Gerald D'Cunha

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” Anonymous I t’s 5 in the evening as I type these words… It’s dark outside, and it’s pouring in torrents! Somewhere in Assam, China and other places, rivers and lakes have swollen and fiercely swallowing up the villages and towns. And, somewhere the earthquakes have flattened out what Man had built… And, everywhere, there is this dreaded virus, already. Some live as one big family, all together, in this lockdown… and some live alone, all alone. But, apparently, loneliness has nothing to do with the number of people we live with. I am sure, many, many, many may agree with me when I say this: You can live with a dozen people at home, yet feel lost and lonely. On the other hand, you may live all alone in the house, yet feel loved and protected… “Thank God, you are living with your family,” I said this, today, to someone who was endlessly cribbing about something, “Just be thankful.” Thanklessness is man’s worst v...

“The two most common elements in the Universe are hydrogen and stupidity.” Harian Ellison T he essence of every religion is the essence of Life; and, that’s love and brotherhood. It’s the common belief, that we all are the children of the same God – the same Creator… That, we are not even a speck in the vast Universe He has created… too, too, too small and insignificant! Hence, the fact that I am a Christian – and a Roman Catholic in that – is too insignificant. If that thought – that, I am a Christian - makes me feel different – superior to others – then, my religion is a dead religion… It’s dark and dangerous! Self-importance is the opposite of the religious essence of Love and brotherhood. If my religion makes me feel ‘different’ – superior to others – then, the God I worship must be a False God! Look at the stupidity to which some of us have lowered ourselves to, now… Yes, even at this time, when the whole wo...

“How can people trust the harvest unless they see it sown?” -      Anonymous T oday is Class 12 (CBSE) Accountancy Board exam. A while ago, I received a phone call from my student, Utsav… “Sir, I am going for my exam!” That’s all… The rest was implied! I had taught Utsav, both, in his Class 11 and 12. He is a very intelligent and well-informed kid, very articulate and strong-headed. He had a good hold on the Accountancy concepts and I had no complaints about him at all. So, every time, his school teachers would nag him or his parents about his inefficiencies, I would try to keep up his morale… His mother, particularly, was very stressed about his exams. I had tried my best to keep up her morale, too… So, today, when Utsav called me up and said, “Sir, I am going for my exam,” I knew what more he wanted to say… “Sir, I have done my best… I am leaving to God the rest… Pray for me, wish me well…” Which, obviously, I did… ...

I f the blot called ‘discrimination’ should go from our society, it should first go from our own hearts. If we still do not like to shake hands with those who come to pick thrash from our doorsteps, if we have a ‘separate’ cup, glass and plate for those who come to clean our floors or cook our food, if we still assume that we are from an ‘upper caste’ or ‘upper class’… then, there must be a separate God for those who we think are ‘lower’ than us and for us – yes, the ‘upper’ ones… Even though we are, so often, so brutally discriminated in the hands of people who think ‘upper’ and ‘higher’ than us, the blot still persists in us… We still discriminate.  Yes, on the basis of such silly things… The race. The caste. The colour. The class. The gender. The abilities. The education. The locality. The language. The age. And a dozen other silly things. L ast evening, my wife and I watched the latest Hindi movie – ‘Article 15’. And, yes, we came back home shaken ...

“Even God doesn't propose to judge a man till his last days, why should you and I?”  ―  Dale Carnegie O f the hundreds of things that we get to watch on social media, particularly FB, I long to watch the most are… the videos of little babies and pets! Wow, how clean, warm and enriching they are! The more I watch them, the more I get connected to the baby within me – my core… my innocence… that clean, affectionate and trusting space within my soul… And, then, on the same screen, I, also, get to watch hundreds of videos - of debates, news items, propaganda stories – which clearly cut me off from that clean space within… In seconds, I can feel within my soul that heaviness, that discomfort… and, I wonder where it comes from… I see myself disconnected… Mind taking sides… I can sense within me the bias, the prejudice, and, importantly, I can easily trace my words, actions and behaviour which stem from that space… Am I a prejudi...

Pic.: Fr. Reginald Pinto For a change, let me divide the mankind into only two kinds: Less reactive and more reactive. And, if I am the author of this division, I must know to which kind I belong! Frankly, there are some areas in my life where I see myself more reactive, but they are few. Gratefully, there are many, many areas, I am happy to say, that I am less reactive. None of us has become reactive overnight. It was a habit we had picked up early in life, probably when we were very small… by watching those nearest to us… Yes, we began to imitate those who we looked up to in life… We saw them reacting, and we thought it was an acceptable behavior… and, when we did it repeatedly, it got reinforced in us… What we observed, liked and accepted became our habit, our character, our personality… and, something that shaped our destiny. We can see this, right around us, with our naked eyes. We, the gown-ups, may have our differenc...

The other day, when I told someone that I had watched the critically-acclaimed film, ’Ship of Theseus’, his reaction was immediate: “Did you watch it? It is a strain on your brain, everybody says.” “Well, not everybody says so,” I said to my friend, and asked him, “Have you watched it?” “No,” my friend quipped, “I don’t find sense in adding more stress by paying for it.” I haven’t watched ‘Chennai Express’… and, I won’t. Probably, if my friend asks me if I have watched this Madras-Mumbai pot-boiler, my answer would be something like this: “No; I don’t like to go to a cinema hall leaving my brain behind!” Both of us, my friend and I, are on two sides of the same spectrum… both of us have highly preconceived ideas… our respective prejudices… We have allowed others to influence us, chosen to operate from hearsay, past experiences, personal biases and so on… In my case, I have a pre-conceived notion that SRK overacts… I don’t like his dialogue...