Gerald D'Cunha

  “Those who lie down with dogs will rise up with fleas.” An old saying   E very week, I prominently display a new quote or a saying in my classroom. I believe, that many of my young students read them, and, hopefully, try to take home the message these quotes and sayings try to convey. I am, also, quite conscious of the reality, that there are some, who just choose to overlook these quotes and sayings, leave alone trying to take home their message… Today’s old saying was:   “Those who lie down with dogs will rise up with fleas.”   O ne of my students, apparently a dog-lover, felt a bit offended. “Sir, what does this saying mean? Is it not very derogatory? My entire family loves to lie down next to our dog… and, we all love it. We do not have any problem with that.” Another student of mine, the friend of this boy, tried to intervene. “ Arey yaar , just as some dogs have fleas and some dogs don’t, some of our friends have fleas and some don’t. We...

"Inviting people to laugh with you, while you are laughing at yourself, is a good thing to do. You may be a fool; but, you are a fool-in-charge.” Carl Reiner T wo separate messages received by me, today, from two different individuals – my friends – brought that much-needed smile on my face. Yes, my two friends did not know each other, and, they did not know, that their random messages had the potential of brightening up my day! Perhaps, one of the hardest things to do – at least for me – is to laugh at oneself. So, whenever someone does, I feel happy. M y first friend is one of the brightest and the most affectionate souls. He comes from a wonderful family… and, he is admired by every one he interacts with. Yet, in his mid-forties, my friend remains blissfully single! Some of us - not to mention his own family members – have been nagging him, “Settle down, settle down.” To which, my friend, who is a doctor by profession, has his mischievous res...

A bout a month ago, a parent came to talk to me about his 15-year-old son. Boy’s name was Raju Mane*. The parent had shown up in his work-clothes… He worked under a civil contractor as a painter on daily wages… his clothes had patches of paint all over. He seemed very disturbed. His son, who studied in a local Marathi-medium school, had miserably failed in 9 th standard. On someone’s suggestion, the father had decided to make his son appear privately the tenth-standard exams. However, he was a worried man. “Sir, my son is an intelligent boy,” he said, “Wrong company has spoiled him.” A dear friend of mine, who taught high-school students, had suggested Raju’s father to see me. Obviously, my friend wanted me to help the young boy realize the root cause… help him improve his self-esteem… make him feel he was a good soul and had to discover himself… that, he could bounce back, if he took hold of himself… The boy seemed willing to come to me… So, I took him into...

“A day of worry is more exhausting than a week of work.” -        John Lubbock A dear friend of mine just sent me this message… “No problem… Park it for it two days… Take a worry break.” Park for two days what? Well, my burdens, my anxiety… my worries! I had just messaged him voicing my nagging concern… expressing my anxiety and worry… “Just expressing to get a perspective,” I had written to my friend… So, my friend had this piece of advice to me: “No problem… Park it for two days… Take a worry break.” Believe me, the moment I read it, a childlike smile adorned my face and, I could feel the weight falling off my heart… I was worrying about some events which were expected to unfold after 4 to 5 days. My friend’s advice was simple: “Park your worries for 2 days!”… Literally, lift them and put them in the parking slot! The third day or the fourth day or the last day… the sol...

Pic.: Internet A very sharp intellect and a very sensitive heart. To me, these two fundamentals form the cornerstone of fine education. If one’s mind is sharp and heart is sensitive, supple, the other attributes follow. Yes, I think, they really do. Two days ago, my wife and I were watching some videos relating to our present RBI Governor, Dr. Raghuram Rajan. “This is what I call good education,” my wife remarked. Dr. Rajan was answering school children. He made economics sound so simple! Till then, both my wife and I hadn’t paid any serious attention to Dr. Rajan’s educational background. Now, we did… Dr. Rajan was born in Bhopal on 3 rd Feb. 1963. He went to a local school over there. Theirs was a Tamilian family and his father was a senior officer in Intelligence Bureau. From standard seventh to twelfth, Dr. Rajan studied at Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram (New Delhi). He completed electrical engineering from IIT, Delhi and post-gr...

Pic.: Internet K ukreja uncle is a senior citizen. He lives in the same building where I have my office and classes. Incidentally, every morning, when I reach my work-place, that is between 7.45 and 8.00, he, too, reaches. Only difference is: he is just back from his daily laughter-club session! For the last twenty years – come rain or come storm – Kukreja uncle and his dozen friends have been there, religiously, in the local grounds, bang at 6.00, every morning! On their way home, they have to complete one more ritual: enjoy the special (peshal) tapri chai … The irreplaceable ‘Cutting’! I tell you, the sight of these oldies (I hear them scream: budda hoga tera baap !) having fun at the tapri is something so therapeutic! So, as everyone, these days, creates his or her own ‘Happiness is…’ quote, today, I wish to create my own: ‘HAPPINESS IS… ENJOING A TAPRI-CUTTING WITH YOUR LOVELY FRIENDS!’ S ome things in life have no sub...

This man just left my office, after enrolling his daughter in eleventh. “She is clear about what she wants to do in life and self-motivated, unlike her elder brother.” he told me while he was here. He added, with a visible pain, “He failed in TY three years ago and, now, loiters around with his useless friends.” T he quality of our lives is the quality of our choices… And, one of the most significant choices, we all make in our lives, is the company we choose to keep… Our friends, our peers… can make us or break us… There is no point blaming anyone… It doesn’t help. If friends influence the quality of our life, then, we all are equally responsible… For, we have chosen to be friends with each other… “Be careful about the company you keep,” I keep reminding my newly-inducted students; “if you move around with goal-less guys, you will, surely, become a goal-less guy, too. Similarly, if you move around with highly-motivated guys, their motivation will ...