Gerald D'Cunha

  “Your fate has not been written until you pick up a pen.” Dean Bokhari   O ne thing is very clear to me, and at 66. That, problems in Life - call them challenges – never end… Ever. Like many, I, too, wanted – and prayed hard for – my problems to end… Somewhere along these 66 years, it hit me like a bolt from the blue, that such a happy ending was confined to only fairytales… None of us, here on earth, are going to see a day when all our problems will cease to exist and we will go on to live for ever and ever happily… None. “Jab tak Jeevan hai, tab tak sangharsh hai.” Harivansh Rai Bachchan had drilled this plain truth into his illustrious son’s head. Paulo Coelho said, “Everything will be okay in the end; if it isn’t okay, it isn’t the end.” Read that again… Are we waiting for the time when everything is going to be okay? Because everything is still not okay in our lives – because problems still continue to surface – yes, it’s not the end, yet. That’s some...

    “I love, that this morning’s sunrise does not define itself by last night’s sunset.” Steve Maraboli A week ago, a friend of mine shared some lovely pictures of his nephew’s wedding. It was a private ceremony held at the beautiful lawns of his sister Irene’s home in New Zealand. The boy, Vivan, was dating his sweetheart (a Kiwi) for several years. Finally, now, the two families had brought it to, what seemed like, the logical conclusion - a marriage. I messaged Irene: “Hello Irene, just saw some amazing pictures of Vivan’s wedding. So happy for the young couple, you parents and the entire family. Please convey our love, wishes and blessings to the newly-wedded . You all look so nice and happy!” Came the instant reply from Irene: “Thank you Gerry. All went well. I’m so glad it’s all over. Big relief!” My response was this: “HaHa! Madam, for mothers, it’s never going to be over. Dashing   Nivan (the second son) is all set for his turn. So, be ready.” ...

Pic.: Azriel D'Souza “Expect problems and eat them for breakfast.” - Alfred A. Montapert M y problems keep my mind alert, agile and prepared. If I had no problems, my mind would have been dull, blunt and laid-back… So, thank God, I have problems! Mind needs constant challenges… My problems provide my mind with this… But, like everyone else around me, my first reaction to any new problem of mine is: “Oh, not again!” Or, simply: “OMG!” Yes, invariably, it is my first reaction. But, then, when my reaction ends, I realize, that, I cannot expect this journey called Life without the bumpy ride… Life has problems… In fact, Life needs them… I, invariably, get this realization. An hour ago, a dear friend of mine had come to meet me. We spent close to forty minutes catching up with some good-old times… Suddenly, a phone call came, and, Lo! I had a new problem – a new challenge in hand! I could to see the way my mind was working now… It was...

Pic.: Vincent D'Souza “Never measure the height of a mountain until you have reached the top... Then you will see how low it was!” P lease mark this: I read this, yesterday, on Amitabh Bachchan’s FB Post - ‘Wednesday Words’... And, if the legend himself says so – endorses these words – then, I will buy them, blindly, for any price! Our dreams or nightmares are both mountains before us. If we stand at the foothills, we will look like a million-time smaller than even ants, and, the size of the Goliath before us would make us numb with fright! So, the Wednesday Words shared by Amitabh Bachchan remind us never to look at a mountain from its feet... It is just not possible to climb it, unless we do it in our minds first... Unless we believe we can...and, unless we believe we have already done! “If you have faith as small as the size of a mustard seed,” Jesus Christ’s famous words come to rem...

Pic.: Madan Manik T oday, I had scheduled our second Prilims for the twelfth-standard students. As I was correcting the papers of first Prilims, I had stopped midway… yes, a lot disappointed and annoyed. “How could, almost all of them, be so callous… even at this stage?” I had reacted in my mind, “There are hardly any days left.” So, this morning, before they started writing their second Prilims, I spent some 15 minutes and made my observations… I picked some very common mistakes they had committed in their first paper and helped them so that the same mistake would not be repeated today… As I was talking to them, a parent appeared outside my class with her daughter. We were already overshot 15 minutes, by then. The parent seemed extremely upset… She removed the entire bundle of answer-sheets of her daughter’s college Prilims. “Sir, she has failed in almost all subjects,” the mother broke down, “How much time is now left?” I froze for a momen...

Pic.: Bhusahn Thakkar   S ometime back, my friend, Dr. Deepak, in his Blog Post, shared with us a wonderful story. It was about the fishermen in Japan, who went into deep seas to catch fish. It took for them days to return to the shore. So, in order to bring home fish alive and fresh, these fishermen would erect huge water-tanks on board. And, to doubly ensure that fish remained alive till they hit the shore, they would put a couple of big sharks into the water-tanks! When I first read this story on Dr. Deepak’s Post, I remember how my heart had smiled! “Hey, I know who the fishes here are,” I remember my heart saying, “I know who the fisherman is… and who the sharks are!” Yesterday, my younger brother told me this: “If my daily challenges and problems were not present in my life, I don’t think, I would have got up early today, come to work and perform it the way I am doing now.” Then he added, “I don’t think I would even believe in Go...

Pic.Unnati Jiandani N elson* was my classmate and a friend. They had a small shop, which they used to run form their house. When Nelson was in ninth standard, his father died of drinking. His mother, who had tuberculosis, died when he was in eleventh. Nelson’s world, all of a sudden, shattered! He had four younger sisters and one younger brother. Two of the sisters (twins) were not even three-year old. We, though young, consoled Nelson and stood by him for many days. His next sister, who was then in ninth standard, was very bold and accepted the challenge. She decided to quit her studies and run the shop; and, she persuaded Nelson and others to continue with their studies. She arranged to keep the two tiny-toddlers with a local home for children run by the Catholic nuns. Meanwhile, Nelson passed his eleventh-standard to walk into twelfth… Suddenly, Nelson lost his grip! He got into a wild company: smoked, boozed, and womanized… He faile...

We never know our true potentials unless we are challenged by something beyond us… Mostly an unexpected crisis in life… We fight the best when we are driven to the wall… We try to earn the most, when shame of financial crunch doesn’t allow us to sleep… We learn the most when our ego and arrogance bring us to the isolation of emotional turmoil… We run the fastest when we run for our lives… We love the most when our loved ones are lost… Yes, something has to happen in our soul – some great churning, some emotional upheaval… something has to threaten us, shame us, mock us… humble us… Our best, always, lies dormant within our souls…  The best strength… The best talent… The most-earning capacity… The best-learning capacity… The best speed… The best loving, caring and giving heart… Each one of them needs to be tapped, awakened…  And, it, invariably, takes a massive crisis to do that… Yes, to awaken th...

I am writing this Post early in the morning. It is dark outside… very quiet… I am absolutely undisturbed by any outside happenings… Mind is not agitated; it is able to watch itself without getting clouded or bogged down… Mind tells me: That, there is enough strength in me to deal with any challenge, any uncertainty… That, there is a way out of every maze Life throws before me… That, no matter how harsh and hell-bent many a people seem, there is, always, some way by which they come around… That, the challenges are the only medium through which, we are able to tap our creative resources… Discover our strengths, explore new paths and stretch our limits… That, it is not prudent to decide when mind is numb with fear… That, it is not sensible to judge people, label them, when mind is wounded… That, patience pays… That, wisdom prevails… The storm ends… The ocean calms down… The skies turn brighter… The heart, hopeful… New, rene...

These two eleventh-standard students have the same ambition: to become Chartered Accountants. They belong to different colleges. Both had a class test some days back. When they came to see me after that, one was jumping with joy, “Sir, the test was so easy," she declared, “I could finish it in fifteen minutes!” The other girl’s face had fallen. “Look at this paper sir,” she stretched the paper before me, visibly disturbed, “It is insane.” It was! The teacher of the second student had set a paper which was, certainly, not meant for the freshers like these. They had just started their Commerce studies… hardly a month in college… and, so, to expect them to meet that challenge was too tall an order. I did not say anything negative in front of these girls. “Don’t’ worry dear, we will see what to do; ok?” I consoled the disturbed girl, “I will help you.” I handed over the ‘tough’ paper to the first girl who was jumping with ecstasy, just seconds before. “P...