Gerald D'Cunha

  “Judging others does not define who they are. It defines who we are.” Kristen Stewar t Y es, agreed – in the latest KBC episode, this 10-year-old kid, Ishit Bhatt, sounded overconfident... Rude and arrogant – okay, agreed... But, the kid paid a price for it, right? 83-year-old Legend showed a lot of grace and magnanimity to this kid even though he must have been a lot irritated, even angry. But, little boy Ishit was, more than anything else, only what he was – an over excited kid... And, alas! I saw the whole world going after this little kid, and even his parents... The kid sat on the ‘hot seat’... and, the world sat on the ‘judgement seat’... See the relentless posts and read the deluge of comments – yes, from random people - Toms, Dicks and Harrys... Pathetic, damaging, brute... insensitive... To me, the kid wasn’t a loser in this episode... the random roadside commentators are. The kid and his parents will take many years to get over the disappointment, pa...

“You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts, You may house their bodies but not their souls. For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.”     -       Kahlil Gibran on Children W hen all this Boys’ and Girls’ Locker-room controversy is raging outside, when all and sundry are sitting on their judgement seats and handing out their verdicts on the ‘guilty’… I start wondering if there were ‘locker rooms’ while I was a young school boy… If dirty thoughts passed through my mind and if I and some of my friends chatted our private stuff. Horrible thoughts do pass through my mind even now… The locker room is still there, very much there. Am I alone here? Hope I am not… None of the so-called ‘dirty thoughts’ come in a young one from his parents and teachers. Mine did not come from my parents or teachers. So, let’s stop blaming abo...

B efore Jaya Bachchan assumed her husband’s famous surname, she was already a superstar. Her husband was nowhere near the superstardom. But, once she married to him, she chose to focus on her family… “That’s where I am needed now,” she said, “That’s where I belong.” Well, those were not the days of Twitter and social media. Even TV was just a toddler in India. So, mostly through some film magazines and the word of mouth, we all came to know that our favourite ‘Guddi’ would not be seen in the films anymore… at least, not in the near future. It took some eighteen long years for Jaya Bachchan to come back to films. By now, of course, she couldn’t be a heroine. But, she acted in a movie here and a movie there… M eanwhile, her famous husband was going through his own inner churning… Following Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s assassination, her son, Rajiv Gandhi, had become our Prime Minister. It was an emotional moment for Amitabh Bachchan. Who was a close friend ...

T he fact, that my family has not been watching TV at home for years now, makes no difference at all: we get everything on our cell-phone screens. Yes, we miss nothing! Yesterday, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh – the extra-colourful guru – was to be sentenced around 2.30 Indian noontime. I was curious to watch the online news. And, like a fool, I spent an hour or two getting all the ‘breaking news’… from every possible TV channel that was. Of course, the loudest and the most colorful of all being Arnab’s Republic TV! At the end of that one hour or two, I asked the question: “So, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been sent to jail for 10 (or 20?) years now… What difference does it make to the quality of my life?” J udging someone like Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh comes easily to all of us. At present, he is a villain, an ugly character. You and I haven’t met him and will never meet him. Whatever sins he has committed, he has committed in his ashram or in his ‘Gufa’. Your life a...

I love the title of Sudha Murthy’s new book (Published by Penguin Random House India) – ‘Three Thousand Stitches… Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives’. I also love the phrase – ‘Cattle Class’! There is a ring around them… and they still ring in my heart ever since I first heard them via Sudha Murthy… For many days now, this story –  'Cattle Class’ – from Sudha Murthy’s latest book has been doing rounds in social media. And, for the right reasons: Two high-society ladies, dressed in expensive outfits and accessories, saw Sudha Murthy, who looked utterly ordinary – and, thinking that she was standing in Business Class queue in London airport by mistake… So, they suggested her to move to the Economy Class queue! Sudha Murthy is a great story-teller. You and I can easily relate to her… she is our aunt… if you are my age. She is our mom, if you are in your thirties and forties… She is our adorable granny if you are a teenager… and, for tiny ones, she is their super-dupe...

T he auto rickshaw in which I was returning home, last evening, was caught up in a bad traffic. The driver was an aged man with slow reflexes. At one point, our auto mildly kissed the auto in front when the traffic had come to a halt. The young driver of the auto in front, got off, checked if any damage had happened (not even a scratch except the mild sound that something had touched his auto from behind) and, started abusing the elderly auto-driver. Our driver calmly explained to him saying that the ‘touching’ was not intentional and, hence, no fuss had to be made about it… But, the young autowala was still furious… By now, the honking from behind had turned incessant… A hefty man on a motorbike, finally, got the young autowala drop the issue and move on… Here, our autowala continued to murmur saying that the young driver was a Smart Alec simply trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill through his drama in public… All this while, I did not get provoked… And, that was st...

Pic. : Anima D'Cunha “W hen  you judge others, you do not define them,” said Earl Nightingale, “You define yourself.” Honestly, how much do I know about another person’s life? Then, what business do I got to judge him? Invariably, the tendency to judge others, at the drop of a hat, comes from some deep insecurity in us… rather, some deeply-rooted ignorance… It is a habit, and, if not curbed in time, it does become our character… Therefore, the opening line: “When you judge others, you do not define them… You define yourself.” Yes, it reveals more about youself… about your ignorance, your insecurity… Your immaturity. In the PD session, last evening, Shreeshay narrated this popular story… A twenty-four-year-old young-man was travelling in a train. Looking out of the window, he cried excitedly, “Dad, dad, look… the trees are going behind us.”  The father smiled at his young son and said, “Is it not amazing, son?” ...

Pic.: Sheela Krihnamony “T he buffalo cannot see his own back.” This is one of my favorite expressions. Sometimes, I give it to someone trying to shut his mouth whenever he points at me – the buffalo in front of him – and chides, “Look at that - your back… so black, so ugly!” And, sometimes, I get it from someone whenever I mock at his black, ugly back… True. The buffalo cannot see his own back. He needs another buffalo to point it out for him! I have some people around me, my close people, who can tell me that point blank… yes, straight on my face. “Mind your own back, you buffalo,” they can tell me whenever I try to point at their or someone else’s uncovered back. So, one of my dear ones, who can make us laugh with his jokes and satire gave it to me, a few days ago… “I am very fond of the jokes and satire your share on FB,” I told my friend, “But, I can’t understand why you ‘like’ your every post before anyone else does.” ...