Gerald D'Cunha

  “When you don’t have resources, you become resourceful.” K. R. Shridhar   I must’ve spoken to, or chatted with, at least a dozen people today. Invariably, all of us have checked with each other by asking -   “How are you?”, or “All is well?” And, invariably, all of us have replied by saying - “I am good”, or “Yes, all is well.” Now, all of us were not honest here: All has not been well for all of us during last several months. For most of us, the primary worry and anxiety has been our drained resources. But, despite this reality – and despite an uncertain time ahead – almost all of us have learnt to wear a brave face and say – “I am good”… “Yes, all is well.” Not having enough resources and not being enough resourceful are as different as a day and a night. Complaining about our tough times makes us even weaker. On the other hand, doing whatever is possible, with whatever we possess, and, importantly, from wherever we stand… yes, this is what being resou...

  “To win the people, always cook   them some savoury that pleases them.” Aristophanes, The  Knights   S ome months ago, when I first came across a YouTube video by the name ‘Village Cooking Channel’, I instantly fell in love with it. Village-cooking videos on YouTube are not a novelty… There are thousands of them. But, this one was distinct and special in many ways. It was brisk, it was authentic… and, it filled the viewers with energy and joy. So much so, one felt like not only visiting such villages, but settling down there, permanently.       I remember watching a couple of videos from this YouTube channel some days ago… It was late night, and I was feeling extremely low. These guys brought a smile back on my face, and fired energy back into my heart! The very night, I wanted to blog about them. Somehow, the night passed and days, too, without a blog on them. And, just a while ago, I watched this one, their latest… S o many of us ...

  “Patriotism is a thing of the heart. A man is a Patriot if his heart beats true to his country.” Charles E. Jefferson A s we saw the ‘two parades’ in our national capital on this Republic Day… I wondered: In which parade did I find myself – the one which I grew up watching at the grand Rajpath, or the one I was watching, for the first time, now, on the streets of our capital with a sea of farmers and their tractors? I wondered: Who was more patriotic – the one who stood along the Rajpath, or the one who stood along the rugged streets of our capital? The consequent chaos at the Red Fort – and then, the all-familiar ‘blame-game’ – made me further wonder: Am I a pretentious patriot, or a true one? I checked if I still remembered what I was taught, when I was a little boy, to be the meaning and significance of our tricolour… The deep saffron signified strength and courage… It doesn’t matter to which religious faith I belong. This occupies the topmost space of the tr...

  “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin   “Y ou are not your father’s care-off.” This line has stayed with me for over three decades. One of our senior trainers would nail it into the skulls of our young   boys and girls, to drive home the point, “Dude, don’t live on your pop’s wealth… Earn your own.” As I write this, I have a couple of my eleventh-standard students, who are still on a long holiday-mood. Normally, this is the time, they write their Prelims and get set for the Finals. But, this has been such a crazy year, here in Maharashtra… Till the other day, these kids were not sure of their eleventh-standard admissions. Finally, just a few days ago, they learnt about their respective colleges. Following this, some colleges stared their online lectures; some, didn’t. Some of these boys and girls are under my tutelage. There are two categories here: Those who are conscious of the uncertain times in which they are starting their ju...

  "When you win, say nothing; when you lose, say less.” Paul Brown   S ome days ago, when India staged an unbelievable win at The Gabba, Brisbane and clinched the latest Border-Gavaskar Test Series, the high that we all received seemed perfectly reasonable. After all, we had achieved the unthinkable – with a bunch of inexperienced and untested boys. Just think of it: In the first Test, our ‘formidable’ squad had crashed at 36, the lowest in our Test-matches history. And, here we were, on the last day of the last Test-match: Clinching a series, thanks to the boys who were supposed to be ‘extras’! Moral of the story? Nobody remembers the humiliating defeat of our ‘formidable side’ just weeks ago… Everyone remembers only the sweet victory… All is well that ends well… Yes, winner takes it all! That day, when we won at the Gabba grounds, I was teaching online, my room-door closed. But, even with door closed, I could hear my 28-year-old son screaming, clapping, whi...

  “When the day comes, we ask ourselves where can we find light in the never-ending shade… The loss we carry, a sea must wade, We have braved the belly of the beast, We have learned that quiet isn’t always peace, And the norms and the notions of what just is isn’t always justice And yet, the dawn is hours before we knew it… Somehow we do it.” From the poem – ‘The Hill We Climb’ recited by Youth Poet-Laureate Amanda Gorman at Joe Biden’s inaugural ceremony .   I wanted to watch the live inaugural-ceremony of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for several reasons. One of the reasons was this: I wanted someone to ignite in my bosoms – Hope! It’s immaterial whether I live in distant America or here in India, Hope is mankind’s deepest need for survival. I firmly believe, that there is light at the end of any dark tunnel we now find ourselves in. So, when someone like Joe Biden, who now heads the most powerful – but severely bruised – democracies in the world, st...

  “It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” Roy Disney   S ometime before the pandemic broke out, my wife and I had been for our annual Tai Chi camp at Lonavala. As it happens at every such camp, this time, too, we got to meet and become friends with many wonderful fellow-learners. One such person was a senior faculty in an engineering college in Mumbai. During the course of our discussion, she narrated to some of us an incident in her teaching career. Apparently, one of the students of our new friend was caught indulging in unfair practice during his exams. Consequently, he was failed. Being the faculty directly in charge, one night, she found at her door the student accompanied by his father. It seemed, that the family was well-placed financially and fairly educated, too. The house visit was to persuade the faculty-in-charge to ‘do something’ and promote the young man. But, our professor-friend, tried her best to explain to the son and t...

  “Lean on me when you are not strong, And I will be your friend.” From the song ‘Lean on Me’ by Bill Withers   O ne of the phrases which I, often, use to console a near and dear one on the loss of someone in his/her family is - “Be strong”. It comes to me without any pretense or dishonesty… I know the person whom I am trying to console with this phrase – ‘Be Strong’ – is cracking and weak, at the moment… I know it’s not easy for him/her to be strong, at the moment… I know he/she is not in a position to see light at the end of the tunnel, at the moment. But, I, also, know this: The strength inside the bosoms is what remains when one has grieved enough, and been healed enough. That’s why, I believe, that we need each other to lean on… I need you as my friend, and you need me as your friend. And for this, we need to ‘open up’… Show our true emotions… There is strength in our honest emotions… There is healing and freedom. Joe Biden, as on today, is still a ‘Presiden...

  “The strongest of all warriors are these two: Time and Patience.” Leo Tolstoy in ‘War and Peace’   “I t takes twenty long years to become an overnight success!” This was how my dear friend, and a fellow-trainer, Dr. Deepak, would tease the young ones in our Personality Development sessions… Yes, to drill into their semi-hard heads, this: “My young friends, you need to have loads and loads of patience… You need to wait for the harvest!” Yesterday, another friend of mine shared this conversation on WhatsApp: Reporter : “Sir, the farmers’ movement has met with the government 10 times so far and now they have given yet another date for meeting. Are you not tired? Not losing heart?” Rakesh Tikait (Leader of farmers’ union) : “Farmers are an epitome of patience and optimism. We sow seeds and wait for 6 months to see it grow. And then, when hailstorm destroys our crops, we are broken, but we don’t run away. We stay back and work on our fields and prepare for the nex...

  “The other side of every fear is freedom.” Marilyn Ferguson   S usan Jeffers, in her famous book – ‘Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway’- lays down five truths about fear. One of them is: ‘The only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is - to go out and do it.’ How true! But, then, let me take my own fear of sky diving, bungee jumping, scuba diving. Why go so far... Let me take my fear of driving, swimming or technology. I know, if I have to overcome these fears, I just need to face them - ‘go out and do them’. Is it, also, not true for every other fear: public speaking, writing exams, facing job interviews, getting married, setting up a business, raising children, juggling with finances or dealing with difficult people etc., etc., etc.? By now, we have realized this: though every fear can be overcome, if we muster enough courage to face it, in reality, all of us are able to deal with only some of them… Not all. Is that okay? It’s perfectly okay… It’s p...