By: Sydney Lasrado
Pics : Christopher Monis

Sep 11: To commemorate the splendid occasion of the festival of Nativity of Mother Mary, the vibrant Mangalorean Catholic Association – EC Inc. celebrated Monthi Festh on September 10.

The event started with registrations taken care of by St. Peter, MCA-EC’s Treasurer Violet Monis and her troupe (Ms Joanita Pinto and Ms Shyna Quadras), who ensured only those who were chosen aka signed up for the event were allowed to enter. This year saw a record number of over 350 people who registered for Monthi Festh. There were also the trending blue MCA-EC T-shirts as well as raffle tickets sold for 2 jetBlue round trip tickets.

The compère’s for the entire event were the multi-talented Monthi D'Cunha and Raulson Sequeira. Their combination clearly demonstrated great enthusiasm coupled with their hilarious sense of humor alongwith their charismatic personalities kept the entire audience engaged and well informed. The awesome duo had radiant smiles throughout the program which was perfect since this was going to be along day and we didn’t want the crowd to get tired and bored early on. We can’t thank them enough for all those light hearted moments. After the registrations were done alongwith people having a delicious and filling breakfast which comprised of batatapoha and sheera, everyone proceeded for the next program - the mass at the magnificent St Thomas Syro Malabar church. This is a recently built church by the church going Keralite parishioners. The church is beautifully designed and truly exemplary both exterior and interior wise. There isn’t any exaggeration made, if I said that one could clearly get the feeling of heaven on earth whilst sitting inside that church.

Spiritual Director Sr. Gretta gave a small introduction about Monthi Festh just before the mass began. The mass began with the entrance of each Gurkar/Gurkarns holding different colored festive umbrellas led by the general Secretary Sydney Lasrado followed by the Gurkars/Gurkarns. That view was such a colorful one, ranging from the different colored umbrellas, to the different attire of our members - ladies in their gorgeous / sarees, as well as men not far behind with their kurtas and mundoos, and not to forget the cute looking well dressed kids. The mass was conducted by 6, that is right, 6 priests and a deacon!! It turned out to be such a grand service not only because of the sheer number of priests but the melodious voices of our choir, the heavenly music played by our musicians – Mr. Newton Duarte(keyboard),Mr. Raulson Sequeira(Guitar), Shyna Quadros(Violin), Stanley Colaco(Violin) and the grand entry by our Gurkars/Gurkarns holding colorful satris and bringing in our baby Mother Mary. A by-stander would think, that there is an Ordination of Priests going on with the sheer number of priests. Fr Archibald was the main celebrant of the mass. He started off in a light hearted manner by telling a joke. His sermon mainly focused on Mother Mary and what impact and crucial role she played in ensuring that her family was always happy and together. He stressed that we should follow in the same path and reach out to Mary whenever needed, since she is our Mother, and she be with us all the way.

After mass, there was the traditional showering of flowers ceremony. Our little angels led the way followed by the priests, the gurkars/ gurkarns and then the remaining public, each showering flowers on little baby Mother Mary whilst singing ‘SakkaddSangathaMellyam and MoriekHogolsia’.

Birthdays means Celebration, which leads to a party. MCA-EC did this in an extravagant and memorable manner. Dance / skits / singing performances by all the different vados with age groups ranging from Tiny tots to the adults were held. All of them displayed such graceful and perfectly synchronized acts. Although each of their acts were done with such perfection it looked effortless but am sure these performers have worked tirelessly, taking out time from their busy schedules to put up such a fabulous show. Mr Clayton Monis was the DJ throughout the event, whose fantastic tunes ensured that there was not a dull moment throughout the entirety of the event.

The MothiFesth program is an excellent opportunity to showcase the Mangalorean culture and traditions and with that said the next program was the Cultural program. The current President Bernie Pinto-D'Souza greeted everyone with her warm smile and personality coupled with a wonderful speech. As it is with all things good, beginning something by taking the Lord's name with a prayer is considered a norm, this cultural program too started with a prayer but a Dance prayer performed by Michelle Dsouza, Melanie Mendonca, Melody Pinto and Clarissa Furtdado. This was followed by a song NovenchJeevan sung by the MCA-EC board along with Rony D'Cunha. Rony is a well know singer as we all know , but one never knew that the MCA-EC board had such talented singers as well. The song sung was Novench Jeevan. A few words from that song is listed here.

Not to forget the blockbuster performances by special guestsRony D'Cunha and his wife Meena, Norbert and Nancy Pereira and Musician Adrian Gomes. These special guests flew all the way from Kuwait and made their gracious presence at our program. We can't thank them enough for adding that extra spark. What a treat all the viewers got from our wellexecuted Cultural program

All the priceless moments were captured by the talented, ever helpful Mr Christopher Monis. If there was a picture that needed to be captured, before you even blinked, his lens had already captured that shot, that kind of perfect timing Mr Monis depicts. Lunch was served with the following items :Veg Biryani, Hakka noodles, Chana tendli, Avial, Gobi Manchurian, Payasam served with white rice , chapatis and raita. After lunch, the remaining part of the cultural program resumed, concluding with a 15 min baila by Mr Norbert Pereira and Rony D’Cunha. Evening tea/coffee was served with snacks sponsored by Bob and Olivia Vaz (Babco Foods)

Vote of thanks was given by Anitha Pinto . After the Cultural program ended Mrs Bernie Pinto-D’Souza picked the winning raffle jetBlue tickets, winner was Peter Fernandes. And the program concluded with the auction of the flowers and vegetables with our very talented auctioneers Mark Mendonca and Angela Josef.

MCA-EC organization is committed to bringing Mangaloreans closer as well as promoting culture and this was evident with this Monthi Festh program. People came from all over the East Coast – New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut to celebrate Monthi Festh with their fellow Mangaloreans. That shows the love and commitment they have towards the Mangalorean culture. This was clearly evident in the performances that were held, which had people wearing different costumes, performing different acts, all working together in perfect harmony, to put a grand cultural program.