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Christmas in Santa Cruz ~ Archie D'Souza

The preparations for Christmas started on the Saturday before the first Sunday of Advent. Fr. Prax who conducted the children’s choir would convene a meeting of all the choir members and remind us of daily practice every evening after school. Fr. Vincent would convene a meeting of the altar boys (there were no altar girls those days) who would be serving at the midnight mass. I was always in two minds but the altar boys won because that’s where one got noticed. Sunday school the following day was also part of the Christmas preparations. Our catechist Sr. Hope told us that we had to make sacrifices to prepare for Christmas. So, we boys diligently bought little notebooks (not the digital kind) where we, without fail, noted down all the sacrifices we made. So, at a birthday party the following day I picked up a piece of cake with a little less icing. Oh! What a sacrifice that was! There were a lot of other sacrifices we boys made but nothing to beat this one. When we went to the tailor,...
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The Charms of Santa Cruz of Yore - Part Four ~ Archie D'Souza

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 The Charms of Santa Cruz of Yore - Part Four Summer holidays would end and school would start and with it the onset of the monsoons. This was the season for indoor games. So, we played carom and table-tennis. But there were the adventurous among us who’d play football during the rainy season. This was also the month when we purchased our text and notebooks. Gokhlesh Book Centre in Khar and Jules Meneze in Santa Cruz would di roaring business during this time of the year – also, the shops selling raincoats and rubber footwear. Sunday school would also resume during this part of the year. The first feast we celebrated was the feast of the Sacred Heart, which was also our parish feast. I remember going for morning mass and there used to be adoration for the rest of the day with a special benediction in the evening. Adults and children would be seen in the church together. Besides Sunday school catechism classes were also conducted during one period in regular school. I always w...
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The Charms of Santa Cruz of Yore - part three

Sacred Heart Parish and Boys’ High School had their special occasions or events – some annual, others monthly or quarterly, end of term, etc. One such event was Mission Sunday. At the children’s mass we attended, there was no collection except on this day. My father would give me two four anna (25P) coins, one to put in the collection box and the other for an ice cream at Cafe Marissa. Yes, that’s what we paid for an ice cream those days. On one such Mission Sunday, I was carrying the two coins handed over to me, both clenched in my fist. One coin fell off and rolled into the drain nearby. Besides 25P ice creams, we also had closed drains in Santa Cruz those days. I just looked up to heaven (that’s where we were told it is) and said “Lord forgive me for having dropped your coin in the drain.” I realized years later that there was no one upstairs to forgive or condemn me. I didn’t inform at home for fear that my father would think that it was the Lord’s coin that I was holding on to a...
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The Charms of Santa Cruz of Yore - Part Two

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Prof Archie D'Souza Our parents and every parent of the parish insisted that we attend the 6:30 am mass every day. No coffee before mass as we had to fast for many hours if we had to receive communion. On Sundays it would be the children’s mass at 8:30 and Thursdays (Sacred Heart and St. Theresa’s convent were closed on Thursdays) the crusader’s mass at 7:30. There was Sunday school on Sunday evenings followed by Benediction and the sodality meeting ever Thursday after mass. So, we were well instructed about how to live this life so our next life would be spent in the right place. The children’s mass was just that. The church filled with children. There was a children’s choir and the only adults you saw in church were the celebrant, the organist and Fr. Prax who conducted the children’s choir. There would be choir practice every Thursday after the sodality meeting and every Sunday after Sunday school. The parish children’s choir meant that zonal rivalries were forgotten and ever ...
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People and events in Santa Cruz

People and events in Santa Cruz A couple of weeks back I posted a sentence “I shall call the city of my birth Bombay whatever its official name” and I got some very interesting responses. Do you know that there was a move to change the name of Santa Cruz to Vivek Nagar when Godhbunder Road was renamed Swamy Vivekananda Road? East Avenue is today called Sharat Chandra Chatterji Marg, Church Avenue Ramkrishna Mission Marg. Do you call Linking Road by its official name Sardar Patel Marg, or Marine Drive Subhash Chandra Bose Marg? Bombay, in general, and Santa Cruz in particular, have evolved over the decades. Not all this evolution has been good. St. Francis and Convent Avenues (are the names still the same?) have changed beyond recognition. I’ve written two short stories and am in the middle of a novel based on events in Khar and Santa Cruz. In fact, my novel is actually going to tell what St. Francis Avenue was and what it’s become with the long journey that it’s taken. One annual...
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