Hop across to Bandra this Saturday for the annual East Indian Sann 2023 that promises traditional food and music, and some football fever to bring people together
The food stalls will offer potato chops, fugyas, moilee curry, chitaps, East Indian masalas and pickles
If you’re a true East Indian (EI), the weekend is no time for slowing down and unwinding. No sir, we throw a party. And once a year, this party puts on the livery of a festival — bells, whistles and ghumats — because you would expect nothing less from a loud and proud community. This Saturday, the Mobai Gaothan Panchayat hosts its 14th annual East Indian Sann 2023, a three-in-one festival of food, music and football at the St Andrew’s grounds in Bandra.
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The main attraction, the food festival and bazaar, will showcase quintessential East Indian fare including potato chops, bottle masala, pickles, letri, chitaps, khudi curry and more. Rita Rodricks, a food blogger at Rita’s Tales and food fest chief coordinator enthusiastically reveals a new addition to the festival, the live fugya counter by the only fugya experts — the women of the community. You’ll understand the sentiment once you bite into a fugya, a sweet and savoury deep-fried bread, fresh off the fire. Sann 2023 will also introduce for the first time, the recently launched Cray Cray by Adele Drego for healthy, homely and authentic EI dishes.
Lugra and other clothes on sale at the festival
And if you’re going to eat like an East Indian, you should dress like one too. Choose from a range of lugras, including dresses, kurtas and shirts made from lugra material, at the clothing stalls. To further your deep-dive into the culture, grab a copy of history and recipe books on sale.
Don’t miss the urtas or masalas; these catchy songs are sung in East Indian Marathi. These will be performed at the music awards where prizes across 16 categories will be distributed. Veteran singers in the community like Cedric Tixeira and Valentine Machado will perform along with the recently released medley of masalas by a group under The musEIc Project.
Being unfamiliar with the EI culture gives you all the more reason to drop by Sann 2023. Before you experiment with the food and try to find your rhythm to the masala songs, make a beeline to the full-day football tournament for an opportunity to bond on common ground. The tournament is played by 20 teams from across Mumbai’s gaothans competing for the Gaothan Premier League trophy.
Rita Rodricks in a lugra
Alphi D’Souza, global head, and Gleason Barretto, global ambassador, share their excitement about the team’s work towards a greener festival noting that the stage will be solar-powered. They add, “East Indian Sann was initiated to bring the community together and celebrate through the promotion of culture and tradition.”
On: May 6; 5 pm to 10 pm (football tournament from 9 am)
At: St Andrew’s Quadrangle, St Dominic Road, Bandra West.
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