Gerald D'Cunha

Pic. Nirmala Sundar A month ago, the health of one of the watchmen in our housing society suddenly began to deteriorate. We learnt that he had mouth cancer for which he had undergone a surgery some ten years ago. Now it had relapsed and he was fast sinking. We have outsourced the security work to an agency, and, through this agency, he had served our society for nearly eight months, now. Two or three days before he had to be operated, this time, I asked this watchman as to how he would finance his treatment. He had not sought from us any financial help, nor any sympathy. I could see on his face a silent resignation and a great deal of dignity. He told me, that he had found some help from a couple of Charities, including Salman Khan’s ‘Being Human’. It was his last night in our society. Two days later, he had to be operated. Something was weighing me down… The very night, I made a list of twenty of our members, including me. I told them about the condition o...