THE 1,4 FUNDS

Its Exclusive! is what Ms. Alice Flanagan told me. Yes 1,4 is a fund that is an exclusive private club that runs in Ranwar which gives admittance to only 24 members. only 24!.
Going a little back to the history of these funds, it was a little more than 40 years ago that these funds were started, in fact only recently the funds celebrated its 40th anniversary with much fanfare and some and nostalgia (unfortunately cant reveal some little secrets with which the members are made fun off, but yes that showed the sincerity with which the members run the funds and be together in times of need.) So back to history, the funds were started by a group of women around the Ranwar square and they used to pay Re.1 and 4 anna as the membership fees per year and hence the name 1,4 funds.
The funds were created mainly for the reason that the women gather money by the year and enjoy with money, and if any member needs some in difficulty help them too. They used to used the funds also to have a picnic for the members once a year.
Some activities, all the members get together and celebrate their being every alternate month in the form of a dinner which is hosted by four members in one of their cottages. Hence they have 6 dinners a year, and all the 24 members get to host it once in a group of four. And they enjoy their time with full course dinners cooked by some of the best cooks (from what i have heard and will soon experience, Ranwar has some of the best culinary skills) and some great East Indian drinks like Kheemad, the base of which is country liquor mixed with some spices.
What they talk, we can imagine. It ranges from talks of their lives to nostalgia to doing something fruitful for their village juntaa. So they have a motive and its to celebrate once every two months and enjoy the exclusivity of being a part of a club which they call it 1,4 funds.
Today the members pay around Rs.50 as membership fee per year, apart from hosting these wonderful dinners ( i need not mention, i already got an invitation to the next one and i am so looking forward to it!)

Through these community initiatives we can only see some thought for the being, being together and living peacefully with one another. Interestingly, places like Ranwar gives an opportunity to have some clubs and initiatives of these sorts which still binds them together.
Like the literary club in Ranwar some grand years ago to Rest Ranwar, women's day celebrations, evening rosary's, 1,4 funds, and many more initiatives bring a lot of reflection as well as importance to the existence of these spaces and the link of same to their culture and lives that they live everyday!
i am sure there are many more clubs like 1,4 that i have to still hear about. But just celebrating life is something one should hear from them!

Feast of the Holy Cross

Feast of the Holy Cross:
About
The True Cross is said to have been discovered in 326 by the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine I, Helena of Constantinople, during a pilgrimage she made to Jerusalem. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was then built at the site of the discovery, by order of Helena and Constantine. The church was dedicated nine years later, with a portion of the cross placed inside it. In 614, that portion of the cross was carried away from the church by the Persians, and remained missing until it was recaptured by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius in 628. Initially taken to Constantinople, the cross was returned to the church the following year.

The date of the feast marks the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 335. This was a two-day festival: although the actual consecration of the church was on September 13, the cross itself was brought outside the church on September 14 so that the clergy and faithful could pray before the True Cross, and all could come forward to venerate it.

Alternately: In the Gallican usage, beginning about the seventh century, the Feast of the Cross was celebrated on May 3, and called "Crouchmas" (for "Cross Mass") or "Roodmas". When the Gallican and Roman practices were combined, the September date was assigned to commemorating the rescue of the Cross from the Sassanid Persians, and the May date was kept as the Finding of the Holy Cross or Invention of the True Cross to commemorate the finding. (In this context "invention" (from Latin invenire, "to find") does not have the modern sense of creating something new.) Pope John XXIII removed this duplication in 1960, so that the Roman Calendar now celebrates the Holy Cross only on September 14.

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_the_Cross)


In Bandra:
Going by the Gallican usage, which was the earlier celebration, Bandra celebrates the Feast of the Holy Cross in the month of May every year. The residents who live around a particular cross come out in the evening after sunset to say the rosary everyday in May. Its a practice that has been followed since eternity here, even though the official date of the the Feast is shifted to September 14th by the Pope.

the decorated cross at the Ranwar Square for the final day of the feast of the cross month on the 31st May

In Ranwar, the feast is celebrated with full zeal and enthusiasm by the residents of the village. It was a very neat experience to be a part of these daily rosary's at the two crosses in Agna Square, and the Ranwar Square. I went to both for rosary recital, of which one was the community mass and feast on the last day of the month of May when the feast ends. Its really nice that this practice still continues, especially in the month of May as it is Vacations and all the kids can also join in. The atmosphere around these crosses id very festive, the crosses are decorated and the snacks for the feast are prepared at home by some enthusiastic residents (the taste of the Marzipan is still on my tongue, gosh! it was yum), and it is always open for all to come around and be a part of the celebrations. 

It is also important to notice that these events and activities, religious or not religious become great nodes of communication. People gathered around do make it a point to greet each other and share a chat. This is something that keeps the community life active and buzzing.

some more images:

 

the statute of Mother Mary at the grotto near the Ranwar square, and the a regular Rosary on at the Agna square

Rosary on the final day of the month if May, which is celebrated with a feast.

a residents reciting the Rosary, praying for everyones good health and revising lessons give by Lord Jesus on community living, love and friendship

some beautiful decoration at the cross, with flowers from a neighbors superb garden, and an innovative sprite bottle cut candle stand. 

The Experience was truly memorable, also because i was introduced to a whole lot of residents who are going to be helping me with the project and we got to see a very very beautiful cottage 42, Ranwar at the Square which belongs to Mr. Owen and his cousin brother. The chat about his house, maintenance, the time he spends it to talks of some history was very helpful.

Masala seasoning

Every summer its the masala smell that rules all our houses. Thats one typical feature of an Indian household of the old times. The ladies of the big fat joint family would get together to grind some lip smacking masalas, which would rule all our stomachs for the rest of the year, till the next season of masala making comes into motion.
But all the Ramdev and MDH masala companies have pretty much stolen this job from our mothers and grand mothers today. It seems quite a village like talk or a talk of the past when a lady mentions that she is going to make masalas, it sounds rather strange. In this times of the dying tradition, some households in Ranwar still indulge in the masala making process.

Thanks to Fr. Larry, Parish Priest at the Mount Carmels Church, who invited me  to his 170 year old house in Ranwar (popularly known as Trellis) to have a look at the masalas being made in process. As soon as i walked in the house, the backyard was smelling fresh of the spices being ground and roasted to be mixed in an age old secret recipe. Yes thats the catch, the recipe is secret and is very special of the East Indian Catholic Community, that resides in these houses here. But yes the smell was too tempting and the colors were just outstanding. Some images:

the spices left out to dry

the spicy Kashmiri chillies

the spices being mixed after roasting

being grounded in an age old scooped out jambun tree bark

the ladies who grind the spices to make them into amazing masalas 

come from Thane, they are specialized in this job, anyone who wants to contact them

need to be around. thats the amazing bit, all the women from various household 

come around and call them to their place to grind the spices to make masalas.

This initiates a lot of conversations (a very good example of interpersonal relationships that

are shared in these villages)

the spices being ground into very fine powder, the masala

the not so fine powder yet is being strained in big strainers, to separate the already 

fine powder.

these are then mixed well and very very tightly packed in dark 

bottles (mostly wine/beer bottles)  so that sunlight does not change the color. they are then left to mature fora while and then used for cooking some of the finest East Indian Cuisine.

These Masalas are then used to make some of the most amazing East Indian Dishes like curries, Sorpotel, etc. What was very interesting to see how women from various households came around giving their bottles as they could not make these masalas in their houses anymore. Lack of space is the main reason. most of these houses have some open areas mostly in the back (Backyards), which are not seen anymore due encroachment of sorts. It is very interesting to know how these spaces are so important for community living, and how they initiate various nodes of conversations.

When the Masala was almost ready (not matured yet though), i was allowed to taste it with some raw mango that i got to borrow from some kids moving around distributing them after plucking them of their own mango trees, to the poor kids. I was luck to have one from them , coz they refused to give me one coz a) i was not a kid, and b)i was not looking poor by any chance. Well these kids were just 10-12 years old and were imbibed with great sense of responsibility and generosity.

I will definitely be waiting to taste some curry made out of this masala as promised by Aunty Blance, who with a lot of patience explained me the entire process.

Keep licking your fingers now!

a small video of the process:

about the project and little request!

Dear All,

Diploma Project: Making the Intangible, Tangible - A Case Study of Bandra & Ranwar - a heritage precinct within Bandra. (working title)

Hi! I am Vivek Sheth, a Final Year student of Exhibition (Spatial) Design in the undergraduate program at the National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, India. Right now I am doing my final thesis project, at NID. A diploma Project is the final project that a student at NID undertakes usually with a sponsor from the industry (in my case its THE BUSRIDE Design Studio, located at Bandra, Mumbai [http://jointhebusride.com]). The final diploma project entitles me to convocate from NID, which marks the end of the academic program here.

I am doing a project on Bandra and Ranwar (a heritage precinct in Bandra). The project covers the scope of studying Bandra as a suburb of Mumbai (which also 

involves studying about Mumbai, inclusive of research), moving ahead to study, understand and analyze Ranwar within the context of Bandra. Within all this falls the importance of understanding the heritage in Bandra/Ranwar and how the rapid urban development is changing this texture that has survived generations.

About My Project:

A cottage down here and a building up in its place, is the scenario that most of Mumbai is facing today. Bandra has not been able to save itself from this 

encroachment of culture that these old style houses gives as a character to this suburb. These Pakhadis/villages were the original settlements in Bandra 

with their Colonial and Portuguese vernacular architecture giving an overall layer of character to Bandra.

My project is a humble initiative to study and interpret the intangible community cultures of one of these originalPakhadis/village - Ranwar as a whole and as a case study Bandra in parts, which I term as the dynamic heritage of Ranwar and Bandra. It will involve the study of built heritage, the spaces around as a static mode of heritage conservation. Being an exhibition (spatial) designer i want to use space as a tool of communicating these intangibles that have survived through ages around these built spaces. Also it is about looking at the life, the stories, back stories that has given Bandra its character in the past which is still contained by the constant efforts its residents.

For example: Ranwar has had a very close and active community down the years. The many organisations that were and still are active in the area are witness to that. Around 1924, well before the Bandra Gymkhana started, the Rest Ranwar was founded by a group of Ranwarites. The club served as a community ground for the various activities that tied the community stronger.

There are these kinds of initiatives by the active residents, and it’s because they feel for the space they live in. The project is taking shape and direction realizing the fact that development is bound to happen, and these sweet little cottages and houses are bound to come down one day owing to the rapid urbanization that Bandra is undergoing. But the development should happen keeping this culture intact and that is what is going to retain the Bandra character which everyone across Mumbai know and talk about. The community sense is there and its thriving through the efforts of the residents, just a little push with space as a tool is what i am trying to do.

I am not a resident of Bandra, neither do I know it in and out as the residents would. But its you all, irrespective of the fact that you live there or not, to give me valuable feedback, comments, suggestions that can make this Initiative a worthwhile exercise in restoring a suburbs culture in the overgrowing expanse of the main town.

For the same I have started a blog, and starting a facebook group soon, which will showcase my encounters with Bandra through this journey.

I request you all to follow the blog and give me suggestions, feedback, comments anything, even a direction.
Some resource you think I should read, archival data, images..just anything to share with. 

I would love to meet and chat too! the blog is absolutely open to all what you have to say, and my mailbox will be waiting for tonnes of data 

that you think you can share.

I now open YOUR BANDRA for your participation, it’s your help that is going to give this project a meaning!

the LINK:

http://bandraforyou.blogspot.com/

Please do pass on the link to whoever you think would be a great resource on the subject.

Waiting for a great response

warm regards,

Vivek Sheth