Mohamed Mozayan was 10 years old when he last visited Iran, in 1978. “I still remember the fragrance from the rows and rows of trees laden with fruits in the orchard behind our home,” the now 57-year-old tells us over a cup of Irani chai and a plate of seekh kebabs, specialties at his family restaurant, Persian Islami Restaurant in Mazgaon. 

“I remember eating pomegranates and almonds straight off the trees. This was back when these fruits and nuts were still considered exotic in India. Now, you find them everywhere, but they don’t taste the same — the pomegranates there would burst with juice, the almonds tasted so sweet. We came back to Mumbai carrying bags full to bursting with fruit,” he chuckles.

Three generations after his grandfather first brought the family over to Mumbai from their home in Yazd province in Iran in search of a better life, their motherland had begun to flourish. They decided to pack up their lives here and move back to their ancestral home. Then, the Islamic Revolution of 1979 swept across Iran and their plans collapsed. “We’d returned from our trip to Iran, but my father had stayed back to set up everything for our move there. He was stuck there for five years, unable to leave,” Mozayan recounts, his eyes taking on a faraway look.