Giant wheels and tora-toras and kite flying. Candy floss and fugias and sarapatel. September brings with it a certain joie de vivre in the quaint Mumbai suburb of Bandra during the Bandra Feast. In celebration of the birthday of Mother Mary on September 8, this otherwise cosmopolitan place brings back to life a celebration that dates back to the 17th century, and avows its emergence to the popularity of the Shrine of Mount Mary. History says that a statue of Mother Mary was found floating in the Arabian Sea between 1700 and 1760, which, according to legend, a Koli fisherman had dreamt about a few years earlier. Believed to be a miracle by the locals, the Bandra Feast began to commemorate this. In 1761, the original statue of the Lady of Mount with a child in her arms was renovated and is adulated ever since.
Marian devotion brought devotees of all faiths from all over to the shrine. Up the hill they used to tread and the tradition hasn?t stopped. Only, the bullock carts and ferries have been replaced by cars and motorbikes. The Mahim Causeway was later built to facilitate the crossing of the folks of the Islands of Bombay to the shrine and to ensure their safe passage, which was treacherous across the waters back then. Vendors have always hawked their wares, be it candles or local delicacies.
While many continue to harp on the fact that money is now the name of the game during this season, one needs only to visit Mount Mary?s Basilica for the nine days prior to the feast day for the novenas or the following week, to realise that devotion to Mother Mary hasn?t changed. Lakhs of people of every faith fill up the Basilica grounds at every mass. Many make the pilgrimage to the Mount year after year, many a head is bowed in prayer at the grotto at the top and there are serpentine queues of people awaiting blessings as they seek miracles, which they believe only The Lady of the Mount can provide.
The fair, held from the Sunday after September 8 to the next Sunday, may have been born as a prerequisite, but it didn?t remain so. It soon became a commercial place that moved from giving patrons what they needed, to giving them what they wanted. The September Garden has today evolved into the Carmel Mela. Held on the grounds of Mt Carmel?s Church, it used to play host to jam sessions, family competitions, and add to the filial experience that used to be the Feast of Our Lady of the Mount and the Bandra Fair. Today, while the giant wheels and tora-toras and other rides still ply, the fair has become more of a commercial setting. Roadside tattoo artists, machines that tell you your future, colourful and innovative bubbles, sweets of every colour and taste, local delicacies peppered with masalas that can only be found in the homes of the locals?all still add to the sugar and spice of the feast. The Fair is also popular across the globe, especially with the Indian Catholic diaspora. A similar event called the ‘Bandra Feast’ is organised annually in Abu Dhabi.
Religion, ritual and revelry blend seamlessly in Bandra at this time of the year, as many gather together to enjoy the delights and delicacies that are Bandra, its feast and its fair.