Gerald D'Cunha

“I'm not always sincere. One can't be in this world, you know.”  ―  Greta Garbo T oday is Eid. While sending greetings to some of my Muslim friends, I became aware of the space from where my greetings came. Was I genuinely feeling for my friends or was I doing it mechanically just to be in their good books? I have no shame to admit this: many times, I wish on festivals, birthdays, anniversaries or some other achievements not because I genuinely feel for the person concerned… but, because, everybody else is doing it and I do not wish to be ‘misunderstood’ or in the ‘bad books’ of the person concerned… In other words, I just want to ‘please’! Well, not always though. Sometimes, many times! So, today, I paused before sending each Eid greetings and asked, “Where is it coming from?” “Am I genuinely feeling for the person?” “Am I rejoicing in his celebration?” “Are there some hidden strings attached to my greetin...

  "Choose your rut carefully. You may be in it for the next ten years." -- Anonymous The common thing about George Bernard Shaw and the game of Cricket was their love-hate relationship with each other! In those days, the Gentlemen’s Game took five days to complete… and, they called those games ‘Test matches’. Imagine two teams sweating it out on the grounds for five consecutive days while thousands of spectators sat there glued to their seats! Television was a distant reality… Radio had just come. And, the idea of masses deserting their offices, classes and household duties in order to watch a match in a stadium, somehow, repelled the legendary writer. Perhaps, little must he have realized that his comment about the game of cricket, too, would go on to live as a legend like him: “Eleven fools play and eleven thousand fools watch!” T onight, it’s the first Playoff of IPL – 2013… Mumbai Indians V Che...

The other day, another friend of mine, Mr. Mustafa, was talking to our young-ones. He had only five of his pet ideas to share. The ideas which had helped him along his journey and now he was keen to share with any young one. MTNL – R. This was how he had codified his subject. Mentoring. Time-management. Net-working. Listening. And, a pause later, Reading.  When you codify your subject matter, it always becomes easy to present it and, it also becomes easy for your audience to retain it in mind. While all the five ideas were interesting and valuable, I, personally, liked the ‘N’. Our young-kids needed it badly… “How many of you are on FB?” Mr. Mustafa asked our kids. He should’ve asked the other way around – “How many of you are not there on FB?” So, all hands went up, including mine… “How much time do you spend on a day on an average?” Some had become tired and bored with FB… They had been there, seen that, do...