aozore Detaispr rt <=2 Amiable mediocrities teacher at Jnana Deepa Vidyapeeth (Pontif- ical Atheneum) in Pune, recall my late and illustri- ous George Soares-Prabhu, SJ, 2 Goan from Aldona, but bora and educated in Mumbai, and a member of the Mumbai Province of the Jesuits. had the privilege of being guided by him in a written disserta- tion for a degree in Theology. He was keen to follow my line of argument about the theme of my dissertation: “Pilate be- fore Jesus: Who was in con- trol”. He seemed impressed with the final outcome, and so did { with the final evaluation. Twas quite taken aback by his comment once in a pri- vate conversation with me about the recent generations of Jesuits. He seemed disillu sioned, and qualified most of If there was any Goan militarism facing the resistance of the aboriginals, the proto- them as sociale, medio historic avatar Shock nany with educations! it links to the Jesuit institutions, OFHindwta Epos cept had worked out some Jesuits. George Soares- an Prabhu had his reasons to be ___unhappye1 too have mine, and accommodation aagpae curious be look fot rer them may consult the last o ee paragraph sing ree a cle at http:/ bit. ¢ ante cree, (ocege Prabhu tll andinviting me further that the rank and Shiva to engage frst who lived under she in Yogic transe shadow ofthe glory ofa few outstanding members of the Society of Jesus, in Goa ‘tptiwun epapercherald niDets were largely of a noble back- ground and did not seek the membership of the Order to gain any material benefits. We looked differently at the great majority of the Jesuits of the post-Restoration era. ‘The Jesuits are commonly looked up to by general pub- lic as highly competent and disciplined in their public performance. They have left mark in educational field, and the westernized elites con- tinue to benefit from their graduate and post-graduate formation in institutions named after Loyola or Xavier. It was amusing to read in mid-70s an advertisement in the national papers by a Hindu educational trust. ‘They wanted a Principal for their new college. It read somewhat like this: “Princi- pal needed. Religion, gender and caste no bar. Should bea Jesuit. Adequate remunera- tion and perks guaranteed” Fr George Soares-Prabhu, ‘was loyal to his tribe, but also a critical thinker, with a tongue in-cheek humour, at times bitterly sarcastic, which he shared occasionally and only with his trusted cir- tle of friends and associates. He was one amonga few oth- ers who impressed me dur- ing my years of formation. [ owe to educators like him my relentless pursuit in over- coming stereotypes, or also my reluctance to settle down into any cozy and self-satisfy- ing routine that does not tread on anyone's corns. Despite the negative opin- ion oF George Soares-Prabhu. about the footsloggers in the Society of Jesus, he would admit as I still da with mw and Goan militarism the ranks of managers at var- ious levels. Perhaps the only effective contribution of such a disgraceful lot is to make the functioning of the compe- tent colleagues or depen- dants unbearable, butusually it does not take long for the Peter principle to putthem in their rightful place. ‘To conclude, I wish to recall Nirad Chaudhuri’s The Conti- nent of Circe (1965), which won for the author the Duff Cooper Prize for 1966. Chaud- hhuri discussed Indian society from a_socio-psychological perspective, and pointed to its militarism as a way of life from time immemorial, avery different picture of Gandhi's non- violence. The author aimed. that every major Hindu dynasty followed the path of war, as corroborated by the Indian epics, which contain descriptions of wars fought on a colossal scale. Nirad Chadhuri would per- haps fee! himself vindicated by the prevailing political dis- pensation in India Nirad Chaudhuri’s book evoked an angry response from Robert de Souza (1973) ‘who could not bear to see the Goans being classified as “a hralf-caste minority, which supplied Bombay's cooks, waiters, fiddlers, maid-ser- vants and bordelios” | would not be so choleric in my re- sponse as Robert de Souza was. If there was any Goan militarism facing the resist- ance of the aboriginals, the proto-historic avatar of Hin- utva had worked out an ac- commodation by installing Shantadurga and inviting Shiva to engage in Yogic transoin Goa Bu internarian- waozore Fr George Soares-Prabhu was not alone in feeling that way. The late Prof. CR. Boxer, the doyen of British experts on the history of the Por- tuguese expansion overseas and admirer of Jesuits once remarked about a great di ference he noticed between the Jesuits. before the sup- pression of the Order in mid- 18th century and the Jesuits of the restored Society after 1814, He believed that the members of the older Society Detaisor privileged and long past asso- ciation with it for over a quar ter century, thatthe footsloggers among the Jesuits have a touch of class. They ‘may be relatively less talented than their better endowed counterparts, but therigour of the long Jesuit training makes, them self-critical and open to criticism of colleagues. Itis this capacity to endure criticism and learn from it that makes all the difference, unlike their counterparts in the society at large, wherein one does not have to look hard to find sloppy and easy- going characters, even among, alising Yoga and bringing De- Expo to Goa the present-day regime probably seeks to re- duce the amiable mediocrity fostered by five centuries of colonial accomodation. My hunch is that Goan militarism. may never go beyond the noisy, but empty shots of fo- tashi, the toy bamboo guns loaded with tefilam (Xan- ‘thoxylum piperitum/bridetia retusa) and used during Bon- deram festival to entertain the invading tourists. (Teotonio R. de Souza is the founder-director, Xavier Cen- tre of Historical Research, Goa (1979-1994). ‘iptiwoneepapercheralda.n/Detilpen.aspx7 200668 pox= 14905799