The Parsis of Mumbai are the descendants of a small but resilient community that migrated from Persia (modern-day Iran) centuries ago, carrying with them traditions, faith and a distinctive cultural identity. Once a year, they gather at Rustom Baug for the Annual Zoroastrian Power-Lifting and Bodybuilding Championship — a spectacle that celebrates strength, discipline and the sheer vitality of the body. In a community whose numbers are dwindling, this event carries a bittersweet charge: the muscular forms on display seem to embody life-force itself, even as the championship itself may be drawing to a close. There is irony and sadness in witnessing these rituals of power and pride in a culture that is fading from the city’s streets.

I photographed this event attuned to the choreography of the day — the interplay between performers and audience, the rhythms of attention and response, the moments when energy pulses or lingers. Young and old, exuberant and pensive, flexed and at ease, the Parsis in these photographs become a living archive of community, resilience and the fleeting intensity of life-force.