Procession began on Saturday, 19th September 2020 @8am
*This Annual Procession has been initiated by MGP to revive memories of the procession wherein the statue of Mother Mary was bought in procession from Mahim to Bandra in 1761 *The Procession is organised on a Saturday during the Bandra fair week *Due to restrictions only a few of MGP members Participated in the Procession this year *The Statue of Mount Mary was carried in a Traditional Rekla to revive memories of the first such procession *The Statue of Mount Mary will now visit various Gaothans across Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Vasai
MGP Team thanks Richard and Melroy from Bandra for the Rekla. Also thanks to our members – Alphi Dsouza, Sybil Rodrigues, Bryce Rodricks, Samuel Dsouza and Justin Rodricks for Coordinating and Participating in today’s procession
Mother Mary showed us how if we pray with great faith we can expect the impossible. East Indian Community are no doubt the founders of the Bandra Fair however there is no Community Connect today. The Founders have been sidelined and ignored in this annual festival. For almost a decade we have been requesting that there should be an East Indian Connect to the Bandra Fair through Special mentions, East Indian Marathi masses, East Indian hymns, East Indian Speciality stalls and many others but we were never considered. Many of our Annual rallies have either started or ended at Mount Mary’s Bandra but it seems to have not mattered to the concerned officials
Authorities, both religious and political who could have done their bit, chose not to do so for reasons best known to them. We reminded them year after year and we were given some irrelevant reasons and kept away. Bandra Fair may be the only such festival in the world that has no exhibit of Native Art and Specialty. The MGP team also met the political Representatives and Municipal authorities besides the church officials for some stalls to promote local specialty but in vain.
United in prayer we decided to start with the Annual Procession to revive memories of the first such procession wherein the statue of Mount Mary was bought from Mahim Church to Mount Mary Bandra. The Procession started 3 years ago and then we started the Mot Mauli Yatra wherein the Statue of Mother Mary visits Gaothans, the vilage settlement of the East Indian Community. Infact we had a special visit to the Bandra Fair route to identify spots where we could have stalls but had no success. We then made a stop at Mount Carmels which has the famous September Garden. We were informed that the Parish Priest was not there, we then called a Priest and asked him if he could help. And he simply said that we should not expect much but just pray.
Last year the Mount Mary Visit was held at more than 50 Gaothans, an unexpected number for us all. This Year our Tag line says – Don’t Come to Venerate Me this Year, I will come to Visit Your Place. Our prayers seem to have been answered differently. The Pandemic has forced the cancellation of the Mount Mary Festival and Bandra Fair, something the authorities may have never dreamt of. Our devotion gets deeper this year with more Initiatives to promote our Native Devotions – Mount Mary and St.Gonsalo Garcia.
In this tough times, we pray to Mother Mary to wipe out this Pandemic from this world. We the East Indian Community are fine if we don’t get stalls and other basic rights as original inhabitants. No stalls has given birth to the East Indian Baazaar with 4 versions and around 100 Baazaar’s expected within a year and around more than a 100 Baazaar based businesses all set to join our wide Network. The East Indian Community will never give up and do the impossible to see our flag flying high always with the blessings of Mother Mary. As they say Faith can move mountains and here the faith of our community has surely moved the Mount Mary from its Religious walls to our Homes in the Gaothans.
MGP presents you with the issue of Gaothan Voice June 2020 focusing on our Community Starting Businesses . MGP launched this Initiative a couple of years ago – East Indian Business Network led by Joe Dsouza and efforts are on to revive this Initiative.
Top 5 pointers of this issue:
GV Cover has an illustration of Businesses around the Gaothans
A special write up on the first ever East Indian Online Children Singing Event by Blogger Rita Rodricks
Updates on the East Indian Community Fund and ration kits distributed
News page with special report on our YouTube channel events
A Special editorial on our community starting Businesses in the current situation
Get a copy of the Gaothan Voice at your doorstep by being an MGP Star, Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver and Bronze member
To join our MGP Team or to be a part of the Gaothan Voice contact us on 9820545302/9820087771
Mobai Gaothan Panchayat 