BIS #2785 DON BOSCO BARODA IN THE LIMELIGHT-RIPPLES AND TIDAL WAVES


Kenneth Pereira sdb


BARODA, FEBRUARY 01, 2012: Of late, Don Bosco School Baroda has been basking in glory, thanks to the series of victories won by our school hockey team. The last victory was in the six-a-side inter-school hockey tournament (knock-out), in which twelve schools participated. The finals, held between BHS (ONGC) and Don Bosco Baroda on January 30, resulted in a 6-1 victory for the latter. Fr. Byron, the chief guest, gave away the prizes.
The celebration of Don Bosco's feast in Baroda began already on January 29, with a solemn high Mass celebrated by Bp. Godfrey de Rozario in the presence of our parishioners, with many priests and religious from the Baroda deanery in attendance.
At the end of the Mass, Bp. Godfrey released a new book authored by Fr. Kenneth Pereira: Nurturing Presence. The book has met with an enthusiastic response from the parishioners.
After the Mass, the parishioners were treated to a video coverage of the visit of the relic of Don Bosco to Baroda that took place a few months ago. With that, we inaugurated the new LCD projector that has been permanently installed in the church by Fr. Gregory D'Cunha, our administrator.
Meanwhile, the forty five priests and religious from our deanery who turned up for the evening were treated to a sumptuous meal in the confreres' refectory, after a round of community singing that boosted everyone's appetite.
January 31, 2012 was celebrated by us as Parish Family Day. There were about thousand two hundred people for the outdoor Mass that evening. The youth put up a very entertaining and meaningful skit, with a beautiful message for the occasion. And there was the fifteen-member orchestra (mainly guitars), which got everyone excited with their rhythmic rendition of two well known Hindi songs: Pal Pal Pal and Mohabbatein.
The evening came to a 'delicious' end with a festive 'sneha bhoj' involving mind-boggling logistics: food was provided to thousand five hundred people, including the three hundred and sixty inmates of Mother Teresa's Ashram and the sixty inmates of DB Snehalaya… thanks to the many generous sponsors who came forward.
But that's not the end of the festivities. The coming weekend, we'll be having our school annual day, and the next weekend there will be the annual fun-fair. But we'll talk about these in a later edition of the BIS dispatch.