Good Friday is observed at Mount Mary Basilica with solemnity and profound reverence, reflecting its significance among the Catholic Christians in Mumbai.
The Feast of the Road Cross is celebrated annually on May 31, commemorating the visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In Catholic Christianity, the visitation recounts the encounter in the New Testament when the pregnant Virgin Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. This event is described in the Gospel of Luke 1:39–56.
Mount Mary Basilica is designed in the neo-gothic style, which gained popularity in the late 19th century CE. Materials for its construction were transported by sea and carried up the hill using bullock carts and donkeys. The basilica is the fourth structure on the site. The first chapel, dedicated to Our Lady of the Mount, was established in 1570, at a time when Bandra was under Portuguese rule.
The marble statue of Our Lady of Fatima stands six and a half feet tall, holding a rosary. It was built as a memorial to the Marian Congress held in Mumbai from December 4–8, 1954. Our Lady of Fatima is a title attributed to the Virgin Mary following her apparitions to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal, in 1917.
The Mount Mary Grotto, officially known as the Oratory of Our Lady of Fatima, stands facing Mount Mary Basilica across Mount Mary Road. Adorning the walls of the oratory is the sevenfold message of Our Lady of Fatima, encompassing prayer, penance, meditation, peace, rosary, reparation, and sacrifice.
The raw ingredients are mixed at the mill. The mixture is finely ground into powder form. A single kg of masala takes about 4–5 hours of pounding and grinding to blend the powder effectively.
In the final steps, the bottle is sealed with a cap, tightly wrapped in cloth and tied with a string. East Indian families recall a time not so long ago when they collected empty beer bottles to be repurposed for storing masala. Over time, glass bottles have been phased out and replaced with airtight containers, which can store larger quantities and are easy to stack. Bottles are still used, although sparingly.
In addition to their signature bottle masala, Veera and Natasha Almeida make fish masala, puri masala, and indyal (vindaloo) masala. Though various factory-made spice blends exist in the market, bottle masala remains uniquely East Indian and holds a special place in the East Indian community as a symbol of their culinary tradition and heritage.
The pounding machine has a mechanical sieve attached to it, through which the masala is sieved to remove lumps and impurities. The mills are operated by women, who did the work manually in the past using a mortar and pestle.
Jevayla Ye translates to ‘come eat’ in the East Indian dialect, which is the basic idea behind Veera Almeida’s cooking venture. The spice blends are packed in airtight pouches with illustrated branding, representing the East Indian community and their association with spices.