Calcutta chronicle
Pioneering Parsis of Calcutta by Prochy N. Mehta. Published in 2020 by Niyogi Books, Block D, Building No. 77, Okla Industrial Area, Phase-I, New Delhi 110020; email: niyogibooks@gmail.com; website: www.niyogibooksindia.com. Pp:180. Price: Rs 495.
First off, a disclosure. Two actually. One, I’m territorial about my hometown, and someone else daring to write a book on its Parsis would doubly raise my hackles. However, author Prochy Mehta (pictured) is a generational family friend, and, as it turned out, no patronizing was necessary. The painstaking research makes up for the cut-and-dried style, and even the latter is preferable to the ‘gee-gosh’ gush......