Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Nimala Sundar L ast afternoon, when I was talking to some of my old acquaintances, another friend of mine, a doctor, showed up. I introduced him to my old friends and our discussion continued. During the course of this discussion, my doctor friend, referring to me, casually said to my other friends present, “To me, Gerry (He calls me Gerry sir!) is a ‘Diamond in Jharkhand’!” Immediately, my other friends began to nod in agreement, while I was left clueless as to what was the significance of a diamond in Jharkhand’. Well, the rest of the discussion cleared the coal around this diamond thing… My doctor friend and others knew about the wealth hidden in the diamond mines of this otherwise remote state called Jharkhand. They knew, that no such mines existed in great cities like Mumbai, Delhi or Chennai. But, my friends, also, knew this: unless someone digs the diamond out of black coal mines and unless someone transports it to big cities – where people...