Gerald D'Cunha

“ If you can gift your son or daughter only one gift – let it be enthusiasm.” Bruce Barton W hy only to son or daughter?   Most of us know what a valuable gift enthusiasm is. So, be it our students, employees or associates – for that matter, anyone who comes in contact with us - gifting away enthusiasm is one of the most empowering acts you and I can carry out. By the way, does it work other way round, too? Do our young sons and daughters, our students, associates and employees, too, gift us enthusiasm? I believe, they do. Just as parents gift their children, teachers gift their students and employers gift their employees this valuable gift – enthusiasm, children, students and employees, too, gift their counterparts the same. So, it works from both the ends. Because, on both the ends, there live humans… They all need to be charged… enthused! As a teacher, I have survived for over four decades, not only due to my own enthusiasm, I have survived...

Pic.: Anand Ashokan M ayank* is a wonderful boy. He is in twelfth standard – ISC and goes to a reputed institution. Besides, he comes from a wonderful family... Both parents are highly educated, and the family is blessed with, almost, everything one would desire. But, to me, Mayank has been a kind of mystery. He loves me and respects me. But, lets me down when it comes to his attendance... If he attends one class, he misses two, at times, three! I have tried my level best to make him understand... He realizes his problem, gives me a new promise... only to break it, once again! This has been going on right since his eleventh standard. This year, he has Board exams; so, I am quite concerned... Yesterday, Mayank had attended my class after missing three classes in succession. I consciously decided not to ‘lecture’ him or ‘scold’ him. It was futile, I knew it... If it hadn’t worked for this long, it wouldn’t for whatever period is now left. So, I went about  te...