
We asked him the secret of making a good dhansak. Pat came the reply: "Make it with all your heart and soul.” When prodded further, he said, "If I tell you, it won’t be a secret anymore!” The Sunday special of all bawas is Dumasias’ signature dish. Dhansak has "made Ripon also famous,” he says. The Dumasias make their dishes in the traditional way and don’t improvise much. But for the festival they made drumstick akuri (spicy drumstick pulp) and patra paneer. Another dish with a difference was tarela bheeda ma khari marghi (chicken in a brown colored gravy cooked with fried ladies’ fingers).
Having started their food business under the name of K Caterers in 1992, apart from catering at Parsi weddings and navjotes, in the past they have been  caterers to the Dadar Parsi Gymkhana for a year and run the canteen at the Campion School for six years. They have also been consultants to By The Way Restaurant for a year and lent their expertise to The Oberoi Towers Gurgaon for a similar Parsi festival last June. Their elder son Kayannush (24) has shown an interest in carrying the business forward and is employed with the Taj group. In fact, while his parents were sweating it out at Sofitel, it was Kayannush who was supervising the kitchen at Ripon Club as he was on leave. Younger son Kaizad, aged 21, is into mass media.
Right from "cutting to cooking” with ingredients supplied by the hotel, the Dumasias along with their cook and helper prepared 12 dishes for lunch and another 12 for dinner (seven vegetarian plus five non-vegetarian) plus two sweet dishes each for lunch and dinner! "We were both there every single day ... on our feet for 16 hours every day,” Tehmtan narrated his experiences in a telephonic interview. "We got very positive feedback from the non-Parsi customers who were very happy with our food and suggested that (one) should have more such food festivals... It was a very good experience and we got a lot of exposure in the media and from food bloggers. People loved my food, that is proof enough,” said the satisfied chef who shares two recipes with Parsiana: