Gerald D'Cunha

“He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.” ―  Aristotle S ome days ago, when Hollywood actor Martin Sheen (during his speech at the weekly Fire Drill Friday protest against the climate Change in Washington DC.) had recited Rabindranath Tagore’s inspiring poem – ‘Where the Mind is without fear’, it caught the imagination of millions of people, all over the world. Tagore had initially penned this poem in 1910! Imagine, even after one-hundred-and-ten years, it resonates with us… It fills us with not only courage, but, also, gives us the much-needed wisdom…   And, what a time we all now live in! The poem is needed now more than any other time… Frankly, I did not feel like blogging during past several days… The mind needed clarity and wisdom… the heart needed courage. So, in a state like this, the best thing, I thought, I should do was to keep silent and pray… seek for guidance… Tagore’s ...

Pic.: Bhushan Thakkar L ast night, I was watching, on CNN-IBN, the programme - ‘Open Mike’. It was based on the up-coming Loksabha elections. Sagarika Ghosh was talking to a large group of college kids outside a Delhi college. These young-kids would be the first-time voters in this general election. I was very impressed with them. Being from the nation’s capital city, they sounded extremely aware of the political scenario in our country; almost all of them articulated with clarity and conviction, and, almost all of them did sound extremely concerned about the state of affairs in the country... the economic progress, the social class and cast discrimination, the curse of corruption, the jobs and youth issues etc. They wanted change... But, essentially, did not see a fine option before them. I was a college kid myself when Mrs. Indira Gandhi had imposed Emergency in our country. It lasted for 21 months (1975-77). We had no TV and social media in tho...

Pic. Madan Manik L ast evening, I met two lady-teachers. They were returning home after watching the Salman Khan movie – ‘Jai Ho’. I was a bit amused and asked them, “Did you like it?” “Completely,” they both said in a chorus, “ Paisa vasool !” I was a stupid fellow to assume, that teachers like me alone carried ‘brains’ in their heads. I had forgotten, that a vast majority, out there, were very, very simple souls… They didn’t like to see life in complicated terms… They didn’t like to be too serious even when they went to watch a movie… That, they liked to sing along, laugh, whistle and come home a little happier and lighter… For them, it was a Rajnikant   or a Salman Khan movie that brought cheer in their hearts… For them, what mattered was: some pure entertainment, no matter how silly it sounded! Ironically, in ‘Jai Ho’, the famous dialogue revolves around the same man – ‘the common man’ – who the typical Salman Khan movies cater to: “Aa...

As I opened my mails, this morning, the first thing that caught my attention was a Forward message from some of my regular friends. It was regarding the current turmoil on Common Wealth Games. There were amazing pictures of the facilities at the Games Village, which, we never, ever saw on any news papers or Television channels all these months. So stunning some of them were, that,  initially, I thought I was watching some 'foriegn' stuff! Then, my eyes fell on this famous, old caption: "If you want to kill a tree, don't cut it; just curse it!" Many, many years ago, I had come across this saying... and, I had, instantly, liked it. There is an island -  I do not remember which one, probably, West Indies - where the tribals surround a tree and, together, keep cursing it hysterically. And, they go back to their huts. In a few days, the tree would be gone. Dead! "Jesus Christ," I remember muttering in my mind, after reading this story, "we all do t...