Goa Jesuits in the time of Pope Francis

Jesuits all over the world will be celebrating the feast of their founder St. Ignatius on July 31. This year, it will be a little more joyful as they have many things to rejoice about. They are on the eve of their 200^th anniversary of the restoration of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits’ religious order) and the Church finally has its first Jesuit Pope. In Goa, Jesuits see huge possibilities in pursuing their work – be it schools, retreats, research or working with the poor and the young. 

Journalist Jonathan Rodrigues caught up with Father Rosario Rocha SJ, the Provincial of the Goa Jesuit Province. He spoke about the various expectations he has for the Province, on how the new Pope will bring about much-needed changes in the Church’s hierarchy and why the concept of celibacy is still alive. 

THE STORY TELLER - Isabel S.R. Vas

THE STORY TELLER 

photo credit: Arun PJ.

You will normally find the actors seated on little chairs and benches in some empty classroom normally occupied by Kindergarten students as their eyes lay intensely fixed upon a figure. She moves like the wind and every move spells an emotion. At the moment she is indulging in a monologue; or telling a tale, creating a cloud of imagination in the minds of her theatre friends. They are wrapped in curiosity as she slowly walks them through the suspense and then suddenly she reads a line that makes the room burst up in laughter. 

The joke is as infectious as her smile and the little spark of humour picks up force, accelerating into a laugh riot. The actors seem to have lost their focus. “Ladies, Gentlemen and all other species!” she exclaims; trying to capture their attention. Disciplined to that voice, the laughter ceases and they regroup to stay with her till she concludes the tale. So vivid is her skill of narrating, so intimate her gift of empathizing that by the time she has finished walking the listeners through the script, every prospective member of the cast and crew of the Mustard Seeds has already lived the play in their minds.

A WHISPER IN THE WOMB

A whisper in the womb!

A young girl’s brave fight against the world.

Mumbai_8-30a.m: A 21 year old lies cuddled up with her soul mate. She wakes up to the sound of the doorbell. The milkman has arrived with fresh buffalo milk. No, the love of her life is not a body-builder yet; neither does he go to the gym. He continues to sleep gloriously as she boils the milk and gets back to bed. As the radiant sun rays light up the city; he wakes up, gets on his fours and crawls onto her. The cuddling begins, followed by sweet kisses and cute words. She tells him how much she loves him, as he sheepishly utters something that sounds like ‘latto’. If you haven’t guessed by now, this is a teenage love story of city girl that doesn’t involve a man; but a little baby boy named Yohann.

The 21 month old sweetheart is the only reason that Kero wants to wake up every morning. He makes a lot of animal impersonations and loves mimicking the lion, snake, cat and dog. Soon, its breakfast time and as universally advised, he demands to have it like a king. Perched on his high chair, he burrows through his cereal with his favourite music video playlist in the background. TV sessions continue with a recess for lunch and an afternoon shower. All she needs to say is “common for bathie” and he is ready with his rubber duckies. Then he gets his hair spiked and heads downstairs to play with his buddies. He kicks around his size-one football as his biggest fan watches him from not so far away. 

THE KITCHEN DIARY

The Kitchen Diary

As you stroll by the promenade leading to Miramar - with the wind in your hair and the sand in your eyes - you will notice an ancient log of wood sitting lazily atop the compound wall. The initials inscribed there demand instant attention. Amidst shunted coconut and tall palm trees, a clay stuffed rooster proudly sits near a man-made pond, which houses little fish and toads. Curious as the cat, you decide to trespass the lawns across a narrow foot bridge that leads you to the threshold of nostalgia.

As you push open the door, the aroma of an international fusion of Latino and European spices assails up your nostrils; and even before you realize, your stomach has taken over your anatomy. A jar of pickle stands on a wooden counter silently seducing your taste buds. As you grapple with the growl, the enzymes shoot to your brain cells and your mind begins to associate and connect with everything Goan. “It was just a random idea, a spilled thought that has grown into this beautiful place,” says the artist of her brain child, adding that it was consummated purely to save the Goan cuisine.

Keeping alive the Goan Pau.

                  

The bread in Goa is more than just an element of food; it is an insignia of the most talked about Goan virtue of hospitality. People in Bombay love to take a jibe at Goans, by nicknaming them as ‘Pau’, simply because they cannot do without their staple diet. Wherever you travel in India, you will never find bread like the Pau of Goa.

The most unenviable part of the snack is it indifferent taste, that is likely to induce you to condemn it as un-edible. However this plainness allows you to dip it in any curry or gravy and enjoy that tangy experience. The Pau allows you to diffuse yourself,very much like the culture of Goa which is so open and available to the multi-national attitudes and likes. What makes the Pau so distinct?

EARTH MEETS ART - THE POTTERS OF GOA

EARTH MEETS ART: THE POTTERS 

Those summer evenings at granny’s still make fresh memories, when we would come back all tired and sweaty and dash straight to the earthen jar.  Jogging back from the beach we drooled of the thought of the liquid inside that clay cooler. The summers in the 90’s were not as hot as that of today; but they were warm enough to burn you out and leave you dehydrated. Fortunately, back then we had more natural means to refresh and rejuvenate. A tumbler of cold water and we would fall flat on the cow dung carpeted floors and stare at the clay tiled roof. No air condition, no fridge needed, the earth with all its generosity comforted us with its riches. 

MORAL POLICING

MORAL POLICING: THE ILLEGITIMATE CHILD OF OUR IDENTITY CRISIS?
 

Across generations, Goans have grown above narrow-minded communal ideologies and embraced the socio-cultural diffusion as a spice to life. Living lifestyles apart from the rest of the nation with our festivals, celebrations and recreational habits; which sometimes cross traditional norms and ignite generation gap conflicts, we have been loved and hated.

A hardened fanatic appeared on the scenes last summer with plans to “save” our culture. For all you simpletons, the Ram Sena’s “saving” agenda includes destroying our solidarity and inter-religious harmony; fuelling the minds of the weak with his retarded stone-age ideology; employing our school dropouts and nurturing them into fanatics; stoning and stabbing and sucking out the life of those in love.

The identity crisis

The tourism ministry recently entertained the idea of inviting groups from Karnataka, Maharastra and Gujarat to participate in the carnival floats. Such a stupendous idea of making it a pan-Indian affair only brings us to doubt the loyalty of this Government. Whether it is Shigmo or Carnival; it is and should be a Goan cultural festival depicting the rural and urban lifestyles of our state.

Over the last decade, we have wrestled inner demons, questioning - to be or not to be- who we really are. Tourism coupled with the lack of ambition and employment in our youngsters has inspired a ‘slothful era’. Partying in Goa is metaphorically an umbrella term for ‘cheap booze, easy drugs and sex’. Our image outside the state is embarrassing –every woman is a whore and every man is a pimp. A professor in Tamil Nadu once warned the whole class that branding Goa as drunken village is blasphemous. He said and I quote, “They know how to drink, they are not like us who drink half a pint and fall on the roads.” How many Goans smuggle liquor across the border to frivolous characters who picture Goa with only bars and restaurants? Deserving or not, we have earned this tag simply because we have failed to respect ourselves

We are undecided if this global cultural influx good for our survival or whether it is ruining our heritage? But, that is for us –the Government – to evaluate. Encouraging ideas like ‘Ram Sena’ is an insult and degradation of our Police community. It shows that we don’t trust in our legitimate law keepers. We have a structured and authorized organization whose task is to enforce the law and protect the sentiments of the society. The honesty and loyalty of the Police community is a debatable issue, yet we do not need an extremist approach to settle our problems.

The wrong police

Sheltering these moral police would be like licensing a terror outfit to set up their academy. Today, they don’t prescribe to Valentine’s Day or dating, tomorrow they will create ruckus at our feasts and festivals. Soon, they will question Carnival and Shigmo celebrations. Later, they will storm bars and restaurants and beat up all the women who are drinking. They will terrorize beaches and parks and thrash all who hold hands. Terrorism is a word that is politically and emotionally charged. The UN defines it as a criminal act, to provoke a state of terror in the general public or to intimidate a population or compel a government to do or abstain from doing an act (concise). The Sena with its fundamentalist philosophy and notorious resume undoubtedly subscribes to this branding.

American professor of Psychiatry, Frederick Hacker termed such characters as crazy, criminal and crusading, whereas Viktor Vitiuk labels them as idealist, filibusters and lost souls. Whether it is his intolerable urge for action – surrogate sexual activity- or effort to affirm his self esteem or nurse a deeply hurt ego, his idea of self-worship profiles him to be criminally narcissistic and sick.

Terror is an organised system of intimidation. Under RAND Co-operation, an International Organisation that lists identifiable characteristics of terrorism, the perpetrators of violence often claim credit for their act. Sighting the above, it is foolish on our part to ignore; still worse - to help breed a school of maniacs, who have openly posed a threat to society. This might seem as an over-reaction to an issue that has fallen silent; but as long as the ant-hill exists, the serpent shall thrive.

Terrorism, under U.S. domestic law enforcement, has come to be identified with the ‘criminal mode of operation rather than the specific intent or motivation of the action’, thus clearly divorcing it from Ideology. U.S. Internal Security Act 1950, authorizes the state to penalize and detain anyone found engaging in acts - or even threatening and conspiring- violence. ‘Proscribed Organization’ is the British attempt at fighting militancy. The Indian Government needs to deliberate about updating and executing suspensions of anti-national outfits, like the Ram Sena. The idea of expanding the power of arrest for the Police is to enhance the pre-emptive element in combating terrorism. A competitive law will power the Police to act against suspects under surveillance.

Moral policing in itself is a manifestation of domestic or national terrorism and it has no place in an educated and highly diffused society like ours. Unstructured policing have no fixed principles or rational goals and they are driven entirely by emotion. One incident can lead to another and soon we will have gang wars, religious crusades and class uprisings, in the name of moral policing.

Uniting the good people

Trusting the Government with that task, we need to create a healthy citizen- police trust that will suppress anything that crosses the line and disturbs our identity. Then again, the line is too thin and undefined. Are the casinos helping us or ruining us? Are the mines employing us or suffocating us? It is time we leave our ‘sussegad balcaos’ and stand up for what we believe is acceptable and discard the rest. If we can resolve our identity crisis, then we can point fingers at the ‘fundamentalists’.

Finally, to all the ‘moral policemen’ out there - (after the Avengers, Spiderman and Batman) if you think we needed superhero; that is very noble of you, but, no thank you! We can take of our own. If you can’t see us holding hands, then don’t step foot on our sands!