Opinion

When love ‘floods’ our hearts. 

We continue to visit the people of Ambedkar Nagar in Malad East once a week. Walking through the area is often a challenge. The debris that scatters the place is filled with glass and dangerous objects. Besides, Ambedkar Nagar is on a hillock and this means that you have to trudge up a rocky slope. Sewage mixed with rain water constantly flows through the area making it treacherous and of course terribly unhygienic.

Our doors at St Jude Church, Malad East, are constantly open and we have built a bond of love with these people. We continue to care for their injuries (Thank you Bro Paolo and Mabel).

Besides regularly changing their bandages (yup one month later) we are providing for surgeries that need to be done due to bad medical procedures carried out in the municipal hospitals in the initial days of the tragedy. We have also helped several people buy spectacles as they lost them in the flood. A few people in need of cataract surgeries will also be treated in the next few days.

Prashant is one of the leaders from the area who help us

I am grateful to Dr Agarwal, an ophthalmologists who runs a charitable organization for providing timely assistance and care to the poor. Also Reena Furtado who introduced us to Dr Agarwal and who often silently bears certain expenses herself. To my friend Vinay Pinto who has been an angel of mercy over several years by providing medical treatment for the poor who come to our ashram and to Dr Allan Alappat who even though is often exhausted visits the ashram and treats all these people free of cost both at his dispensary and at the ashram.

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Finding your Radhe Shyam.

Radhe Shyam lost his father, mother and sister the night the wall of the national park collapsed killing 31 people in Malad East, Mumbai. He, has a brother, sister-in-law and a six months old niece all of whom who miraculously survived the tragic night of the first of July.

Over the last one month Bro Paolo has been tending to the wounds of  both the brothers one of whom who received a severe back injury. Each time they visited us they would recall the horrors of that night. Radhe Shyam still can’t sleep at night. He says that his dreams are filled with sadness and fear. The hole in his heart gets bigger when he goes to the piece of land he once called home, now nothing but a heap of rubble. Through these tears, Radhe Shyam and Uttam also see the ‘kind’ hand of God who spared their lives.

Now, it is time he moves on and even though he does not want to accept the home the government offers him in the polluted area of Mahul, he feels he has no choice. There is a sister whom he has to marry and a brother and his family whom he has to take care of. The injuries they suffered that night have now altered the choices they can make to earn a living; a chronic back injury does not lend itself to hard labour. 

Radhe Shyam deserves to smile, even if it was for just an evening. So when I asked him what he needed for the new rented house (read one room tenement in the slums) he turned up with a list that had ten odd items; surprising for a family that has lost all their possessions and three loved ones. I thought that this simple man who loves God (what ever his faith be ) deserves more.

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Travel

The façade of the Cathedral in Orvieto – A picture book in stone

The work on the Cathedral began in 1290 and went on for 150 years. While this was completed in 1444 the work on the façade spanned a period of 300 years and is a blend of several styles. The façade can be well described as a wonderful picture book and set up at a time when most people could not read or write.

In the bottom panel are four large relief panels in marble. From left to right one can see the story of creation found in the book of Genesis followed by the Tree of Jesse which gives you the genealogy of Jesus. These two panels on the left are taken from the Old Testament. To the right one sees two panels from the New Testament. The one closest to the main door depicts the life of Jesus followed by the fourth panel which depicts the last judgment.

So detailed are these works that one can even see the teeth of persons depicted. In the panel of the last judgment, on the second line from the top, among ‘the blessed’ is a man carrying a set square which is how an architect was depicted. This is the Sienese sculptor and architect Lorenzo Maitani who was commissioned to work on the church and solve several issues concerning the load-bearing capabilities of the building, especially of the choir. He substantially changed the design and construction of the building, increasing the similarity of the building to Siena Cathedral. The architecture of both buildings sometimes is classified as a sub-style of Gothic architecture; Siennese Gothic style.

Above the four panels are the sculptures of the evangelist depicted in their symbolic forms; a man, a lion, an eagle and an ox. Above the marble reliefs on the right hand side, captured in mosaics, are events from the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary in whose honour (the assumption) the cathedral is named. The mosaic depicts the birth of Mary and is flanked by mosaics of her parents, Joaquim and Anna. Just above this scene is the presentation of Mary in the temple. On the left hand side, to the top is the marriage between Mary and Joseph. Below this scene, on the left is the annunciation with Mary and the angel which flanks the triangle that depicts the baptism of Jesus.

Orvieto, Exterior of the Duomo: The Birth of Mary
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Update on the relief work 

Shabnam’s family was one of those who lost their possessions in the landslide in Malad East. Shabnam’s parents run a small business by stitching clothes. They lost their sewing machine in the landslide. We decided to give them money to buy a new machine which they did.

This morning they proudly showed us their new machine and the daughter expressed her desire to study. She has begun a course in computers ( I would like very much to give her a second hand desktop). Today Shabnam wrote me a message which I have reproduced here along with photographs of her family and the sewing machine. 

We continue to reach out to the families who have lost much. Yesterday  I was joined by Lenny Soares and Sylvia Fernandes.  I’m chatting with these families to understand their needs in the days to come. We are in the process of collating the list of school books that the children need and which were lost in the flood.

We are also looking to help the young men get jobs. We put one young man who worked in a hotel with Annabelle Rodrigues who was my professor in catering college and now continues to serve as the head of department in Don Bosco’s catering college in Kurla. Thank you Annabelle. 

Many of the young men here, worked as food delivery boys( and need jobs ). We came across one young man who has done his pharmacy and is looking for a job. Most of these people continue to be homeless as they await the governments decision to give them a home . 

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Food

Cantare has been around for more than a decade. This charming Bistro situated bang smack on the road in cruzwaddo, Saligao, is a must visit.

Several years ago, Maurice Britto returned from the USA where he had settled, to find that encroachers had taken over his beautiful one storied ancestral home. After a long legal battle the property was rightly restored to Maurice who decided to turn this ancestral house into a local watering hole.

This wooden floored restaurant has quaint interiors and large doors that allow the main dance floor area to float right out into the balcony. Food and song are in the air; you smell it, you hear it.

Cantare simply translates as ‘song’ in Konkani, that’s what you can expect every day. From jazz to rock, funk to blues an evening at cantare keeps your feet tapping and the rhythm flowing. You can even grab a microphone on karaoke nights. We were told that Mondays is especially the wild night with couples burning a hole in the dance floor. ( you should call in for reservations )

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