About - The church is second oldest in Bangalore (St. Mary’s being oldest). Originally built for Irish soldiers, the church is now frequented by numerous during weekends. It is located at the junction of Brigade road and Residency Road. Apart from the church, its premises has a shrine, plenty of open space – for parking and strolling.
Ambience - Inside the church, three columns of seats (5 in a row) were teeming with people. Most were dressed in their best. Men were in usual dark suits. Women were more colorful, wrapped in flamboyant saris, frocks, skirts (of all possible lengths) andsalwar-kameez. Every seat had a booklet – of lyrics of Carol Service and Holy Mass. We arrived pretty early (10:15 pm) in the hope of getting a front seat only to find that numerous others thought on similar lines and arrived earlier . This meant only a few seats were left unoccupied. Unable to find a front seat, we settled at whatever was available.
On Left and Right sides of the church, live feeds of the sessions was screened. Seating arrangement was really good. In fact, those who were standing at the back, several church volunteers managed seats for them, especially women and children. Standing the back center position inside the church gave a majestic view of the proceedings. We left our much coveted seats and stood at the back.
Theme - ‘Persecution’ was an all pervasive theme at St. Patrick’s Church. Destruction due to Tsunami, WTC attack, Church attacks (at Orissa, Karnataka and elsewhere) and Mumbai attack was portrayed. It felt good that despite the threats, so many (Christians and non-Christians alike) gathered at midnight to celebrate festive spirit. But after more than two decades of terrorism in the country, this theme has become oh-so-cliched.
I leave you with some more Christmas pictures. Merry Christmas.
