Gerald D'Cunha

“It’s not at all hard to understand a person; It’s only hard to listen without bias.” Criss Jami I t was late in the night when I happened to read the heated debate on one of the WhatsApp groups. It’s a group of fifteen of us… all friends and all educated. Apparently, one of the group members had showered praises on our Prime Minister and hailed him as the only leader who could deal with the current situation in the country so efficiently.  Immediately, another member mocked at what was being just said and criticized the PM and the central government for, what he called ‘a complete mess’ in the country. Suddenly, the floodgates were thrown open… missiles being fired from either side of the border. I was surprised to see one of our very quiet members, who seldom opened his mouth, firing his missiles from one of the sides… I stood neutral, a mute spectator, rather… and watched the fun! Of course, I had a very strong view about the current state of af...

Pic.: Shankar Ramachndran “From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step.”   ―  Denis Diderot M y dad was a massive fan of Indira Gandhi. Rather, he was a fanatic – an Indira Gandhi fanatic! I remember those eerie days of Emergency (1975-77)… I was a college boy. The only source of information - national or international news – was the daily newspaper and, perhaps, the radio. My dad got it from the local Kannada daily and his friends, who huddled up, late every evening near our local naka . The whole village, most of our relatives and all my dad’s friends had begun to hate Indira Gandhi for the Emergency excesses… But, my dad – hundreds of miles away from Delhi, in this remote village called ‘Derebail’ – would defend fiercely his idol, whom Atalji once hailed as ‘Durga’… and my own dad as Mother Mary! He was such a blind devotee of Indira Gandhi! I would witness scores of bitter arguments, rather fights… yes over someone who my dad or ...