Gaothan festival revives Mumbai’s ‘village’ memories

They are quaint little cottages, Portuguese-style, made from Burma teak wood with Mangalore tile roofs and verandas on which to relax, all lining a cobblestone pathway. One could be excused for thinking these picture postcard villages lie in some far off land; they are actually right here in Mumbai.

Welcome to the Gaothans, where the predominantly East-Indian populace were the original inhabitants of the city. With urbanisation taking a toll on these villages, time honoured traditions have been irretrievably altered.

In an endeavour to revive and revisit the Gaothan traditions, 40 Gaothans have come together to celebrate Gaothan Fest from Wednesday until May 10. The fest is aimed at bringing unity and promoting village culture.

“These Gaothans are a part of earlier villages. It was like a ghetto, with every village having its own well and people washing their clothes together there. Nothing has changed physically. But, with urbanisation lots of traditions and cultures are forgotten. This fest will help us revisit old traditions,” said Alphi D’Souza, convenor, Vakola East Indian Association and deputy sarpanch of all Gaothans.

When queried about the kind of traditions compromised on over the years, Gleason Barretto, from Kurla Gaothan, said, “Due to our fast-paced lives, for weddings in particular, weeklong celebrations are shortened and fast forwarded. This fest is also looking at getting all villages under one umbrella.”

When it comes to food, duck moile, pork vindaloo, sorpotel, wedding rice and lethri (sweet noodles) still rule the menu. The tradition of the East Indian bottle masalas will also be reflected at this festival.

“We have the typical East Indian bottle masalas stored in each Gaothan home used mainly in non-vegetarian dishes. The preparation is tedious which involves drying of chillies and special spices and they are then manually ground. Now, it is done on machines. These bottle masalas will be sold during the festival,” Barretto said.

Gaothan Village Fest kicked off on Wednesday with a football tournament. Various Gaothans from all over Mumbai, comprising 16 teams participated in the tournament at St Anthony's Ground, Vakola. The winner bagged a Gaothan Voice Village Fest 2010 trophy.

On Sunday, there will be a cricket tournament at Juhu. A wall graffiti competition for kids is also on the itinerary. The fest will host a social and cultural do at Orlem Church. Women will belt out East Indian songs in Marathi. The fest will conclude with a food festival representing typical East Indian cuisine.

“We will use this opportunity to bring unity among gaothan residents and bring them in tune with our ideology. This will strengthen our hands so that we can bargain with political parties to prevent the government from ignoring us,” said Godfrey Pimenta, president, Sahar gaothan resident’s Association and sarpanch of all Gaothans.