Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Chetna Shetty 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… Here is a lovely story which tells us how our big egos function and how they are cut to size, invariably always… Someone ‘bigger’ – who doesn’t give a damn about what we think of ourselves - comes to do the job! THE LION AND THE LEOPARD  PAST: I t was a hot afternoon. In a jungle, a lion, who was tired and thirsty, wandered in search of water. Finally, when he came near a pond of water, the lion saw a leopard there. The leopard, too, was tired and thirsty and had reached there in search of water. “What are you doing here?” the lion b...

Pic.: Sheela Krishnamony I t was a hot afternoon. In a jungle, a lion, who was tired and thirst, wandered in search of water. Finally, when he came near a pond of water, the lion saw a leopard there. The leopard, too, was tired and thirsty and had reached there in search of water. “What are you doing here?” the lion blasted with his kingly arrogance. The leopard did not like the way the lion treated him. So, provoked by lion’s arrogance, and gathering all his courage, he reacted, “What are YOU doing here?” Lion, not used to such a reaction from his subjects, pretended as if he had not heard what leopard had just said. “Get off my way,” he blasted, “let me drink first.” “I am telling you the same,” the leopard did not want to concede, “wait till I finish… You very well know that I was here first.” The lion went into a rage and threw his paw at the leopard… The leopard tried to grab lion’s neck… and they both got entangled in a fierce fight… The dust an...