‘STAR WARS’ AT INFANT JESUS SHRINE, MANGALORE
Stars, bigger stars, stars of all
sorts made by human hands in imitation of the heavenly stars,
stars everywhere minus the film stars, brought in by the little
walking stars.
The Christmas Eve was invading and 41 stars from all over the
Mangalore and outside were fighting a winning battle at the
grotto of Infant Jesus.
No doubt his Infant Presence in Bethlehem was alerted by a star
with a blazon tail, so says the Scripture detail. Whereas these
41 stars lighting the Holy Path to the grotto of Infant Jesus at
Carmel Hill were exhibiting their talents to be artistic and
creative at their best. They were all intricately designed and
all without exception markedly well above average in their
workmanship, making it very difficult for the judges to make up
their mind and award the prizes to the winners. Fortunately, for
them, the organizers had foreseen ten consolation prizes beyond
the three usual ones.
They were the response to a first time ever star competition
organized by ‘Namaan Balok Jesu’ - Konkani Monthly published by
the Infant Jesus Shrine. The response of the Shrine visitors was
stupendous. They were lingering for a long time to wonder and
marvel the intricate engineering that has gone in the making of
many of these stars with materials that usually do not appear on
the radar of our mind, such as grass, sack, thermocol, marble,
tube light etc, but one which defeated all the rest was made up
of match sticks.