Gerald D'Cunha

  “Everyone wants to live on top of the mountain. But, all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.” Andy Rooney   T wo days ago, my wife and I were watching the latest NETFLIX series ‘Hello Bachhon’. It’s the story of widely popular (and successful) teacher Alakh Pandey... how he started teaching Physics through YouTube and, eventually, became a sensation, scaling it up – and up – and up... into brand ‘Physics Wallah’. Yes, like every success story of an underdog, we found it very inspiring... Alakh Pandey Sir had a hard time while doing his studies. He genuinely wanted to help students who couldn’t afford to pay high coaching fees for competitive exams. So, from the depth of that sincere intent, his pursuit to reach a wider audience kept growing, and kept even growing... There is this disturbing scene in the last episode... A young IIT aspirant, under tremendous pressure and frustration, ends up taking an unthinkable step... Well, while wat...

"The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." A very old one? But, whoever coined this line first, he must have been the 'original Guru'! For me, the old is, truly, gold. These days, writing my daily notes - the articles for my blog - gives me a tremendous amount of 'high'. Probably, I must have been, sub-consciously, dreaming about it ... It is, certainly, in alignment with my deepest passion: to share my insights with my fellow beings. The blog is just a natural extension, and I have embraced it, happily. Yesterday, while I was so much charged and busy typing, my student Sameer, called me up: "Sir, tomorrow is my exam; I have some doubts ... Can I come to you, now?" I had finished their portion, with a good revision, and asked them to be on their own for at at least ten days before the exam - 'for better or worse' - as I always tell my students. Normally, they understand what I mean by 'for better or worse'. But, som...