IGNATIUS D�Souza is the friendliest baker in all of Panchgani. He is a rugged, smiley man whose bakery�s doors are always open for those who want to buy his bread. When the doors shut at night, in true Catholic tradition, a window opens up at the side from where Ignatius continues to supply bread to the hungry and deserving. His sunny and cheerful disposition has something to do with the fact that Ignatius bakes from home. And that his little team of bakers includes the wife, Rosie, and his sons Avinash and Jeevan. Or perhaps, with the fact that his popular little bakery in Panchgani was once the St. Joseph�s Church till 1912, and that the blessings of the church continue to remain with him till this day. He grins in embarrassment when asked questions and wipes floury hands on the sides of dirty purple shorts before offering to shake mine.

�My father was the baker for St. Joseph�s School in Bandra, Bombay, and he got transferred to Panchgani in 1935, to the St. Joseph�s Convent here. Initially, the bakery was next to the masjid till 1950, and my father had three other partners. Then a parish priest showed my father the German baking method, using 12 trays in the oven, and my father started his own bakery in this disused church property. That�s how it came to be known as the Old Church Bakery. When I passed my SSC in 1965, I modified the oven to take 40 trays! And that�s how it has been since then,� Ignatius rattled off in an amazing burst of speech. While he talked, Rosie swept the yard, and Avinash and Jeevan stoked the fires and baked the day�s quota of bread. Over the Old Church Bakery, a chimney puffed smoked into the silver oaks, telling Panchgani�s residents for miles around that bread was being readied.

The Old Church Bakery is on St. Joseph�s Convent property, but the establishment is Ignatius�s. He has another son called Vinay who is a caterer in Dubai, one called Sushil who is a media space seller in Bombay, and a daughter called Asha who is married and settled down in Pune. In semi-retirement now, Ignatius is content to only bake Panchgani�s bread requirements every day. �Earlier I used to do nankhatais, cream rolls, khara biscuits and cakes, but now it�s only bread I bake,� he said. �It is too much to roll out the dough for me. I�ve had a by-pass. I learnt the trade from my father. But my sons have to yet pick it up from me!� And so Ignatius wakes up on Panchgani�s cold mornings at 3 o�clock to knead the dough. By 6 a.m., his boys are filling in the moulds and at 8 the oven is lit. By 9.30 o�clock, the first lot of bread is ready. And already there is a queue forming outside the Old Church Bakery.