Rohinton Mistry was born in 1952 in Bombay, India's largest city and the most densely populated place in the world. He grew up as a member of Bombay's middle class Parsi community. His father, Behram Mistry, worked in advertising and his mother, Freny Mistry, was a housewife. He obtained a British-style education at the University of Bombay, studying mathematics and economics and receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975. He then married Freny Elavia, a teacher, and immigrated to Canada, settling in Toronto. He worked as a banker to support himself while taking night courses at the University of Toronto and completed a second baccalaureate degree in 1984, majoring in literature and philosophy.

During this period, Mistry became interested in writing. He studied with Mavis Gallant, a writer-inresidence in Toronto's English Department, and won first prize in a short story contest the university inaugurated in 1983. He won this...