YOUR SHYNESS WILL FOLLOW YOU LIKE YOUR SHADOW










Pic.: Anima D'Cunha


“I'm still shy," I admit, pulling the sleeves over my hands,"
and I might always be,
I don't know, but I think you can be shy and still feel okay
about yourself at the same time.” 

A ten-year-old boy’s mother said to me, this morning, “Sir my son is an excellent cricket player… He goes for coaching and plays matches… He loves cricket and the happiest when he plays or watches cricket.” But, then, this lady was anxious… She continued, “He is very, very shy sir… I am a bit anxious.”

I smiled… “Don’t be anxious ma’am… Shy people are beautiful people… They are very sensitive.”

“I know that sir,” the mother blushed, “Even I am an extremely shy person… But…”

“There it is, ma’am,” I exclaimed, “If shyness has remained in you even at your age, it will remain in your son when he grows up, too… Yes, it will follow him like his shadow.”

Shyness doesn’t go… It is the core of our personality. God has placed this core in us… just like He has made a Touch-me-not plant… It is something beautiful about us… something special, unique. Everything we do in the process of expressing ourselves – as we succeed - happens only around our shyness… not ‘without’ it…

Shy people, therefore, will always remain shy people… Yes, just like a Touch-me-not. “So long as your shyness doesn’t come on your way of success – doesn’t stop you from achieving what you really want to,” I remind all my Touch-me-nots (and their concerned parents) “You need not worry about the shyness… It will only inspire you to succeed well, live your dream well… You need to know how to use your shyness to your advantage… as an asset.”

Haruki Murakami said: “Deep rivers run quiet.”

Last morning, when an eight-year-old shy girl was on stage to speak, I could sense the sensitivity and uniqueness she was endowed with… “What shall I talk on?” her shy look asked me…

“I AM A TOUCH-ME-NOT”… I prodded.

GERLALD D’CUNHA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...