SU ENDARE SUKRUNDE


















"Fear is the lengthened shadow of ignorance.”

— Arnold Glasow
Some forty years ago, when I came to this one-of-a-kind city, Bombay – now Mumbai - my uncle and aunt (dad’s younger brother and his wife) were kind enough to accommodate me in their small house for seven long years. I lived with them as their own son. I learnt to be more responsible, disciplined, and, above all, more adjustable while I lived with them. I loved my aunt’s funny one-liners. One of them was my favorite: ‘Su endare sukrunde’… Translated from Kannada, it meant: Su means Sukurunde!


Well, ‘sukrunde’ is the name of a local (Mangalorean) sweet-laddo. So, just a ‘su’ is enough for a gossip-monger or a rumour-monger to make a nice ‘sukrunde’… It was her pet one-liner, which she used every time she would hear someone around her spinning baseless stories – gossip and rumour (Today’s ‘fake news’, which, in our local Tulu, we called ‘Ge Suddhi’) - my aunt had her one-liner ready in Kannada: “Su endare sukrunde”… Su means Sukrunde!


Does it ring a bell, today?


I am tired of the Corona news… The rumours, gossips, fake news – the ge suddhi’s – yes, they spread not only faster than the Corona virus, they also are more dangerous!


Fear and panic are more pandemic than any kind of virus in this world… The human mind is more susceptible than the human body, you see!


Am I underestimating the danger we are faced with?


No, I am not. It’s not a laughing matter or something that should be taken lightly. Yes, I, too, am concerned and serious…


But, I just get put off when all and sundry start making sukrunde’s out of su’s… Well, it may sound blasphemous to say this: when they make a mountain out of a molehill!


The problem faced by us – the Corona Virus – is real. And, the other problem faced by all of us – the Sukrunde Virus – is also real!


Luckily, there is a lot of humour floating around… Most of it is very creative. I really think, that humour is the best medicine, if not for the Corona Virus, it’s the best medicine to cure ourselves from the onslaught of the Sukrunde Virus!


“I would have died by now,” I just told my friend, Joe, over the telephone, “without these funny Corona jokes.”



They say, that the tragedies and the calamities, come to teach us some valuable lessons. It is true and false, both... 

 What have we learnt from all the natural or man-made disasters in the past – earthquakes, tsunamis, wars or riots? 

 What have we learnt from the social ills like Apartheid, Holocaust or Untouchability? 

 What have we learnt from the religious and racist bias? 

 What have we learnt from all the epidemics and pandemics of the past – Small Pox, Cholera, Swine Flu, Bird Flu, Leprosy or whatever?


Are we not already distancing socially?


Yes, after some time, the Cororna will go. But, the ‘ills’ plaguing our souls… I doubt they will…


Am I being too pessimistic?


I am not.






GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.:news.imitate.com

Video: Gaiea Sanskrit


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...