Sixty-five-year-old Josephine Kurien cannot do without coming to the grave of her parents every year. The nostalgic memories are relived as she sits besides the grave of her father who was buried eight years ago.
“He was a very caring father. I still remember the days during my first job at Grant Road. He used to come to drop me every morning from Chembur and wait all day outside my office to take me back home. There was a week-long railway strike then, and he ensured that I traveled safely. How can I not come when he had been so caring to me. These memories just flow in,” she said as she sat decorating the grave with flowers after getting the marble plaque washed.
Thousands like her gathered with varied memories and emotions to remember their loved ones at the Sewri cemetery on the All Souls Day — a day marked in memory of the departed.
Aruna Fernandes put flowers on her mother-in-law’s grave. “Mothers-in-law are known to be strict, but she was very encouraging. She was very fond of us being ‘modern and advanced’. She would ask us to wear lipsticks, wear pants and skirts so that we look smart and trendy,” said Fernandes as she broke into a laughter.
The cemetery conducted prayer services from 7am onwards where there are around 40,000 graves of Roman Catholic, Protestant and Kolis. Kolis even follow the tradition of offering food. “We leave pooris, sweets, coffee and water. We believe the souls feel hungry and eat food by coming as crows,” said Celine Fernandes who had come to pray at the grave of her grand parents.
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