Gerald D'Cunha

  “Don’t use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word would do.” Mark Twain   O ne of the advantages of being with young college-students – and also having a young son and daughter-in-law around – is, that I get to know many English words and expressions which are in vogue. I will not call them as some great vocabulary, but something that makes one feel like belonging to today’s world. Whether that word makes any sense or not is not at all important. Important thing seems to be this: Sound modern! Chalo , one such word, which I have stated ‘receiving’ from young lot is - ‘Heads-up’! I did not know at all what this word meant till quite recent days. Obviously, I first heard it from my son and some of my students… “I am giving you heads-up”… I slowly realized, that it meant: “I am telling you/informing you/warning you in advance.” Giving an advance notice, that is. For instance, while leaving for work in a hurry, this morning, my dear wife said calmly, “I have to ...

I , consciously, made a decision to improve my English when I was in twelfth standard, Fr.Lawrence was our English professor and he was teaching us Shakespeare’s plays such as King Lear, Julius Caesar and Merchant of Venice. He was the first teacher, who, made of conscious of my English problem. Later, in my F.Y. B.Com, when Prof. B.S. Raman came to teach us Accountancy and Commercial Geography, I had decided to what to do in life: like him, a fine teacher. So, by now, I knew, what I had to do to achieve that goal… I was determined to do something about my English… There is this famous saying: “When you decide what you want in life, the whole Universe conspires to support you.” In my case, the universe did not do any partiality…  My dad’s sister (Sr. Leo) was a nun and lived hundreds of miles away from my home. One day, a sister by the name Sr. Lawrence, who was a very dear friend of my aunt, travelled all the way from their convent just to gift me a very f...