Every year, Douglas Saldanha spends four months of the year in Mumbai at his home only so that he can keep his promise of decorating the tree to his deceased sister who passed away in 2005. 

While everybody else in Mumbai has been busy decorating a Christmas tree inside their home, the Worli resident has been decorating his Christmas tree, more than 70 feet now, outside his home at M.I.G Adarsh Nagar, for more than five decades now. While it was a fun activity with his sister, the very activity has now become a promise that the Mumbaikar intends to keep for as long as he can to her. 

He shares, “My sister Twila Saldanha and I used to decorate the tree since our childhood like any other Catholic family. However, when it reached the first floor, we could only decorate it till our hands could reach it. So, it was like a half-decorated tree. Then, my sister got married and went to America and settled down in Houston and was there about 15-17 years before she got the big C – Cervical Cancer. It was a bad period of two-three years, where she went back into remission, but it came back with vengeance and was given only two-three years to live.” Three months after they went for a family reunion in March 2005, she passed away in July that year. 

SEE PHOTOS: Over 70 feet now, Mumbai man has been decorating his Christmas tree for over 50 years

Keeping a promise 
However, before she died, Saldanha says one of her last wishes was that I continue to decorate the Christmas tree so much that she could see it from heaven. “The reasoning being that when she goes up, she won’t know our location, but the Christmas tree would be like a lighthouse to know where we are.” Such is their emotional bond that Mumbaikar has now been keeping his promise to her since she passed away in 2005 till now while being fully decorated for the last 19 years.