Gerald D'Cunha

  “Children are not things to be moulded, but are people to be unfolded.” Jess Lair   I have not played any competitive game in my life, leave alone a high-pressure game like the one (Cricket) going on, today, between India and Pakistan… Yes, leave alone playing such a game, I haven’t even played a competitive gully-game. But, I know this: without experiencing pressure, there can’t be a competitive game… And, what about the exams – board exams, the regular school and college exams, entrance exams, and high-profile exams? I don’t think, we can free some amount of pressure and stress from these exams… And, I believe, that a reasonable amount of stress in life is a ‘good stress’… It is necessary to keep us alert, agile and prepared… Imagine, a student who is just not bothered about his/her exams? Is such a stress-free approach okay for you and me? A s a teenager, I remember getting stressed out before my every exam. I had been an anxious kid, always… I had high de...

  The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; and the willingness to learn is a choice.” Brian Herbert   L ooking back, I can sincerely say this: I have been a kid who behaved well, but performed poorly… Poorly in everything – the academics or the extra-curriculars. To make things worse, I suffered from a chronic inferiority-complex, which was evident in my extremely-low self-confidence… I was so shy, anxious and filled with self-doubts, that I hid from showing up… There were tremors in my body and a thousand fears ruled my mind. Yet, my heart desired, silently, to ‘show up’… ‘Express’ itself. Thus, when time came, I listened to my heart and let it lead me wherever I was destined to go… Teaching and  writing, to tell you honestly, happened not because I was ‘good at them’, but, because, I wanted to ‘express’ and feel good about myself… Today, I understand, that this deep feeling within - of feeling good about oneself - is what self-conf...

  “Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none.” William Shakespeare, ‘All’s Well That Ends Well’   A re we all these little frogs blissfully living in our ponds? One of my pet phrases, with which I often find myself trying to motivate my students, is ‘Don’t be a frog in the pond’… Obviously, when I put it so forcefully, my intention is good: I want my students to go beyond the books… Think practical, be in touch with what’s happening around them, etc., etc., etc. Some of my near and dear ones – including my wife and son – often tell it on my face: “Yours is a one-way traffic… You preach, and your students listen to you, mutely.” Only those who love you, know you and care for you, can tell it on your face… It doesn’t mean, my students don’t love me, care for me and know me… They just don’t want to ‘invite trouble’ by telling it on their teacher’s face… They know what a ‘great frog’ their teacher is… particularly when it comes to the ‘information technology’! I was ...

“On the ocean of life, let your mind be the ship, and heart be the compass.” James David Manning O ne of the things I had seriously planned, but had to keep on hold because of the lockdown was: Our new book! It’s been a long tradition at the DAWN CLUB to publish a book or two on the Certification Day of the summer programme on Personality Development. I would involve our li’l ones, young ones and general adults on this project. So, this time around, the book I had planned was on a very important subject: How one decides what he/she has to pursue in life. How? There is no one fits-for-all answer… In fact, there should not be one. I firmly believe, that the answer should be the outcome of a ‘process’… that, there should be a lot of confusion in the mind and churning in the heart. Rarely, a young one is ready with the answer as he/she comes out of his tenth standard. Parents, relatives, teachers, peers do have a role in deciding the one field they must now ge...

“You can cut all the flowers; but, you cannot stop Spring from coming.” -       Pablo Neruda I s it important for every parent to place an unshakable belief in their children? And, is it important for a teacher to do the same? I have been both, a parent and a teacher, for many, many years. And, from the other side, I have been a child and a student for a period even longer than that… Thus, it gives me a fair sense of authority to answer the question: “Yes, it is!” But, then, there seems to be a fairly-wide gap between what we all think about this issue, and what we all practice… My parents and teachers had difficulty ‘fully’ believing in me… So, regularly, they voiced their concern by shouting and screaming, but, with the hope that it would set me right, bring out my best. Yes, at hindsight, it doesn’t look like a good way of parenting or teaching, leave alone, an ‘ideal’ one… And, today, when I have switched my r...

A couple of days ago, I was talking to one of my brothers over the phone. This bother of mine lives abroad with his wife and the school-going son. Like all other parents, my brother and his wife too had been struggling with the issues relating to a teenager’s growth, particularly studies. The constant anxiety and silent irritations… these, eventually, either make many of us, parents, either cynical or wise in life… In my brother’s case, thankfully, it has been the latter… It has left them wiser. “It’s all in the family,” my brother said jokingly, “our son is exactly like how we were – a ‘late bloomer’… You know how we found our way, I am sure, he, too, will… He will be a survivor.” I started laughing in joy… How true that was! The only difference between we bothers and our children was: our parents weren’t educated and didn’t have high expectations from us, their children. But, they did remind us, constantly, to study, behave well, be pious… and, then, they lef...

I have observed an interesting thing during our Personality Development programme (summer). A few parents, particularly the mothers, of our little ones or young ones end up learning more from the programme than their children do. I, always, encourage the enthusiastic parents to feel free to sit for our sessions whenever they are free or like. A couple of them end up sitting for the entire two-month programme and enjoy it more than their children do. On the Certification Day, I, often, surprise these ‘deserving’ parents with a specially-worded certificate. When they come forward to collect it, they go speechless. They cry! Whose learning was it, anyway? Did they actually come for thier kids or for themselves? It has, always remained a mystery to me! For last two summers, a mother of young *Sam wanted to enroll her son for our programme. She was extremely keen. But, Sam, who studied in 9 th standard at that time, was not. Sam’s dad and mom were working p...

Pic.: Rachna Talreja Mukhi “Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.” -          Oscar Wilde M y elder brother was telling me, the other day, that, for all of us, there are these three ways of learning in life: 1. From the good advice from our well-wishers – our parents, relatives, teachers, preachers, friends or any other well-wishers... 2. From others’ mistakes... When we see before our eyes what happens to people around us, if they make mistakes... 3. From our own mistakes... when we realize what happens to us if we do those mistakes... “Some people just refuse to learn from others’ advice or mistakes,” my brother told me, “There is only one way for them to learn from, and that is from their own mistakes... They have to fall and learn... Fall over and over again, at times.” I was shaking my head to convey how true it was! Everyday, when I stand on this teacher’s-pedestal and go on ...