From over 900 applications received for the 10th New India Foundation (NIF) Fellowship, Dr Simin Patel’s proposal to write a book on the Irani restaurants of Bombay and Jaideep Hardikar’s proposed book on the rise and fall of "The Empress” (Mills) were among the 11 selected.
Patel’s book delves "into the world of Irani strongmen and dons and the cafes they operated from. Her DPhil dissertation from the University of Oxford traced the role the Parsi community played as cultural intermediaries in colonial Bombay.” Hardikar’s book explores "the story of Tata’s first venture, the Empress Mills — rise and eventual fall,......