Tag: Gaothan Voice

Milun ek bizancha haath
Devuya saglancha saayh

Gleason Barretto, Old Kurla

Korezman Coronachi Laat
Tari Zaili Paas ani Khursachi Vaat

Days get challenging in these trying times of the pandemic and for the East Indians, faith gets even stronger. The Community that resides predominantly in the Gaothans has seen the toughest times as they saw this city convert from fields, rivers and forests to becoming the ‘Financial Capital’ of the country. The ancestors always believed in the power of prayer and this great faith created wonders. The signs of this undying faith are seen in the many churches that our community helped build, across Maharashtra, and the grottos and holy crosses that are seen at prominent
spots in the Gaothans.

Easter is incomplete if lent is not observed the East Indian way to purists. Fasting and abstinence is not the only highlight of the East Indian observance of lent. Practices like the Paas on Sundays, Khursachi Vaat at Church as well as to all the local crosses in Gaothans, Papiya singing, Krista Puran and the arrangement during Holy week by Irmous and Confraternity are features that make the typical season of lent. For a community in which faith is embedded, the cancellations of these traditional religious practices during lent was saddening. A lot of these could have been organised but due to various restrictions owing to the pandemic, the community missed it 2 years in a row.

Visits to church for mass and personal prayer has been replaced by a virtual one and the feeling of being in the House of God has been missed. Parishes in the Archdiocese followed their own guidelines as per their comfort without taking the laity into confidence. The Archdiocese released its own guidelines without consulting what people really wanted. While across the world re-opening churches was the priority, in Maharashtra the church was only following the State Government without taking the community at large into confidence. Different churches were following different rules; while several churches devised arrangements to accommodate the faithful, in keeping with the guidelines issued, entry in to some churches was restricted. The Church in Maharashtra had now changed from ‘Fearless’ to a ‘Fearful’ church.

At this point, appreciating some initiatives by a handful of churches is a must. Some parishes kept their churches open throughout the day so that people could visit and pray in these challenging times. Some churches increased the frequency of masses to accommodate as many, and even allowed more attendees ensuring that safety protocols of social distancing were practised. We saw a certain church having a serpentine queue for confessions, since not all parishes in the vicinity were having confessions. Due to local parish restrictions, many of the faithful visited nearby parishes to attend daily mass. The Holy Week arrangements were particularly saddening with many churches
conveniently cancelling all scheduled services and going online totally. A Week of great significance to the East Indian Community that begins with the Ramacha Paas, followed by Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Pasku Cha Sann with special prayers and hymns like Papiyas and Krista Puran, it was a sombre Holy week this year too.

Active community members did not lose hope but created alternatives to ensure as many practices were followed as per tradition. Khursachi Vaat was held at Gaothans, were the faithful visited as many significant holy crosses in the vicinity as possible. Devaats went around singing Papiyas at midnight in their own Gaothans. Irmous and Confraternity in some parishes were allowed to create re-enactments of the passion of our Lord for the weekly Passo service. Family prayer got prominence with daily rosary or stations of the cross. Local groups arranged for ration and
hampers for the needy families. This was a clear indication that we as a community are dedicated to our faith even in these trying times.

Times have changed and so should our minds. Blindly following the religious guidelines may not work as our faith is much stronger. There are vested interests trying their best to block the East Indian Lenten Traditions with support by the BCC Coordinators and this needs to be stopped. Staying safe and following protocols is important but only targeting a silent and peace loving Christian community should not be tolerated. Creating a voice for the laity to speak out against the Government is the need of the hour as our Archdiocese has terribly failed. The Archdiocese
silence can be either due to obedience to the law of land or maybe we are obligated to political leaders. The East Indian community should stand firm and it’s time we speak and shout out as indigenous people. Time for change from a ‘clergy driven’ to ‘laity driven’ church.

Gleason Barretto, Old Kurla

AAPLAA GAAV! AAPLAA SANT!
Making the First Indian Saint Truly Indian

Gass is the place St.Gonsalo Garcia was born and there is a Dedicated to our Community Saint in his Native Village. On initial inquiry we have got to know the birth place and we plan to promote this sacred place. Our team from Vasai will visit the site with like-minded locals to plan way forward. Also basic research from seniors on the native Saint will be compiled to know more about the devotions and beliefs of the Gass villagers. Identifying many such locations connected to the life of St.Gonsalo Garcia will be documented for future reference and planning.

Awareness about our community saint across the Native East Indian Community is urgently required. A sizeable number know little about our saint who has a Native Connect to the East Indian Community. Mass awareness Initiatives on our community level are needed. As a part of the Native Devotion Project initiated by the MGP, various action points will be announced to meet this objective. A Religious Walk with St.Gonsalo Garcia will be planned and assigned to a community member as a part of the awareness Initiative.

Recognition of our first Indian Saint on the National as well as State level seems to be missing. To take this forward MGP will send Communications as well as meet political leaders to ensure recognition to our community saint. Our country and state should recognize the First Indian Catholic Saint and dedicate projects and institutions to St.Gonsalo Garcia. Vasai and Mumbai where the majority of the community reside should have special projects dedicated to our Community Saint to have the native connect. A Special scheme for the Christian minority dedicated to St.Gonsalo at the National as well as State level is required.

Chapel dedicated to our Community Saint in Mumbai Archdiocese will be built by MGP. The project was announced a couple of years ago and is on hold due to a land issue. We are looking out for alternative donors or may also purchase a small piece of land. The proposed chapel will be built on a boat to have the connection of St.Gonsalo Garcia travel to Japan by boat. MGP is also working on more projects dedicated to St.Gonsalo Garcia. MGP has also spoken to some experts within the community who will help us built the boat, the Chapel structure, and the interiors including the altar.

Installation of the statue of our Community Saint across Maharashtra Churches, Holy Crosses, and Home Altars. MGP has already installed a statue of our saint at the Kaka Baptista East Indian Museum. We will encourage community members to place a statue at the Gaothan Holy Crosses too. Many Churches do not have a statue of the Saint and we will request them to do install the same or display it during the novenas and annual feast. A miniature statue of St.Gonsalo Garcia will be arranged by MGP and an appeal will be made across the community to install this statue at the altars of each home.

Archdiocesan initiatives to promote the Community Saint are also needed in the Archdiocese of Vasai and Bombay. A formal Communication will be sent to the Hierarchy to ensure the promotion of our native Saint on the diocesan level through various projects. A Special request will be made to the Archdiocese of Bombay that St.Gonsalo Garcia is considered as the Principal Patron Saint of the Diocese. No other saint to be considered as the patron saint. Vasai Diocese will also be requested to initiate multiple projects in the native city especially at our Saint’s native village. MGP Team looks forward to supporting like-minded Community members, the diocese, and the Government to make these plans possible. May our Community Patron Saint, St.Gonsalo Garcia bless us all to achieve what we plan to make him known across the State and Country, thereby making
him a Truly Indian Saint.

Gleason Barretto, Old Kurla

AAPLAA GAAV! AAPLAA RAAJ!
AAPLAA GAAV! AAPLAA NAAV!

Making East Indians Popular as Natives of the City

It’s been more than a century since we took upon the name East Indian Community but the citizens are not fully aware about our Indigenous connect as Children of the soil. There is an urgent need to increase the awareness about our community through multiple initiatives. MGP has taken upon itself to join hands will like-minded community associations and activists to do the best we can to create this awareness. This will be a 5 to 10 year plan with a year on year review on the progress of initiatives and the up-coming year’s action plan will be finalised accordingly. The first Year plan has been finalised after informing and taking inputs from MGP Advisors

RESTORE – We have seen multiple projects and initiatives driven to Restoration and this is a welcome change. Around a year ago MGP even changed the name of the Gaothan Beautification Project to Gaothan Restoration Project(GRP). Here we plan to Restore
whatever we can to bring back memories of our Gaothans and its past. The Gaothan Restoration will be managed by a team of hardcore Gaothan residents who want to give our areas the ideal Gaothan Look. The GRP will restore wells for Umbrachapani, design special benches and street lights, include an entrance arch with a history board and lots more

REVIVE – Making our Community specialty well known amongst other communities is the target. Our Community will be requested to make these East Indian Specialty by its inclusion at all Village Festivals, Gaothan events, cultural Celebrations, Religious practices and house functions. Gaothan specialty would be Rekla, Ghumat, Chatir and much more to give a direct connect and make them synonymous with our community. All local associations and activists need to ensure they are always included. A data bank of these is being worked upon for our Business Network as well as our Culture Guide project

TRADITION – Customs, Beliefs and way of doing things in the past should never be forgotten. Tradition plays an important role in defining our roots and we can never forget our roots. The Lugra has become a trend at all our weddings and celebrations and has
paved a way for traditions to make a come back. Customs and Beliefs are being documented thorough our book project, Reetiñ Reevaaj which will also release episodes in video format on our YouTube channel. Appealing to our community to follow these customs and beliefs will then be the immediate agenda.

GAOTHANS – In our City, you talk of the Gaothans and immediately there is an East Indian Connect. Multiple meetings with politicians and authorities have ensured that the Gaothans are not erased but instead specially included in the City’s future plans with the approval of the indigenous people, the East Indian Community. The Gaothans and its special inclusions like the Holy Cross and Heritage Houses should not be touched as they give the perfect look for the community settlement. Promotion of Gaothans with local festivals and events will place them prominently on the City maps. A special awareness drive will be launched to restore Holy Crosses and not renovate them.

HISTORY – Past records of East Indian Community will be publicised to ensure the History of our community and its rich culture is not forgotten. Special information and highlights of Kaka Baptista will be promoted through various media forums. Some projects have
already been dedicated to Kaka Baptista and we plan to dedicate many more to our community freedom fighter. Historical facts about our community will be documented and promoted on various mediums to enlighten all about our rich culture and roots. Mapping
history of each Gaothan and it’s specialty in the yesteryears will be published as a reference for all citizens.

HERITAGE – The Churches are a clear testimony of our Heritage and existence. As always the Archdiocese will be requested not to renovate but instead restore all heritage Churches. The Church foundation and it’s connect to the local Native East Indian Community will be documented for the reference of future generations. Every historical structure or statue in religious premises should be maintained and restored. A Religious Structure dedicated to our Native Saint Gonsalo Garcia to be built to honour the indigenous connect of the Saint and his historical importance to Maharashtra State and India.

FOOD – The real taste of the East Indians is from its vast varieties of food and cuisine. In recent times we have seen a few hotels and we should have many more. The over the counter fast food stalls selling East Indian food needs to be promoted even if it’s a take away
concept. Our Community Food specialty can create wonders and we need to do our best to ensure its presence and popularity. The variety of preservatives like our Masalas and Pickles need to be promoted and nice to see many such initiatives in this direction. The East Indian Bottle Masala should be made Internationally well known to our talented home chefs and entrepreneurs.

MUSIC – East Indian Music is unique and can be taken to greater heights if all in the music community come together. Some recent initiatives online have been encouraging but there is much more we can do. The Ghumat should be in every East Indian household and it’s presence at every Celebration should be ensured. Music releases should be targeted not only for the listening pleasure of the community but the larger audience too. The Music experts should be roped in to create this unique quality thereby creating East Indian Music lovers in India and Internationally too. Our East Indian Bands should also work towards appreciation from a larger audience through their talent and expertise. The list of action points to fulfil this objective of making East Indian Community well known maybe endless but the time has come to act on this. We at MGP plan to review all these plans and do our very best to take our community to greater heights. We need your support and every hand counts. Join Us and Together Lets Make This Happen.

Gleason Barretto, Old Kurla