Gerald D'Cunha

“When things are bad, it’s the best time to reinvent yourself.” George Lopez   R ecently, when Amitabh Bachchan ended his 17 th season of KBC, I went into a reflective mode: “What a man! What a man!”... Yes, I kept saying this to myself. I had first read a small article about this tall, awkward-looking newcomer in the Hindi filmdom in an unknown magazine in our school library. I must’ve been in my 8 th   standard, and Amitabh Bachchan must’ve just completed his first film, ‘Saat Hindustani’... Yes, Amitabh was just one of the ‘seven’ actors in this K. A. Abbas film. But, somehow, I fell in love with this lanky star and kept following his career path – almost every milestone, every crossroad – his ups, his   downs... his rise and fall, and again his phoenixlike rise... This, once awkward-looking man, when he concluded his latest KBC season, was an incredible magnet -   yes, even at 83! Now, why do I remember Amitabh Bachchan in my today’s Post? A n...

  “If I am sincere today, what does it matter if I regret it tomorrow?” Jose Saramago Blindness   Y es Sir... The grass will always be greener on the other side of the fence. To that, we hear a correction: “No Sir... The grass will always be greener on the side where it is watered more and tended with more care.” Amen... No matter whichever side of the fence we all stand – married, unmarried, divorced and single, widowed and single... gay or straight... Live-in or live-out .... Employed or self-employed... yes, whichever side of the fence you and I stand, there is a deep desire in us to stretch our necks and look at the other side – “Oh, that side which is so greener!” I am married for 34 years... Happily married? Or, do I envy this thirty-five-year-old man, who answered with a mischief: “No, I am happy.” I had asked him, “Are you married?” It was some twenty-five years ago. I met him a week ago and repeated the old question: “I am still happy,” he answered...

  “A story, to me, means a plot where there is some surprise. Because, this is how life is – full of surprises.” Isaac Bashevis Singer   “B e careful”… “Take care”… “Sambhalke ”… these and many similar expressions have become a part of our daily vocabulary. Invariably, we use   all of them to express our love, care and concern for our loved ones. But, every day, as we step out into this world, you and I know, that we have these two options before us: We can either step out harbouring more trust and love in our hearts, or more distrust and hate. Thus, we have a choice - either to stretch our two hands in embrace, or cross them tightly against our chests in self-protection… Mercifully, knowing fully well, that this world and its people aren’t perfect, most of us do choose to walk out with our two hands stretched in embrace… harbouring more trust and fear in our hearts… Yes, everybody out there is not a crook – he or she is not there conspiring against us, tr...

  “At the heart of all anger, all grudges, and all resentment, you’ll find a fear that hopes to stay anonymous.” Donald L. Hicks   “H ow’s is your health?”… a woman asked me, gently, a while ago. I had many options to choose my reply from: “Not so good”… “Doctors say this and that”… “Reports say this and that”… Well, these kinds of responses come quite easily… Complaints immediately draw sympathy, you see. And - we may not like to admit it – we long for sympathy from others. But, then, if I had replied to the question – “How’s your health?” – saying, “It’s Great!”… that’s not the truth either. Telling someone your health is ‘Great’, when it’s actually not, is a lie. You are deceiving not only others, but also yourself. So, this morning, I, instantly, replied to the woman, when asked gently – “How is your health?”, “It’s good, no complaints.” The woman, who asked me the question, seemed impressed by my rejoinder - “No complaints”, and said, “I like that phrase...

  “The only real prison is fear; and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.” Aung San Suu Kyi                                               Y esterday was the last day for my twelfth-standard batch (HSC). Even though my students get my daily dose of pepping – call it inspiration or pravachan – during every session, every day, all through their academic year, on the last day, when they go away from me, I have something spontaneous and special to tell them, always… Yes, that is when I truly feel the power and the privilege of being a good teacher: How much, willingly or unwillingly, my students realize they have received from me… And, how much I have received from my students! For some students, it may have been months and months of daily dosage… and, for others, it may be a single dosage… It’s just a little spark that sets a massive forest on fire, we kn...

  “If you try to do your best, there is no failure.” Mike Farrell   T hroughout my school and college years, my marks had been very poor… Just like Raju Rastogi’s (Sharman Joshi) in the popular Hindi film, ‘3 Idiots’. Long before this film had come, (2009), I was asked the same question by my interviewer when I had gone for my first teaching job at the Atomic Energy Junior College (1981): “Your marks have been consistently low – any reason?” Raju had a clear and composed answer to this question: “Fear, Sir.” Somehow, I was picked for the ‘temporary’ job… and, like the new Raju, who had come there not with a begging mindset, but with the confidence, that even if he was rejected, he would not be disappointed and afraid, as he would certainly figure out what to do with his life – yes, I was telling the same thing to my own interviewer, :”Sir, I am passionate about teaching… That’s the only thing I will be doing in my life.” I got that temporary job at the junior Colle...

  “Every child thinks archelogy is about digging up land to find dinosaur remains and gold…   I had the same intentions.” Bhuvan Bam   T his young boy (of class 12) stayed back after everyone had left the class. “Want to say something, beta? ” I asked him.   “Yes Sir,” he said quite hesitatingly. “Tell me, what is it,” I encouraged him to speak… “Sir, I want to pursue Archeology. But, my parents and elder brother are against it,” he said. “Have you found out why they are against it?” I asked. “Sir, they think, that it’s not the field with job opportunities. They want me to pursue the regular fields where there won’t be scarcity of jobs.” “Since when have you been thinking about Archelogy?” I asked the boy. “For quite many years, Sir… Since I was a little boy,” he explained, “I am really fascinated by the idea.” Now, it’s not every day, that I get a young one expressing his desire to pursue Archeology. Almost everyone wants to follow a road...

“There is no hope unmingled with fear, no fear unmingled with hope.” Baruch Spinoza   A n Irish proverb says, “Hope is the physician of each misery.” While, on the surface, it appears true, it’s also true, that when we hope for the best, we do not cease to fear the worst… Hope is hope when fear still stares at us, and scares us… Despite our worst fears, if we still hope for the best, it means, that we are living with gratitude and fortitude… The outcome is, certainly, not in our control… Hoping with gratitude and fortitude, always is. A wonderful woman, the mother of one of my students, battled brain cancer for a couple of years. The woman, a school teacher, was such a gentle and dignified soul… The one-who-wouldn’t-even-hurt-a-fly, kind. Yes, seeing this gentle soul go through the painful ordeal was heart-wrenching… Many of us asked: “Lord, why her? Why bad things happen to good people?” There is no answer to this question, I am sure… We can only interpret it with ...