YOU CANNOT STEP INTO THE SAME RIVER TWICE





When it comes to ‘packaging’ myself – I mean ‘branding and marketing’ – I am very bad. My FB display picture belongs to stone-age… “Why don’t you change it?” many tell me with good intention, “You have best photographer friends around you.”

“Jaisi shakal waisi photo,” I brush aside my friends’ suggestion, “Ki farak painda?”

On Sunday (11th June), we had the Dawn Club certification programme. Yesterday, I shared some ten pictures clicked during the occasion. One of them was mine – a solo. That was enough to open the floodgates of comments… the most interesting one is this: “Sir (Gerry) you look same.” Or, “You haven’t changed at all!”

It is then I realized how casually I have said the same to others, so often: “Hey, you haven’t changed at all!”

What a lie that is!

“You cannot step into the same river twice.” It is a profound quote from the philosopher Heraclitus. My friend, Dr. Deepak, used this on Sunday in his parting message to our young ones. They all had joined the P.D. course a month or two ago… Now, they had assembled to receive their certificates… In a span of one or two months, had they changed or were they same as they were while stepping into the ‘constantly-flowing river’ weeks ago? Dr. Deepak wanted to tell them, “My young friends, Life is like a river that constantly flows… You cannot step into the same river twice… Neither will you find the same river… nor will you find the same you…The River will change… You will change… Life experiences are in an endless flux… And, that’s how your life should be… A new you touched by a new river!”





So, what about the compliment on my photo – “Sir (Gerry) you are same” or “You haven’t changed at all”?

Deepak, yaar, please tell them what you told the bachhas on Sunday…


GERALD D’CUNHA


Pic.: Amol Kshirsagar

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

"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 painful that
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 does it matter
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...