Gerald D'Cunha

“The future has a way of arriving  unannounced.” George F. Will Y ears ago, during our Public-speaking sessions, Mr. T.R. Ramakrishnan, our senior-most instructor, would motivate young ones not to give up trying. He would emphatically tell them: “My dear young friends, some flowers, always, boom late; but, remember, they give the finest fragrance.” Sitting amongst our young ones, I would feel so optimistic about my own life… I had been a late bloomer myself. So, I knew how true that statement was! Soon, I wrote and published a small book by the title – ‘THE LATE BLOOMER’. It was loved by so many readers, both young and old alike. REFLECTION : In life, there is no need to be anxious about our growth or development, looking at people around us. All of us, here, are supposed to grow in our own gardens, and at our own time. And, yes, when we do, we all spread our own special fragrance in this world. Mr. Ramakrishnan, our Sir, would call that fragrance – ‘The Finest Fragr...

"There are no uninteresting things; only uninterested people.” G.K. Chesterson L’ le Alice would not have discovered the ‘wonderland’ and experienced all her fascinating adventures had she not been bored that day… and, had she not been curious to find how deep the rabbit hole was and what lay inside it! In Life, Alice, the Rabbit Hole and the Wonderland – yes, all these are the fine metaphors… If we are human, we shall experience boredom, time and again. And, that’s the time to go near the rabbit hole in our backyard and get curious: how deep the hole is, and what lies inside… Every habit that we have formed – and every new habit we are going to form - if we think about it, is something that we have done when we were bored in life. Just think about it! So, now, when we find ourselves locked inside our four walls, for nearly four months – and not knowing how long this situation may continue – we are left with the same choice as l’le Alice was left w...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty I n the eighties and the early nineties, we had Doordarshan as our only TV channel. We had, also, the one-and-only Sabira Merchant with her popular programme ‘What’s The Good Word’. My wife, for one, was a huge fan of Sabira Merchant and her programme. Those were the days, one never heard so much (as one does these days) about Grooming, Etiquette, Finishing Schools. The term called – ‘Image Consultancy’ was not yet born. Just today, I saw a two front-pages (full) of Bombay Times with aesthetically designed advertisement by an Image Consultancy organization inviting women to be entrepreneurs (Free Workshop). It shows how the idea has caught-up with the masses, these days! Well, I am talking about all this, in this Post, today, because, one of my dear friends and trainers at The Dawn Club, Mrs. Satinder Oberoi, had a long-cherished dream: to get trained under the legend and the ‘original guru’ – Sabira Merchant. So, some days ago, she atten...

Pic.: Anand Ashokan “You teach best what you most need to learn.” - Richard Bach T oday, I was reflecting on the three important things, which I have been doing for years… the things, which have given me my identity or recognition, whatever you wish to call it… I teach college students Accountancy and related subjects. That gives me great joy and my daily bread and butter. I train young-ones and little-ones in public speaking and conduct self development programmes. I write (blog) daily and publish inspirational books quite regularly. The last two activities have made me immensely happy in life, given me respect and love, though not money... But, when I reflect on all these activities of mine, what surprises me the most is the reason why I had started doing them – and I still keep doing them – with such passion, persistence and dedication. The reason was: I was ‘bad’ in those areas – I was a poor academically… My classmates and te...

The world doesn't need me; I need the world. I was talking to Rekha yesterday. She teaches in a reputed Management college, and she has been a very popular faculty among the students. She has made a conscious effort to go beyond the text books, organise special sessions and camps for their self-development as well, she has kept in touch with several of her ex-students through e-mails and her blog. They look up to her, seek her advice. And, for Rekha, helping her students like that comes naturally. That's her second skin. "Many call me to be a training faculty, particularly for the corporate training," Rekha told me yesterday. "They try to lure me with good money; but, I tell them that I am not interested. It hurts them, and they even think I am crazy." Rekha, like most of us, began with the same 'search' -"How to make it 'there'?" And, like most of us, when she made it there, she found it was all a mirage. She would always 'miss...