Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Pushpa Mistry Kamath I say this too often. And, yesterday, I heard it from a friend of mine, too: “We need to have trust when we step out into the world.” Yes, this friend of mine, too, was asking, “What kind of life it would be, if we have no trust in each other?” He pointed to me at the cars and the bikes parked inside our society complex and said, “Ours is a private society. We have this boundary wall and massive gates protecting us. There are these security guards keeping a vigil all through the day and the night… So, we think we are safe, our properties are safe. But, let’s just move out of our society complex and see how it is… There are these ultra-modern buildings with no place to park even their high-end cars… They leave them on the open road and go off to sleep. Lakhs and lakhs of taxis and auto rickshaws are left on the roadside by their owners when they go home at night… The lamps on the streets are not guarded… There are lakes giving us all t...

Pic.: Pushpa Mistry Kamath “You can only lose what you cling to.” — Buddha L ast week, I had invited a very dear friend of mine to spend an hour with our young PD-students. She did a wonderful job… helping young-ones to correct the most common mistakes they committed while communicating in English. My friend is a very gentle and helpful soul. Now retired, she had been a very popular English teacher… and, like all teachers do, had impacted lives of thousands of students through her teaching career. This morning, I saw a message from my friend… She wanted my e-mail id. Our students had loved her session and found it very useful.  Even though I had conveyed it to her and thanked her profusely, while sending to her my e-mail id, today, I, once again, conveyed to her my students’ and my own sincere feelings… “Gerry, in fact, I needed the e-mail id for that reason,” my friend wrote to me,  “I realized that a lot of threads were hanging lo...

Pic.:Shankar Ramachandran A 14-year-old girl was on stage. “What makes me happy?” was the spontaneous topic we had chosen for the day. I had watched this girl on stage, during our sessions in the past years… She was a teenager now, and, I saw the self-consciousness telling it on her body… Her hands shivered, legs moved awkwardly, eyes blurred and voice cracked…   “Don’t worry beta about what is happening to you,” I encouraged the young-one, “just feel your fear fully… It will die.” I could see an immediate denial, “Sir I am not frightened.” She did not tell me that; but, from my own expereicne, I could read her heart… “ Beta, when you used to go on stage a few years ago, you would do it so naturally, so fearlessly… and, now, when you are a teenager, you tend to become a lot ‘self-conscious’… That’s a natural growing-up process. Don’t worry.” The girl seemed more relaxed now… “Thank God, I am normal!” “I did not say, you become ‘conscious’… I...

Pic. : Uttam Ghosh “None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, still,  we go forward. Because we trust… Because we have Faith.”   ―   Paulo Coelho W henever I ask our participants to write down some of their main strengths and weaknesses, I come across this one: “I trust people easily” or “I trust people too much.” Should we trust people – easily? I think, if we operate from our innate faith and strength, trusting others – even if it means easily and early – comes to us naturally, and, that’s how it should be. On the other hand, when we operate from our fear – insecurity, lack and skepticism – it doesn’t come to us naturally… It cannot. Let’s imagine this scenario: I meet someone and approach him with lack of trust. And, he, too, approaches me in the same manner. Where is this interaction, this relationship going to take us? One of the two parties has to operate with a strong, confident heart… a heart...

“If we don't take care of our customers, someone else will." -           Unknown I have come to Ahmadabad to conduct a two-day training-programme for the fresh employees of a leading bank. The gentleman in-charge of this programme, here, is Mr. Joshi. I hadn't met or talked to him before… We were total strangers. But, right since last afternoon, he had been constantly in touch with me… enquiring about my flight, transportation to my accommodation and the training facility etc. In the process, he freed me of the stress and made me feel at home. I was up at 5 this morning. At 5.30, I received a warm good-morning message from Mr. Joshi. My flight was at 2.25 in the afternoon. But, he made me feel that I was not just ‘one- more-trainer’ in his long list of trainers… He made me feel -  that, I was special, I was important… that, he and the bank he represented really cared for me… Yes, my day s...

Pic.: Suresh Nair “There are two kinds of people: those who do the work, and, those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group… There is less competition there.” Indira Gandhi Y esterday, someone was telling me how fierce the competition was in his field. This man worked extremely hard, and he worked with all his heart. Things had moved well for him all along. But, he seemed to be a lot anxious. “I sense I am losing the hold… There is fierce competition around me. There are plenty in the field out there doing what I have been doing… There is ample option for the customers, now… Moreover, I am not ‘that young’ anymore.” “What did you say, last?” I probed the man. “I said, I am not ‘that young’ anymore,” he repeated. “Do you, also, sense that you are not ‘as enthusiastic and as passionate’ anymore?” He took some time to tell this: “Well, I sense that my enthusiasm and passion are not the same as they used to be once, when I was younger,” he adm...

Pic.: Uttam Ghosh “Even in the midst of the storm the sun is still shining.”   ―   Dayna Lovely I t is not easy for us to admit our mistakes. If we are public figures, it is even more so… very, very tough. That’s why, of all the character strengths, I have, always, held that this strength – the ability to accept one’s mistakes and to be ready to do amends – as the greatest one. Presently, a dear-old-friend of mine is going through a life-churning process. He is 50. When young, his sole aim had been to reach ‘the top’ in corporate world. So, consumed by this burning desire, he worked round the clock… ignoring what his young wife and little daughter really wanted from him. He worked hard, almost killing him… to give them the best material comforts - a great house, chauffeur-driven car, the best school for the daughter and goodies for his wife… Yes, he gave them everything except the emotional closeness when they badly needed it… And,...

Pic.: U ttam Ghosh “Even in the midst of the storm the sun is still shining.”   ―   Dayna Lovely I t is not easy for us to admit our mistakes. If we are public figures, it is even more so… very, very tough. That’s why, of all the character strengths, I have, always, held that this strength – the ability to accept one’s mistakes and to be ready to do amends – as the greatest one. Presently, a dear-old-friend of mine is going through a life-churning process. He is 50. When young, his sole aim had been to reach ‘the top’ in corporate world. So, consumed by this burning desire, he worked round the clock… ignoring what his young wife and little daughter really wanted from him. He worked hard, almost killing him… to give them the best material comforts - a great house, chauffeur-driven car, the best school for the daughter and goodies for his wife… Yes, he gave them everything except the emotional closeness when they badly needed...