Drafting my Christmas Essay and a Historical Walk Around Bandra's Churches

Saturday, November 24, 2018
Bombay

Drafting my Christmas Essay and a Historical Walk Around Bandra's Churches

     Namaste from Bombay!
     November is closing in and with it comes the realization that I have not yet drafted my annual Christmas essay for publication in The Examiner--a Bombay Catholic best-selling weekly--to which I have contributed a 'holiday' article for as long as I can remember. Finding an idea that works is always the biggest challenge--once inspiration hits, the words flow. The idea took its time hitting me this year... but thankfully, it did whack me in the head just before the submission deadline of Nov 30!
     I woke up, drafted a blog post, washed, dressed and headed to the gym for a one-hour workout.  Then, I went straight to the fruit monger to buy apples for my muesli breakfast that followed. I showered and sat down to draft my essay and it took me the entire morning.
      I was done with a first draft as lunch beckoned. I ate it whilst watching Leap Year--I am now really into Netflix movies!--shrimp and pumpkin curry, white pumpkin and cutlets with a guava for dessert. Back to my laptop to revise the article, I did so until a nap urgently called my name.  Twenty minutes later, I was revising again until it came time to leave for my walk--for I had signed up for a Celebrate Bandra Festival event--a historic walk around 'The Churches of Bandra'.

Taking a Historic Walk:
     The walk began at 4.00 pm at the gate of St. Peter's Church where a group of about 15 people had gathered. It was led by David Cardoz, a local architect, who told us briefly about the architect, one Henricks, a local boy made good, who was taken with designing the new church building in 1937 (the older one had dated from the 1880s).  By 1939, he was all done and dusted--a truly unimaginable feat today!
     Inside, he pointed out architectural details and one decorative element--a three-dimensional marble plinth carved in bas-relief depicting Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper--a gift from General Franco of Spain who heard that a church was being built in Bombay.  To curry favor with the Jesuits, he sent two such plinths--expecting one to get damaged in transit.  Both survived the long sea voyage (the second is installed in the altar at Mount Mary's Church).  This was perhaps the most interesting historical material I learned on the entire tour that had attracted a vast number of non-Catholics who spent most of the tour asking questions that had no connections with history or with churches--"What is the difference between Mangloreans, Goans and East Indians?"
     Give me a break! I was hopping with frustration by the end of it.  While David was adept at pointing out architectural aspects, not much emphasis was given to the decorative elements that were staring us in the face--such as the gorgeous plaster of Paris rondels on the ceiling (in imitation of those to be found in European churches) or the double-galleried construction (similar to Anglican churches in Europe and Congregational churches in America).
     Orders were taken for snack bags--veg or non-veg--and Rs. 100 changed hands per person as we trooped out to walk down Hill Road to get to the seafront to St. Andrew's Church. There, we paused in the graveyard outside to discuss why Catholics are not offended by treading feet over the grave stones of their dead! Clearly, our tour guides (Cornel Rodrigues, another architect) were not in any way prepared for such questions.  Even the issue of how East Indians got their name sounded questionable to me--and I intend to ask my friend Ashley D'mello, a walking historian on East Indians, to enlighten me on this issue, once and for all. Does it have to do with their being original Catholics from Bombay as opposed to those from Mangalore and Goa? Does it have to do with their having worked for the British East India Company?
     Inside St. Andrew's, we paused to admire the glorious medieval elements such as two wooden carved plaques (in the style of my favorite Flemish ecclesiastical wood carver Viet Stoss), the gilded pulpit whose door and staircase are missing, the gorgeous refurbished reredos (altar piece) with its interspersed Medieval and Renaissance statuary and the museum, located in the organ loft, that is kept locked.  I would simply love to go into it and explore the pieces at my leisure.
     I had to leave by 6.00 as the group walked off to Mount Mary Church. I would love to see these tours done in a far more organized fashion--this was much too ad hoc for my liking with sundry (stupid) questions asked at every juncture. Participants should be told to ask questions related to history, architecture and decorative arts alone--not to Catholic theology which the guides were clearly ill-equipped to answer: "What is the significance of the keys in St Peter's hands?" and "Why was the Baptismal font kept outside a church in a Baptistry instead of being placed inside (as is found nowadays?"
     I raced home, changed for church and then joined Dad for 7.00 pm Mass after a brief visit with Russel as I will not be able to attend morning mass tomorrow--another historic walk to Bandra Fort is on the cards. I was delighted to see my friend Sharon from Toronto in church. Llew and I and our friends Sylvia and Dolly had visited her home in Canada earlier this year.  She has come to Bombay to help her mother nurse her father who has just gone through surgery. I will be accompanying Dad to visit him soon.
     Back home, I made a drink and sipped it with blue cheese and crackers before serving myself dinner and continuing with Leap Year. With Matthew Goode (whom I realize I rather like!) and Amy Adams, it is a delightful rom-com set in Ireland--how could it not be a blast? Really surprised I had not heard of it before.
     It was after midnight when I fell asleep--deeply grateful to the Lord and content about another nice productive day in Bombay.
     Until tomorrow...