Gerald D'Cunha

  “Tears are words that need to be written.” Paulo Coelho   A while ago, I happened to meet this woman, who asked me, “How’s your health?” “Good… No complaints,” I responded without even blinking. The woman smiled as though to tell: “You are right… After all, complain to whom?” All is seldom good in life… There are a thousand problems to complain about… But, then, who do you complain to? I find myself, particularly since last night, saying repeatedly this simple prayer: “Thank you Lord… Help me Lord… Sorry Lord.” The woman, who asked me, ‘How’s your health?”, I am sure, has several challenges in life, including her own health issues or of those near and dear to her. Still, she asked me, with all her sincerity, “How’s your health?” (She knew about my health crisis and major surgeries I had undergone seven years ago.) “Why me?”… This comes from sadness - our self-pity and blame… I have asked this enough number of times, and, now, stopped asking it… “Thy w...

  “An attitude of entitlement is inversely related to one of gratitude.” Pete Wilson   E very time I use the expression, “You can’t be grateful and unhappy at the same time,” a thought passes through my mind: “Do I know what it really means?” One of my dear friends, often, likes to remind me, “Our problem is not ‘knowledge’; our problem is ‘implementation.” I, certainly, know what a powerful antidote ‘gratitude’ can be for ‘unhappiness’; but, when it comes to ‘living in a constant state of gratitude’ – it is really not easy. Like most around me, I, too, quite regularly, slip into the complaining mode – grumbling about what is missing in my life rather than appreciating and be thankful for what is there in my life – yes, this comes more naturally. Thus, to shake me hard from this kind of attitude of a lack of gratitude, I truly feel, that I need to come out of my own shell of self-pity and entitlement state-of-mind, and see around me to check how worse it is for m...

“No man, without trials and temptations, can attain a true understanding of  the Holy Scriptures.”  John Bunyan M y mom, 85, lives with my eldest brother’s family. We are five brothers. One is in Kuwait, two (including me) are in Mumbai and two are in our hometown, Mangalore (Mangaluru). In these difficult times, we four brothers feel so relieved and reassured – if those are the words, I can use to describe our feelings – that mom is in safe hands! Here in Mumbai, the very night when our PM announced the 21-day lockdown, both my wife and I packed our bags and moved to my in-laws’ place, with whom our 27-year-old son had been already living. My father-in-law is 85 and mother-in-law is nearing 80. The health has not been good and, now, the maids had stopped coming. Thus, we had to take a prompt decision, that very night… which proved to be the right one. On the surface, these things seem very ordinary. But, when...

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”   -       Mark Twain T welve-year-olds, Aadi and Tanmay, are classmates. Both of them have been enrolled for our upcoming Summer-programme on Personality Development. As schools are presently closed due to Corona virus, their parents wanted me to spend some time with the kids… and do whatever that could help them in life… anything. So, the kids were there with me, today, for an hour and half. I like to tell them some interesting stories… show some meaningful videos… make them read some fascinating things, and, then, speak or write about them. As there are no exams in this, and, as there is no right or wrong, they simply love these things… And, I love these things even more! It’s simply fun… A stress-buster for me! As parents of these kids have strictly instructed them, they carry along small bottles of sanitizers. As soon as they com...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty “B lessed is he who knows what he is blessed with!” I wish to limit this Post only to one of those blessings: our talents. When young-ones come to me complaining about their low self-confidence or low marks in exams, I send them back only with one advice: “Discover what you are good at… your talent; place your total trust in it and follow your heart… Confidence will automatically shoot up… Motivation will come on its own… Marks will just roll as the by-product of your work.” Many understand what I try to advise them, and many don’t. So, invariably, I tell them, this: “Blessed is he who knows what he is blessed with!” S uccess, to me, is the process of self-discovery. I am dead sure that there isn’t a single soul on this earth who has been sent here by God without being packed with a talent or two. Everyone, from a street urchin to a billionaire’s son, from an American to an Algerian, yes, every soul on this earth is blessed with some g...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty I n an all-in-one-room place, just next to my classes, a Rajasthani family has come to stay on rent. They have two little-daughters. The older one must be about the age 3 and the younger one 2. I do not think the young parents have had any schooling beyond the primary. The reason for saying this is: These parents have great respect to the college-going students who flow in and out of my classes every day. They watch them with sparkle in their eyes… They, also, have a great deal of reverence for teachers. The two little-ones come inside my class and either write A,B,C or draw something on my white board… They love asking a dozen questions till I gently send them off… Just a while ago, the younger-one, had come to see me. “Sir, mein school ja rahin hoon; Bye. ” Today was her maiden day. I did not ask whether it was a play school or nursery. That was not important to me. What made me happy was the enthusiasm with which she was saying ...

Pic.: Uttam Ghosh “A simple way to be grateful is to close your eyes for a minute and think of those who never got a chance to open them.” - Unknown W hen I was young, I, too, was an angry young-man! I was angry with God, my parents and the circumstances – for not providing me with comforts which many others around me were provided with. And, I believe, I was not the only young-man, at that time, who was angry for a reason like that… Young men and women are angry, even today, for the same reason. They have been so, I am sure, for centuries before I was a young man… Well, as I, always, say, “The end of our anger is the birth of our compassion.” One needs to be angry – pass through those flames – in order to experience silence and peace within… I did quite early as a young man… I learnt to be grateful for whatever God had blessed me with… and there were so many things in my life, I had to be grateful for. I learnt to lo...