Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Nicole Gubin T he thought that 2016 – the so-called New Year – would be a ‘leap year’ hadn’t crossed my mind, till a young-man reminded me of it at a function, two days ago. This man told me, that he was trying to go abroad for better prospects; but, he was unwilling to do so in 2016 as it would be a leap year. “I am told, that a leap year is not good for a major decision,” he said with conviction. “Do you believe in that theory?” I asked the young-man, almost amused. “Yes, I do,” came the answer, “I prefer to be a little superstitious when it comes to some things in life.” Well, I preferred to change the topic! 2015 is still not over. The flood-waters in Chennai haven’t fully gone back, yet. Nobody expected 2015 would be so bad for Chennai and its beautiful people… Earthquake shattered Nepal in 2015. Nobody expected that would happen, too, in 2015 for such peace-loving people. Syria, France, Greece were battered in 2015. Gang-rapes and gang-wars...

Pic.: Umang Pahwa I n life, some things, we can not ignore... One of them is the political climate in which we all live. Most of us do not like to indulge in party politics, even though we all have our own party affiliations. The beauty of this is: just as we all live here, in this marvelous city, surrounded by people of different religious faiths, we all, also, live so surrounded by people of different political leanings. Just as our leanings when it comes the on-going IPL teams. If ten of us are watching a match, all ten may not root for the same team... And, that’s how it should be... I have wonderful neighbors – people from different religious faiths. They belong to different parts of India ; they speak different languages, follow different cultures and food habits... They, also, have their own political leanings... and, nothing of these has stopped us from living together as amazing neighbors... The Lok Sabha-elections verdict is clear: it is going to be ...

Pic.: Mehul Bhuva “You are the most important person in this world. It is for you to make your life the way you choose to.” F irst thing first: You are not only an important person in this world… You are, in deed, ‘the most important’ person! But then, dear, take it in the right sense… feel it,   say it   and act on it in the right sense. Don’t feel or say it to undermine others… but do it to lift yourself up in life… In Life, you really, really come first… Your first responsibility is to love, care and nurse yourself enough… build yourself enough… trust yourself enough… Because, unless you believe, that you come first… unless you feel, that you are important… unless you feel, that you deserve joy, love and prosperity in life… you will not be able to experience them despite having them abundantly in your life. It is only when you feel joyful, successful and prosperous, that you are capable...