Parsi writers in India have contributed a lot to the literature of the country. They have ventured deep into the field of creative work. There are several Parsi writers whose work in English have brought then immense fame and placed then high in the social structure. The Parsis, after settling in India, adapted Gujarati language but have preferred to express themselves in English.
From among the top Parsi writers in India writing in English, Rohinton Mistry, Boman Desai, Fordaus Kanga, Farrukh Dhondy, Perin Bharucha, Meher Pestonjee, Dina Mehta, Nergis Dalal, Ardashir Vakil, Gieve Patel, Keki N. Daruwalla, etc are the prominent names. The course of Parsis in India writing in English was initiated a century ago with Behram Malbari, the poet, who was also among the earliest Indians to start writing in English. The famous collection of poems of Behram Malbari entitled The Indian Muse in English Grab was first published in 1877 and the later publication are a collection of twenty-six sketches in
Gujarat and Gujaratis and The Eye of English Life with his reflections on the English life. Both the books are by nature, pseudo fictional.
Another reputed Parsi writer by the name of Cornelia Sorabji who published three volumes of fascinating short stories; the Sun Babies and Between the Twilights, Love and Live behind the Purdah and two autobiographical works in the twentieth century. D.F. Karaka was another early Parsi novelist and a reputed journalist, who published some novels in the 1940s and 1950s. Nergis Dalal was one of the most prominent feminist writers of India and she was also a Parsi living in India. She also brought out four novels in the 1960s and the 1970s. Perin Barucha wrote one novel called; `The Fire Worshipers`, and the same was published in 1968. The novel gives stress on the customs of the Parsi Community and it also gives importance to the problem of inter-caste marriage, several current social problems faced by the Parsi Community in India, etc.
Another prominent Parsi novelist who writes in English in India is Dina Mehta. There are several short stories, a novel and plays to her credit. Brides are not for Burning is a play written by Dina Mehta which became very famous among playgoers mainly in the city of
Mumbai in
Maharashtra. Keki N. Daruwalla`s writings in English do not have mush about the Parsi community. But there are a few references like the `Tower of Silence` and other such symbols and metaphors of Parsis. However, in some of the Parsi writer`s works like that of Perin Barucha, there is a mark of the writer`s ethnic identity.