Gerald D'Cunha

    Pic.: Anand Ashokan “There is nothing called ‘Luck’ in this world, There are only countless ‘lucky breaks’. Only a man, who is ‘prepared’, is able to recognize them.” I n life, the less you rely on luck, the more it appears for you! When you decide to achieve what your heart really, really desires - and when you go about achieving it with all your faith, passion and perseverance, with all your determination, planning and team work… yes, when your focus is laser-sharp, your intentions are heaven-clean… and when your trust in the goodness of people around you and God above you is rock-solid, you will find no need to even think of luck… Luck is that mysterious blessedness – call it God’s grace, if you like - which your earnest and committed heart is showered with… Your dreams are not your wishes. To dream your dreams, it takes a heart of throbbing-passion and a mind of steely-determination… You need...

“If wishes were horses, even beggars would ride them.” This morning, a young boy was telling me that he wanted to start his own company! “Why not?” I thought, “He certainly can.” When I first landed in Mumbai, about thirty-three years ago, I too was dreaming like this boy did. “I want to start something on my own,” I was telling myself and my close ones around.  Luckily, I had picked-up a book on the roadside. “Whatever a man’s mind conceives and believes, it can achieve!” A young, raw boy like me needed this ‘booster pumping’ from Napoleon Hill’s timeless classic – ‘Think & Grow Rich’. I haven’t become ‘financially very rich’… But, certainly, I have achieved whatever my mind had ‘conceived’ and ‘believed in’. So, whenever a young, raw boy or girl declares his dream – call it his desire to build his castles in the air, if you like – I don’t laugh. I really don’t.  If a simple, unpolished boy, like me, cou...

So, now, the Easter is over. It is a Monday… and, I have these familiar Monday Blues right from the time I opened my eyes, this morning.  “Monday Blues are only in your mind,” some Mondays back, someone had tried to counsel me. I was feeling low and jittery as I do today. But then, I am feeling these blues today – on this Monday – for a specific reason: I suddenly remembered, while opening my eyes, today, that I hadn’t sent my Easter wishes to a couple of ‘significant’ people in my life! I don’t know which side of my brain was making me think and feel bad like that; because, within seconds, from another side of my brain, came this justification: “Relax buddy. Neither have you received any greetings from these ‘significant’ people!” Well, it did seem that we had squared-up… and, the scores had been settled. So, it did seem for a while that I should not feel those blues… and, I should go about smiling, up-beat. But, no; the...

You are mighty O lord… And Your faithfulness surrounds You… You rule over the surging sea… When its waves mount up, You still them… Psalm 89:8-9 For, a day in your courts, Is better than thousand elsewhere… I would rather be a door-keeper In the House of God Rather than live In the tents of wickedness. Psalm 84:10 Today morning, at 7.45, I received the first Biblical passage from Pravin, my friend in Mumbai. He is a Hindu and sends me, now and then, a Holy passage… Sometimes , when I rise in the morning… and, sometimes, when I am about to retire.  Cicie, lives hundreds of miles afar… and sends me a Biblical passage , every morning. Today, I received the second passage from her at sharp 7.47! I was pleasantly surprised. What a divine co-incidence… That, two of my well-wishers have to send me two inspiring passages from the same section of the Bible… and at the same time. We...

Every morning, I receive, on my cell-phone, a short passage from the Holy Bible. A dear friend of mine - who lives hundreds of miles away - sends it to me, regularly, every morning. And, it feels good! On every Christmas day, right when the Sun comes out in the East, I receive a lovely bouquet of flowers. Gauthami and Hetal were my students, more than fifteen years ago, when they were in their final-year B’Com. Ever since then – yes, for all these years – they have made sure that I – their sir – should receive the most exquisite bouquet on Christmas-day morning!  “Please. Please don’t bother,” I keep telling them, every year.  But then, they do bother, do send.  “Sir, there are only two teachers in our life to whom we do it,” they tell me. “To one, we send it on his Birthday. To you, we do it on Christmas.” Yes, they have been doing it, without a break, for more than fifteen long-years! Both Gauthami and Hetal are married and settled in two differ...

R egrets are worse than those blunders For which I now regret… Regrets are like the chains around my heart… They keep me imprisoned. If life is a constant onward movement, Then, there is no point in rowing my boat backward. There is no point in crying over the spilled milk. Yes, the situations in my life could have been better; The people who came in my life could have been more loving and faithful; The time spent with my children and my parents could have been of a higher quality; The prayers I said could have been more meaningful; The friends I moved around with could have been not just the fair-weather kind; The career I chose could have been the one my heart had thirsted for; The person who I fell for could have been not just an ‘image’; The business could have been better, The house could have been bigger, The degree could have been prettier, The happiness could have been sweeter, The pain... much, much lesser. And, yes, God could h...

"Sir, I want my daughter to become a fine public speaker. Will your course help her? "Sir, my son lacks self-confidence. Can you help him to be confident?" “Sir, I want to improve my English... I want to learn how to speak fluently. Can you help me?" The sir has this ready answer: "Of course, yes. I can certainly help. But… " "But, what?" "But, this." I tell them this little story. Once, a Parish priest of one of the churches began to receive frequent complaints that many of his parishioners spent a lot of their time and money in the local liquor bar. Disturbed by this development, the priest decided to end this nuisance, once and for all. So, one night, dressed in his civil clothes, the Father stormed the bar. He was shocked to see, that at least twenty of his church members were having a good time there, all drunk. "Your shameless sinners," the Priest did not waste his time to blast, "Get out of this hell....

"Look at these people; they are shameless, cunning," the middle-aged man remarked to me referring to a family which was busy relishing the 'maha prasad'(a grand dinner)sponsored by a big-hearted man in our Society. "Why?" I asked. "We have held three functions in our family during the last two years; they haven't attended a single," he told me. "So? They must've had some genuine reasons for not attending. Don't you think so?" I reasoned. "Yes, I know that reason," he reacted, visibly annoyed. "What's that reason?" I pushed. "Look, I know these 'characters' pretty well by now. The only reason is: money. This is free, you see; whereas for our functions, they had to put something in the envelope," his face showed the disgust. "They are not alone; there are thousands of people around, with such 'mentality'. You announce a 'free lunch', they are the first ones to show u...