By Team Mangalorean, Mangalore/Bangalore
Photographs: Rajesh Shetty

MANGALORE/BANGALORE, Dec 17, 2007: Christmas is truly a harbinger of great joy across the globe. These two cities have a common bondage in celebrating Christmas and they are now in overdrive to celebrate Christmas the arrival of infant Jesus! 

Promenading through the lanes in the residential area in these cities one can feel literally the people are getting ready. Some of the houses are being cleaned -'Christmas cleaning' some others are getting a fresh coat of paint, few others are already decorating their gardens and balconies with colourful lights and in many others there is a Christmas tree sitting in the verandah. These days we get synthetic Christmas trees which are five feet in height and unless one touches it he will not know that it is not the real Christmas tree, which is wonderful says  Joseph at Shivajinagar market in Bangalore. He procures it from Georgia in Russia and he has been sending them to places like Mysore, Mangalore and Hubli where small quantities are taken by the people. It could be folded and stored in a nice kit that comes along.

With the Christmas tree secured it is time for shopping. Bakeries are flooded with orders for Christmas cakes. Big bakers like Nilgiris, Sweet Chariot in Bangalore, Vaz bakery, City Bakery, R. D'Souza and sons, also Nilgiris in Mangalore are now royally stocked with all kinds of Cakes, right from the basic plum cake to rich dark chocolate and multi layered cheese cakes that makes you drool and feeling gooey all over and itching to bite into one of gorgeous cakes. Taj Manjarun, Moti Mahal, Gold Finch have also got into the act and are wooing the middle class people to buy from them, hoardings of Christmas celebrations in these hotels have already begun appearing all over the place in Mangalore.  While in Bangalore, Taj West End, Residency, Oberoi,  Welcomgroup Windsor Manor have also put up Christmas parties.
 
Small places like the corner house at Residency Road, Thom's Cafe in Frazer Town, Fathima on Brigade road, Sweet Chariot on Cunninham road have all decked up for Christmas. In Mangalore city every place in every street corner appear to have come alive for Christmas.
 
The best part is the Christmas Shopping. Every shop keeper has thought the best things for Christmas. Right from the garment shop to the specialized Christmas gift shops like Jerosa and Shetty's have stocked up everything that Christmas celebrations demands. Special range of Guitars from Spain, Italy and USA have arrived at Jerosa, special imported glass balls, white doves, Christmas trees, crystal stars, St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) Socks, Santa caps,  Rudolf the Reindeer and the cribs have arrived in a big way.

Talk about the cribs and entire Christmas planning takes a new pleasurable turn.  Almost every Christian house in Mangalore creates its own crib, infant jesus in the lap of  Mother Mary, Joseph and his fellow Shepherds and little sheep make up the crib.  The depiction is so heart rendering that people from all walks of life and religion throng to the churches, schools and the neighbouring houses to see them. In many places even among the Hindu fraternity children form their own cribs.  A sales girl at Jerosa near Milagres says that she has sold items for the crib to Children from the Hindu families which they fondly take home.  The largest crib is being arranged in the St. Joseph's Seminary at Valencia followed by St. Sabastian's Church in Bendoor.  The home of Octavia Albuqurque one of the senior citizens behind Fr. Mullers will have the most touching crib.
 
Christmas music is one that endears all. Even the hard rock music buffs listen to the softest Christmas carols and spirituals during Christmas time. The good old numbers of  Jim Reeves , Amy Grant, Paco de Lucia and many others are still listened with a new zest. Music shops here are flooded with new Christmas music by new artistes. Jim Reeve's  'Merry Christmas'  Elivis Preseley's 'Blue Christmas'  BoneyM's  'Mary's Boy Child',  'Rivers of Babylon' and their various re-mixes have already being played in the homes. And not to forget the 'Saints Go Marchin in' by  Paul Mc Cartney  and Paul Anca.

The best part of the Christmas carols is still the old fashioned guitar playing carol singers that move from home to home in Bangalore and Mangalore. A group of youth from St. Joseph's College and Indian High School in Bangalore who form various pop and rock groups in the city take their acoustic guitars, harmonicas and spanish guitars and sing melodious carols starting from the evening and go on upto midnight. They  are seen in most part of the Frazer Town,Cox Town, Benson Town, Langford Town, Richmond Town and some other areas.  In Mangalore The White Doves group (which this website has already featured) is the main group in caroling.

Also read: Christmas Celebrations Around The World - 2007