Gerald D'Cunha

    “Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.”   Pierre Teilhard de Chardin   I remember my excitement as a kid… I loved making the Christmas crib… Back then, in our village home, there wasn’t any electricity, not to mention money… The crib, that kids like me set up, was in today’s lingo – purely organic… The hills raised out of mud fetched from nearby paddy fields, the stones from another hill – a real one – nearby, the grass from a neighbour's backyard… the   light for baby Jesus' manger   came from the desi jugad – a candle placed inside a coconut shell , or - if there were some coins to indulge in - a little bulb lit up through torch batteries and wires… Whatever that was, it was pure joy… As I grew into adulthood, I saw it dimming, slowly dying… But, the child in us seldom dies…Don’t you agree? As you become an adult, the excitement of setting up the Christmas crib gets replaced by several other simple things… Each one of us ha...

  “Every challenge, every adversity, contains within it the seeds of opportunity and growth.” Roy Bonnett   I n 2024, I lost my Mom. But, she lived close the age 90. Dad had passed away in 1983. Mom became a widow just after she had turned 48… But, she continued to live, with grace and grit, for the next 41-plus years. When Dad passed away, due to a massive heart attack, Mom – like any one lese in her place – wasn’t ‘prepared’ to absorb the shock and pain. Dad had left behind a huge challenge for her: to rise from the ashes or just perish… Mom chose to rise… But, Mom’s sweet sorrow – the sweet memories of Dad – she continued to bear in her heart till her memory was intact. Dad had passed away on the 2 nd Jan, a Sunday, early in the morning. So, for close to 40 years, since then, Mom would remind her sons, when they called her to wish ‘A Happy New year’ – “Tomorrow will be 10 years… 20 years… 30 years… 40 years… since Dad passed away”… Imagine, she started remindin...