Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Mini Milind Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I did – and found it very useful – was telling a nice story in two tenses… Past and Present. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people who were earnest to improve their English with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and tell it to someone. I like this little story immensely. It helps me remain aligned to some of the values I believe in. When everyone around keeps telling me, certain people cannot be trusted, when everyone around me keeps telling me to make a ‘fast kill’… I remember this story… My sweet first-standard teacher had dramatized it as a musical… Incidentally, my teacher’s name was Mrs. Satyawati… The truthful one. THE TIGER AND THE COW PAST: O ne late evening, a cow was returning to her home through a jungle. A hungry tiger came to attack her. She was the ideal dinner for the hu...

Pic.: Vincent D'Souza Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I did – and found it very useful – was telling a nice story in two tenses… Past and Present. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people who were earnest to improve their English with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and tell it to someone. I, often, recount this Tenali tale to some of my students… to remind them, that, the cats, which are over-fed with milk, are least interested in catching the mice! TENALI RAMA’S CAT PAST: O nce,   the King of Vijayanagara,    Krishnadeva Raya, began to receive many complaints from the poor farmers in his kingdom. The mice were destroying their crop and they wanted their King to do something about it. After consulting his advisors, the King imported hundreds of cats from Persia to end the mice menace. He also arranged for plenty of cows...

Pic..: Chetna Shetty Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I did – and found it very useful – was telling a nice story in two tenses… Past and Present. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people who were earnest to improve their English with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and tell it to someone. Every time I see a ‘fox’ around me, I think of this story… and, yes, I console myself! THE CAMEL AND THE FOX   PAST: A camel and a fox had become friends. There was a sugarcane field on the other side of the river and, often, the camel carried the fox on his back across for food. One day, after crossing the river, the camel slowly started munching the sugarcane while the fox quickly gobbled a couple of chicken from the farm. Once his stomach was full, the fox began to howl loudly. “What are you doing?” cried the shocked camel, “I have not yet ...

Pic.: Kushboo Gulrajani Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I did – and found it very useful – was telling a nice story in two tenses… Past and Present. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people who were earnest to improve their English with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and tell it to someone. Here is one more Mulla Nasruddin story… I can never have enough of them. CENTRE OF THE EARTH PAST.: O ne day, when Mulla Nasruddin was in a foul mood, a scholar approached him and asked, “Hey Mulla, do you know where  centre of the Earth is?” “Oh yes,” Mulla replied without even blinking. “Where? Can you show me?” the know-all scholar challenged. “Right here,” Mulla pointed, caressing sweetly his beloved donkey, “right under this right foot of my sweet donkey.” There is no record, whether the Scholar had ventur...

Pic.: Kushboo Gulrajani Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I  did – and found it very useful – was telling a nice story in two tenses… Past and Present. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people who were earnest to improve their English with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and tell it to someone. This story is widely used in today’s Management Schools… Yes, just to convey the lesson: You cannot solve your new problems using old techniques. HOW TO OUTSMART  THE MONKEYS PAST: O nce, a cap-seller was passing through a forest. He was carrying a basketful of colorful caps. As he was very tired, he decided to take a short nap in the shade of a tree. While the cap-seller was fast asleep, a group of monkeys got down from the tree and took away a cap each. They climbed back the tree, and sat there, each one of them wearing a cap. When the cap-selle...

Pic.: Mini Milind 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… United we stand, divided we fall There are many stories teaching us this simple truth… This is one of them… Timeless! THE LION AND THE BULLS PAST: T here lived in a jungle four wild bulls. They were close friends and always gazed together, rested together… It was so wonderful just to watch them being together.  A lion lived in the same jungle. He wanted to kill the bulls for his meal. But, as they always moved together, he was afraid to attack them. For days on, the lion kept a vigil on the four bulls… He wanted them to break their unity…...

Pic.: Avinash Mantri M any years ago, I had found this story in the book ‘Tales and Parables of Sri. Ramakrishna’ by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. I was a young man in my early twenties then, and I  had just started my teaching career… Yesterday, I turned 58… My wife and I spent two amazing days in Pune with our son Kenrick and dear friend Dr. Deepak While having our quiet birthday dinner, Dr. Deepak asked me, “So, what is your Bucket List?” Earlier during the day, I had received a pleasant phone call from Mario. Some thirty-six years ago, one afternoon, I had rung their door-bell when I was looking for a student or two to teach… I was dying to teach… I was full of enthusiasm and I was fearless and shameless about it… So, that day, Mario had opened the door and liked my zest… and got me one of my first students - his brother, Joe. “Gerry, my mom was very fond of you and saw you as one of her own sons,” yesterday Mario reminded me,  “It is good to s...