CELEBRATING LUCCA'S WORLD

 

“Being a champion is all well and  good;

but, you can’t eat a crown.”

Althea Gibson

 

Late last night, I received a message from Mrs. Geeta Kulkarni, who presently lives in Pune:

“Hi Gerry, how are you? How’s Anima and your son?

I had a long chat with Kamala Parthasarathy… She said, that she reads your blogs and loves them lots and lots. She is in USA with her daughter. She is 80-plus. She has asked your number, and I have given it to her.”

It was 1980 June-July months. I had come to this big city in October of earlier year… My dad’s brother, who was a small man in BARC, was gracious enough to accommodate me as his own son (I went on to live with his family for seven long years after that). My heart was longing to be a teacher. But, I wasn’t qualified enough to take up a conventional lecturer’s job in a junior or degree college… My only qualification was, that I was hugely inspired by my own idol, my degree-college professor – Mr. B. S Raman… I wanted to teach like him, and write like him. He was the legendary professor and author from St. Aloysius College, my alma mater in Mangalore. My other qualification was, that I was hugely inspired by Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’… I had picked a used copy of this classic on the footpaths near Churchgate station when I was a jobless stranger but an incessant dreamer…

So, after a grueling 4-month streak of joblessness in this city, no money in my pocket, felt humiliated at the cabin of a railway TC for travelling without a ticket (for than two/three months that is), one morning I had decided to walk into Anushakti Nagar colony, knock on the doors, and ‘sell myself’ as a teacher… I had decided not to look back. I was barely 20-plus… and, the doors had started opening for me. In a few days, I was approached by Mr. Sheshadri, the gentle Principal of the Atomic Energy Junior College at that time… Mrs. Geeta Kulkarni, the popular Accountancy lecturer, was to go on a maternity leave (about 3-4 months)… The Principal persuaded me to take up this ‘ad hock’ placement… “It will help you in your career; take it as a great opportunity,” he counselled me sincerely…

I remember the anxiety I was experiencing… I was extremely raw… Geeta ma’am and Sheshadri Sir, I still remember sitting in that classroom while I took a trial session on ‘Depreciation’… The rest was my history…

I ended up being in AEJC for more than a year, thanks to the extended leave by Geeta ma’am. Sheshadri Sir was right… The break I had received, all out of the blue, was , indeed, a great opportunity in my life…

As I was shy, I  spent most of my free time in the amazing college library; at other times, I would spend time in the teachers’ room. But, my interaction was essentially confined to a few teachers like Mr. Bose, Kamala Parthasarathy ma’am (popular English lecturer) and Geeta ma’am (after she resumed). I remember how they constantly kept encouraging and complimenting me. For a young man, who desperately needed some validation, the encouragement and appreciation from Geeta ma’am and Parthasarathy ma’am had come like manna from heaven…

I stayed in touch with Geeta ma’am; but, I lost contact with Kamala Parthasarathy ma’am, Geeta ma’am, who was in touch with Parthasarathy ma’am, would, regularly, update me about her friend. Then, some years ago, I randomly connected with Parthasarathy ma’am on FB… without realizing, that she read and loved by blogs…

Kamala Parthasarathy ma'am (second from our right) celebrating her b'day with family.

Geeta Kulkarni ma'am graced The Dawn Club Certification function in June 2019

English was my weak point as I studied in a vernacular medium. But, then, realizing the truth, that if I had to teach well and write well like my idol, Prof. Raman, I had to do something about my two handicaps: my poor English and my crippling stage-fear…These two handicaps turned out to be my greatest driving forces. My incessant writings have come from that origin: I wanted to beat my fears, overcome my handicaps… to be a ‘Champ’ in what I wanted to be…

Yesterday was my friend (and dear ex-student) Umang’s birthday. He and my son, Kenrick, are professionally involved. Umang’s younger daughter has been a massive fan of the music group ‘Green Day’. Last evening, she organized three passes to attend the popular music festival – ‘Lollapalooza’ - at the iconic Mahalaxmi Race course (Where several leading music groups, including ‘Green Day’, were scheduled to perform)… The passes were supposed to be for her parents and herself. But, Umang’s wife, Pooja, being a diehard cricket fan, wanted to watch the Finals of Champion Trophy (India-New Zealand) at her place with her equally-diehard cricket friends. My son is no less a cricket buff, nor is he a lesser buff of this music festival (particularly, the band  ‘Green Day’). So, he joined Umang and his daughter and ended up celebrating at the Lollapalooza Music Festival, which, co-incidentally, ended with India’s remarkable victory at the Dubai venue…

Here, at home, my wife and I, at the same time, chose to watch a beautiful movie on NETFLIX… ‘Lucca’s World’…

The movie is about the heartbreaking and inspiring struggle of Barbara, Lucca’s mother, to help her little son, Lucca, who is born with Cerebral Palsy…

I don’t wish to tell you more about this woman and her husband’s never-say-die spirit… Their fight. The only thing I want to tell you is this - “Please watch it on NETFLIX.”

In the darkness, when the crackers were going up in the air, when the music buffs returned home – doubly excited… I found on my phone a quiet message from two of my original cheerleaders…

Oh yes! I felt as though I had just won the Champion Trophy, as the band played from behind…

I could, also, hear in the background, what John F. Kennedy once said: “Victory has many fathers; but, defeat is an orphan.”

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic’s: 1. readysteadycut.com    2. Kamala Parthasarathy n 3.  gettyimages

Video: 1. The Dawn Club   2.  MVSRS   2. Roger Wittaker