Gerald D'Cunha

  “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time is now.” Chinese Proverb   I t’s 8.50 in the night… It’s the New-year eve. The greetings have already started pouring in. “A Happy and Prosperous New year”… Yes, this is the familiar greeting. How many near and dear ones have sent it to me, and to how many near and dear ones I have sent the same! “Wishing you all a very Happy and prosperous New Year”… Here is one more time… As I am about to step into 2025, a few hours from now, I become strikingly aware of one thing I badly want to do: to take a chill Pill… to calm down, to relax, not to be too anxious, fearful or angry… in the New Year… Of late, I was finding myself wanting in this area… Excessive irritation, annoyance, impatience and anxiety had quietly entered from the backdoor and made me a lot gloomy… Yes, yes, that’s despite my relentless writing on positive things… When has one ceased to convert himself or herself into completely...

“Every sunset is an opportunity to reset. Every sunrise begins with new eyes.” ―  Richie Norton T wenty-twenty! Will it be fast and furious, young and colourful, good, bad and ugly like the T20 of the cricket world? Just a couple of days ago, Amitabh Bachchan had tweeted, in a lighter vein, that we needed not to worry as there was only an ‘ unnees-bees ka farak’   between 2019 and 2020! Now, the ‘ unnees’ is behind us, and the ‘ bees’ is ahead… Will it be any different? Jab jaago, tab savera ! It’s morning when you wake up… When our eyes are new, the sunrise, too, appears new and glorious! Life is never static to any one of us… It can’t be. Life is constantly moving… Yes, it’s in a constant flux. What come on our way, as our good times and bad times, are only life-situations… They come and they go… just as the day and the night do. So, whether it is the unnees or the bees , the difference betwe...

Pic.: Malabika Ganguly “F rom where do you get such profound themes for your daily Blog?”  Some time back, a dear friend of mine had asked me. “From where do you get such amazing pictures for your random clicks?” I had replied without even blinking. My friend was taken aback and admitted to me: “I am amazed to see that there is so much there in the ‘thin air’ for each one of us – the writers, photographers, painters, poets, singers, music-composers and chefs… the dancers, choreographers, DJ’s, RJs and VJs… the designers, architects, scientists, thinkers, teachers, preachers and trainers… the consultants and counselors the inventors, sportsmen and businessmen, all… We just need to have eyes that ‘see’ and a heart that ‘feels’.” “And a mind that believes,” I added. A s so many of my friends share their random clicks on FB and WhatsApp, I share my random notes on my Blog and root it through FB. I love the beauty my friends’ wayside- clicks bea...

“I find them boring, these days,” my wife said this morning.  She was talking about my Blog Posts! I smiled and said, “It means, you should take a break; stop reading them!” “But…” she wanted to say something! I have been writing like this for over three decades now… Anything and everything that touches me… small or big, one line or ten pages… happy, sad or mad. Whatever comes along my way, which my heart feels, soul wants to celebrate… I call them my ‘notes’… I used to write them anywhere – in my dairies, on the used-envelopes, on torn sheets… anywhere… Sometimes, I would read them for my friends… All my books came from them, and will come from them… I turned them into my Blog Posts about five years ago… began to root them through FB since this March… Yes, I have been writing like this just the way I have been eating my ‘staple food’ – rice and curry or sabji and chapati s… Just the way I have been taking bath or jus...

At the signal, the traffic-cop – they fondly call him in our bambaiyya colorful- bhasha – ‘Mama’ – blows the whistle. The young-man in the Maruti has jumped the signal. The car slows down and stops at quite a distance from the signal… Mama keeps running behind till he reaches the car. The ritual follows: “Give the license…” The receipt book from the pants-pocket and the pen from the shirt-pocket are out…  The young-man has still not come out of his car… He gently cajoles our mama … But, the mama is not pleased… Then, the young-man comes out… Takes our mama on the sides… The negotiations are on… It is clear, the young-man is not having his license, as well… Surely, he must have failed to wear his seat belt, too. Finally, the mandavli is done… You know, what I mean! The young-man is back on road, and off he zooms like a Ferrari… and, our mama is back to his business, at the signal! Meanwhile, the signal must have changed not less than fi...

"Familiarity breeds contempt!" Yes, it does. Everything in life, when I become too familiar with, I get bored with… I slowly begin to take it for granted, dislike it…  And anything I dislike, do mechanically, can never be a source of joy and happiness in my life.  Well, I know this truth. That, unless I love what I do, love the people I interact with… unless I approach the same work, the same people with a childlike curiosity, with a twinkle in my eyes… yes, familiarity is bound to breed contempt in my life. If I claim that I have not been bored or tired of my teaching – over three decades – I will be simply lying. Teaching was, is and will be my sole passion. But, then, because I keep doing the same thing, over and over again, every single day, year after year – I become too familiar with it, fatigued and, at times even frustrated. Like most of us do, I too have often wondered: “Where else will I find my happiness?” ...

That is difficult. I am so used to viewing everything - viewing the world around me - from the windows I am already used to, the windows opened for me by 'others' ... So, to open a new window, means I am 'aware' ... That, to genuinely appreciate anything in life, or any one for that matter, I need to view them with my new eyes, I need to open a new window ... Re write the whole programme on a fresh, blank CD. Last night, I watched 'Slumdog Millionaire' with my family, and loved it immensely. For almost a fortnight, we heard the heated debate so much, that it was very difficult to see the movie with new eyes. The mind had been influenced by the critics, film makers, actors respected journalists - yes, from a tycoon to a slum dog, every body had tried to 'comment' about the movie. "Just forget about the debate - 'us' Vs. 'them', and simply enjoy the pure cinematic experience ..." a critic had written. "Don't watch 'Sl...