Gerald D'Cunha

  “The strongest of all warriors are these two: Time and Patience.” Leo Tolstoy in ‘War and Peace’   “I t takes twenty long years to become an overnight success!” This was how my dear friend, and a fellow-trainer, Dr. Deepak, would tease the young ones in our Personality Development sessions… Yes, to drill into their semi-hard heads, this: “My young friends, you need to have loads and loads of patience… You need to wait for the harvest!” Yesterday, another friend of mine shared this conversation on WhatsApp: Reporter : “Sir, the farmers’ movement has met with the government 10 times so far and now they have given yet another date for meeting. Are you not tired? Not losing heart?” Rakesh Tikait (Leader of farmers’ union) : “Farmers are an epitome of patience and optimism. We sow seeds and wait for 6 months to see it grow. And then, when hailstorm destroys our crops, we are broken, but we don’t run away. We stay back and work on our fields and prepare for the nex...

T here is nothing that we cannot accomplish if we really want to accomplish… and, if we consistently work towards it. There is one more thing: We need to have a very strong reason for accomplishing it. That has been my experience. And, I think, it applies to all of us. My school medium of learning was not English. So, as a young boy, I, always, had this nagging anxiety about communicating in English, which had brought in me a killing inferiority complex. But, when Prof. B.S. Raman came to teach us in F.Y. B.Com, I started admiring him so much, that I desired to become like him – a good teacher and a writer. The reality was, that I wasn’t able to make a sentence in English, leave alone writing an essay. I was, also, terrified of the stage! Those two ‘problems’ of mine were enough to paralyze me completely. Yet, because my desire to become a teacher and a write was so strong – and so important to me – that, I was ready to do anything for it… including overcoming my ...

I admire the team that is making the upcoming Hindi movie, ‘Sanju’, a biopic on Sanjay Dutt. The life of Sanjay Dutt has everything in it – the good, the bad and the ugly. Some of the choices he made, at various points of his life, had proved to him very costly and he had to pay a heavy price for those mistakes. The suffering in his life – be it his mother’s or first wife’s cancer – were beyond his control. But, through all of them, including his jail terms, Sanjay had been a graceful human being. Like many around me, I have known him only from what I have read about him or seen about him. But, I have, always, admired him for the way he had dealt with the consequences of his choices, and moved on in life… I seriously feel: If Sanjay Dutt knew, that he was making some wrong choices, he would not have made them. Now, the question: Did he really not know, that he was making some wrong choices – like doing drugs or possession of AK-47? My answer is a philosophical on...

“Hope fills the holes of my frustration in my heart.” - Emanuel Cleaver B oredom and frustration. A deadly combination that is! I was teaching Kavish, today morning. Kavish had to do a lot of monotonous work and I could sense his frustration and boredom. “Sir, can I do it at home?” Kavish asked me, at one stage. “No Kavish, “finish it here itself. “Okay sir,” Kavish said obediently and continued with his work. But, soon, I could sense the reluctance which was telling in his work. I knew, it was best if he did it at home instead of doing a shoddy work like this. So, I said, “Okay Kavish, do it at home.” “Thank you sir,” Kavish was relived… “Kavish, let me tell you something before you go,” I said. Kavish was willing to listen… “Kavish, you are very fond of physical fitness… you do Yoga and jogging regularly… You play football and you are obsessed with it. Now, you can relate to what I am telling you: If you learn to h...

Pic.: Malabika Ganguly S ome days ago, Ajay*, a friend of mine, called up to seek some help from me. His nephew, who was studying in a convent school, had to seek admission in a new school as boys could study in the particular school only till fourth standard. As the boy’s elder brother studied in another reputed school around, the parents had approached the head of this school for the younger-one’s admission, and, they were promised. But, in the last minute, the school expressed its inability to accommodate the younger sibling. The reason given seemed quite genuine, though shattering. The parents kept visiting the school and began to plead for the admission, but all in vain. Finally, they were sternly told not to ‘disturb’ anymore... It seemed to be the end of the pursuit, as far as that school was concerned... Time had run out; all schools had, already, started. Relying totally on the verbal promise and not keeping any back-up option, now, seemed a terrible mistake...

Pic.: Vincent D'Souza I first heard about Terry Fox in Richard Leider’s inspirational book – ‘The Power of Purpose’. Leider had used the story of young Terry Fox – who had run his legendary ‘Marathon of Hope’ across Canada to raise 23-million dollars, i.e., one dollar for each Canadian at that point of time. Terry loved sports immensely. But, as a young boy, he was diagnosed with cancer, which had left his one leg amputated. The anguish, pain and anger of seeing people dying of cancer, and with a burning desire to help raise funds to support medical research in cancer, young Terry resolved to embark upon the greatest mission of his life – ‘The Marathon of Hope’. I was in my mid twenties when I read Terry’s gutsy story: How one could find meaning, purpose and means even in the most hopeless situations in life, if he possessed in his heart a dream bigger than his miseries… and pursue it with all the compassion, commitment and perseverance in his soul. Ter...

    Pic.: Bhushan Thakkar “Never make a major decision in a valley.” From the book ‘Three Feet from Gold’ by Sharon L. Lachter and Greg S. Reid with Napoleon Hill Foundation. W hen our chips are down – when we stand and stare from the bottom of our valleys -    everything around us looks gloomy and insurmountable to us… The time when we are overwhelmed by fear or grief is the worst time to take any major decision for our lives… We need to stand there, mustering all the courage we can, and allow the time to heal us… the fear to dissolve, the grief to pass… Yes, we should wait for the Sun to emerge from the dark clouds… And, no one knew this truth better than Napoleon Hill did. The time was during ‘The Great Depression’. People, all over the world, particularly in America, had hit the rock bottom of their lives… They had lost every penny they possessed, and they were throwing themselves out to ...

Pic.: Reginald Pinto T he story of Christopher Columbus has, always, fascinated me. Often, I have wondered as to what gave him that power to sail on and on, while his co-sailors agitated and couped to jettison him into the sea! I understood the secret much later when I ventured into discovering my own distant lands. Possessing such a vision means sailing a rough sea, with rough people… Like Christopher Columbus, like Moses of ancient Egypt. Your vision is your vision. At times, it is too painful to carry your people along, to keep holding on, when everyone around you screams: ‘Impossible’. Today, I know, that the power to persist stems from our long-ranged dreams, our visions; and our visions are born from our strong, inner desires to make our lives purposeful. GERALD D’CUNHA P.S.: I n 1990, THE DAWN CLUB had published a small book by the title – ‘Th...

    Pic.: Anand Ashokan “There is nothing called ‘Luck’ in this world, There are only countless ‘lucky breaks’. Only a man, who is ‘prepared’, is able to recognize them.” I n life, the less you rely on luck, the more it appears for you! When you decide to achieve what your heart really, really desires - and when you go about achieving it with all your faith, passion and perseverance, with all your determination, planning and team work… yes, when your focus is laser-sharp, your intentions are heaven-clean… and when your trust in the goodness of people around you and God above you is rock-solid, you will find no need to even think of luck… Luck is that mysterious blessedness – call it God’s grace, if you like - which your earnest and committed heart is showered with… Your dreams are not your wishes. To dream your dreams, it takes a heart of throbbing-passion and a mind of steely-determination… You need...