Gerald D'Cunha

“Dismiss thoughts of good, bad, right, wrong, success, failure – be spontaneous.” Joshua L. Goldberg   O ne evening, I was returning from work… It was around 6.30, and I was especially tired on that day… Two more long-distance zoom sessions still awaited after reaching home… As it was a rush-hour for our building lift, when I sneaked in, it was already packed with people returning from their duties, some elderly men and women returning after their daily walk… Just when the lift door was about close, two little boys – probably about age 9 or 10 – got in. There was no place; still, they didn’t care, nor did any of us , the so-called ‘elders’ who were weight-conscious…. We knew, that the lift would happily take  few kilos of additional weight… So, as the lift started taking us up, the two little friends -  one, quite chubby and heavier in size holding a bat in his hand, the other, a lean, little sardar – continued their animated conversation… They seemed least bother...

“How you treat yourself is how you are inviting the world to treat you.” -           Anonymous S ome days ago, I was holding a training session in a reputed college in Mumbai. There were about 80 participants, all of them from S.Y. BMS. The subject was: ‘Self-confidence and Communication Skills.’ As I always do, I had shared with the young ones my own story. The reason why I do it is because, If I am expected to guide the in that area, then I need to tell them how I did it for myself… Was I self-confident and good in communication when I was their age or was I struggling with the same issues? If I have overcome my problems, then, there must be a road-map… I, always, share that with young kids, wherever and whenever I hold the programme on this subject. During the Q & A time, a young boy had a question. “Sir, I could really relate to your story,” he said, “I, too, was innocent and c...

Pic.:Shankar Ramachandran A 14-year-old girl was on stage. “What makes me happy?” was the spontaneous topic we had chosen for the day. I had watched this girl on stage, during our sessions in the past years… She was a teenager now, and, I saw the self-consciousness telling it on her body… Her hands shivered, legs moved awkwardly, eyes blurred and voice cracked…   “Don’t worry beta about what is happening to you,” I encouraged the young-one, “just feel your fear fully… It will die.” I could see an immediate denial, “Sir I am not frightened.” She did not tell me that; but, from my own expereicne, I could read her heart… “ Beta, when you used to go on stage a few years ago, you would do it so naturally, so fearlessly… and, now, when you are a teenager, you tend to become a lot ‘self-conscious’… That’s a natural growing-up process. Don’t worry.” The girl seemed more relaxed now… “Thank God, I am normal!” “I did not say, you become ‘conscious’… I...