The Salesian province of south India needed a place for an aspirantate for boys from the Bombay and Goa regions. Not many parents were willing to make the sacrifice of sending their children down to ‘far away’ and ‘unheard of Tirupattur. It was Fr. Mauro Casarotti, Rector of Don Bosco, Matunga, in 1957 who first sensed this reluctance and understood the problem. He, therefore, floated the idea of having a separate aspirantate for the Bombay Goa region so as to encourage many more youngsters to join. The place he had in mind was Lonavla.