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"It was almost as if various pivots in the journey of the Zoroastrians from refugees to pioneering merchants were represented in some way in my personal history,” said Tinaz Nooshian, editor-in-chief of mid-day. She was speaking to Parsiana after a nearly two-hour talk titled "Parsi Artistry Salon” amid the backdrop of furniture designer and manufacturer, and lover of beautiful artefacts Sam Maneckshaw’s atelier, ZJM Exports in Lower Parel on August 31, 2024. The fascinated audience oohed and aahed every time an unusual gara or toran or the complexity of a particular stitch was displayed from Maneckshaw’s seemingly bottomless hoard of kors and garas, jabhlas and torans. Nooshian is a keen researcher of Zoroastrian cultural heritage and is documenting Maharashtra’s indigenous weaves and crafts, stated the invitation for the event. 

Using a portfolio of images, Nooshian presented a "multimedia” experience: a karigar (artisan) demonstrating hand embroidery on a red sari, monajats being sung on YouTube, a silver ses, lacquered boxes for storing garas, a Parsi pheta and her detailed discourse on the Parsi role in the country’s textile heritage, specifically garas. A synthesis of weaving together culture, lifestyles and even food was the underlying strand of her talk.

The speaker paid homage to the Parsis’ camaraderie with the Gujaratis, the socializing with the British, albeit from a particular class, the community’s love for Chinoiserie. Woven into the talk were the Sasanian Empire, Qisse-I Sanjan, Iranshah, the Parsi penchant for risk taking, artist Raja Ravi Varma’s Parsi models, kusti making, clothing embellishments borrowed from Gujarati neighbors, and the revival of the gara in recent years. There were references to the writings of journalist Dosabhai Framji Karaka, historians of repute, tidbits from Parzor director Prof (Dr) Shernaz Cama, and even from a Parsiana article!

Nooshian stated it was serendipitous that the Parsis landed in Gujarat which already had a rich tradition of textiles in the form of the kimkhwab (brocade art of weaving ornate cloth with gold, silver and silk yarn) and the muslins to learn and to borrow from. Plus, its ports like Bharuch and Khambhat are within sailing distance of Yemen and Egypt. "At one time, every home in Navsari had a loom,” she stated. An interesting tidbit she shared: When a Parsi woman was menstruating and unable to weave kustis, she took to making dana ni toran (garlands made of beads) for decorating doorways. "Through the ports of Gujarat and later Bombay, (Parsis) traded with and for the British, Dutch, French, Portuguese and eventually, the Chinese. The most dramatic impact of this cross-border exchange between Western India and China was seen on Parsi textiles.” 

Foreigners were allowed to trade with their Chinese counterparts in a three-month window only, she stated. "And this after a six-month journey, one way.” Since the Parsis were trading on their own account and not as part of the East India Company, they were not allowed to build "factories (trading posts)” of their own along the Pearl River in Canton, as were, say the Dutch and the French. The Parsi traders stayed in what was known as the "chow-chow factory,” accommodation for mixed nationalities. And yet the traders found the time and the inclination to source embroidered materials for their wives’ saris, appreciated Nooshian.

"Parsis follow magpie culture,” Nooshian stated, quoting Cama, who later told Parsiana, "Magpies pick up the best, brightest and nicest things they want to identify with and then appropriate them into their own nests… This is exactly how (Parsis) picked up the best from the larger Persian empire, China, India and Europe” and embellished the garas with motifs as diverse as the simurg, the paisley, peonies, cherubim, peacocks, cheena-cheeni (Chinese men and women), pagodas, the poppy, the spider, divine fungus and even magpies. The period from 1830-1855 was the height of the "Canton-gara culture,” stated Nooshian. 

While demonstrating the various knots used in the embroidery, Nooshian posed these questions: Were the textiles actually woven by Chinese women in China or by Chinese artisans in India? Or were the designs brought from China and embroidered here? Or were they locally made? Was the yarn brought to India and woven here?  

The emergence of chiffons and other blends killed the gara in the 1950s until it was revived in the 1990s by the likes of Naju Daver, Perveez Aggarwal, Cama and Ashdeen Lilaowala. 

Of chicken and chhundo 

A Parsi soiree is considered meaningless without food. While the welcome drink was raspberry soda, the finger food served at Nooshian’s salon was a nod to the Gujarati influence on Parsi cuisine, and the assimilation of different flavors: Bharuchi akuri on toast; topli na paneer, lagan nu stew, patrel cigars with a keri no chhundo (mango chutney) dip; mini farchas with a lagan nu achar dip; prawn patio vol-au-vents and mini dar ni poris. With caterer Sir Ratan Tata Institute’s Arzaan Sabawala, looking every inch the quintessential chef, explaining the nuances of the contrasting tastes and textures to the guests, the music that played in the background was very reminiscent of Parsi lagan-navjotes of the 1960s and 1970s. 

Her heritage

Nooshian’s father Behram hails from Yazd which boasts an ancestral weaving heritage — its women were skilled in needlework. "He was a first generation migrant who arrived here in the 1950s following his uncle in search of work… My maternal grandfather Framroze Bhurekhan hailed from Surat, a thriving port that dominated maritime trade in the 17th century and produced the stunning tanchhoi, jari kaam and gara embroidery.”

Nooshian’s first salon was held in early 2024 at Craft Circle, a store for hand crafted jewelry, hand woven apparel and artisanal accessories. Later, the store’s founder, Rohini Jog, thanked Nooshian on social media for "styling the store and making it Parsi worthy.”