A brief history of Iranians who migrated from Yazd to make Mumbai home

Mumbai's favoured chaiwallahs have evolved since migrating to the city from Yazd centuries ago

Hassan Hajati speaks a type of Bambaiyya that exists mainly in vintage Hindi films. “Mai paila seth hai jo apna giraak ko bolta hai ki maal kam leke jao.” He explains that he sometimes has to convince shoppers to buy less extravagant quantities of his famous baklava so that stocks last and more people can taste the dessert “baked in an earthen wood-fired oven, in copper utensils, and fed with honey”. His Iranian Sweets Palace, where he makes and sells this treat based on a 110-year-old recipe, opens only in March to meet the Nowruz needs of the city’s Parsis,