Gerald D'Cunha

  “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back, it’s yours. If it doesn’t, it never was.” Old Proverb   M any years ago, I had a poster displayed in my classroom with the above message. Young boys and girls, would get puzzled… “If you love ‘someone’,” they would understand it that way. So, the advice to set him or her – who they were madly in love with – free would not go down well with them… Detachment is for the old and the sick… This was their (Young ones’) age – the age of attachment. So, after some time, I stopped displaying this message… “Let them enjoy life… Detachment can wait,” I concluded. Attachment mercifully comes in many forms: Attachment to wealth, people, beliefs, ideas, ideologies, opinions, places, creations and so on. I don’t think, it is possible – rather practical – to rid of our every attachment. Yes, as an ideal -   as a philosophy - detachment is very sublime. But, every one of us is a mortal here on earth; therefore, attached ...

I n a village, the fishermen have just returned after their daily catch. As they are busy sorting the fishes, a kite swoops down from the sky, picks a fish by its beak, and shoots up into the sky… Immediately, hundreds of crows appear from nowhere and begin to chase the kite, making a crazy noise... Whichever direction the kite takes, the crows follow the kite. Finally, the kite becomes tired and decides to drop the fish. As soon as the fish is dropped, the crows leave the kite alone and go after the falling fish… The kite, quietly, settles down on the branch of a nearby tree. Sitting there, it looks at the crazy sight and concludes: “There go, with that wretched fish, all my miseries!” I first came across this enchanting story, some three decades ago, in the book, ‘Tales and Parables of Sri  Ramakrishna' (Ramakrishna Paramahamsa). Ever since then, I have recounted this fable countless times in our PD sessions as well as in my Blogs. Just a coup...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha 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! Presently, I am helping a young businessman by the name Pravin Pahuja. “Just twenty stories, Pravin,” I have told him, “You write down just twenty nice stories in two tenses… and, then, narrate them to someone in the same way… Your English will fall in place and, along with it, you will become an effective communicator, too.” Pravin has already written some… This is one of them… PAST: In a village, the fishermen had just returned after their daily catch. As they were sorting out the fishes, a kite swooped down, picked a fish by its beak and shot up int...