Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” - C. S. Lewis W hat actually happens inside me when I make a promise to someone and keep it?  A lot happens… or, nothing at all. If making a promise to someone and keeping it is a value I cherish in my life, then, when I keep my promises given to others, I, invariably, feel good about myself… On the other hand, if it isn’t something important to me – not a value to me – then, even if I make a thousand promises to others and break them, nothing will happen at all inside my heart! Making a promise to someone in my awareness, guided by my strong sense of values in life, yes, it helps me keep them. I know it is important for developing my healthy self-esteem. The more I break my promises, the worse I feel about myself… My self-esteem goes down! Then, there is a promise which I make to myself and either keep it or break it. This is even subtler… ...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha T wo weeks ago, my wife and I had been to Kashmir on a holiday. On one side of the gigantic Dal lake stood the magnificent Hazratbal shrine. We had a strong desire in our hearts to visit this shrine… Once there, we spent a great deal of time being just there… As women were not allowed to enter the main shrine, I walked in alone covering my head, barefooted… All that I did inside was to stand in silence… I had no prayer to pray… no idol to worship… no Holy book to recite from… All that I did was to stand there and watch my heaviness fall around me… and tears roll down my cheeks… I came out deeply moved, and humbled… and, yes, feeling immensely peaceful… Allah is my God, too. Isn’t He? T his morning, when 16-year-old Shreeshay was on dais to speak, I casually asked him what his name meant. He said, that it was one of the many names of Lord Ganesh. I asked Shreeshay  if he was deeply religious. “I only have God’s name, sir… but, my fai...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha I n our PD session, today, the 17-year-old Sahas had an old inspirational story to share… LOVE, WEALTH AND SUCCESS. One afternoon, a woman noticed three old-men, with long beard, sitting in her front yard. “I don’t think I know you,” the woman said to the old-men gently, “But, you must be hungry… Please come in so that I can serve something for you to eat.” “Is the man of the house home?” one of the old-men enquired. “No, he is out,” replied the woman. “We will wait, then, till he comes,” the old-men informed the house-lady. In the evening, when her husband came home, the woman informed him about the three old-men, who were waiting for him in the front yard. “Tell them, I am home,” the husband said to his wife, “Invite them in.” Thus, the woman went outside to let in the three old-men. “My husband is home… Please come in,” she said. “Sorry to say this dear woman,” the old-men informed, “We can’t walk into your...

P ic.: Anima D'Cunha "A man who lives on borrowed time lives on trespass-ground." - Anonymous I heard an elderly man telling someone this, yesterday: “You know I am living on borrowed time.” If I do not tell you who this elderly man is, you will surely have pity on him… You may feel like reaching out to him… show loads of compassion to him. What if I told you, that he is well off… highly qualified… but, has chosen to live a life of negative pursuit against several people around him… He is too full of himself… doesn’t like to concede, thinks he is always right and others around him are either ignorant or corrupt… Most of all, if I told you this: that, he is hellbent in taking vengeance just like Shylock from The Merchant of Venice…. Yes, if I gave you this background of the elderly man, and, then told you that I heard him saying to someone those words,  yesterday… “You know I am living on borrowed time”… Yes, would you be still co...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha “D on’t allow your teacher to think for you, plan for you, take risks for you,” I was telling my CPT (Entrance for CA) students, last morning, “Let your teacher only give you a broad framework, inspire thirst in you, motivate you to succeed…. But, you do the real work… you discover the new ways of solving the problems… you develop a scientific mind, a creative mind… Please, stop depending desperately on your teacher… Please don’t expect readymade solutions… I don’t want you to come out as third-rate Chartered Accountants.” Well, this kind of long monologue comes to me at the drop of a hat… Nothing can substitute discovery… being on your own. Nothing can substitute a childlike, awe-struck mind… Nothing can make us self-confident as robustly as self-trust and self-responsibility can… “You find out,” yes, this is one of the gunshots I fire at my students very regularly, whether they love me for it or hate me… “You will understand it now or ...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha “W e cannot be grateful and unhappy at the same time.” An old one? Yes, it is. It means, being thankful for the situation we are in – whatever situation it may be – is the basic key to our happiness. Now, I said “Whatever situation it may be.” Why did I say that? Y esterday, in our PD session, I was showing to our young students a five minutes Lifebuoy ad. It was a powerful ad about health and hygiene… One of the ways of ensuring it is by keeping our hands clean (Remember it is an ad from Lifebuoy!) Gudappa is on his way to the local small temple… His five-year-old son and some people from his village are following him… there are drums, a beautiful song in the background… children dancing… The highlight of this procession is that Gundappa is making this visit – the pilgrimage – on his hands… yes, he is walking on his palms, his whole body upside down… all the way from his hut to the village temple… through the...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha I am happy to note that there are many kids around me who have their heads firmly planted on their shoulders… They don’t get swayed easily by the fad, fashion or the glitter… Leave alone the sales gimmicks! When I was a kid, I was a kid. I didn’t – and couldn’t – behave like an adult. I was fascinated by the ‘latest’ gadgets, desired to at least see and touch them even though I couldn’t afford to own them. When someone owned them, I would stand next to him and have an eyeful of it… even envy! But, I knew, even when I was small, that, gadgets and toys did not bring true happiness in life… An attitude of gratitude did… I am not saying this for effect, now.  I valued money and knew how important it was in life. But, I knew money was not everything in life… that, there were several things in life money could not buy. My happiness, certainly, was one of them. T wo days ago, in our PD session, I had given for GD the topic – “Shou...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha F or last couple of Sundays, I found Kannan to be quite. It is Almost two years now since we first met at our Tai Chi class. I never found him as quiet – as withdrawn – as I found him recently. He always had some interesting and inspiring stories to tell… he hopped from one to another and yet another… All this would happen either during those few minutes before our class started or during our short breaks… None of those stories came planned nor would he remember them once told… But, I would remember and come home and weave a nice blog out of them… A quiet Kannan, therefore, was just unthinkable… So, yesterday, during one of the breaks in our Tai Chi session, I asked Kannan, “Sir, we have hardly interacted during last some sessions…. Unusual, isn’t it?" ‘’No Gerry, not unusual,” Kannan quickly brushed aside my observation. “Most of us go through these moments of withdrawal and low profile… and, I really think it is a natural cl...