0
0
0
s2smodern

Indian scholastics triumph.

Cultural exchange reached a new milestone recently among the Paris Jesuits. For the last ten years or so, young Indian Jesuits have been studying at the Centre Sèvres, and gradually introducing their French counterparts to proper curry, to cricket, and to Bollywood movies. But now they are making inroads into French culture itself. Under the diligent and energetic coaching of Fr Marc Rastoin (GAL), the Karnataka scholastics in the largest Paris formation house in the Rue Blomet have been learning pétanque, a variant on bowls originating from Provence. Their efforts were rewarded at the recent festival of sport for seminarians from all over France. The Blomet team of three, Mark Pereira, Avinash d’Souza, and Paul Anand Devasagaya, won the pétanque competition hands down, comprehensively outdoing the locals at their own game.

‘I’ve never quite got my head round French, but at least I’ve mastered pétanque’, said Paul Anand, who was just at the end of his three-year stint.  Observers speculated that the unevenness of the Blomet garden might well have helped. If the Karnataka trio could control the balls in that difficult space, and against the background of Marc Rastoin’s voluble encouragement, the proper boulodrome must have been very easy to manage. The seminarians from the other colleges were quite bewildered. ‘You Jesuits are tough’ they said to Avinash. But Avinash just looked at his team mates, grinned knowingly, and replied, ‘it’s all just a matter of discernment’. 

0
0
0
s2smodern