By Cedric Silveira
The feast of Don Bosco will be celebrated on January 31 at various Don Bosco institutions around Goa. At Panaji, the feast mass will be celebrated at 6 p.m. followed by a cultural programme. Having made their presence way back in 1946 at Panaji,

the Salesians today have houses at Fatorda, Sulcorna, Odxel, Tuem, Loutolim, Quepem, Parra, Ucasaim, and Benaulim. Apart from that the Auxilium convents at Benaulim, Velsao, Carona, Sulcorna and Caranzalem too will be celebrating the feast.
The theme for this year's celebration is "Knowing Don Bosco" and the same will be carried on for the next two years as the Salesians approach the bicentenary year of the birth of Don Bosco. Thousands of students have passed through the portals of the Don Bosco institutions in Goa and many still feel that closeness and attachment towards these institutions.  This is perhaps because of the attitudes and values that teachers or instructors impart to their students. Don Bosco was a positive realist and he believed that there was no such thing as a bad child. In fact he would say that even in the most wretched child a point of goodness existed and it was the duty of the educator to discover this and draw out the best in the youngsters.  He would follow the principles of reason, religion and loving kindness to meet the child’s rational, spiritual and emotional needs. His concern and his ability to create conditions where good habits developed, infuse confidence in the boys and help them to bloom, were indeed commendable.  On an occasion when Don Bosco had gone home on account of ill health, his boys walked all the way to his residence, which was quite far off, and made the proposition to him to return with them or they would all come and stay with him. Such was the fatherly love that he showered on them. Even at his death bed on January 31, 1888 he murmured these words to the priests gathered around him, “Help everyone, do harm to none… tell my boys that I am waiting for them in heaven.”  For Don Bosco imagining anything without his boys was unthinkable. Pope John Paul 2 had no hesitation in proclaiming him as the ‘Father and teacher of the Youth’ a title which he truly deserved.
The feast is also celebrated with equal pomp and gaiety at many places in the Gulf by the past pupils from Goa and other states of India residing there. At times celebrations go on in places without even the presence of any Don Bosco institution. If one considers Don Bosco to be a saint of the past then he is sadly mistaken. Even today Don Bosco’s teachings are of particular relevance, especially in cases where to get students to be good citizens is becoming extremely difficult.