The South-Western coast of India, where this story takes place, has had a sizable Catholic population for more than 400 years, thanks to the proselytizing success of the Portuguese missionaries. As a result, the culture, customs, languages, architecture, of these coastal Catholic communities display traces of Portuguese influence, to this day. Father Karan Pinto, a newly-ordained 28 year-old Catholic Priest, has just been appointed as the Parish Priest (Vicar) of one such community, Pausagaon, a remote village of about 5000 people.
Karan was born and raised in Bangalore, a city of ten million people, and had spent the first ten years of his adult life at a Jesuit seminary. Life at the seminary was pretty good. There were the daily games of basketball and soccer with the other brothers, the theological, and philosophical debates he enjoyed having with the older priests, and the choir he was part of. But after all these years he felt the need to break the routine, and this opportunity to get to live by himself, in a remote village he hadn't heard of before, seemed like an adventure he just couldn't pass on. Within a month he had tied up loose ends, packed his belongings, bid goodbye to his family (Jesuit, and biological), and made arrangements for his move to Pausagaon.
It was a late afternoon in July 2010 when Karan boarded the Goa-Bangalore Express at Bangalore Central Railway Station. He was dressed in lay-person wear, a half-sleeved black shirt paired with black slacks, tailored for his 6-foot tall athletic build. He had gotten into the last train car and was now making his way forwards looking for his reserved sleeper berth, a bunk to sleep in at night. The train car had several compartments, each compartment containing six berths, three bunks on either side, stacked one on top of another. Walking through the corridor he noticed most compartments occupied by families with kids, and hoped he'd be lucky enough to have quiet neighbors.
When Karan finally got to his compartment he found a group of 3 girls, who looked to be in their early twenties, seated on the bottom-most berths. Placing his bags on the upper-most bunk, he greeted the group with a smile, "Hello, I'm Karan. I'm your co-passenger from here till Pausagaon!"
The chatter from the girls died down as the girls warily sized-up the new arrival. Karan could tell at least one of the girls wasn't too happy to have to share the compartment with a male stranger. He overheard her say "I told you we should've just booked the entire compartment to ourselves!" She was modestly dressed in a salwar kameez but was now hurrying to put on her headscarf. Her friend, who was dressed contrastingly in Western clothes, quietened her with a stern look and turned to greet Karan with a warm smile.
"Hi, I'm Sarah, and these are my friends, Asma, and Anitha," she gestured towards her headscarf-adorned friend beside her, and then the other friend sitting away from her. "We're on a girls' trip to Goa, the last one before we graduate from Mount Carmel College next month!" As an afterthought, she asked "You're headed to Pausagaon? The little village by the sea?"
"Yes, I'm the new Parish Priest there," Karan replied.
"Oh, a priest! I haven't met a priest so young before. But yeah, you do look the type," said Sarah, adding quickly "I meant that in a good way!"
"I do indeed," thought Karan. His hair trimmed short, and combed neatly to the side, a well-groomed beard, hint of a rosary peeking through the top of his button-down shirt, and friendly demeanor were traits mostly shared by his Jesuit brothers. As for Sarah, she looked to be about 5' 7, with dark brown skin that matched her light-brown eyes, dark curly hair just short of her shoulders, heavy bosom and wide hips that were further accentuated by her tight-fitting jeans and crop top.
Looking for a seat since his upper sleeper berth wasn't actually meant for sitting, Karan asked to sit beside Anitha on the lower berth, as it was normal for people to share berths to sit on during the day.
The girls were friendly enough to share the snacks they'd brought along, and soon they were engaged in a lively conversation about the things they'd planned for their vacation in Goa. It became clear to them that Karan wasn't uptight like most priests and that they could talk freely, like they would with their friends. "You'd have fun if you came along, you know," said Sarah teasingly, "There are all those beautiful churches if the beaches and rave parties aren't your style."
"I'd rather put my hard-earned beach body to good use," responded Karan, who was enjoying the banter.
