Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Fr. Reginald Pinto “You have a unique personality and an unbelievable potentiality in you. Success lies in exploring this hidden wealth in you… In unleashing the hidden power of your personality.” N o one can explain the mystery of your uniqueness. Billions of people have come on this earth and gone and they will come and go… But, God will produce each one of us, here, in a special mould. There is no duplication in His factory… He sends each one of us with a unique stamp on us… He gives you a unique finger-print… He gives you a unique voice… He gives you your own unique gifts and talents… He gives you your own special feelings and sensitivities… Your own very special aspirations and dreams… Yes, He sends you fully-loaded with wealth and power… But, dear, it is like you inheriting those proverbial ‘acres of diamond’… Imagine, spending your lifetime without knowing the value ...

Pic.: Rajiv Sharma “You are solely responsible for your worldly success and happiness. Have a lofty ambition and a right attitude… You can achieve anything That you conceive and believe in your mind.” T he early you accept this truth, the better for you: Your success in this world is your own business... So is your happiness. All arguments end with this acceptance… All excuses… All self-pity… All blame-games! May there be a lofty ambition in your heart… and may there be a right attitude… Ambition is the wind in your heart… Attitude is the mast of your mind… You need both for the voyage called ‘success in life’… The more you trust in your abilities, the more you rely on your intuitions, the more you learn to trust in your decisions… the more proactive you become in life… In responsibility – your ability to respond to  situations and challenges in your life -  ...

Pic.: Mehul Bhuva “You are the most important person in this world. It is for you to make your life the way you choose to.” F irst thing first: You are not only an important person in this world… You are, in deed, ‘the most important’ person! But then, dear, take it in the right sense… feel it,   say it   and act on it in the right sense. Don’t feel or say it to undermine others… but do it to lift yourself up in life… In Life, you really, really come first… Your first responsibility is to love, care and nurse yourself enough… build yourself enough… trust yourself enough… Because, unless you believe, that you come first… unless you feel, that you are important… unless you feel, that you deserve joy, love and prosperity in life… you will not be able to experience them despite having them abundantly in your life. It is only when you feel joyful, successful and prosperous, that you are capable...

Pic.: Neerja Panchal I haven’t posted anything since I posted, four days ago, that video – ‘The Inspiring story of the birth of THE DAWN CLUB’. As I told you, the story of our institution is very close to my heart… and, yes, very close to all the well-wishers of our Club. On 3 rd Aug., 2008, we had held a function at the amazing TISS auditorium, Mumbai, to bring together as many people as possible who were instrumental in creating THE DAWN CLUB. I wasn’t on FB then, nor did I have contacts of so many of my students who had come around me and inspired me to found our Club in Sep.1989. Still, as we were about to enter the 20 th year, we held this function and unveiled two books during the same. ‘Vaachas Chame’ chronicled our classroom action over the years. But, ‘The Echoes of the Dawn’ chronicled the story - how it all had started about two decades ago. In fact, those many years ago - at the sunset, while leaving the sands of Gorai Beach – when I h...

Pic.: Neerja Panchal A line keeps playing in my heart repeatedly today: “Hey, i f I knew I would hurt you, I wouldn’t.” And, the more I hear that, the more I get convinced, that when I hurt someone, I am doing it in my ignorance. Please, please, please believe me: I am not justifying my ‘act’, here! So, what Jesus said from His cross as he was dying in pain was so true: “Father, forgive them; for, they do not know what they are doing.” If Jesus’ tormentors ‘knew’ what they were doing, they would not have done that… would not have humiliated, tortured and hanged Him the way they did. The greatest pain in life is the pain of not being healed of the deep wounds caused by our ‘perceived’ tormentors… This pain comes from our inability to find enough grace in our hearts to ‘understand’ that our tormentor has inflicted the pain in us in his ignorance. And, because we aren’t able to arrive at this deep understanding...

Pic.: Fr. Reginald Pinto I know worrying doesn’t help; still, I worry… and, worry a lot. I hope, I am normal! Many ask me this question: “You come about, through your writings, as a very positive person. Then, how come you say that you worry a lot?” I tell them with my smile, this: “I write because, I worry a lot… I know how it feels… I know it is a waste and it doesn’t take me anywhere… and, so, in my writings, I honestly tell others how it feels… and not ‘how to stop worrying and start living’ as Dale Carnegie did.” Honestly, worrying is an old habit and it is not going! And, strangely, in my case, this ‘useless habit’… this ‘waste’… has been very useful: It has helped me write many of my Posts, and, people have told me that they have loved them… even, been inspired... It has kept my two feet firmly planted on this Earth… It has taught me value of money, time, relationships… It has taught me to choose my words carefully… ...

Pic.: Neerja Panchal T here is a dialogue in the Disney-movie ‘The Lion King’. I go back to it, regularly, just to refresh myself when I get weighed down by some of my daily confusions… particularly my confusions about good or bad, fruitful or wasteful… to strive or to give up and so on. Mufasa: Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. As king, you need to understand that balance and respect all the creatures, from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope. Young Simba : Dad, don't we eat the antelope? Mufasa: Yes, Simba, but let me explain. When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass. And so we are all connected in the great Circle of Life. I find this conversation between the father and the son – the King and the Prince – very relevant for all of us in all walks of life… Because, Life is, in deed, a great circle… and, all events, all things… and all creatures … are, in deed connected in...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha E very time I reflect on the famous statement (made very popular by John Lennon in his song, ‘Beautiful/Darling Boy’) – ‘Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans,”… Yes, let me tell you, very honestly, that a lot of my stress gets eased out… And, yes, it makes me smile, too. I wrote about my plan, last night, to attend the b’day party of one of my students. It was his 18 th b’day; and, some days ago, when I was in the midst of something, his dad had called me to invite. “Sure, I will be there with my wife to wish the young-man,” I had promised. So, as I wrote in my yesterday’s Post, I picked that inspiring book by Yuvraj Singh (‘The Test Of My Life’) to gift the b’day boy. At 9 sharp, when we reached the hotel where the party was planned, we read on the board: ‘ Mundan party of ……’! The first thing we did was to check if the hotel we had come to was the right one. Then, we checked with the re...

Pic.: Madhusudan D. Jeurkar   T here are, always, some defining moments in our lives. I have mine… One of them is when I first picked from a roadside book-vendor, in Fort area, Napoleon Hill’s famous classic - ‘Think & Grow Rich’. I still remember that afternoon, some thirty-four years ago. I was stranger in this city, and I was without a job. Worst, I was absolutely low in my self-confidence… and, I was filled with self-doubts and fears about my future... constantly consumed by the question – “Is there a place for me in this world?” Yes, it was during this period – I call it ‘The Great Depression of my life’ – my hands reached an old copy of Hill’s famous book. For me, that was the ‘Manna-from-heaven’. I wanted it so desperately to survive in my ‘desert’… And, yes, I did. C an a book change one’s life? If I say ‘Yes’, it is my opinion, my truth. I have given a brand-new copy of ‘Think & Grow Rich’, ever since then, to scores of...

Pic.: Fr. Reginald Pinto I am very fond of both the US President Mr. Barack Obama and our own P.M., Mr. Manmohan Singh. I have, always, held them to be very sincere, extremely committed and exceptionally knowledgeable leaders. So, when they face huge problems, I feel bad for them. Our P.M. never craved to become country’s Prime Minister. Yet, he was destined to… and, for such a long tenure. Things in our country have gone bad. Well, the Congress-baiters would immediately conclude, “All because of the Congress misrule… and, our P.M.’s lackluster leadership.” President Obama’s problems are a hundred-fold bigger - even messier and even scarier - than our P.M.’s. For all these days, when the newspapers and televisions were talking about the US debt-limit, I really did not realize how big it was. I just happened to see that figure, today: US- Dollar 16.7 trillion! Imagine, the most prosperous and the mightiest nation on Earth – th...