India, April 4 -- I grew up in Parel, a Mumbai neighbourhood, which, in the 1990s was largely filled with mill workers, wholesale-cloth traders and people in low-rung, fiercely-cherished corporate jobs. Come Christmas, New Persian Bakery down the street would open up its huge, wood-fired ovens, so that local Christians could bake their cakes there for a small fee. Homi, the owner, would assess each pan before it went in. "Mrs D'Costa!" he'd scold my grandmother, "again, your batter is so heavy. The centre won't cook". And we'd have to split it across two pans. The bakery also extended the service for Maharashtrian chiroli-topped biscuits at Diwali and Muslim nankhatai at Eid. No one thought twice about an Iranian oven's role in Hindu, Mus...