Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Rajiv Sharma 11 -year-old Yommie began to attend our summer PD-course when he was seven. So, this time was his fifth summer-course with us! I love (?) his energy and mischief... He is a real sport. Rather, brat! One of the mischiefs, Yommie would frequently resort to, during our PD sessions for the little-ones, was his mimicry. The moment I went out of the class, he would mount on the podium and start entertaining his friends by mimicking me... Well, he had been watching me in action for five long seasons... Mimicry, thus, had to be top-class! Once he sensed that even I started enjoying his ape-act, he kept repeating it very regularly. At times, I would get annoyed and sternly send his little-tail in, screaming at him: “Enough!” Then, one day, fed up with his mischief, I decided to put an end to this monkey menace in my class. “Yommie, I am going to punish you,” I howled, “you will have to mimic me in front of a large audience on the certification d...

Pic.: Bhushan Thakkar L ike the proverbial two sets of teeth of an elephant – one for eating and the other for showing - I think, each one of us has two different sets of speech: one for our home, and the other for the world! Generally, the world is unaware of the quality of our speech at home: how we speak to our own nearest and dearest people… The world calls us cultured or uncultured – well-brought-up or badly brought-up – generally on the basis of how we present ourselves before it, how we speak ‘outside’! It is said, that our speech is the refection of our inner character… It is, also, said that our character is what we are in the dark… So, who – other than our nearest and dearest ones at home - know our dark side? Who have seen, heard and felt the effects of our dark side? Today is the festival of ‘Makar Sankranti’. Early morning, my wife lovingly teased me with the famous Maharashtrian greetings: “Tilgul ghya… go...

Our actions stem from our intentions. There are two kinds of intentions: good ones and bad ones. Now, how are we supposed to know whether our intentions are good ones or bad ones? I have a simple way to know that. If my intention is to deliberately cause harm, harass, malign or punish someone, then, my intention is bad. In the same way, if my intention is to please or help someone at the cost of my own well-being, that’s also a bad intention. Thus, when my intention is not to deliberately cause harm, harass, malign or punish someone, then, my intention is good. And, in the same way, when my intention is not to please or help someone at the cost of my own well-being, that’s also good intention. My own well-being, always, comes first. It is only when I care for myself enough that I am able to care enough for another human on this earth. Not, otherwise.  Our actions are always visible. But, our intentions, whi...