Gerald D'Cunha

“I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves. ” -          Mary Shelley “O k darling… I humbly accept them all!” I replied to my wife’s WhatsApp message. I had left home at 7.30 in the morning, today, without a clue about what day it was… except, that it was a Sunday. So, when I reached my office, I saw this reminder from an ever-faithful wife to her ever-forgetful hubby: Match her effort, Respect her hustle, Support her ambition, Protect her heart, Value her loyalty, Uplift her spirit, Love her unconditionally… Happy Women’s Day Jokes apart, let me look at each one of the pieces of advice in the above message… Do I match her effort? If I say “Yes,” she will say “No” … So, I say “Okay”! Do I respect her hustle? Honestly, not enough… Far from enough! Do I support her ambition? Well “Yes” and “No” … Feel a lot g...

T here is an old saying in English: “Many are the stars I see, but in my eyes, no stars like thee.” Tomorrow will be the ‘Valentine Day’… I wonder, if I still say this to my wife, my Valentine for 28 years! “Old is gold,” yes, I know, is another very old saying in English… But, again, I wonder, if that’s how we truly feel, when it comes to our Valentines! Well, it’s very sweet when we say, ‘hearts do not age’… Love, as Bette Midler’s beautiful song, ‘The Rose’, says, ‘ is a hunger, an endless aching need. ’… I love this song for its deep meaning laced in hope, tenderness and, yes, a lot of pain, too… I am sure, almost all of us have felt and expressed to our partners, in our intimate moments, what Alfred Nature said, “If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk through my garden forever.” But, after close to three decades in my marriage, I know as much as all married couples do, that, we will never have flowe...