Gerald D'Cunha

  “Keep your face to the sunshine, and you cannot see the shadow. It’s what sunflowers do.” Helen Keller   I don’t think, that there is anyone around us, who doesn’t realize the importance of being positive in life. Yes, the energy and motivation to do well and do good in life come from a positive state of mind. But, I, also, don’t think, that there is anyone around us, who thinks it’s possible to stay positive, ‘always’. Writing by blogs, teaching my students and several such activities give me the greatest joy. That is the positive space I long to be in… But, I have seen, during the course of writing and teaching, that, at times, I can literally touch the negativity… Irritations, frustrations, gloom, lack, impatience and, even, arrogance. All this springs up right through my day… There are times, when I tend to lose trust in people, lose hope… feel bitter about life… But, but, but… Not always. Mercifully, these gloomy bouts, like smokey clouds, do pass quickly, l...

  “The same wind that blows down your house shakes berries from the bushes.” Marci Ridlon   “B e watchful about the effect of people and the information on your mind,” I heard this speaker telling his audience, “Some people you interact with and some information you consume can drain your energy and pull you down in life.” There are people who drain our energy, and they do pull us down. And, these people need not necessarily be ‘outsiders’; often, they are ‘insiders’ – what we call the ‘significant people’ in our lives.   Thus, cutting off these people from our lives can be a difficult task. Yet, we need to find out ways to work around them, so that their negativity doesn’t leave us drained and drag us down in life. Easier said than done… I know. But, experience does teach us, that, in Life, some ‘crap’, we can cut; some, we can only shield ourselves from… Let the crap be! When it comes to information, it’s relatively easier to cut the crap. After all, w...

“W hat was your reaction to the Bangaluru molestation incident?” asked someone, yesterday. I did not answer. “You have not answered my question,” he reminded me. I did not answer. In a few seconds, I moved away from this person. My reaction was my reaction. It was not something for public debate… I did not want to say anything for effect, for attention… There was a strong, intense feeling inside… and I knew that if I expressed it before some people, it would lead us nowhere… except a useless debate! No one seems to remember a Nirbhaya or a Shakti Mill compound, today? In fact, when I was talking to someone this morning, he was blissfully unaware of both these imageries! Not his problem, you see… Public memory is exactly like that: It is short! So, now on the New-year night, we have this new imagery to fuel our minds… the Bangaluru Molestation in public! Just a few days – perhaps a few weeks or months from now… this too shall be forgotten! But, the que...