Gerald D'Cunha

  “That fear of missing out on things makes you miss out on everything.” Etty Hellesum   T oday is 7 th Jan., exactly a week since the advent of new year 2026. In the evening, I received this message from my dear, old student, Rekha: “Good evening Sir, wishing you joy, prosperity and endless blessings in 2026. A Happy New Year to you and your family.” She added, “Sorry for the delayed response, Sir. Your new-year message, somehow, got lost in the mountain of messages!” I loved that imagery – ‘lost in the mountain of messages’... My reply went to Rekha, instantly: “HaHa... ‘Lost in the mountain of messages!’ Rekha, I found the title for my next Blog.” “All the best for your next Blog, Sir,” Rekha cheered. Rekha and Srikar were my students when they were doing their TY BCom. They were in love... Soon after graduating, they got married... and, they never forgot to invite me for their wedding reception... A few years later, their little girl Sharika was born, ...

  “Every challenge, every adversity, contains within it the seeds of opportunity and growth.” Roy Bonnett   I n 2024, I lost my Mom. But, she lived close the age 90. Dad had passed away in 1983. Mom became a widow just after she had turned 48… But, she continued to live, with grace and grit, for the next 41-plus years. When Dad passed away, due to a massive heart attack, Mom – like any one lese in her place – wasn’t ‘prepared’ to absorb the shock and pain. Dad had left behind a huge challenge for her: to rise from the ashes or just perish… Mom chose to rise… But, Mom’s sweet sorrow – the sweet memories of Dad – she continued to bear in her heart till her memory was intact. Dad had passed away on the 2 nd Jan, a Sunday, early in the morning. So, for close to 40 years, since then, Mom would remind her sons, when they called her to wish ‘A Happy New year’ – “Tomorrow will be 10 years… 20 years… 30 years… 40 years… since Dad passed away”… Imagine, she started remindin...

  “As long as I am breathing,   in my eyes, I am beginning.” Criss Jami “B oys will be boys.” My student Sanil* simply hates whenever I say this. He gets angry, thinking that I am biased towards him. He belongs to a small batch of five students in which he is the only boy. The classes, as you know, have been happening online throughout the lockdown period. Our girls do not give me any headache… neither when it comes to their attendance nor when it comes to their attention. They join the Zoom sessions without missing any of them and before time… Sanil needs to be coaxed and pushed. The girls show full attention – answering the questions and asking questions… Sanil is not bad in this respect though. God has given him a fine grasping capacity. But, as his parents say and I agree, ‘He doesn’t put his brain into use as far as his studies are concerned’. All these things are okay, tolerable. But, as several of Sanil’s online contemporaries do these days, Sanil, too, does this:...

“Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it life.” Robin Sharma   W ell, I agree and disagree, both, with Robin Sharma. Agree because, it’s not at all a good idea to just lie down and tell the flowing river – ‘Take me’. If that’s the idea to live by, then, there is need for any of us to get educated and strive for success in life. River takes us, anyway… and to anywhere it likes. And, we should be content with that. Disagree because, sometimes, it’s a good idea to just go with the flow… to let the river take us… and wherever it wants to. To thump our chests from the rooftops, claiming that we are in control of Life’s flow, is pure ignorance… 2020 has brought home this truth. All of us – the richest and the poorest, the highly-educated and the unschooled – yes, all of us had to accept the truth, that we are not in control of our lives – Life’s principles are. With this consciousness, when we try to cruise through the restless river called Life, it doesn’t shatter us...

  “I believe, that somewhere in the darkest night, a candle glows” From the song ‘I Believe’ by Tom Jones   T here is an accounting concept called ‘Going-concern Concept’, which is also known as ‘Continuity Concept’. This is taught to every Accountancy student, right when he or she is about to embark upon the journey of   learning this subject. I have taught this to my students for over four decades. But, every time I have taught it, I have learnt something new – something fresh – about it… The core idea of the ‘Going-concern Concept’, which the accountant has to bear in mind, is: That, the enterprise, whose books of accounts he is expected to maintain, has an indefinite life… That, it is not going to dissolve in a foreseeable future… That, it can outlive all its assets, including all the Fixed Assets… That, it can, even, outlive its Owners, like partners or shareholders.   N ow, because the enterprise has an indefinite life, it becomes necessar...

“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...

“I am the first victim of my anger… I am the first victim of my hatred.” -           S.N. Goenka I have sent scores of New-year messages… and I have received hundreds of them: “Wish you a Happy, Peaceful, Prosperous and Blessed New-year.” Deep down in my heart, I am aware, that those are just words… hollow, meaningless words. All of us are ‘pleasers’ and we do what we do just mechanically… just to be ‘like everyone else’… And, there we are, here in the New Year, now! Have things changed for us? How can they? How can outside things change unless things inside us do?  As the Zen saying goes, “Wherever we go, we carry ourselves!” If we have carried all the poison – our anger, hatred, jealousy, fear, guilt, worry, arrogance and the rest of mind’s illnesses -  from 2017 into this newly-born 2018, we can’t expect to be any better… Happiness, Peace, Prosperity a...