Gerald D'Cunha

What comes to us naturally is our calling in life! Let me recount a mundane episode to explain this logic. Last evening, I received a phone call, all out of the blue. It was Cynthia. She was in twelfth-standard, when I had taught her Accountancy, some thirty-five years ago!   I was in my final year B’Com, then. Inspired by my idol, Prof. B.S. Raman, I had started teaching dozens of students, all for free… I was obsessed to become a teacher… and, a teacher like my idol, in that. Yes, nothing else, nothing less! So, Cynthia was one of those, with whom my early teaching experience had begun. I left Mangalore soon after some time…and, my contact with all my students in Mangalore, including Cynthia, was lost immediately. Those were not the days of cell-phones, e-mails and Face book. We had to write letters to keep in touch. It was not easy as it is today. I was very happy to talk to Cynthia, last evening. I learnt that she did not ...

The need to prove oneself right comes from one’s low self-esteem.  I am excluding, here, the politicians, who debate on the lines of their respective party-ideologies and alliances.  I am talking, here, about you and me… who, often, tend to prove how and why we are right … Well, I will still narrow it down to myself: How and why, often, I tend to prove I am right… If my urge is to prove myself right making the other person feel wrong or stupid, it will not leave in my heart a pleasant experience…  Arguments come from such inner need…  So, before I embark upon any such trip, I have a choice to make: Will the experience make me feel good or bad about myself… Any assertive behavior of mine, which comes from my healthy self-esteem, has to make me feel good about myself… after I have behaved in that manner… On the other hand, any submissive or aggressive behavior of mine, which comes from my low self-esteem, has...

Most of my fears are just baseless! They haunt my mind because of my own assumptions, presumption, interpretations… and my unexamined beliefs. Often, it takes a hard look at my fears - a look into the eye of my fears, directly – to do away with them… Often, acceptance of some well-meant advice of a caring soul around… Often, some patience and poise in my heart not to jump to conclusions… not to declare my own self-fulfilling prophesies… Often, some trust in the goodness of Life and kindness of our Lord… Often, some simple humility to lean on someone’s shoulders… All fears are not real… They are just like ghosts… who rule only in the darkness, and, yes, only inside the unattended houses! Humans and ghosts very, very rarely live in the same houses… And, we never hear about ghosts moving around in broad daylight! My mind is my house… When bright thoughts reside there, when light of faith and prayer keep it guarded,...

I like the story of Columbus’ discovery of America. It is packed with inspirational stuff.  Though I don’t have to tell you as to where Columbus had headed for… and, where he had, finally, landed…  And, though I don’t have to tell you as to how, almost, Fate saved him from the angry men on that boat – all hardened convicts, who were handed by the King to be of a helping hand to him during his long, risky and uncertain voyage to discover the coveted land called ‘India’…  Yes, though I don’t have to tell you that these frustrated men had no interest in the vision or ambition of Columbus… that, they were, now, all set to throw him into the raging seas… Though I don’t have to tell you, that, finally when the ship hit the shores, it was the land of the native red people… whom he called Red Indians… Though I don’t have to tell you, that, what Columbus had found was not India… It was today’s America. The great USA! So, it look...