For close to 30 years, Narisa Misquitta has been making the annual pilgrimage to Bandra Fair with her family and friends. Every year, come September it’s a family tradition that she follows to visit Mount Mary’s Basilica for the feast of Nativity of Our Lady on September 8 but return on the first Sunday after that to enjoy the festivities. She shares, “It’s an annual tradition that starts with listening to mass, going for veneration, followed by having breakfast at the cafeteria run by the nuns and then walking down the steps to buy grams and any interesting things we would find.”
Misquitta is one among thousands of Mumbaikars who have been visiting Bandra Fair every year. While some of them have made it their own tradition over the years, some have been following it for generations in the city. She explains, “I remember when I was little we would always take a taxi to the steps from Shah Rukh Khan’s bungalow) side to reach the Basilica.”
It didn’t end with going to the Fair for the Misquitta family. “And then on the way back home with all the goodies, we would stop for a takeaway of Chinese food from B Hearsch & Co.,” the 30-year-old adds, continuing, “It was a family outing I would look forward to each year.”
It’s no different for Josef Menezes from Andheri. He shares, “My fondest memories are quite funny actually. It is when I used to get up early for mass, then fall asleep during it and then get woken up to walk down the slope. This was more than 10 years ago. It was basically a fairy land for me where mom used to buy toys and by the time I got home, it was already damaged.”
Kadio bodio is one of the most popular delicacies that people enjoy at Bandra Fair every year. Photos Courtesy: Nascimento Pinto
Memories of toys, sorpotel roll and kadio bodio
While Misquitta is one among many Millennials, the 19-year-old is among the newer generation and Gen-Z, who has been going over the years, showcasing how Bandra Fair transcends generations. “My annual ritual has been to just enjoy the day with your family, have the sorportel roll. It was a very fun experience to look back on – adding the crowd and the vendors just shouting prices to the mix, while negotiating with the Konkani aunties.”
While others go to pray at Mount Mary’s Basilica, Menezes had one more motivation – the food. Even as he loves the sorpotel roll, he adds, “People should definitely try every kadio bodio. The orange one and the white one. As a Goan, definitely those. I once only went to Bandra fair only for the kadio bodio (laughs).” In fact, only two years ago, Menezes who has found the kadio bodio to be cheaper during Bandra Fair did the unthinkable. “I finished the bag within two days. It was a 500 gm bag,” he shares proudly.
Going to Bandra Fair is one of the most memorable times for many Mumbaikars including Menezes. In fact, the city-based student has grown up with stories of how his mum would go every year. “When she was a kid, she was very fond of getting her name written on rice.”
Over time, visiting Bandra fair has become an annual tradition that he has spent with his family and friends. “I would love to go back in time,” reminisces the Mumbaikar, who adds, “I don’t go every year anymore. It was almost every year before lockdown but not much anymore. It is mostly because of time and nobody else to go with. I still go occasionally if my friends are going but not much with family anymore.” You never know, sorpotel rolls, choris pao, and kadio bodios may just motivate him this year to visit the Fair, that will start on September 13 and end on September 20.
Sorpotel and Choris pao are local delicacies served at the stalls during Bandra Fair. Photo Courtesy: Nascimento Pinto
Celebrating with family and fugias
It’s closer to home for Andriana Viegas, another Mumbaikar, who has some of the fondest memories visiting Bandra Fair. In fact, they have two celebrations. It starts on the first Sunday and ends on the concluding Sunday. She shares, “My fondest memories are the lunch at my uncle’s house in Bandra. We start with a small prayer, and the whole family sings hymns together before we eat. It’s a proper Goan/Mangalorean lunch, served on a banana leaf with Goan desserts.”
It doesn’t end there because after lunch, Viegas and her cousins and friends always hang around, and catch up on life — since it’s often the only time in the year everyone’s together, it always ends up being a lot of fun.
Such is their love for tradition that they do it even today. The 21-year-old adds, “The first Sunday is more prayer-centric and everyone’s invited, the second Sunday is more family-centric. I go for celebrations on the second Sunday because of work and other commitments.”
Bandra Fair is quite a busy time of the year for the Mumbaikar that starts early in the morning. “Every year on the feast day, my family and I first go for mass at Mount Mary. After that, we shop at the small stalls at the fair — we always pick up kadio bodio, channa, toys, accessories, keychains, and other little things. We go to September Garden and go on rides like the ferris wheel and the boat ride. Eat candy floss, which is mandatory. We head to my uncle’s place for lunch.”
Even though Viegas goes for the annual lunch, food at the fair is complete without the best delicacies. “Enjoying the food from the stalls, especially the sorpotel is nostalgic for me. In the sorpotel vs vindaloo debate, I’m firmly Team Sorpotel, especially with laadi paav. Even my cousins who live abroad still talk about that taste; it’s one of those things that stays with you.”
While she may be a huge fan of sorpotel and laadi pav, it is incomplete without an East Indian delicacy that she recommends everybody should try. “Fugias are a must-have too. Back in school, when I was more regular with the novenas, I’d buy and eat fugias almost every single day, it was a whole experience in itself. These days, with work, I’m not able to go as often as the cousins and I used to, so my mom goes and picks some up for me, just so I can still have that taste and relive the memory.”
Even as people share fond memories about Bandra Fair, they often rue that “Bandra Fair isn’t the same anymore”. While there may be many that agree and disagree, Viegas also believes that it has changed. She shares, “There was something about that whole nine-day stretch — going for the novenas, the whole experience — that just felt different.”
Like many Mumbaikars, she believes the change happened during the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, the Bandra Fair itself didn’t take place in 2020 and 2021. She shares, “I don’t want to blame it entirely on Covid and the lockdown, but I do feel like a lot of this shift happened post-lockdown, once public places started opening up again. It’s not that anything visibly changed — the stalls are still there, the rides are still there — it’s more that the feeling itself changed.”
She adds, “Bandra Fair has so many memories and so much nostalgia attached to it for me, and I don’t think that emotion is quite the same anymore. Maybe I sound like I’m getting old, but when I was younger, I’d genuinely wait all year for it — waiting to go on the giant wheel, waiting to hit the rides and play games at the September Garden. Yes, I’d look forward to shopping with my mom and eating at the stalls too, but as a kid, what I was really counting down to was the rides. That excitement, that anticipation — it was so strong. And I just don’t see that same feeling anymore.”
While the times have changed, Viegas admits that she is still going to go because she intends to continue her family tradition, and nothing is going to change that as she joins many Mumbaikars this Sunday to visit Bandra Fair yet again.
Bandra Fair 2026: 'Once went only for kadio bodio', Mumbaikars share fond times
