Gerald D'Cunha

W hat is genuine and good reveals itself, sooner or later… Yes, no matter how much our opponents try to tarnish it with taint or bury it under muck. They cannot stop what is genuine and good from revealing itself, when time comes. Similarly works its counterpart: What is fake and bad reveals itself, sooner or later, too… Yes, no matter how desperately and aggressively we try to ‘sell it’ through our might and propaganda, along the way suppressing and oppressing the genuine and the good. When time comes - and as they say, when the tide changes – the bluff gets exposed… That’s the cycle of Karma: If we do good, the good comes back to us… It’s only a matter of time. The question, therefore, is this: What about those who hurt us and try to destroy us relentlessly?   Yes, many a time, we find ourselves helpless in front of this tyranny. We do tend to think, often, that there is no divine justice… There is… There is! Time doesn’t spare any tyr...

Pic.: Azriel D'Souza Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I did – and found very effective – was telling a nice story in two tenses… the Present and the Past. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people, who were earnest about improving their English, with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and, then, tell it to someone! This little Zen story has always calmed me down whenever I have struggled to understand the good and the bad in me… and in the people around me… DOING OUR KARMA AND DOING OUR DHARMA PAST: One day, a monk was bathing in a river. He saw a scorpion drowning and instinctively placed his hand under the water and gently lifted the creature on his palm. But, the scorpion started jumping and stinging and, soon, fell into the river… The monk, once again, took his hand under the water to save the drowning scorpion. But, the creature continued to be...

Pic.: Aparna Khanolkar Sheth B oth, Vijay and Ravi, were born to the same parents. But, the scar on Vijay’s wrist – ‘Mera baap chor hai’ , and its subsequent trauma, would live with him till his tragic end. It made him a school dropout, become a boot-polish boy by the street, a sworn atheist… It drove him to amass wealth, by hook or by crook. He became an underworld don, a hardened criminal. But, he loved and worshipped his mother. He believed that she deserved a better life… and his wealth would bring her that joy and happiness… His life, therefore, was fired by that ideal… On the other hand, Ravi, who did not have to go through the trauma of the scar as his elder brother Vijay had to, turned out to be a good sheep. He went to school, become a graduate and, eventually, an honest cop… He, too, loved and worshipped his mother… He, too, believed that his mother, who had to go through such great suffering in life, deserved a better deal… So, his life, too...

 What happened in Denver, on Friday night, can happen anywhere in the world. The shoot-outs like that need no logic. The gun-men are young and they can enter any school, any mall, any cinema hall and any prayer place – and go on an insane killing- spree. And, it all will be over in just a few seconds or minutes! It can happen anywhere, any day… any moment. Aurora cinema of Denver is just a symbol. The 24-year-old suspect, James Holmes, is just a symbol. He being a neuroscience PhD-student is just a symbol. The reported claim of the suspect, that he thought he was ‘the Joker’, is just a symbol. That he chose to do it while screening the most-awaited Batman-movie – ‘The Dark Knight Rises' – is also a symbol. And, yes, that his senseless act took away or battered so many innocent lives, too, is a symbol. The symbol is: ‘the Joker’, the famous villain of the Batman movie, inspires some of us. Makes us do what he does… like: rob mi...