Gerald D'Cunha

“If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom?” Unknown   M y friend, and a fellow-learner in our Tai Chi group, Venkat, had shared this gem, one Monday morning: ‘Written on the board of a cemetery: “A LOT OF THE FELLOWS HERE BELIEVED,  THAT THE WORLD, OR SOME PART OF THE WORLD,  COULDN’T RUN WITHOUT THEM.”     This friend of mine is in his mid-forties. Apparently, he and his wife had made a conscious decision, early during their married life, that they would stop working before they were forty… Would have reasonable amount of savings… No children to raise… A few simple (crumpled but clean) clothes to wear, and, above all, backpack to every remote corner of our country and some neighbouring ones. So, they have been, literally, living their lives without any baggage…   (My friends Venkat and Priya presently backpacking at Kumta-Belekhan-Gokarna trek.) Well, to most of us, such a life seems either an ideal or outright i...

Pic.: Avinash Mantri Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I did – and found very effective – was telling a nice story in two tenses… the Present and the Past. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people, who were earnest about improving their English, with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and, then, tell it to someone… Not to let the poison of a vindictive person’s words affect you, calls for true inner strength… a spiritual strength… What we call a high self-esteem is a reflection of this strength… I love this Buddha story… THE POISON OF YOUR ABUSE BELONGS TO YOU PAST: O ne   day, in the midst of Gautama Buddha’s teaching, an angry bystander started abusing Gautama. It was too ugly, too offending… and too provocative. However, the Buddha remained unaffected. He heard him out patiently till the angry man vented out all his venom. After that, t...

P ic.: Alwyn Mathias “Try to give my son the strength, not to follow the crowd when everyone is getting into the bandwagon.” - Abraham Lincoln in the letter to his son’s school teacher S ome days ago, a young lady came to take my advice. Her husband, who works for a multi-national, is a hard-working, self-made man. She has been looking after the house and their two sons. The ten-year-old elder-son goes to a very reputed ICSE-Board school. (For which, they had to shell out a massive donation… and, whose annual fees is already eating up a big chunk of their single-person salary!). The younger-son is about to start his school. The lady’s dilemma is: “Sir, my second son has got admission in so-and-so SSC-Board school (a very good school) where we do not have to pay any donation, and whose fees are affordable... We have, also, got admission for him in so-and-so ICSC-Board school where we have to pay a donation of so-many lakhs. I...

Pic.: Vinod Krishnan A n hour ago, I had been to my friends’ - Sunil and Soniya’s - classes. They both love Christmas sweets, especially, the plum cake. So, without announcing, I just dropped by. When I showed up, they were in the midst of a lecture; the room was packed… So, not wanting to disturb the class, and yes, feeling a lot shy, too, I thought I would wish and pass on the parcel from outside… “No sir, not before meeting these young-ones,” Soniya made it clear to me, “They have heard so much about you… You must meet them.” Before I could gather my wits, the introduction was, already, done, “Here is Gerry sir!” As the young boys and girls looked back, I felt so shy - as if a  Shah Rukh Khan or Salman Khan was being ushered in - that I was trying desperately to hide somewhere in that room! But, then, that’s how I had, always, been… Shy as a ‘touch-me-not’… ‘see-me-not’. And, that’s how it was – and it is – even after years and years of helpin...

Pic.: Devki Joshi T o me, Baba Amte had, always, been a great motivator. Many years ago, The Dawn Club had run a cover story on this hero of ‘Anandvan’ in its motivational magazine – ‘The BLOOM’. But, honestly, I hadn’t followed much about his son, Dr. Prakash Amte... It took just a 2-hr-15-min Marathi-movie to tell me who Dr. Prakash was and why he was a hero in his own right... as tall and as tough as his legendary father...Both, my wife and I, came back a lot moved by his life, remarkably portrayed by Nana Patekar and Sonali Kulkarni (as his wife)... Both, Dr. Prakash and his wife, Manda, had studied together in Government Medical College, Nagpur, where they fell in love with each other... Falling in love with each other is a ‘conscious choice’ a young man and woman make... It is the same conscious choice that they make when they promise each other in marriage,  before God – “I shall live with you in good times and bad times, in joys and sorr...

  Well, whose job is it to calm the unrest within me? Like the frightened disciples of Jesus, I hold-fast the mast of my boat and cry: “O Master, save me… Have mercy on me.” But, the wind still blows hard, And, the sea is still ruthless. "Where is my Savior?" I ask, "Why is He not there when I need Him the most?" Well, when my Savior was here on earth, He too had lost his strength, He too had been frightened to death: “My Lord, my Lord,” He had cried soaked in blood, “Why have You forsaken me, Your Son?”   Today, there is turmoil within me… But, no! No one has sold me for some silver coins… No one has condemned me to die on the Cross of Calvary… Only this walk to Calvary… Only to be the Simon of Cyrene… Just for a few steps...  Just a willing acceptance… To follow the path of my Savior. Soon, the sea will be silent… The boat will be stable… My ...

S amson, the strongest man in the Old Testament, was not supposed to lose his hair. For, with the loss of hair, he would lose his strength… He would fall. Samson lynched the fieriest of the lions in a wink, he destroyed army of mighty men… he could bring down the gigantic temple by pulling down its pillars, killing with it not only himself but hundreds of his enemies. No one knew the secret of his strength… not even the beautiful Delilah with whom he had fallen madly in love. Finally, when he told her that his strength lay in his long hair, uncut since birth, he didn’t know he was nearing his end. Delilah had betrayed him… The enemies came and cut his hair in his sleep. Then, they blinded him… and dragged him away as their captive.    Yes, even the mighty man Samson had a weak spot! The Greek hero – the invincible warrior of the Trojan War – Achilles had a weak spot, too. No one knew it till his end came. When he was born, as told by the Mystics, Achilles’ mother had dipped ...

I t is difficult – really difficult – to be ‘simple and uncomplicated’ in life.  The place where I reside was once a very beautiful place. There were fields around, mountains nearby… and, we thought we had come to a silent and peaceful locality. Within years, this place has become unrecognizable. Our Society is surrounded by SRA buildings, all 360 degree. Suddenly, there is gloom in our hearts, we feel betrayed by the Builder, the Government and our Fate. The sheen is all gone, the roads are bad… and, even the autowalas refuse to come to this place. Why am I telling all this? Just yesterday, my wife told me that she met a lady who was shy to tell my wife that she lived in our vicinity. Incidentally, this lady did not know my wife too lived in the same area. When my wife told her that, the lady was very ‘relieved’ . How proud I would have felt to tell some one that I lived in Peddar Road or Pali Hill! Yes, sometimes, I feel like ‘bluffing’. A young friend of mine lived wit...

I watched the movie, 'ROBOT', along with my wife. Normally, we take our son along when we go to watch a movie. This time, my son's 12th standard term-exams were nearing, and my wife wanted him not to 'waste' his three hours watching this movie. So, we watched it secretly... and, both of us enjoyed the movie immensely. "Don't open you 'big' mouth, " my dear wife warned me on our way home, "He has hardly done any studies." That night, I could control my urge to open my 'big' mouth. The next day was a Sunday. I called my son from out. "We watched 'ROBOT' yesterday... It was mind-blowing. Go and watch today. It is a must watch for a creative guy like you." Then, I added the inevitable: "Don't tell mom that I have opened my 'big' mouth." "Relax dad,"  my son assured me. When he was home, neither could he control his mouth. Exams? "Just chill, dad." I hadn't s...

For a long time, there were no calls from Ramesh. It meant: He was tension-free. But, was he? Ramesh was my student about fifteen years ago. That was when he was in his final-year B.Com. He came from a very ordinary Maharashtrian joint-family. During these fifteen years, he would call me regularly, take appointment from me, and discuss his problems - his 'tension', as he would call them. All his 'tension' sprang from either his job, or his joint family, or - after his marriage - the relationship with his wife. Every time Ramesh called, it would be to discuss his 'tension'. Nothing else. So, when there was no news from Ramesh, for quite a long time, I felt happy for him. Then, just the day-before evening, he called me up. "Sir, tomorrow will be my son's first birthday," Ramesh announced, sounding good. "I want to bring him to you... What time is convenient for you?" We fixed for 9.00 the next morning. That was yesterday. Sharp at 9, Ramesh...