Gerald D'Cunha

“Man is a complex being: he makes deserts bloom - and lakes die.” Gil Scott-Heron   A small piece of agricultural land had come to me after our dad’s death. It was about 35 years ago. The land was used by my grandfather, later by my dad, to cultivate rice (paddy). A highway passed along its side, and the land did not seem profitable at all considering the deserted surroundings and low area which was prone to flooding. By then, I had migrated to Bombay (now Mumbai) in search of better prospects, assuming, that there was where gold grew, not paddy. So, when I needed some money to set up my small coaching centre, here in Bombay, I asked my widowed mom to dispose off my piece of land… Which, mom did, and sent to me the proceeds: Rs. 2,70,000! It was a ransom to one who badly needed it, at that time… Then, I simply forgot about what was once ‘my piece of land’… A simple man, a mechanic, was the new owner of that land, now. He erected a temporary tin-shed and ran his worksho...

  “If war is the answer, we are asking the wrong question.” Anonymous   I am aware of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in neighbouring Afghanistan. It’s a matter of grave concern for all of us. As we all know, the fire in our neighbour’s house – even if our neigbour is our bitter enemy – is not something we can sleep over, leave alone rejoice over… The fire spreads fast; yes, it does. So, we are flooded with the news about what’s happening in Afghanistan – and how ordinary citizens, like Indians who had been living in that country for their livelihood, are caught between the crossfire – many of us are hooked on to the TV sets – feeling helpless, anxious, worried and, even angry! But, what can ordinary citizens like you and I do in a situation like this? Blaming or debating, in my view, is futile. If war could solve this problem, America would have gone home, long ago… The truth is, that you cannot fight fire with fire… You can fight it only with water! So, while m...

“ Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.” -       Mahatma Gandhi F or many days, now, some of my dear friends have been sending me strong appeals against the controversial decision by the authorities to axe over 2500 trees in Aarey forest to make way for Metro car-shed. Even though this issue concerns all of us in this city, why is that only some feel so strong about it, and why many of us, including myself, don’t? Honestly, most of us choose to see the other way. Because, it has not affected us ‘directly’, yet! Just as you and I, here in India, feel about the fire presently raging in the Amazon rain forests! Well, many of us do know what impact can such disasters – most of them, yes, caused by human greed in the name of development – can have on ‘life’. I didn’t say ‘human life’. I said, ‘Life’… all kinds of Life… animals, birds, insects, plant...

E arly in the morning, today, I had a very delightful – rather painful - sight from my kitchen window…  A family of monkeys – small ones and big ones - was busy climbing down (slipping through the drainage pipes) from the terrace of one of the buildings in the next compound. Visibly, they wanted food… So, they stretched their hands inside the kitchens (through the windows) and took whatever they could get… Obviously, till the people inside the houses came with sticks and shooed the monkeys away. But, the monkeys, being monkeys, kept hopping from one building to another… All that they needed was some food to eat! Some twenty years ago, when our family came to live in this area, it was a virgin place. There was nothing around here…Some locals grew vegetables, and, for miles and miles, one could see only the lush-green trees and hills. Our builder had first invaded this place and built our five buildings… We had difficulty even to reach this place. In a few years...