Gerald D'Cunha

E at fresh food... I agree. Eat simple food... I agree. Eat in moderation... I agree. Eat with a happy and grateful heart... I agree totally. But then, can you and I eat ‘fresh food’ always, considering the hectic pace of our lives? Frankly, we cannot. Many of us have to accept this reality... That, eating happily with a grateful heart is more important than eating freshly-cooked food... Frankly, we are all on a space mission... We have to choose between the Moon and the Sausages... E very migrant, who comes to big cities like Mumbai - with no money, friends or connections, but only a dream – has lots of struggle stories to share later when they succeed in in life. But, these struggle stories, invariably, inspire other strugglers, and not the children of those telling the ‘stay-hungry, stay-foolish’ stories... One such young kid I came across yesterday. He wasn’t ready to eat the tiffin packed and sent by his mother... “I eat only fresh”... The tiffin went back home, go...

Pic.: Candice Correa “Opinions are the cheapest commodities in the world.”   I was a struggling twenty-something-young-man in Mumbai, when I first read it in Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich’. All that I wanted to do, then, was to teach like my idol, Prof. Raman. Did I get this dream, this desire, from someone around me – my parents, my friends, my relatives, my neighbors, my teachers or any www.coms ? Did I go around seeking their opinions: “How is the teaching field? Is there scope? Will I make enough money, name, fame? Is there security, Job satisfaction? Will students respect me, colleagues accept me? Will my skills be good enough – my English, my public-speaking, my subject knowledge? What about the social status… Will I find a bride? so on and so forth.” By the way, did I have options – if not teaching, it is selling, accounting, managing or baby-sitting? All that, as a young-stranger in thi...

Many years ago, one afternoon, I saw tears welling in Hardeep’s eyes. She was just eighteen, and she was in second-year B’Com. The lecture was on, and tears in my student’s eyes had puzzled me. It was a packed classroom… and, I had not provoked the tears. So, I decided not to draw anyone’s attention to this young girl. After the class, I gently asked Hardeep to stay back and let me know why she was crying.  At the start, Hardeep hesitated to open up. I encouraged her to speak, and, finally, she did. “Sir, my parents want me to get married, now… Tomorrow, a family will be visiting our place to see me,” Hardeep told me, tears gushing out of her eyes, “I do not want to get married, now, sir… I want to complete my studies, first… But, they don’t understand.” What could I tell? How could I ‘save’ young Hardeep from her trauma? I remember asking her this: “Do you think, you can convince them?” “No sir, I don’t think, I can do that,” Hardeep sa...

I am at it again. Talking about the tough times: the collapse of financial system, world over, and, its bloody aftermath. Just yesterday, I had posted my article -- "Who Insured AIG?" -- touching upon this subject. Yes, the subject of 'security' in life. And, today, when I read the report of bloodbath at Los Angeles, I thought I must delve into the subject, once again. Who knows, what may trigger off my tomorrow's post? Karthik Rajaram. How familiar the name sounds! And, how familiar his reaction to his tough times! An extreme reaction? Perhaps, yes. For, there were other options for him. Perhaps, no. For, that's the only option, his mind - completely overtaken by fear - could see. At that point of time. Karthik chose to shoot dead his wife, his mother-in-law and all three of his children, and ,finally, himself. At, one go, his entire family perished ... His tough times ended! In his suicide notes, Karthik talks about the two options he had before him: either ...