Gerald D'Cunha

  “Teachers can change lives   with just   the right mix of chalk and challenges.” Joyce Meyer I see many young students around me – mostly between the age 16 and 20 – who teach other students. They remind me of my own early-teaching days. I was in F.Y. B.Com… I was weak in studies… extremely self-conscious and full of self-doubts. I was scared of revealing myself… and, I was worried about my future. Against such a backdrop, I remember watching my teacher, the legendary Prof. B. S. Raman (St. Aloysius College, Mangalore) and waking up to a dream: to be a fine teacher and writer like him (He had written every Commerce textbook). He taught us for three years… and, without talking to him even a single word – one-on-one – he was able to unleash that dream in me… That’s the beginning of my self-belief, self-confidence and self-responsibility. I was so consumed by that dream, that I found myself teaching some of my friends after the college hours… When they said, “Ger...

  “The key to retirement is to find joy in the little things.” Susan Miller   M any a time, I use this line: “Teachers do not retire.” That’s, probably, to remind myself that, one day, I may stop teaching students and earn money; but, I will, always, continue to ‘teach’, contribute, empower, inspire etc., etc.… and, yes, all free of charge! Thus, once a teacher, always a teacher… But, then, is it not true for all of us, irrespective of the role we play in life? As humans, we seldom retire… We stay tuned to life… receiving from it, and passing on to others… But, what we receive from life shall, always, outweigh what we ever pass on… Frankly, I do not like the word ‘Retirement’… As the saying goes, we may retire from our ‘Job’, but never from ‘life’… In fact, a new life beacons us when we step out from our paying jobs… There is so much out there to savour… so many little things, which we never had time – or never bothered – to stop and smell… appreciate… valu...

"My life isn’t over, and I’m not going to  sit  in a rocking chair and take money  from the government.” Colonel Harland Sanders, founder of KFC I will complete 62 this July. If I was a government employee, I would have been a ‘retired’ old-man, living on his monthly pension, by now. But, being a self-employed fellow, I know, that my pension will come only if I - what that famous line says – ‘get up, dress up and show up, each morning’ … Yes, no matter how I feel when I get up in the morning! My cousin brother, Stany is 65, and retired from his job with a well-known Petro-chemical company, some years ago. But, if you look at him, he looks much younger than I am. Being passionate about music, he took up a teaching assignment at an international school where he is a popular music teacher even now.  Besides this, he and his wife, Martina, have been leading the church choir group for years now. So, at 65, he still finds himself relevant and productive…...

"Security is not the absence of danger,  but the presence of God,no matter what the danger." Anonymous A friend of mine, who lives in our housing colony, will be retiring from his government service on 30th of this month. He has organized a lunch party in his office, on this Friday (27th Sept), for his colleagues, close friends and well-wishers. Yesterday, I received an invite for it... "Please grace the occasion." I was delighted and quickly sent to my friend a thank-you message. "Can't believe! Too early to retire! I will be there, definitely!" This morning, my friend sent to me another message. "I have invited only five persons from our colony..." He had named all five invitees, including me.  I replied with a laughing emoji..."Thank you friend for counting me in the 'Magnificent Five'... Looking forward to it!" "Yes my friend, these '...