Gerald D'Cunha

  “The moment you pick up a weapon in the name of a religion is the precise moment that your God ceases to exist.” R. Patient   I have, often, asked this question to myself: “What if I was born into a non-Christian family – say, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, Jewish or atheist?” Like most around me, I, too, did not choose my religious faith – I just happened to be born into it; and, since then, willy-nilly, I have been following it… I know, as I became quite an adult, I very much had that choice to pick the faith I wanted. Yes, I could have become a Hindu, a Muslim, a Sikh, an atheist or whatever… But, I chose to stay what I was born into – a Christian. Am I happy about that choice? Oh, yes… I am. Do I consider it to be a privilege? Oh yes… I do. But, if you ask me, if I consider myself a superior human species just because I am a Christian – I would shout, with all my energy – “No, I don't.” As the quote at the outset describes, all c...

  “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin   “Y ou are not your father’s care-off.” This line has stayed with me for over three decades. One of our senior trainers would nail it into the skulls of our young   boys and girls, to drive home the point, “Dude, don’t live on your pop’s wealth… Earn your own.” As I write this, I have a couple of my eleventh-standard students, who are still on a long holiday-mood. Normally, this is the time, they write their Prelims and get set for the Finals. But, this has been such a crazy year, here in Maharashtra… Till the other day, these kids were not sure of their eleventh-standard admissions. Finally, just a few days ago, they learnt about their respective colleges. Following this, some colleges stared their online lectures; some, didn’t. Some of these boys and girls are under my tutelage. There are two categories here: Those who are conscious of the uncertain times in which they are starting their ju...

At 10.30, this morning, when I reached our Colony gate, there was only one auto waiting. I quickly boarded it. Just then, I heard one of our watchmen blowing his whistle. When I peeped out towards him, I realised that a young lady with bags in both her hands was approaching towards the gate. She wanted the watchman to fetch an auto for her. So, without realising that I had already boarded the only auto that was available, he had blown his whistle, so that she could board it. When I saw this lady with heavy bags in both her hands, and realising the fact that she would not be able to get another auto for quite a while, my immediate reaction was: I asked the autowala to make an about turn towards this lady. "Ma'am, there are no auto's there out side; would you like me to drop you somewhere?" I said, in the most sincere and spontaneous manner. "No," she brushed me aside in an equally blunt and thankless manner, continuing to walk. My face fell for a while; my eg...