This was shot on 31 December 2008 before the Midnight Mass at St Peter Church..Bandra .
As a child I have been close to the Church my first school was part of St John The Baptist Church Protestant ,,,teachers were all Europeans and this was early 50s the school was called Private European School I still dont know how my father a tailor master paid my fees it was a princely sum of Rs 50 I am told .
I would sit in the Church if I was early and let my mind roam,, we stayed at Wodehouse Road and the kind lady who enrolled me in this school was Ms Akthar Kashmiri daughter of Late Nawab Kashmiri , but this school had a different grade system and I had to leave after completing 4 th Std .. It was a primary school.
So Ms Akthar Kashmiri got me admitted to Holy Name High School at Convent Street Colaba .. this was part of the Roman Catholic Church.. I was admitted to the Third standard with the promise if I came first in the class I could take a double promotion , so first term I came third and the next two terms I cam first , so I was promoted to the Fourth standard here I came First all three terms and was promoted to the 6 th.
And it was here I became close to alatr boys and had taken Catechism as one of my subjects .. I had a mentor Late Fr Leslie Ratus a great scholar who later shifted to the Vatican.. he gave me books helped me in my lessons in the evenings in the spare time and than there was another priest late Fr Stephan Fernandes he was like my godfather saving me from the principal Bozo who sadly to say did not much like Muslims.
I would spends hours sitting in the Wodehouse Cathedral the most impressive Church in South Mumbai.The altar boys gave me the taste of wine too..
So the Church was always part of my backdrop,
,,
And when I relocated to Bandra in the 90s it was St Peter Church that became my haven I had taken up photography and practiced shooting the Church interiors , cemetery and the adjacent St Stanislaus School.. At St Peter I found the Jesuits ..and began reading the teachings of St Ignatius Loyola , Fr Jaun took me as his student and he is my mentor till date.
Fr Lawrie was another person who encouraged me to shoot the school functions Catholic feasts and I would shoot the Midnight Mass Adoration Holy Communion all free it was my way of learning ,I am still in touch with him he shifted to St Xaviers.
I shot St Andrew Church I shot Mount Mary Basilica , St Anne Church , St Theresa Church,. and Mount Carmel Church.. all in Bandra .
I shot Sacred Heart Church Santa Cruz and the 14 Stations of the Cross o Good Friday barefeet walking behind Jesus and the Catholics from morning till late afternoon documenting their pain and way of Life.
But now in my 60s I must reiterate all these years not a single Christian priest ever tried to convert me , never , never denigrated my religion ,and thanks to all of them today I am a good human being and perhaps a good Muslim .. only God knows about that ..
So some pictures make you talk , make you open up and serves as catharsis to loneliness you can be lonely in a crowd or in a family too.
Ps There was a failed encounter with the Jehovah Witness too in my childhood during the worst days of our family ,, I was staying with Keith Kanga and his grandma a Jehovah fanatic made me read the Bible every day hell bent obn saving mu infidel soul she took me to Cuffe Parade to baptize me in the sea and as Keith and his grandma took me in the sea it began to rain.. and I am happy after that good days returned and my I was re united with the rest of my family that had got separated to bad fate. And I never could understand the hate the venom the evangelism of the Jehovah Witness folks ,,
I miss Keith Kanga Atomic Forest ,, he died tragically , his grand ma had died predeceased him..
