Wednesday, January 12, 2011

At Mount Mary Church

Mount Mary. The oldest and most popular church in Bomaby. One of the most famous basilicas in India. A gem of English architecture.


Tacked to the main entrance is the sign-
Talk about embracing local traditions!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rayna - What a beautiful church! Thanks for sharing this terrific 'photo! And yes, I like that touch of local tradition very much. :-)

Plain Jane said...

Gorgeous church. But I guess no building is exempt from societies choices.

Diane Marie Shaw said...

What a beautiful church. The craftsmanship is fabulous.

Southpaw said...

That is a gorgeous church. How sad people are steal shoes.

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

It looks like a lovely building. I just wonder how desperate someone must be to steal shoes from a church.

Kerrie said...

What a beautiful church and I love the angle you took the photo. It's too bad people are stealing shoes though--at church of all places.

Natasha said...

@ Margot - it is a beautiful church, isn't it? I think it is the prettiest church in India, but then I am biased.
For a year, we lived less than 200 meters away from the church and that was the time when I was pregnant with my first child, and had him- naturally there are lovely memories which colour my judgement.

@ Plain Jane - what I love about the church is the contrast- to look at it, it could well be a church in Europe or America, but the people who go their to worship bring local customs to it.
You take out your footwear before entering either a temple or mosque-apparently the churchgoers were doing that too.

@ Diane - it is gorgeous, isn't it?

@ Holly - temples in India have people outside who charge you a couple of rupees to guard your shoes!

@ Jane - poverty is very visible in India, and places of worship are a favourite picking ground for petty thieves.

@ Kerrie - thank you. In temples and mosques where you are not allowed to wear footwear, you have people who guard your shoes. Maybe setting up a shoe guarding stand would have been a more sensible thing to do.

Cruella Collett said...

It's been a long time since I've swung by here, but you never fail to impress, Natasha. This was a wonderful little story told in just a few sentences (and then the worth-more-than-a-thousand-words-pictures, of course), and as always you make me think.

It is interesting how people show respect to a religious building in whatever way they know to be appropriate in their own religion, without realizing that it is not necessary or that it is even inappropriate for the specific building they are visiting. I guess I like that - if people are willing to be respectful of others, all that is left is to educate them how. (Obviously I don't include stealing shoes into this. I suppose the thieves have something left to learn about respect - or maybe they were just very hungry and saw an opportunity to finance today's meal?)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

And sad people are stealing while in church!

fOIS In The City said...

On the other side of the world, my mother's parish in Brooklyn had to take out the "poor boxes" as they were known in the year of some flood because people were stealing the money.

Our cousin was a parish priest and once he found a note saying. Forgive me, but I need it more.

I love your photography :) and the old world look of the church takes me back to some of our landmark cathedrals. Modern architecture often lacks in so much.

Oddyoddyo13 said...

Haha, such a gorgeous place, such a funny sign! You would not expect the two to collide. :)

L. Diane Wolfe said...

It's a gorgeous church!

dipali said...

How ironic!!!!

Jen said...

Gorgeous photos and rather amusing sign!

I caught up on your posts, dear, and I love each and every one of them!

The parasole drabble is beautiful as is the story of snap judgements. I laughed about the panda eating noodles and the story of Rahda took me back to the orphanage in Delhi I spent time in a few years ago.

Beautiful work as always!

Oh! And you asked if I took the photo of the coffee cup. I did :D Thank you very much for the compliment!

xo Jen

Dorte H said...

Wonderful pictures, and thank you for sharing that sign :D

Christie Wright Wild said...

That is enchanting architecture. Fun sign too.

I have another award for you on my blog!

Natasha said...

@ Cruella - thank you. And yes, if people are showing respect in their own way, as long as it is not disrespectful to others, I guess it is okay.
The strange thing, which I found out later, is that in many churches in India, it is required that you take off your footwear before entering. Guess they just want to adapt to local mores.
And yes, stealing shoes, is just another solution to poverty.

@ Alex - if you are very poor, I guess you couldn't care where you steal from. I can't even really blame them.

@ Florence - it is really sad that conditions are so bad that people feel they have no choice but to steal. And you can't in al honesty blame them either.
That praticular church is over a 100 years old. Maybe well over a 100 years old.

@ Oddyoddyo13 - they just don't go together, do they? Amazing contrast.

@ Diane - and a lovely blue door too, isn't it?

@ dipali - very.

@ Jen - thank you so much, Jen. And that coffee cup picture was gorgeous.

@ Dorte - thank you.

@ Christie - thank you, and thank you.

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