Meher Marfatia: Where have all the Santas gone?

That Santa Cruz is Holy Cross in Portuguese I picked up from my favourite English teacher in school She lived there in Aurora an elegant bungalow on St Francis Avenue As Aurora transformed to a tower Carmelita Meneses stayed awhile in Priscel Holm a name I wondered about The earlier village of Khulbhowree was hailed Santa Cruz by Salsette Christians reciting the Rosary on a hillock around a rough wooden cross A chapel at the spot in 1850 marked the inception of Sacred Heart Church on SV Road in 1936Parishioners Douglas Gudinho and Frances Rebello grandniece of legendary journalist Frank Moraes whose childhood bungalow Crossville was a Santa Cruz landmark outside Sacred Heart Church on SV Road PicsAshish RajeEmerald green paddy fields and shining white saltpans tempted those oldest cultivator inhabitants Replacing the rice farmers basic brick and mud huts stronger structures sprang up in 191718 supported by the Bombay Catholic Cooperative Housing Society As permission for these cottages was secured from the Governor Lord Willingdon the complex was officially Willingdon Catholic ColonyWild cacti clumped with red prickly pear and gulmohurs whispering to targola trees the landscape sounded strange after dark Scary braying jolted residents awake on silent nights donkeys carrying quarry loads from not too distant Danda Children leapt gutters catching crabs in cigarette tins watched by mums from windows pretty with boxes of phloxes Curious boys searched for lead from bullets strewing Target Green rifle ground presentday Golibar where uniformed soldiers of RAF Santa Cruz squadrons lay aiming from the grassPrisca DSouza extreme left back with family on the occasion of the First Holy Communion of her youngest daughter Marie in 1950 on the terrace of their bungalow Priscel Holm with the church in the backgroundThe suburb welcomed Goans and Anglo Indians like the Butlers and Blythes the Coopers and Forrests the Greens HW Green alone rode a posh horse carriage to Bandra before boarding his daily southbound train and Stathams crooner Jean Statham married swing king Ken Mac They joined first halves of liltingly laced names on their gates Doreen DSouzas parents Prisca and Celestino teamed theirs in 1937 to form Priscel Holm mystery solvedChoirmaster Fairlie Martin trained us to sing and act says Doreen of her foray into the music world as a Santa Cruz girl before Mombasaborn saxophonist husband Mickey Correa swept her to Colaba Bandleader at the Taj from 1939 to 1960 his unbroken run was only rivalled by yearahead Carroll Gibbons of The Savoy LondonTheir daughter Patricia enjoyed her grandparents garden when Juhu beach was a short rain treelined walk from the church fronting Priscel Holm The plot sprouted jasmine oleander coconuts guavas chikoos and a stubborn avocado refusing to bear fruit Doreen moves the memories indoors Mother roped in her eight kids to prepare feast sweets particular we washed hands grubby from play before combing kulkul batterRonald Jeffries outside Sunkist the 1939 cottage his grandfather Frank Thomas built Its front porch stands far receded from the main garden gate following a request made by a neighbour in the bungalow behind she wanted an unobstructed view of the Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana on the opposite side of their streetTrays of Xmas treats were delivered between homes till the 1980s when builders started claiming cottages and camaraderie blurred says Sunanda Remedios Her mother Teresa Albuquerques book Santa Cruz That Was is my research source Sunanda speaks of Crossville the East Avenue bungalow of Teresas parents Henrietta and Anthony Xavier Moraes With journalist brother Frank Moraes Teresa and her other siblings considered they were blessed to be in Santa Cruz with its spirit of bondingChurchgoing was observed with unequal reverence Albuquerque notes a scene outside the chapel Outstanding Catholics congregated under a tree during the service exchanging tips on races One gentleman actually carried his race book in his pocket every Sunday calling it his prayer book More excusably jaunty juniors dodged Fr Joseph Alvares To quote Albuquergue again The Pastor administered not merely spiritual penance to those coming to his confessional A tweak of the ear was spontaneously given on admission of mischievous deeds For this reason several naughty boys preferred confessing on Saturday to old Fr Cordo who was hard of hearingMartin Fonseca and his wife were tenants at Crossville Grand old man of Santa Cruz the 98yearold former managing director of German Remedies describes 1955 East Avenue By 6 pm instead of pedestrians or traffic our companions were huge marsh mosquitoes Life was contented connected Today people take six months to say Good Morning to a new face And Christmas was more religious than the commercial affair its becomeBefore naming homes came the vital task of locating them Septuagenarian Ronald Jeffries originally West Indian grandfather Frank Thomas came from Ratlam silver medalled for services to the BBampCI Bombay Baroda amp Central India Railway at King George VIs proclamation He constructed Sunkist in 1939 opposite Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana when the club was an asbestosroofed shed Frank Thomas sons Ronalds father and uncles steered prestigious inaugural runs of the Frontier Mail Flying Rani and Rajdhani Express A confirmed Railways man Grandfather chose this space to look to Khar Station on one side Santa Cruz the otherI stare at the grills through which Frank Thomas gazed on his beloved engines The Art Deco design weaves the initials ftj from within and jef for Jeffries from out Dad and his brothers would be at meals on this eightseat dining table Knowing which train passed when they jumped up with torches signalling trains to slow and throw them mango baskets from Balsar Courtesy and civility not quite extinct Frank Thomas heeded a request from a lady living across the Jeffries in Kenville Could he position his porch to not obstruct her view of the gymkhana The main door of Sunkist indeed lies long recessed from the road There was great understanding says Ronald Were the settlers It hurts that those muscling into the neighbourhood see us as strangersMath teacher and proactive parishioner Ann Rose DCruz says Our community demographic totally turned Santa Cruzs charm waned for oldtimers who shifted further north or abroad The 1970s saw 150 kids receive Holy Communion each year against 40 currently Neither St Teresas Convent nor Sacred Heart Boys School have the Catholic children they did on their rollsAnn Roses maternal family is among Santa Cruzs most illustrious Her uncle Dr Owen Pinto one of Indias finest runners of the 1950s notching record 400metres timings in Asia pioneered sports medicine in the city and was Mother Teresas personal physician Drawn to the selfless work of the Missionaries of Charity nuns he helped establish their Home for the Destitute and Dying on Chapel Lane renamed Damian Joseph Pinto Road after his father site of that ancient cross bordering the Pintos ancestral propertyLiving on Ramakrishna Mission Marg after a lifetime in Willingdon Catholic Colony Yvonne DCruz misses the apple blossom and mayflower trees dotting that now defunct 55acre housing cluster one of Bombays most beautiful ndash All open maidan it was tough to hide in games of Robbers and Thieves Christmas was incredible with carols cribs and my genial dad making the jolliest Santa knocking on decorated doors with his Hohohos Once this Girton School music teacher had her own wedding guests serenaded by Nelly Battiwala in 1960 Bombays sole woman bandleader was in hot demand at Santa CruzEntertainment peaked at Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana from 1928 Francis Vital Maurice Caeiro and Douglas Gudinho share how the barracklike shelter with one donated billiard table five dozen folding chairs and a hat stand went on to host huge tennis cricket hockey and football events Its crowning boast Bombays best dance parties The beat of Goody Seervais orchestra clashed with the bop of Chris Perrys their respective ensemble voices ndash fullthroated Vincent and contralto Lorna Cordeiro ndash rousing revellers to jump and jive to the sultriest strains Even Dadar boy activistpolitician George Fernandes was a regular In Cyrilin one of a literal handful of cottages left standing Gudinho remembers We never crossed roads The lanes were full of lovers corners and little threefeet iron fences local lads just kept jumping overNothing brightens Santa Cruz faces as mention of SCADAMS does The Santa Cruz Amateur Dramatic and Musical Society thrived from the 1930s Angela Almeida presenting Gilbert and Sullivan operettas with lilting violins and vocals Duets and pantomime numbers titled Tallyho Gallop and Ragdoll Drill were also put up in her home Windermere the legs of a pair of beds cut to similar height forming the stage SCADAMS broadcast its first public studio show on All India Radio in October 1936 Soprano Patricia Rozario was 7 when she rehearsed classical compositions for these talent hunts with her mother Ena But practice didnt always make perfect Reciting a poem Albuquerques sister forgot lines Indignant she loudly hissed Dont prompt Finally giving up she left saying The rest is in the book When jazz woman Elaine Mathias arrived in 1965 from Poona to join her husband word buzzed in the garden suburb of its recent entrant tinkling tunes like Winifred Atwells Bumble Boogie with uncommon verve and Elaine was soon coaching young SCADAMS contestants Her thought seems echoed in nearly every home I visit The biggest loss is that we were all one kind of people ndash such a different story from Santa Cruz todayAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiagmailcomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news current affairs from Mumbai local news crime news and breaking headlines hereDownload the new midday Android and 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