"In the early part of the last century, Bombay was a city of dreams, the place where every Dick Whittington wanted to come and seek his fortune," says Avan Jesia, author of Tower, a new novel centered around three generations of a Parsi family. "This is why my grandfather, Faramji Jesia, left his ancestral village of Sumari in Gujrat and travelled to Bombay. This is where he built his home -- a place to house not just his family but also his dreams."

Avan's novel 'Tower' is an epic tale of the loss and longing that captures the cultural and sociological changes in urban Bombay from the 1920s to 1970s. The story was inspired by that of her grandfather, Faramji Jesia who built a home in the city's famous 'Dadar Parsi Colony' in the 1920s to accommodate his family and relatives. The story weaves through the years that saw its rooms fill up, the looming threat of their emptying, and eventual deliverance from that threat.

But although 'Tower' is a work of fiction, it is based upon real situations and characters. Each have their own journey but all pass through the central locus of their home, Framji building.

"The great value of home is that to me it embodies the spirit and the legacy of my grandfather, Faramji Jesia," says Avan.

On this season finale of Asian Threads, Avan Jesia shares the real stories that inspired her to write 'Tower'. Talking with her offers a lens into the life of the Parsis, a community so intricately woven into the social and cultural fabric of Bombay. 25-2-2013