Lots in the name, if the bungalow’s named Corona

For Celsia Bocarro, a resident of Bandra, the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak has brought with it a little humour as well. “A civic employee did say that he will never

For Celsia Bocarro, a resident of Bandra, the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak has brought with it a little humour as well. “A civic employee did say that he will never forget that he sprayed disinfectant on Corona,” quipped Bocarro, owner of a bungalow with a name that would catch everyone’s attention now — Corona.

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Located on the quiet St Leo Road in Bandra (West), the bungalow, built in 1963, is named Corona, derived from the Latin word for crown.

The coronaviruses themselves are named after the Latin word because they have “crown-like spikes on their surface,” as per the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Everyone who remembers our bungalow’s name is now having a good laugh. Some who are getting to know now are taken by surprise,” said Erika Cunha, Bocarro’s daughter, who grew up in the bungalow and now stays in Malabar Hill.

“I think people passing by would think we are just horrible people,” she quipped. Erika also took a picture of herself with the bungalow in the backdrop to share with her friends. “There is nothing we can do about it now. We are not going to change the name,” she said.

Bocarro, however, said no one has told her anything about the bungalow’s name apart from the stray comment from a civic employee, undertaking a drive to disinfect the road two weeks ago.

“I think people are just being polite to me,” she said. A retired microbiologist, Bocarro further said, “There is a Corona garden on St John Baptist Road where so many receptions have been held all these years. There is a saint named Corona. It means the crowning glory, on which we name the bungalow.”

A known-name in Bandra circles, Bocarro’s late husband, Eric, was a trustee of the Bandra Gymkhana and also served as the president of the Salsette Society.