A cross of fate was experienced at Kebab Bistro as an elderly gentleman by the name of Soli Daruwala was out to have lunch with his family one Friday afternoon.
Mr. Daruwala’s daughter – Khurshid, who resides in Sharjah, spotted a photograph of her dad hanging framed up in the restaurant among some major Parsi personalities. She pointed it out to us and we were so excited to see the man in person!
As we dove deeper into conversation with the Daruwala family, we came to know that a Parsi lady from Tardeo, Bombay had previously dined at Kebab Bistro, and spotted her neighbor Soli in this picture taken at their local neighborhood Agiary. (the one in the red frame just above the electric plug points).
She, of course, notified him on her return to Mumbai.
Sure enough, when Mr. Soli Daruwala was in UAE to meet his daughter, they all made their customary trip to our Parsi Bistro for a family lunch over our weekend Parsi buffet. Mr. Daruwala and his wife were so overjoyed at the idea of becoming popular with his pic at a Dubai restaurant, (thanks to the internet) that they immediately agreed to pose for more!
At Kebab Bistro, our pride in Bawa culture is extremely illustrious and can be witnessed through the treasured moments that have been framed across our walls. These photos are seen to provide the true essence of Parsi camaraderie and in turn, complement our food with an extra hint of love and passion.
On one side are some major Parsi personalities from different walks of life like J R D Tata, famed wicket keeper & batsman Farokh Engineer, industrialist Adi Godrej, Sir Ratan Tata, Zubin Mehta of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and Dr. Homi Bhabha.
On the other side of the restaurant are frames of some Parsees in the field of performing arts – from Freddy Mercury to Boman Irani and many more, in addition to traditional Parsis images.”
However, one thing is for certain about the Parsi community – we are indeed an extremely small and tight knit community, regardless of what we do.
Soli obliged us with more photos of himself as well as of the family lunch, which we are happy to share here.
The happy ending to this story is that the entire family came back the following Friday with more family and friends to show-off this picture on the wall of our restaurant!
