Gerald D'Cunha

I once heard Oprah Winfrey saying in one of her talk shows, “Your fame only implies that more number of people know you than they know others.” True. If more number of people know you (than they know others) for a good reason, you are obviously hailed as ‘famous’. On the other hand, if more number of people know you for a wrong reason, you are damned as ‘notorious’! Often, people try to become famous by moving heaven and earth; but, they just don’t get there… And, sometimes, just by a ‘wink’, someone does… Logic may not explain that phenomenon… Maybe Luck does! How else will you explain this phenomenon called ‘Priya Prakash Varrier’ – the 18-year-old girl who ‘winked’ her way to overnight-fame? M y friend, Dr. Deepak, had a very witty way of telling the young ones, that they should not expect to get success or fame just the way they expected to get an instant coffee… “It takes twenty long- years to become an overnight success,” he would drill into ...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty “Raise your words, not your voice… It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” -           Oprha Winfrey M any a times, when we keep screaming and shouting at our children or our students, our intention is very simple and straight: they should listen to us, show remorse and change… But, do they? Mostly, they don’t. What, generally, happens is: they yell back at us, argue and make the scene more volatile… or, they get suppressed by our authority and sulk… or, they keep just mocking – visibly or invisibly - at us seeing our weakness and helplessness… Rarely do they show remorse or empathy… rarely do they listen to us and change.   That frustrates us more… and, it doesn't allow us to come out of our shouting-and- screaming bouts, easily… We find ourselves in more turmoil, now! Time and again, I have realized that shouting and screaming at our young-on...