Gerald D'Cunha

I n my F.Y. B. Com, when I dreamt of becoming a teacher, I had just crossed 17. All that had happened was, that, sitting there in our packed classroom and watching and adoring my own teacher, Prof. B.S.Raman, I had desperately desired to be only that – a good teacher and good writer. Because, my teacher was a damn good teacher and an author. Well, during the three years of my degree college, even though Raman Sir taught our class every day, I hadn’t spoken to him, one-on-one… I had only adored and dreamt of becoming like him. Whatever we deeply like, we attract… Yes, the ancient ‘Law of Attraction’ was silently doing its work in me… I had to simply surrender to that Law! Today, after some forty-four years of teaching, if you ask me, “Do you still want to teach?”, I will jump and shout – ‘YES’! If you ask me, “What do you want to be in your next life?” I will jump and shout, again - “A teacher, and nothing else!” Everyday, we teachers scream and shout at our studen...

I f the blot called ‘discrimination’ should go from our society, it should first go from our own hearts. If we still do not like to shake hands with those who come to pick thrash from our doorsteps, if we have a ‘separate’ cup, glass and plate for those who come to clean our floors or cook our food, if we still assume that we are from an ‘upper caste’ or ‘upper class’… then, there must be a separate God for those who we think are ‘lower’ than us and for us – yes, the ‘upper’ ones… Even though we are, so often, so brutally discriminated in the hands of people who think ‘upper’ and ‘higher’ than us, the blot still persists in us… We still discriminate.  Yes, on the basis of such silly things… The race. The caste. The colour. The class. The gender. The abilities. The education. The locality. The language. The age. And a dozen other silly things. L ast evening, my wife and I watched the latest Hindi movie – ‘Article 15’. And, yes, we came back home shaken ...

“Dharma is not about believing in God. It’s about making the right choices, doing the right things and leading the right life.”  ―  Anurag Shourie,  Half A Shadow I love the expression ‘Dharma’. Frankly, to me, it’s much, much, much more than the typical expression, which, most of us use   grossly, loosely and irresponsibly – ‘Religion’. To me, that word - ‘religion’-   is dead wood! Yes, ‘Dharma’ has a lot of life in it! So, when we reflect on the essence of all our holy texts – be it Gita , New Testament, Quaran or any holy text – they give us insights to live   a harmonious and principle-driven life. Period. The rest is ugly… contaminated… born from human greed and selfishness. In fact, what goes on in the name of God and religion – a huge part of it – is harmful for our co-existence. What was supposed to unite us and make us sensitive human beings, only ends up s dividing us and make us insensitive...

P ablo Picasso, once, said, “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child.”  And, that explains why the end of the innocence in human soul, is the end of human soul itself. Children are pure and unpolluted. In our frantic attempts to make them ‘grow up’, what we actually end up doing is - make them ‘give up’ their innocence… their purity, their curiosity and sense of wonder. We also end up doing one more thing… a vicious thing, indeed: We pour poison into their hearts… Yes, the poison of ‘discrimination’ and ‘bias’! Caste, class, colour, gender, nationality and religion… every kind of discrimination or bias is alien to a child. It creeps in as it ‘grows up’. In other words, it wasn’t there in us while we were little children. We picked it from outside, only to be polluted and poisoned! The ability to see the goodness in others and live with them harmoniously is a fine education. In fact, as Picasso said, it take...