How do you define the Christmas spirit?
Be it Christmas, or any other festival, to me it’s all about the people. I don’t get the ‘pujo pujo bhaab’ for example, till I go to the local Durga Puja pandal and meet my fellow Bengalis.
Christmas in Bandra for us has been about Goan and East Indian Catholic neighbours who send us local Christmas treats which, apart from slices of Christmas cake, feature kul kul, rose cookies, chakli, marzipan, guava cheese, jujubes and fruit and vegetable shaped candy.
The Cutinha’s, the elderly couple who live next door, send us a plate heaped with Christmas goodies every year. In the pandemic year aunty baked cakes for a few of us as that was the year when things from outside were looked at with suspicion. I am sure that whichever be the higher power one believes in, everyone is praying that those dark days don’t return.
Then there are our neighbours Erika & Gia, who have become friends like family thanks to our cats. We started the tradition of exchanging Christmas gifts a couple of years back and along with that they give us cakes baked at home, Christmas treats and roast chicken as they order the latter for themselves.
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| With Dr Miranda who makes her own sweets for Christmas |
My mom’s turned out to be quite the ‘Christmas cake monster’. ‘Real Christmas cake’ is how she described the one sent by Manzilat from Kolkata and the one sent by Candies last evening. The roast chicken given to us by Erika is from Candies too and there’s is a sweetish version.
This year my mum is here with us and was a part of the gift exchange. I remember her saving money from giving spoken English classes and buying me a toy battle tank on Christmas in Iran. I was 5 then. We had to leave the country soon after because of the Islamic revolution. I had to leave the tank behind.
She loves to go churches to see Christmas decorations and we will do so in a couple of days. The churches in Bandra compete with each other to have the best decorations.
Just as the puja pandals do in Kolkata during Durga Puja. I’d been to the Canterbury Cathedral on Christmas with my parents when I was a baby and later to the church at Bansdroni where the mass is held in Bangla with my mum and brother when life took us to Calcutta.
As I type this, I can hear someone in the house beside us singing classic rock numbers to the beat of a drum and the strumming of a guitar… and that folks, is what Christmas in Bandra is all about.
Oh, and have I told you about the lanes, including ours, which are lit up with fairy lights and the many neighbouring churches which people have thronged for mass.
Yes, if it’s Christmas in Mumbai, you have to be in Vandre. Merry Christmas everyone.
#merrychristmas #bandra
PS:
My mother’s blog post on Christmas in Bandra: https://tabulousmom.blogspot.com/2018/12/queen-of-peace-our-local-parish-church.html
And her post on Christmas in the UK: https://tabulousmom.blogspot.com/2018/12/christmas-in-uk-during-seventies.html
