Gerald D'Cunha

I was a school boy, when I first heard from our teacher the famous proverb in Kannada, “Aaney   Kaddaru kalla, adike kaddaru kalla . ” Means: A thief is a thief whether he steals an elephant (Aaney) or a betel nut (Adike). There was a huge blackberry (Jamun) tree in our neighborhood. In season time, this tree attracted lots of kids, which included me. Some of us climbed the tree to steal jamuns, and some of us threw stones to get them… till, the land-lady came screaming and abusing, a long stick in her hand. For her, we kids were ‘thieves’… “Aaney kaddaru kalla, adike (in this case, Jamun) kaddaru kalla! Whenever I look back at these episodes, my heart smiles: I am a thief… Not a big thief. I am a cheat… Not a big cheat. I am a liar… Not a big liar. I am a sinner… Not a big sinner. But, the fact remains: whether I steal an elephant or whether I steal a betel nut (Or, our neighbor land-lady’s jamuns), thief I am… Am I not? So many childhood incidents of ...

T his is Lanten season for us, the Christians. It is ingrained in our consciousness, that this is a time we should spend in reflection and reconciliation. We pray intensely during this period… We confess, repent for our sins… We fast, and, above all, seek forgiveness from God and seek His grace and strength to make a fresh beginning. Personally, to me, this time is the most enriching and moving time of the year… I feel the closeness to God more during this period than I feel during the rest of the year. I feel, yes, a lot humbled and human during Lent. One of the main church activities, during Lent (apart from the traditional Way of the Cross), is Lenten Missions. Almost all the Catholic churches hold these very inspiring and revival Missions. There are special preachers (like Redemptionists) trained for years in conducting this kind of renewal Missions during Lent. These priests are invited by different churches to hold these Lenten Missions; mostly, late in the ...

Pic .: Chandrasekhar Varier I have written on this earlier, too… That, if Jesus Christ was to live in my neighborhood, today, would I have treated him as my great friend – leave alone adore and worship Him the way I do, today? I know Christ is not around, today… So, I read His compassionate, touching stories and try to associate with Him. Today, it is safe – rather trendy – to make the Christ hanging on the cross – almost naked and condemned to be a criminal – as my great hero, my Salvador… But, I am honest when I say this: If the divine drama was to get re-enacted in my neighborhood, today, I would have done what Peter, His closest disciple, had done: Deny knowing who Christ was… And, trust me: I am not saying this, here, for any dramatic effect…. I can imagine how tough it must have been for Peter… not to do that… the denial act… But, then, when he heard the rooster crow three times, that night, and when he remembered what Jesus had said, Peter had b...

When ‘Titanic’ began to sink, the ancient prophecy came true: the rats deserted the giant vessel before anyone else did! In this ship called Life, all of us are rats… When the ship goes down, we don’t want to go down with it… We desert the ship that sheltered us all this long… Now, we want to save our lives; and, so, we jump off… But, jump into what? Well, that’s another story! When things are rocking in our lives, literally, the life around us is a great rock show… We are surrounded by scores and scores of friends and well-wishers… They swear by us… They claim, that they are ready to give life for us! Yes, all this goes on as long as the ‘Titanic’ sails gloriously along… When the weather is fair, the sea is gentle and kind… But, the moment the chips are down, the moment the weather turns rough and the sea stormy, unsafe, there go the deserters… the rats… all our fair-weather friends! ...