Monday, March 25, 2019

Alma khuris - chandor

Sheldon dias
Fybcom -B      C183216





This was just a cross in the olden days. In the 80s there were lot of desecration and vandalism of crosses and small chapels. In the year 1982 on the eve of ‘All souls Day’ a Hindu Krishna Gabo Bandodkar began building this cross and was joined by late Fidelis and other villagers in the dead of the night. Krishna’s effort is today proclaimed as the ‘true secular attempt to break the then trend of mischief perpetuated on this day’. These words are engraved on the stone on the compound of the cross.



Alma Khuris was initially constructed on the eve of All Souls Day in the year 1982 by Krishna alias Gabo Bandodkar along with his friend Fidelis D’Silva to provide solace to people who were frightened of reported spirits’ presence there. Subsequently the cross was shifted to its present location.Chapel at Cavorim was also vandalized. This cross  has a history of being built by a Hindu whose wife was claimed to be barren being blessed by children after constructing the cross. The person who built this cross is none other than the grandfather of Krishna Bandodkar who built the Alma Khuris.





The Iconic Alma Khuris at Cavorim was vandalized  on the intervening night of October 18 and 19 making this the third time when the cross has been desecrated. Residents of Cavorim who were trudging to the Chandor mount to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Piety were shocked to see the vandalized cross in the early morning.

This is the third time the cross has been vandalized. The last time it was vandalized was in 2010 where along with the Cross, the bandstand near the church and the cross at the altar at the cemetery was also vandalized.




Incidentally the concrete seal installed by Maria Menino Nunes near his general store at Mena Cavorim was also vandalized on the same night. Being a concrete structure the miscreants found it difficult to damage the seal and only its face was damaged. Significantly in 2010 the terra cotta dolphin installed by Mr. Nunes at the same spot was also vandalized.

At around 1 am former Sarpanch of Chandor Cavorim Derrick Braganza passed by Alma Khuris and it was intact. According to Mr. Nunes’s neighbor Joaquim alias Jack Mascarenhas, he heard a weird sound at around 3 pm which makes one conclude that the vandalism took place at that time.
Significantly, despite many protests those responsible for the vandalisation in 2010 have not been identified as yet and there is not much hope that even in the present case the police will make much headway.


Feast of Alma khuris is celebrated by people

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