The Most fun during carol singing
Written by jennifer519 on 2007-08-03 02:14:22
I grew up in Madras and used to go carol singing when I was young... I remember our whole family got together along with other families and we all went carol singing.. After sometime we used to go without our parents... Doubles on cycles.. roaming the streets at night going from door to door of all the church members knocking on their door... and singing our hearts out.... |
THIS YEAR
Written by dafejoch on 2007-01-29 08:26:43
cakes cakes and more cakes.. thats all we got at each house.. oh boy there came a point when i (a lover of sweets) wanted to puke at the sight of another cake. so i jus politely refrained from taking a piece.. one guy got so upset that the poor fellow was puking all the cakes he ate.. cakey christmas.. |
Golden Rock Circa 1953-4
Written by edhaliburn on 2006-12-19 16:05:31
Carol singing at Christmas was always a time of great excitement and skylarking as groups of mainly young people went from house to house raising money for a supposed charity. For many of the lads this was the opportunity for their first pubescent grope, packed in the back of the Police truck with the lassies beginning to bud in their blouses. One particular incident stands out above everything else. About a dozen Japanese engineers were billeted in town to service the new diesel electric light shuttle trains that connected the satellite towns like Golden Rock to Trichy Junction. The carol party descended on them in the hope of rich pickings. We were not disappointed. We were on our way out when Leo Fernandez, about 20 at the time, suddenly and unexpectedly, began to softly sing 'Silent Night Holy Night' in …in…in…Japanese. When he had finished, one of the Japanese men stepped forward, shook his hand and said Nagasaki - meaning he was from Nagasaki. We walked away in stunned silence. We all knew the Fernandez family (Zac was the eldest) was from Malaya and were interned during the war. Leo must have learnt Japanese then. But 'Silent Night' in Japanese! Surely there were no Christians in Japan, a few at the very least. I was puzzled. Years later I read an account by William Manchester, the celebrated historian and author of An American Caesar. He recalled Christmas 1945. He was in a Jeep driving alone, deep in thought, through the devastation of Nagasaki on Christmas night. He heard music, organ music, and followed the sound. As he turned a corner, there stood the roofless devastated shell of Nagasaki Cathedral, lit dimly by candlelight, filled to capacity, and the snow was beginning to settle on the huddled congregation. He stopped. An unforgettable scene was unfolding. It was now midnight and then he heard the soft, familiar, tear-jerking refrain of 'Silent Night, Holy Night' being sung. I had my answer. Nagasaki was the cradle of Christianity in Japan. St. Francis Xavier, the Jesuit missionary had left his legacy here more than four hundred years before and not many in the outside world knew anything about it. |
A time to remember
Written by jagged edge on 2006-12-15 08:17:40
I remember a conversation between my friend Donnie, his sister Geraldine (Gerry) and their mother Aunty Beryl.
Beryl - Here Gerry why you want to go caroling with those boys men.
Gerry - Why mamma Donny is coming too nah
Beryl - What Donny is coming too. Those wicked buggers Clive and Richie are going na. I seen te way those fellers look at you. Wicked sods those
Donny - Why ma Iam going na I'll keep an eye on her.
Beryl - Ok Ok but Gerry you better wear that long boo dress ah... you better notta tita wate yourself and go, remember you are going carol singing not for a bleedie dance.
Needless to say Gerry and Clive were married 8 years later. |
Written by jagged edge on 2006-12-15 08:11:18
Every Anglo Boy and Girl wanted to sing in a band or play the guitar ..... christmas caroling was the best time for them to show off their talents and the groups from the churches in Madras were no less. This was a time of merryment.... especially when we got to spend a portion of the money. |
Hahahaa
Written by conradical on 2006-12-12 21:07:51
Oh man oh man... i TOTALLY forgot about the hired cycle! Hahaha... thanks! That was awesome! |
Oh - what a Night (s)
Written by frannoel on 2006-12-12 19:34:19
Could'nt help reminiscing! 
The Old Town "tabernacle boys" choir
For the most part it was always a “silent night”. Usually it was a Saturday night.
The older ‘uncles’ (the designated guitarists) accompanying us ‘young fellas’ in the choir, were already reasonably “charged”. First few homes got the best renditions.
Around 2am, somewhere between the 1st and 2nd streets in the second old town visited, the ‘uncles’ had another unscheduled visit to the “arrack shop” on the corner. Thereafter the guitar/voice note range which was usually between ‘one flat’ and ‘one sharp’ for the eternal favourite, “O come all ye faithful” had deteriorated to between “Wine Shop” and “One is Flat” for “while shepherds washed their jocks at night”.
Us ‘young uns’ indulged in a bit of the old homemade wine carried conveniently by the oldest amongst us, just to make the “chilly Madras winter night” just that much brighter. This made the trip from the one town to the next on the overnight Rs 3/- hired bicycles, all that more fun!
And then, not to mention the frenzied checking of the envelopes (for those houses that actually provided them) soon after, even whilst the last notes of the “We wish you a Merry Christmas” closing anthem were fading away in the ‘cold night air’.
Finally, at the crack of dawn, all of us assembled bleary eyed at the local Tea Shop, tallied the nights takings, which then helped pay for the strong tea and butter biscuits, and the remainder (not a bad sum for a night of enthusiastic effort), given to the parish priest after the 8:30 mass that Sunday morning!!!
Ahhhhh, those were the NIGHTS!!!
 |
Wow
Written by conradical on 2006-12-12 10:01:16
What an awesome story! That is touching.  |
The Spirit of Christ Mas
Written by whiskylullaby on 2006-12-12 09:09:33
A few years back there was this poor anglo indian family at ayanavaram who happened to live in a thatch (hut)house. So we had to walk into this (for lack of a better word)slum area and reach their house and sign...they were first embarassed that we took the trouble to come...but when they saw we were cool about it..they warmed to us....the icing on the cake was...all the hut houses there...hindus then wanted us to come into EACH of their houses and sing a couple of songs...THAT WAS AWESOME...the thing that was TOUCHING was...quite a few of these houses brough 10 rupee notes even though they never had and INSISTED that we take from them....that was awesome! |
Those were the days of our lives
Written by gajabeedi on 2006-12-11 22:32:29
I remember those days when we used to set out for carol singing at 12am midnight. I remember the funny night after u put it up here. Bad memory! But now i remember that day. Memory refreshed!
I remember one night, early morning when one sweet family beckoned all of us inside and shared Tea, Coffee and Biscuits with us. A warm gesture by them.
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Oh funny night!
Written by conradical on 2006-12-11 10:22:27
Ok.. this one night i'll never forget. It was so hilarious...
It was a couple of years ago, a bunch of friends came over to my house (no one could sing to save their life)and we practiced for about 30 minutes and we head out to the first house on the next street.
I strum the chord and somebody starts of on a REALLY bad note and before you know it everybody is on the ground laughing.. luckily no one opened the door... so we run back to my house and practice again and then head out to the same house... this time we are already laughing as we climb the stairs, we knock on the door and the same guys sings... same thing... laughter... back home again to practice.. back again... start singing and again.. same bad note... we all ran away as quickly as possible from that house!
Moral, don't drink and go Carol singing without any singers in the group. |
