Gerald D'Cunha

“Divided by politics, united by Old Monk!” I still smile recalling this status on FB by a friend of mine who was, is and will be a fierce bhak t of the government at the centre. This friend of mine is a successful professional; and, needless to say, that he has clients and professional colleagues, who either blindly prostrate before the leaders of current regime, or outright condemn them. I was unable to understand, being a successful professional, why was he inviting such extreme reactions from his clients and professional colleagues with his relentless attack on the opposition and dawn-to-dusk veneration of the regime he loved… Bad professionalism and a bad friendship! Yes, that’s how, I personally perceived this senseless public display of love and hate. There was another gentleman in the friend-list of my friend. He was a senior professional and even more successful. This gentleman hated the current regime like one hated the Ammonia smell. Every post of my friend showing his...

“Sometimes, love blinds us; other times, it lets us see.” -       Paulo Coelho A FB friends of mine was a die-hard fan of one of the political parties, especially its supreme leader. For about three-four years, I would get on FB his absolutely-polarized posts - either glorifying everything about his idol and his party, or brutally demeaning the opponents. I remember blocking his posts regularly. But, they would surface relentlessly, again and again. The blind worship had made him see nothing good on the other side of the divide and nothing wrong on his side… It was black, or it was white… No shades in between. The fact, that his friends belonged to both sides of the divide and many of them, including me, would not like his ‘public display of affection’… yes, he seemed to have hardly bothered about it… Just how many couples do love on the roadsides… or, on these social platforms! While such PDA continues to be there - left right and the c...