Gerald D'Cunha

  “When you bring the light into your dark house, that’s when you see the cobwebs and spiders.” OSHO D iwali is just a few days away. The other day, this young kid from class X1, did not turn up to my class. There was no message from him, nor any response to my messages. So, when he turned up for the next session, I asked him, “Why were you absent?”. The boy replied, “Sir, I was busy with Diwali cleaning.” “But, why didn’t you inform me, and why didn’t you respond to my messages?” “Sorry Sir.” No further questions... We moved on... The next morning, the lady, who lives a few floors above my classes, called up... “Sir, you know, Diwali is coming... I am getting my widows cleaned (Read: washed with running water!). Hope you accommodate for twenty/thirty minutes.” “No issues, ma’am,” I said, “Please go ahead.” When you clear the mess in your house for the coming Diwali, beware... you may end up messing up someone else’s. Earlier this lady would not take into acco...

  “Religion is for those who’re afraid of going to hell; Spirituality is for those who’ve already been there.” Vine Deloria Jr.   I do not know, if they still teach the fascinating stories from The Ramayana and The Mahabharata in pre-primary and primary schools, these days. Hope they do… The stories are so fascinating, that they have remained permanently etched in my mind even after sixty-plus years… Every time Deepavali comes, come back to my mind the inspiring stories of Rama’s sacrifice, Bharata’s love, devotion and righteousness, his mother Kaikeyi’s stubbornness and father Dasharatha’s atma sankat… Though the primary school I studied in (St. Peter’s ) was run by the local church authorities, the atmosphere out there was purely secular… I grew up among scores of non-Catholic friends – Hindus, Muslims and Jains… Brahmins and Harijans all. The stories from The Ramayana and Mahabharata enchanted all of us… Thus, as a grown-up man, today, I am quite aware of why De...

Pic.: Malabika Ganguly “That's the real trouble with the world… too many people grow up.” - WALT DISNEY I t is quarter to eleven in the morning, and these kids – about fourteen of them – have no plans to go home for their breakfast. They told me that they all had planned last night itself to come down to ‘enjoy’ at 6 this morning…  Six boys and eight girls. I seldom saw them down, so carefree and happy, for so many months now. Their school bus ferried them even before the Sun had come out fully; in the afternoon, they came home only to drop their school-bags and then off they would rush for half-a-dozen tuitions and classes. I would hardly see them playing down, together… The school and the rat-race had deprived them of what kids of their age had to get – simple playtime... So, today, as their Diwali vacation is on, it was a delightful sight to watch them all together doing the utterly simple kid-stuff here in the open… As I opened m...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty T oday is ‘Dhanteras’. It’s believed to be an auspicious day. Laskhmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity, is worshiped today. People buy gold and silver on this day and believe it would multiply many fold in their lives… But, what is interesting is that this lucky day comes on what is, also, believed to be an unlucky day – thirteenth day of the dark night. ‘Dhan’ means wealth and ‘Tera’ means thirteen. Brought together, it means wealth comes on thirteenth day… Luck comes on an unlucky day! Dhanteras is the first day of the five-day festival of Diwali. It starts with prayers for prosperity… I n life, everything hangs on our beliefs. People believe, today they should buy assets and should not sell them. In the morning, I met a jeweler-friend, who was so happy for this day… He expected a roaring business. For him, sale of gold – loads of it – brought loads and loads of prosperity. For his customers, a few grams of gold-purchase meant prosper...