Gerald D'Cunha

In the latest Hindi movie, ‘Ferrari Ki Sawari’, the twelve-year-old Kayo is an exceptionally talented batsman. His father, Rusy (Sharman Joshi), is an ordinary clerk in a RTO office. But, he wants the best for his son… He is ready to make any sacrifice… go to any extent to see that his son realizes his cricket talent. Kayo is easily selected for a cricket camp at the Mecca of cricket, Lord’s. But, the hurdle is the money required to fund this tour – Rs. 1.5 lakh! The story revolves around this issue. The laughter and tears… the joy and frustration… yes, all revolve around this massive dream of a father to help his son go for the training camp at Lord’s… He wants to see his son where he deserves to be: in the Indian Cricket team! The story has a story within. Rusy's father (played by Boman Irani), as a young man, was a brilliant cricketer, too. He was almost selected for the Indian Cricket team… Yes, almost. But, the story tells us how your...

Long back, when I had first come across the phrase, ‘The larger good’, I remember I liking it immensely. I also remember deciding to make it one of the driving forces behind all my future actions. Yes, I have been consciously striving to go about my life, carrying out almost every thing I do keeping the principle of ‘the larger good’ in my heart. I said, I have been ‘consciously striving’… earnestly striving. I know how powerful this principle is… how empowering… how constructive.  However, as another human being, sometimes, I find it difficult to stick to this principle. I tend to overlook it, and, invariably the consequence is: a feeling of isolation, low confidence and regret and even anger. Yes, it does happen to me every time I tend to place ‘my good’ before the ‘larger good’.  I have realized this, very clearly, by now:  The larger good includes my good.    But, my good need not – and, mostly, doesn’t –...

Yes, it is a matter of pride to get into a great college! This young girl has been a brilliant student, all along. Both, in tenth and twelfth, she scored exceptionally well, and, she had a dream to get into this particular college. Yes, one of the best ones; no doubts.  She got in… easily. Today is the first day of the college… and, this young one is incredibly excited. “Wish me well, sir,” she sent a sms this early morning. And, I did. Some days ago, when she had just got in and was thrilled, I had told her this: “This is a great institution… But, trust me, you will have to be on your own!” Today, I told her in my reply, this: “An institution becomes great because of great individuals!” She was smart enough to comprehend the meaning of my lines. So, both the times, she was quick to respond, “Yes, sir… I shall always remember this!”     They say, to really 'feel' the value of your institution, you have ...

“The dogs will keep barking… and, the elephant will keep marching!” Last afternoon, I did witness this. A giant elephant, its master relaxing on its back, was marching on the streets… A dozen kids were following it, all excited… the brave ones tried to touch and feel the mighty animal from behind… and, they were even more excited to reveal the experience to the lesser brave- hearts. And, lo! The proverbial dogs! All through the distance which I was able to watch, I could see at least twenty street dogs emerging, God alone knows from where, just to bark at the quietly marching elephant! Some kids hurled stones and tried to shoo away the frenzied dogs… Obviously, the kids loved the majestic and serene elephant who went about, quietly, its work, i.e., marching… and, these kids, visibly, never liked those volatile, out-of-control, street dogs. The kids followed the elephant for a while… then, when their excitement level diminished, they stopped chee...

I am a teacher… So, I insist on these things with my students:  I insist on attendance. I insist on being on time. I also insist on a good communication.  It takes some time for them to grasp fully the importance of these three values: Be there for every lecture. This means, once you keep your foot in, you have no option but to remain totally committed. Be there on time... before time. This means, you have no business to keep other people waiting. And, if you really cannot attend, or be on time, please inform. This means, you need to have the basic courtesy of picking up your phone to communicate your problem… I am just human; I cannot know your problem unless you communicate about it to me… If you don’t, I start waiting, guessing, assuming and fuming.  The young ones do understand the value of being regular, punctual… responsible and communicative. Yes, most of them realize the importance of these values, and, u...

Presently I am reading a book by the title: ‘Strengths Finder’. The book has a simple message to offer: “To be successful in any field, any area of life, we should work on our strengths, rather than our weaknesses." Some weeks ago, in one of our PD sessions, I was helping the young ones to choose their fields. I was helping them to recognize their talents, skills and strengths. Along with that, I was helping them to get in touch with their fears, self-doubts and their weaknesses. Yes, it was a kind of ‘SWOT’ analysis you can say. It was during this session, Nandkishore, one of our senior participants, came up to the stage to share how in their medical sales field, training emphasis had shifted from working on one’s weaknesses to working on one’s strengths. He spoke at length about the effectiveness of this approach, which our young ones really found useful. On the very next day, he gifted me the book – ‘Strengths Finder’. Yes, I really...

I am in touch with two of the strongest urges within me. Let me call them desires. The first one is the desire to be ‘right’. The other one is the desire to be ‘peaceful’. Interestingly, everything I do in my life – yes, each and every activity – assumes its intensity, direction, passion, proactive or reactive nature from these two desires within me. The desire to prove myself right is there almost every time. I am in touch with its consequences. Though, on the surface, it appears to be a great motivating force that drives me to perform, fight, and stick on… it is the root cause of a lot of stress in my life.  It is when stress takes a toll on me, I realize that my actions are predominantly driven my desire to prove myself right. I realize that I am driven by my ego… I am obsessed with the social image: “What other people would think about me?” So, I don’t give up. I argue. I fight. And, because this desire to p...

When a problem is too complicated to solve - and when that leaves me stressed out – I seek help from my old friend, that ‘wise-fool’ – Mullah Nasruddin.  One night, Mullah was in another village. He saw a man frantically searching for something under the street lamp. “What are you searching for, my friend?” Mullah asked the stranger. “A gold coin,” replied the stranger. Mullah joined the stranger in searching for the gold coin. After searching, without any success, for almost an hour, Mullah asked the stranger, “Do you remember, where you lost your coin?” “Over there,” the stranger pointed across the street. “Fool, then, why the hell are we searching for it here?” Mullah yelled. “Because, my wise friend,” the stranger looked at Mullah with disbelief and reasoned, “there is no light over there!”  Mullah had met his equal! And, every time I re-visit this story, I seriously feel – I have met my equa...

I like this kelawala. At 7.45, this morning, I bumped into his gaadi . He came towards me with his folded hands. When he reached me, he bent down to touch my feet. “Nahin, bhaisaab, nahin ,” I took his hands away out of embarrassment. “Kaise hain aap?”  I enquired , “Kaisa chal raha hai dhandapaani?” “Khuda ki meharbani ,” he pointed at the bananas on his cart. A lot of them were over-ripe, almost spoilt. “Chalana padta hai, saab .” He tucked three good bananas into my hands. I had a bad cough; but, I had no choice but to accept his love-offering’! Three years ago, he had brought his young son to me to be taught in TY B’Com. When I saw this man’s enthusiasm and vision for his son – also, on seeing the sincerity of the young son (Every evening,  from 5 to 10, this young man would relieve his father by selling bananas, parking their cart in the busy market) – I took the young man in. Obviously, there was an acute problem of ...

“If wishes were horses, even beggars would ride them.” This morning, a young boy was telling me that he wanted to start his own company! “Why not?” I thought, “He certainly can.” When I first landed in Mumbai, about thirty-three years ago, I too was dreaming like this boy did. “I want to start something on my own,” I was telling myself and my close ones around.  Luckily, I had picked-up a book on the roadside. “Whatever a man’s mind conceives and believes, it can achieve!” A young, raw boy like me needed this ‘booster pumping’ from Napoleon Hill’s timeless classic – ‘Think & Grow Rich’. I haven’t become ‘financially very rich’… But, certainly, I have achieved whatever my mind had ‘conceived’ and ‘believed in’. So, whenever a young, raw boy or girl declares his dream – call it his desire to build his castles in the air, if you like – I don’t laugh. I really don’t.  If a simple, unpolished boy, like me, cou...