Meher Marfatia: Harvest heaping in Malad

Judy and Gerald Misquitta in the garden of their home The Grotto He holds the receipt confirming he refuelled on government orders the DC8 jet plane hijacked by the Japanese Red Army flown into Kuwait airport in October 1977 when he was on night duty PicsTanvi PhondekarIt makes an incredibly welcome transition Rainsoaked Ive dodged dirty nullah water nipping at my heels But revive in mere moments at a sanctuary opposite Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Orlem the tranquil grotto beside a well whose inner wall is inscribed in marble with the Memorare prayer Within view is exnavy man Austin Pereiras 20th Century Stores serving cold cuts and chops washed down with draughts long years past the century it asserts belonging to Outside this radius the rest of Malad shrieks in a cacophony capturing the IT hubs crazy call centremallmultiplex mayhemOrlem colloquially refers to Our Lady of Lourdes parish in suburban Malad hemmed between Kandivli and Goregaon Rimmed by rustic beach hamlets mdash Kharodi Rathodi Marve Aksa Madh Chinchowli Malwani mdash its where Kolis Bhandaris Muslims and South Indians settled over a century ago Orlem derives from a Portuguese oral twist to the Marathi word Valnai Val meaning turn nai a small river Valnai described a plain on the river bendOtillia and Barses DSouzas pre1914 cottage The Shelter The DrsquoSouzas are among the first families of Orlem privy to three landmark century anniversaries last year celebrating 100 years of Our Lady of Lourdes Church of St Annes and of Malad StationCity lover Deepak Rao a recent resident of Malad ensures I meet John Pinto North Mumbai district secretary of the NCP Seva Dal in Dominic Colony Walking through which is a pleasure magically distanced from the mess much of Malad typifies Though few original cottages remain their apartment block replacements look neat bearing names like Carmen and Casa Angelica John signals which doors open for some Orlem historyThe late Bertha Pereira founder principal of St Josephs School in MaladThe influx of Christians from Goa Karnataka and Kerala prompted city converts to refer to themselves as East Indians The East Indian Association created in May 1887 introduced these sons of the soil as East India Company employees distinct from Christians further down the west coastIn their pre1914 cottage The Shelter Otillia and Barses DSouza cite early accounts so alluring Im not surprised the Orlem Social and Cultural Committee is publishing Orlem Odyssey Recording the areas redoubtable heritage this book launches on February 11 2018 the feast day of Our Lady of Lourdes one of the Virgin Marys 18 apparitions If paintings in the church allude to scriptural references the entrance portrays the Mother of God appear before 14yearold shepherdess Bernadette Soubirous in the cave of Massabielle near Lourdes on February 11 1858Misquitta right in 1963 with Group Captain Douglas Bader the World War II aviation hero of the film Reach for the Sky who attacked enemy aircraft from his Spitfire with a pair of metal legs having lost his in a 1931 crashBuilt as a private chapel in 1880 by Msgr Joseph Braz DSouza the church flock has soared from 12 families in huts in 1916 to 18500 members The first pastor was Fr Justin mdash Msgr JB DSouzas grandnephew and Barses father Alfreds elder brother who opened St Annes School adjacent to the churchLast year Orlem celebrated three landmark anniversaries 100 years of the church of St Annes and of Malad Station which came about thanks to the pioneering efforts of yet another Joseph Braz DSouza mdash namesake of the church founder and maternal grandfather of Barses Barses is confusingly related to both Joseph Braz DSouzas who convinced BB amp CI Railway authorities that Malad get its own railway station for which he obtained a First Class season ticket Barses paternal grandfather Ignatius Anastasio DSouzas is the first grave near the altar in the Versova church He was the Patell an extra l suffixed to the title of Versova from where my cousins boated to Orlem says Barses The jail in his grandfathers home could lock a man for 24 hoursNineteenthcentury Malad lay unimaginably beyond Bandra then considered far northern limits People were invited to migrate to this end lured with plots priced four to eight annas per square yard When we married in 1966 I never dreamt of such a terribly overpopulated Malad says Otillia An English teacher promoting programmes for the British Council and Trinity College she noticed Christian families move into Orlem and Vasai from the late 1960s flats here proving more affordable than South Bombay propertiesBarses digs up a November 1929 citation addressed to his father Signed by house owners of Valnai it recognises the role of Alfred DSouza in the struggle against encroachments of the Notified Area Committee Verily a Demosthenes in our midst the poor and rich know you alike you are the balm for their distress If Bombay has KF Nariman to defend rights and liberties of the public Valnai village can be proud of another Nariman fighting for villagers rights and libertiesAn oldtimer as passionately invested in showcasing Orlem Gerald Misquitta helped a team set up the East Indian Museum for Mumbai Gaothan Panchayat in Manori The septuagenarian and his wife Judy occupy The Grotto a traditionalstyle cottage with a wooden porch tucked in a path across the church As a boy he swam amid mangroves at Orlem Bridge hearing foxes that prowled paddy fields He still wakes to the warble of a green coppersmith barbet oriental magpie robin and a golden oriole hopping lopsidedly to nurse an injured leg on his leafy verandahHe shares riveting accounts from 28 years of service with oil giants in Kuwait before his 1990s return to Orlem once the Gulf War broke An incident on October 3 1977 saw ultra leftists of the Japanese Red Army fly a DC 8 jet hijacked from Tokyo into Kuwait airport On duty that fateful night a dazed Misquitta was ordered to refuel the plane by the government An encounter with Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader the RAF pilot immortalised by the film Reach for the Sky is a special memory too Losing both legs in a 1931 air crash he fought his way from a Spitfire cockpit to become a Battle of Britain heroMisquitta has worked hard for the first Sunday of October to be designated Thanksgiving Day for the Archdiocese of Bombay ndash Thats for Agera the East Indian harvest feast a day of thanksgiving I grew up going for in my grandfathers bullock cart Cooking mutton khuddi and pork vindaloo we danced to the beat of the ghumatRobust community ties see neighbourhood families tumble easily into each others life Everyone is able to advise when to arrange an appointment with Nancy DSouza of St Josephs School Nancy however says she misses stronger bonds once pervading Orlem and even feels a sense of alienation Her sister Bertha Pereira opened this school as a nursery from a poultry shed ringed by tamarind trees in 1955 Their father starting the St Dominic Choir Bertha sang soprano solos while Nancy pitched alto for choir mistress Lea DSouza who happened to be Barses sister was proprietor of Premier Furnishing Co catering to European clients from a shop at Stadium House Churchgate Nancy and her nephew Dwayne Dias are secretary and president of the school trust Outside their office a frame borders an alltime favourite quote of mine Tagores Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of manFrom Dominica Rodrigues I learn next how her father Eugene led St Dominic Choir He taught youngsters music every morning followed by a workday at his Mercantile Bank job Evenings found him back in Orlem for singing lessons passing salt pans on the ride home in a tonga or the bumpy blue and white bus plying before BEST routes rumbled inI end interviewing the rather unusually named Ranas We claim were blueblooded chorus electronics engineer Sydney Rana and his retired stenographer sister Philomena Their greatgreat grandfather hailing from Rajasthan under Khilji influence the Mewar nomenclature of Rana stuck as his descendants surname The only house in a kuccha lane ancestral Kitty Cottage to which their grandparents came from Bandra in 1939 stood in snakeinfested soil Sydney last speared a venomous specimen in 1986 with a threepronged stick His pet pariah Rover expertly turned hunting dog jumped to trap vultures and eaglesChristmas trees in Orlem gardens towered four floors high festooned weeks ahead of al fresco Xmas parties The Kitty Cottage grounds sprouted guava chickoo custard apple and drumstick trees shading zinnia and marigold patches Children warmed themselves against winter chills with bonfires of banana plant twigs they cut at dawnAbutting Cardinal Gracias Playground was a tank initially a pond where locals bathed and washed clothes they dried on black stones they also sprawled on to gossip in what is DSouza Market today This was conducted with caution the site being the watering hole for jackals and hyenas descending Gorais Talzan Hill to prey on pigs in East Indian yards Forests filled with flora and fauna touched our doorstep Philomena says Now just crossing the road is hellAuthorpublisher Meher Marfatia writes fortnightly on everything that makes her love Mumbai and adore Bombay You can reach her at mehermarfatiagmailcom