Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Usha U sha was a dear student of mine, some twenty-five years ago. She hailed from a very conservative South-Indian family. For the past fifteen years, she has been living in the US with her wonderful family, which consists of her doting hubby, two well-groomed teenager-sons and their lovely princess, Rudy. (Their dog!). Usha has been a regular reader of my Blog, providing me with her valuable insights and feedback, time to time. Late last night, I saw this feedback from her in my Inbox. It was in response to my previous Post – ‘Turned 18? Boy, Time to Do Dishes’. G erry, this is with regard to your recent post - "Turned 18? Boy, Time To Do Dishes". When I started teaching my boys to do their own laundry when they were 8-and-9 -year old, I knew I was teaching them responsibility and a life skill which I could not, suddenly, teach them when they were 18 and about to leave home. Every week, the boys would be expected to do their laundry, w...

  Some weeks ago, I happened to meet a close relative of mine in one of our family functions. About twenty years ago, after completing his graduation in Mangalore, he had just landed in this big city, Mumbai, to find his own place. Like we all migrants had been and are – this relative of mine was very unpolished and naive. I had helped him to find his first job. It was a very small office where he had to work under the ‘lone’ staff who had been happy working alone for years! My relative wanted an entry, something to start with and get the hands-on experience. So, he joined this office.    My relative could stick on to this office – rather his one-and-only Boss – barely for a month! Why… What happened? The one who owned this firm was too busy - rather, too helpless - to know what was happening in his small organization. The person employed by him had become an island and created a web-sort-of work-atmosphere around him. The owner would bl...