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CHRISTMAS IN BOMBAY By Pradeep Anand India is the final resting place for at least two Catholic Saints, St. Thomas the Apostle and St. Francis Xavier, a founder of the Jesuit order. St. Thomas the Apostle brought Christianity to India in 52 AD and today the faith is India’s third-largest religion, with approximately 24 million followers. By the 6th Century AD Christianity was rooted in India, even before some nations of Europe had turned to Christ. Today, a majority of Indian Christians live on India’s West Coast, the Southern peninsular states, and in the Northeast. They have the highest literacy rate among the various religious communities in India. Their priests and nuns run some of the best educational institutes and networks in the country. My hometown Bombay, now called Mumbai, is on India’s West Coast. The people of that city were influenced significantly by Christian institutions and neighbors. I am one of those who had these dual influences. We had Christian neighbors and I went to a Catholic school. Don Bosco schools are run by Salesians, an Italian order focused on educa-
tion. Don Bosco schools are found on all inhabited continents of the world. During my twelve-year stay at Don Bosco, Matunga, I enjoyed the company of my Christian friends and their religious traditions, especially Christmas. Christmas in Bombay was nothing like it is in Houston, Texas. It was a quiet family and church affair. Before our school broke for Christmas vacations, Santa Claus would come to our school and visit kindergartners, who would watch him with the wide eyes of the awed, some perhaps even petrified by his presence. (Father Marriotta, a jolly Swiss priest with a flowing white beard would have been a great Santa Claus but I never saw him play that role.) Our school church would have a beautiful “nativity” exhibit that would draw out the beauty of the humble birth of Jesus Christ. All students had free access to all parts of our gorgeous church, where the story of Christ was retold, recalled, and remembered. When schools closed for the holidays, I would visit my classmates’ homes in the Mahim and Portuguese Church areas of Bombay, for some terrific Christmas treats. There was joy in the air