The Mughal Masjid, a blue mosque in the ancient Persian style, is only a short walk from the store. It was constructed 159 years ago in the Bhendi Bazaar. Another illustration of the enduring Iranian presence in Mumbai is the Bhendi Bazaar.

Like many others, Haji Ghulam Ali, Hassan’s grandfather, moved to India in 1990 from the drought-stricken central Iranian province of Yazd in search of greener pastures.

In contrast to some of his countrymen, Ali came here with enough cash to start his own tea house and confectionery company. Back then, there were a few more Iranian-owned stores in the area selling baklavas, but over time, they closed down.

Hajati has carried on this custom, and his son is also eager to keep it going. Despite his aversion to aluminum pans and contemporary ovens, Hajati’s website is fashionable, and he invites customers to place large WhatsApp orders and leave reviews.

Additionally, Hassan offers more than twelve distinct types of Iranian nuts during the year. The cost of those Iranian nuts has increased since the United States weakened the rial by withdrawing from the nuclear treaty with Iran and increasing its reliance on exports. He hopes the severe penalties imposed on the nation last year will soon be lifted. To witness spring, Hassan travels to Iran every year following Nauroz. Additionally, whenever he is in Iran, someone always asks him, “Agha, khune Amitabh Bacchan rafti? Salman Khan ra mi bini? (Have you ever been to Amitabh Bacchan’s house? Do you see Salman Khan? )”

According to some reports, Iranian migrations began as early as the middle of the 1700s. The Zoroastrians of Yazd learned from Parsis that Mumbai was a land of promise, as Sunil Kavadi noted in his book Nakyavarch Irani (Irani around the corner), and Irani Muslims quickly followed suit. The reasons for the continued influx of Iranian Muslims into India included drought and famine, a failing economy during the Qajar era, and even a desire to avoid the two-year conscription.

In the majority of instances, families sent at least one of their sons to India, where they either founded businesses or found employment in tiny eateries.

The proliferation of mills in Mumbai created a convenient foundation for thousands of unemployed textile workers. Irani communities can be found even in Hyderabad and Pune.

In British era documents, the term “Mughal IRanis” was used to designate the Muslims among the Iranians, which was a misnomer based on a marker.

Although Iranian black tea was popular here, the British way of adding milk to tea was adopted. These teahouses gradually developed into a center for intellectuals and artists under the influence of Iran’s kahvekhane.

Mohammad Reza Shah invited the Iranians to return during his trip to India, and many of them did so. Thus, there are probably just 40 Iranian businesses left from the 700 or so that existed at that time. According to Sayed safari Ali, the oldest Iranian in the city’s food industry and the owner of the Lucky restaurant in Bandra, there are still around a hundred Iranian families residing there.

Numerous Mumbai Iranians have wed Iranian women and have close family and business ties in both nations. Like their fellow Mumbaikars, they learn Persian at school and learn a few Indian languages. Some of them have chosen alternative occupations, while others are still carrying on the custom of selling Irani goods.

“India is his home and Iran is the motherland,” states Reza Kabul, who established his own architecture company in 1988 from the mezzanine of his father’s Irani business empire’s Vorli location.

Tea, festivals, and cultural activities continue to bring Iran together. The “haftseen,” which consists of seven Persian letter ‘s’s laid out on a Nauroz table, is what most people set out to explain.

For older Iranians, such as Lucky Resturant’s owner Safar Ali, visits to the home country have decreased, while the majority of them only go there once every few years. “I have been to Iran five times,” the 90-year-old claims. “Now I am happy here,” he says poetically, adding, “Wherever you go, the sky is of the same colour. ”