Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Usha Prasadh S ome days ago, we attended a silver wedding of a lovely couple we knew. While wishing, I gently tried to place the gift envelope (cash) in the gentleman’s hands. “No, no, no… Please, please, please!!!” the gentleman made me feel as if I was an alien around there… It was then, it sank into me that on the invitation, it was ‘clearly’ written: ‘ONLY BLESSINGS’! Well, two days earlier, the gentleman had called my wife to say that they had come to our residence with the invitation and our door was locked. “Please don’t bother about the invitation,” my wife had assured him, “we would be there to wish you.” So, that night, we were, indeed, some aliens out there, as no one else had turned up with gifts and envelopes… and we didn't even notice that till “No, no, no… Please, please, please’ happened! It was Friday night… The next night, there was another wedding… a real wedding, not a ‘Silver’ one. In this case, the card...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty “A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions… They thrive because someone expended effort on them.” Liberty Hyde Bailey A while ago, I was talking to a group of five young-men. They wanted me to help them develop their self-confidence; particularly, they wanted me to help them overcome their self-doubts and anxieties with regard to speaking in English before an audience.  All of them were working young-men. Along with work, they were doing their post-graduation, too. They had studied through English mediums schools. But… They did not speak English… They did not read English… They did not write English… They did not listen to English speakers… “Your low-self-confidence is not due to your poor English,” I told the young-men, “it is due to the poor self-image you hold.” The young-men, perhaps, had not heard of it anytime before, from anyon...

There was an interview in the newspaper, today, with Amish Tripathi, the author of the sensational Shiva Trilogy. It was the typical last question: “What is your advice to aspiring writers?” This young author is currently in news. The 5-crore advance deal, even before Amish has decided on the theme… is no small deal. So, the answer he is expected to give assumes importance. The answer is something like this: “When you write, just focus on writing… Literally shut yourself from every other concern or thought… including the selling of your writings, the money and the fame. Write with total devotion… and, once you're done with, try to sell it with equal devotion.” As I said, Amish’s answer, though not in these words, conveyed the same message: Just write with all your heart… Don’t worry about the money and the fame. It will follow, if you really deserve! And, this afternoon, I had with me my 19-year-old student Advait. He is very fond of f...

My son had come for just two days from Pune (where he studies).  He had specially come to meet his grand-parents, who were to leave for Mangalore, this morning. So, as my wife’s parents were leaving for the airport, our son left for Pune. We had to bid farewell to both… our parents as well as our son! “Take care.”… “Have a safe journey.”… “We will call you, once you reach,”… this is for our parents. “Please call, once you reach,” this is to our son… And, all these things had to be conveyed through the warmth of our hugs. Hello, it is evening now… and, the warmth of our morning-hugs, I can still feel! We have already called our parents… and, they have reached safely… We did not wait for our son to call… We called him before he did. He, too, has reached safely… We miss them… There is this familiar vacuum… Hearts alone know what it is, how it is… and, why it is! Incidentally, today is the festive day of Diwali… Like ever...

Once again, last evening, I came across one of these Johnnys.  Yes, I call them Johnnys… And, I love them, for some strange reasons! This Johnny has come from Punjab to this big city of Mumbai. He has done his graduation in one of the small towns there; and, now, he feels that he can not cope up with our Cosmopolitan crowd… ‘Hi-Fi-crowd’ – as he terms them. I do not know, what ‘Hi-Fi’ really means. But, I know, he is exactly like how I was when I first landed here, on this - so called Hi-Fi - land. That was way back in October, 1980.  English was a ghost for me, then. My medium was vernacular. It is so for this Johnny, as well. His medium was Punjabi.  “He is okay… I am not okay,” was how the devil kept tickling in my ears, those days… And, that is exactly what the devil’s tail is doing in this Johnny’s ears, now. So, there I go again, last evening.  “Buddy, don’t worry, be happy,” is my very first pep....