Gerald D'Cunha

  “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” Pablo Picasso   I n last two weeks, I have personally visited, or consulted (over the phone), at least   half-a-dozen specialist doctors in connection with my wife’s health. Well, these doctors, as I said, are specialists and extremely busy people. People wait patiently for their turn to come, at times, for hours… That’s why they are called ‘patients’… Patience! “I can think, I can wait, I can fast”… I remembered Siddhartha’s famous reply to the question – “What work can you do best?” I am talking about the protagonist in Hermann Hesse’s famous novel ‘Siddhartha’ (and the movie by he same name starring Shashi Kapoor and Simi Garewal).The wanderer monk, Siddhartha’, was hired because of this response – “I can think, I can fast and I can wait.” L ate last night, one of my old students called me. “Sir, I am your ex-student, Siddharth Punjabi,” he introduced himself. Then, he e...

  “Spoon-feeding, in the long run, teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.” E. M. Forster   T here are two students of mine. Let me rename them, for this Post, as ‘Sanskar’ and ‘Dhruv’. Trust me, I am not renaming them according to   the meaning of these new names, or the actual names. They both are fine students, brought up by fine parents, and, yes, being sent to fine schools and colleges. Presently, they are in their final year of college. I had requested one of my friends, a Chartered Accountant, to teach these young boys ‘GST’ (Indirect Tax). As my friend is a busy professional, I did not want my boys to disrespect his time… I wanted to ensure, that the boys had discussed the timings for this week-end with my friend. So, I sent this message to my boys, last evening: “Hello Sanskar and Dhruv, I hope you both have discussed the timings with Sir for this week-end. Please do, if you haven’t.” “Yes Sir, done,” replied Dhruv, immediately. There was no...

  “Manners are a sensitive awareness of feelings of others. If you have that awareness, you have good manners, No matter what fork you use.” Emily Post   A young lady – let me name her Shyla* --   messaged me the other day (in my FB inbox): “Do you take (spoken) English classes?” I replied: “Hello Shyla, yes, I do. Can you please share your number, so that we can discuss about it. Regards.” After three days, today, I saw the response: “93……10” I called Shyla… “Hello Shyla, this is Gerry Sir,” I said. “Yes?” was her response. “You had enquired about the spoken English, right?” I reminded her. “Yes, tell me,” she said with the same deadpan tone. “Yes, Sir… Please tell me (Provide me the information/Give me the details)”… I asserted, knowing very well – It’s now or never! “Yes Sir… I want to be fluent in English… I am trying for a better job in an MNC,” she opened up. “That’s better, Shyla… If you want to be fluent in English, you don’t need me… S...