Gerald D'Cunha

What goes on in another person’s mind – I can only imagine. But, what goes on in my mind – I can see, hear and feel.  And, if I ever tell the world that I am able to ‘read’ what goes on in another person’s mind, then, it is a pure lie. I am bluffing! Just as what goes on in my mind, you can’t read, I can’t read what goes on in your mind. Therefore, all attempts to read another person’s mind ‘as a book’, I seriously consider to be a great mind-game we play. Yes, to kill our ‘excess’ time in hand! It is like chasing a phantom… Or, shadow-boxing with him! Another person has his own mind… Hence, he thinks his own thoughts. Now, what thoughts does he think and why does he think them… are two futile questions from my end. And, whenever I try to read his thoughts and, worse, try to prevent him from thinking them, I am already in the boxing ring, trying to knock out the phantom! “What a waste of time and energy,” I just got this thought, a while ago, i...

Many years ago, one afternoon, I saw tears welling in Hardeep’s eyes. She was just eighteen, and she was in second-year B’Com. The lecture was on, and tears in my student’s eyes had puzzled me. It was a packed classroom… and, I had not provoked the tears. So, I decided not to draw anyone’s attention to this young girl. After the class, I gently asked Hardeep to stay back and let me know why she was crying.  At the start, Hardeep hesitated to open up. I encouraged her to speak, and, finally, she did. “Sir, my parents want me to get married, now… Tomorrow, a family will be visiting our place to see me,” Hardeep told me, tears gushing out of her eyes, “I do not want to get married, now, sir… I want to complete my studies, first… But, they don’t understand.” What could I tell? How could I ‘save’ young Hardeep from her trauma? I remember asking her this: “Do you think, you can convince them?” “No sir, I don’t think, I can do that,” Hardeep sa...

Alexander-the-Great, after his fathers’ untimely assassination, was destined to become the Emperor of Macedonia. He was only twenty! And, before he died at the young age of thirty-three, he had almost conquered the whole world! Alexander-the-Great did not die fighting in the fierce battle-field… He did not fall by the sword of another mighty emperor. The conqueror-of-the-whole-world died in his tent… He died of Malaria… Yes, a mosquito brought this invincible conqueror’s end, his relentless conquest! The legend goes, before he breathed his last, Alexander-the-Great had called his General by his death-bed and expressed his final wish. “May my both hands dangle out my coffin as I am carried,” the Emperor had wished. And, the legend also goes, that the wish was carried out…! “Let the whole world know, that the Great conqueror-of- the-entire-world, also, had to leave behind everything that he had conquered… and go back with his empty han...

I remember my friend, Joe, today. He used his 'funny bone' well to his advantage in his selling career. I had never seen him dull or dejected, ever, for all those twenty years - running around the cities and villages - selling detergents. Yes, the Eskimos bought ice from him, believing that Joe's was the better ice! And, naturally, when someone from his own 'tribe' ventured to sell his ice to this Eskimo - my friend, Joe - he would have fun dealing with him. One day, a smart sales guy from a new company came to sell fans to him. "Sir, we give a life-time warranty," the young man tried to impress upon Joe. "Is it?" my friend exclaimed his delight. "Hundred percent right sir," the novice felt he was moving in. "But, tell me, my friend: whose life-time? ... Mine or Fan's or your Company's?" Within two years, the Company folded up! Not long ago, almost all the credit card companies started 'gifting' us 'Life-ti...