"There is an old saying that if you threw a stone in Bandra you were bound to hit a Pereira or a pig," former journalist Olga Valladares writes in the footnotes of The Story of Bandra Feast (1998) - a short and concise compilation of facts from scholarly works and archival material. Bandra or Bandora, as it was called in 1505 by Portuguese writer Faria e Souza, for us, is incomplete without the memory of visiting the fair, a week-long event at the Basilica of our Lady of the Mount following September 8 - the birthday of Mary.

As the years went by, the essence of the festival, we were told, was noticeably diminished and shrouded in controversy due to illegal hawking. As the fair crosses 300 years, we decided to take the road less travelled with residents for whom, the event remains a memory that lingers.