Probus Club, Up A Step, Down A Peg

 

A club is no ordinary matter in India. Starting one is matter of pride to individuals called upon to join it, a stamp of approval bestowed upon the individual, signifying his/her worth to the collective that has decided to be clubbed together, a coming of age event no less.

At least it used be not too long ago when people would meet other people in person.

Other times a club merely formalises a group who decided one day that it’s time they need to be known by a name, a collective identity, to be derived from the name they settle on, a name to identify their persona they want the world to know them by.

So whoever decided to name their club Probus in a dark corridor in an old Goan building was under no illusion as to what they thought about themselves . . . .

probus (feminine proba, adverb probē); first/second-declension adjective

1. good, serviceable, excellent, superior, able

2. (morally) upright, honest, virtuous, moral

 

But the thing with the world is it doesn’t always look at you how you look at yourself.

Man proposes, Goa disposes.

 

For, before long someone decided to hold a mirror to those who called themselves Probus, adding a rejoinder, knocking them down a peg or two.

gandu (Noun), (plural gandus)

(India, vulgar, slang) An arsehole, an idiot.

It’s used in other more colourful and incendiary contexts, none any more palatable than the above so I’ll leave them alone, to live on the streets where they come to life in more corners than you'd care to count, its myriad meanings burnished in the rage of their usage. 

To share further blushes, some kindly soul likely decided that a part of the context was served better whitewashed, leaving us guessing what more was said of the probus brothers and sisters.

 

NOTE: On another note, in a more saner world, the one that preceded the one now, Probus Clubs had their moment in the sun.