Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I did – and found very effective – was telling a nice story in two tenses… the Present and the Past. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people, who were earnest about improving their English, with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and, then, tell it to someone! This old story dramatically describes as to what happens if we do not learn to be assertive in life… if we do not stand for our rights… THE COBRA’S PROMISE PAST: There lived a Swami in a village temple. People from the village came there to pray. On the way to this temple, there was a large banyan tree, under which, in a hole, lived a cobra, peacefully. One evening, while the children were playing around the tree, one of them stamped on the snake-hole. The cobra, in his self-defense, attacked the child. The poison quickly spread in chi...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I did – and found very effective – was telling a nice story in two tenses… the Present and the Past. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people, who were earnest about improving their English, with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and, then, tell it to someone! Every time the thoughts of my future uncertainty come to haunt me, this childhood fable comes to my rescue… YOU TAKE HOME ONLY WHAT YOUR ‘DESERVE’ PAST: I n a village, there lived a milkman. Every day, he walked near and far to sell milk in the village. With whatever money he earned, he was content and lived a simple yet happy life with his family. And, as years passed by, a thought began to trouble him: “I am getting older and tired… I won’t be able to go around the village like this for long… The family needs are increasing… my daughters...

Pic.: Azriel D'Souza Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I did – and found very effective – was telling a nice story in two tenses… the Present and the Past. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people, who were earnest about improving their English, with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and, then, tell it to someone! This little Zen story has always calmed me down whenever I have struggled to understand the good and the bad in me… and in the people around me… DOING OUR KARMA AND DOING OUR DHARMA PAST: One day, a monk was bathing in a river. He saw a scorpion drowning and instinctively placed his hand under the water and gently lifted the creature on his palm. But, the scorpion started jumping and stinging and, soon, fell into the river… The monk, once again, took his hand under the water to save the drowning scorpion. But, the creature continued to be...

Pic:. Anima D'Cunha Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I did – and found very effective – was telling a nice story in two tenses… the Present and the Past. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people, who were earnest about improving their English, with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and, then, tell it to someone! The  story below is one of my favorite childhood stories… I love to call it the story of ‘THREE DONKEYS’!!! THE STORY OF ‘THREE DONKEYS’ PAST: One day, a father and his son went to the marketplace to sell some goods. Their donkey had carried the goods for them. By noon, they had sold off their goods and they were on their way home. As goods were not there, the son was sitting on the donkey. A passerby saw this and exclaimed, “How bad… The young man is enjoying the ride and the poor old-father is made to walk in the hot sun!” On...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I did – and found very effective – was telling a nice story in two tenses… the Present and the Past. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people, who were earnest about improving their English, with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and, then, tell it to someone! Presently, I am helping a young businessman by the name Pravin Pahuja. “Just twenty stories, Pravin,” I have told him, “You write down just twenty nice stories in two tenses… and, then, narrate them to someone in the same way… Your English will fall in place and, along with it, you will become an effective communicator, too.” Pravin has already written some… This is one of them… PAST: In a village, the fishermen had just returned after their daily catch. As they were sorting out the fishes, a kite swooped down, picked a fish by its beak and shot up int...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha S econds before my wife and I walked into the theatre, last evening, I received a phone call from one of our friends, a lady. When I told her that we were walking into the theatre, she asked, “Which movie?” “Udta Punjab,” I replied. “It’s a dark movie,” our friend warned, “It might disturb you.” Both my wife and I knew ‘Udta Punjab’ would be a hard-hitting and a no-nonsense movie and we were prepared for it… So, I did not let our friend’s view cloud mine… My wife and I both loved the movie. And, yes, we both have been great fans of Alia Bhatt… and, here was one more reason why we had to admire her even more. To me, the movie is about ‘hope’ and ‘despair’ of individuals… There is this one scene where Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, who were deeply addicted and who were on the run, meet at a hiding place. They click. Shahid, despite tasting stardom as a rock star, now has resigned as a ‘Loser’… He has even declared it ...

Pic.: Shoba N Krishnan S ome of my twelfth-standard students, whose college timings are in the afternoon, had joined the morning batch in my classes. The batch timing was 9 to 10, thrice a week. Two days ago, the majority of these students approached me to change the timings to 8 to 9. As I was discussing this issue, I found a couple of students throwing a lot of resistance... “Why… What is your problem?” I asked them. “Sir, it is too early,” the answer was unanimous. Had the answer been, “Sir, we have another tuition class at 8,” or “Sir, my Gym or Cricket- coaching timings are clashing,” or, “Sir, I have to help my mom in the kitchen (Most unlikely, though!”)… yes, had the answer been one of these, I would have empathized with my resisting students… But, “Sir, it is too early”? “Nothing doing,"  I blasted, "i t will be 8 from the next class.” Today was the ‘next class’. I was keen to note the impact of my decree. Surprisingly, the...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha O n 12 th June, 2016, The Dawn Club Centre of Excellence had published its latest book – ‘WHAT MAKES ME CONFIDENT’. I wish to share with you, in today’s blog, the ‘Afterword’ I had written for this book… S everal years ago, I found a small book by the title - ‘Changes’. It was a book written for adolescents and it carried guest articles from some of American icons. All of them had shared in this book their stories – how they became confident and successful in life. What I loved the most about this book was the simple imagery used by the author (Mysteriously, I don’t remember the author’s name… and, I have failed to get it from every source I have tried) to explain to little-ones how to be self-confident in life. I loved the imagery so much, that, over all these years, I have shared it with my own students – both, little-ones and young-ones. Here is the imagery… “Self-confidence is like a stool with three legs,” the author tells in the ...