Gerald D'Cunha

  “Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.” Carl Sagan   A while ago, I was talking to a friend of mine from Kerala. The topic of discussion was, how, through tough times, some survive, while some don’t. He gave me an example of what he had just witnessed around him. Apparently, one of his elderly aunts, who was fair and beautiful, suddenly seemed a lot anxious to notice some dark patches on her face. When she went to see her doctor, he prescribed some cream so to do away with those dark patches from her fair face. But, then, Covid struck her the very next day, and within the following two days, she was gone! Meanwhile, in the same household, a cat had given birth to four beautiful kittens. As soon as the babies were born, some dogs attacked the mother cat, and the babies were left orphaned, all of a sudden. There was fear of attacks from not only the dogs, but also from some male cats. The kittens, somehow, survived… “Now, they are young, hale and health,” s...

  “Those hands are so strong, when life goes wrong, put your faith in the one pair of hands.” (From the song ‘One pair of hands’ by Carroll Roberson)   C arroll Roberson’s song, ‘One pair of hands’, is one of my favourite songs. Like millions of people do, I, too, listen to it to feel empowered by it… “Put your faith in the one pair of hands - which has formed the mountains, the seas, the Sun and the Moon… which has healed the sick, raised the dead and calmed the raging storms… Those hands are so strong, when life goes wrong, put your faith in the one pair of hands…” In other hands, when tough times storm our lives, and we feel overwhelmed by the turmoil, the song urges us to trust the hands of God and say - ‘Thy will be done’. The raging sea of Life calms down and peace comes to settle… when we trust ‘the one pair of hands’ and say – ‘Thy will be done’. But, I have experienced one important thing amidst this turmoil: ‘Thy will be done’ brings in peace ...

  “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Popular English proverb   N obody, in his senses, will ask God for tough times in life. The prayer to God will, always, be: ‘God, keep us away from tough times.” Even the Son of God went down on His knees and prayed, “My Father, if it’s possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me.” But, then, He, being an evolved human, concluded His heart-wrenching prayer at Gethsemane: “But, thy will be done, not mine.” In Life, tough times come to test us - to make us stronger, wiser and kinder human beings… That’s my steadfast belief. While everyone’s life has tough times, some of us have tougher times than the rest. I, mercifully, have belonged to the ‘rest’, so far! Thank you, God; thank you for the mercy! T he family of Shilpa*, my eleventh standard student, has been going through very tough times, of late. She, along with her parents and younger sister (7 th std.) had tested Covid-positive. Only her 3-year-o...

T he strength of one’s character is tested in tough times… and not when everything seems smooth and fine. When chips are down, when people around you accuse you despite being good and gentle… when they desert you while you need them the most - some of them who you trusted the most, who you helped the most and, even, gave your neck to, staking your life and reputation - yes, when these people around you make you feel lonely in times of your crisis, Life reveals who you are… your character! “Life is not a bed of roses,” in school, most of us wrote essays on this topic. But, at that age, we had hardly touched life, the real life. In a way, Life was a bed of roses for most of us, when we were young kids. It was only when we began to walk out into the real world, that we began to sense how it really was outside… You may find that people are selfish… They may not be loyal to you all the way… They may even turn into your enemies when you expect it the least… You may find...

Pic.: Dilip V O ur faith is tested when we are driven to the wall. So, whenever someone tells me “Have faith in yourself,” what I really hear is: “Be a fighter.” When times are tough, what sees us through is only this fighting spirit in our gut, the faith in ourselves. In fact, none of us know what we are capable of… how much we take bear, unless we are challenged by our hard times… The fighter in us comes out only when our back is to the wall. Yes, no one, in his senses, would ask for tough times… Tough times come and challenge us! A familiar experience inside me, when the road ahead looks like a dead-end, is to give up the fight. It is just like looking at the leafless tree and concluding, “It is all over for the tree… Let me cut it.” I go through this kind of experience so often… I, too, struck with gloom, contemplate on cutting the leafless tree… Yes, sometimes, I do… But, most of the times, I don’t.  I hang on with hope… Not with blind...

Pic.: Natrajan Ramsubramani “Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers.” - Robert Green Ingersoll I was teaching a young girl, this morning. While she was writing, my attention went to what was written on her wrist: ‘White Hope’. “What does that imply?” I asked the young-one, just out of curiosity, “Any special reason for having it there?” “Yes sir, there is a reason,” my student said, “I went through a disturbing phase a couple of years ago. During that time, I came across an inspiring article in which I found this phrase, ‘White Hope’, for the first time. It instantly caught my fancy. Ever since then, it has been there on my wrist as a constant reminder – not to lose hope in life.” “Beautiful!” I nodded, “May it continue to bring you white hope, always.” J ack Johnson was the first African-American boxer  to hold the World Heavyweight Championship (1908-1915). Racism was rampant in America and domination of boxing ...

    Pic.: Bhushan Thakkar “Never make a major decision in a valley.” From the book ‘Three Feet from Gold’ by Sharon L. Lachter and Greg S. Reid with Napoleon Hill Foundation. W hen our chips are down – when we stand and stare from the bottom of our valleys -    everything around us looks gloomy and insurmountable to us… The time when we are overwhelmed by fear or grief is the worst time to take any major decision for our lives… We need to stand there, mustering all the courage we can, and allow the time to heal us… the fear to dissolve, the grief to pass… Yes, we should wait for the Sun to emerge from the dark clouds… And, no one knew this truth better than Napoleon Hill did. The time was during ‘The Great Depression’. People, all over the world, particularly in America, had hit the rock bottom of their lives… They had lost every penny they possessed, and they were throwing themselves out to ...

There is a process through which the fragile glass is turned into ‘toughened’ one... There is a process through which pig iron is turned into shining steel... There is a process through which the clay becomes a beautiful pot in a potter’s hands…  And, yes, there is a process, through which the log of a tree, cut high up in the mountain-jungles, is expected to become tough wood by the time it reaches the low-land down. Tough things become tough because they have to pass through tough tests… Likewise, tough people become tough because they have to pass through tough times! Well, we know all these… That, we need to have great patience, trust, persistence and commitment to find precious diamond in black coal! That, trees don’t give fruits the very day they are planted… we have to wait, trust, hope and of course, care… That, a woman has to conceive and wait for nine long months… with love, trust, hope and prayer… ...

Some days ago, I watched the latest Mani Ratnam movie – ‘Raavan’. I did not like it at all. However, there is a line in the movie, which I liked immensely.  Abhishek Bachchan is Beera, a Robin Hood-like hero who has kidnapped the police officer’s beautiful wife ( Aishwarya Rai) to take revenge on him. The police officer mounts an offensive and pursues this Raavan. Beera is a dreaded criminal for the Establishment, but a cult hero for his tribal folks. He is brute, merciless and highly volatile. Yet, he has failed to intimidate his delicate captive. For fourteen days, in spite of all the hardships he has caused, Beera has not been able to intimidate her. That makes him mad… His head spins… ‘Chaka, chaka, chaka, chaka….’. He admires this beautiful, frail woman … her grace under pressure … and vents out his frustration to his brother, “How can you kill some one who is not afraid to die?” Perhaps, that was the reason why Raavan honored Sita’s modesty. In the movie, Beera has done e...

When I was in my ninth standard, we - my parents and we five brothers - had to leave our joint family, and settle somewhere else. I was the second child; the elder brother was still studying, and the younger ones, were too young to comprehend the impact. My mother had borrowed Rs. 500 from a kind neighbour, and rebuilt our home, from the scratch. Living with honour, with her head high, was more important for her than living in a constant hell of family discord. Those were tough times. The Bangla war was raging on the two frontiers of our nation. Millions of refugees had flooded into the Indian land, and there was a killing scarcity of food, oil and other necessities. Here, in our village, ours was a different kind of migration. We were refugees of another kind. "Will India pass this test?" ... "Will the homeless millions be able to get back on their feet?" ... "Will our family get back?" ... These were the questions that ceaselessly haunted the nation, and...

He studies in the Second year B.Com, and he is my student. He has been attending my classes for the past five months; and, during all these months, I have seen him wearing the same two shirts and trousers. But, they have always looked neat and clean on him! I will call this young man Rajeev. Needless to say, he comes from a family where there are financial constraints. I haven't been to Rajeev's house. But, I can imagine the kind of 'care' he must be taking of those two pairs of his clothing's! Meet Aman, who is in standard ten. He has more than two dozen pairs! Most of those Tees, Jeans, Jackets and Cargoes are branded ones and are from fine boutiques. And, this collection is apart from the normal school uniforms. Enter Aman's room, and you will step on his Tees, Bermudas, Jeans and Cargoes ... Yes, they lie every where on the floor. All his wardrobe isn't enough to teach our Aman what it mean to wear a 'neat and clean' set of clothes! Perhaps, now,...

I am at it again. Talking about the tough times: the collapse of financial system, world over, and, its bloody aftermath. Just yesterday, I had posted my article -- "Who Insured AIG?" -- touching upon this subject. Yes, the subject of 'security' in life. And, today, when I read the report of bloodbath at Los Angeles, I thought I must delve into the subject, once again. Who knows, what may trigger off my tomorrow's post? Karthik Rajaram. How familiar the name sounds! And, how familiar his reaction to his tough times! An extreme reaction? Perhaps, yes. For, there were other options for him. Perhaps, no. For, that's the only option, his mind - completely overtaken by fear - could see. At that point of time. Karthik chose to shoot dead his wife, his mother-in-law and all three of his children, and ,finally, himself. At, one go, his entire family perished ... His tough times ended! In his suicide notes, Karthik talks about the two options he had before him: either ...