THE UNFORGETTABLE MISSIONARY

                     Father Valerian Goumes Icebielta, a Spanish missionary, was a priest at Surada Catholic Church, Ganjam when I was a primary school student there. Though a white man, he had accultured himself to the Indian way of life. People irrespective of their religions loved him and liked to have a talk with him. He had become a legend of sort of the locality because of certain incidental beliefs among the people. Rumour had it that he was a ghost buster. He used to touch the ghost-possessed person with his hand and freed the victim from the evil spirit. He was believed to have cut few strands of hairs of a female ghost who had been haunting his presbytery and kept it in a snuff box. Maybe it was a canard, however, this popular belief had turned him into a demi-God .Another, distinct feature of his personality was his love for the children. He used to keep chocolates in the pocket of his soutane and would give to children whenever he saw them. I still remember the  genial face and the flowing white beard of the late priest.

( Writer - Dr. Pradeep Kumar Nayak )