Gerald D'Cunha

  “There is a world of practical religion in simply being considerate of others.” Roger Babson   W hen we are solely concerned about our own happiness and success, we become not only blind and deaf, we also become dumb… heartless, stones. I remember one such incident when I had become one… It was 1991 early January month. I was 33, young and unmarried. Sorry, I was married to ‘The Dawn Club’ which I had founded just two years before that. I was obsessed with what I was doing in its name. So, a grand entertainment programme, including several dances, a fashion show and an elaborate orchestra was being staged in an open-air ground. The ground was allotted to us by the top-boss of a government organization, whose wife was the chief guest of the day… The music was too, too loud, but the packed ground was having a gala time. Touching the boundary of that ground was the hospital run by the organization… There were several patients inside. The security men came several times to remi

  “Plant the seed of desire in your mind and it forms a nucleus with power to attract to itself  everything needed for its fulfilment .” Robert Collier   S ome years ago, when I was chatting with a friend of mine, I found myself corrected by her. “We shouldn’t call them ‘maid servants’, they are our life-supports.” I had, casually, referred the lady who came to do sweeping and mopping at our place as our ‘maid servant’, even though I hadn’t meant to demean her in any way. But, when my friend tried to correct me, I really paused to see the depth of that term she had just toyed – ‘Life-support’. For last few months, we have a new ‘life-support’ at our residence. This woman – probably in her early forties – is so full of enthusiasm, so full of ‘Go-the-extra-mile attitude’, that, both my wife and I like her when she is around… She seems a part of our household. My wife and I both were unanimous about giving her the Diwali bonus, irrespective of the usual haggling over whether s

  “Religion is for those who’re afraid of going to hell; Spirituality is for those who’ve already been there.” Vine Deloria Jr.   I do not know, if they still teach the fascinating stories from The Ramayana and The Mahabharata in pre-primary and primary schools, these days. Hope they do… The stories are so fascinating, that they have remained permanently etched in my mind even after sixty-plus years… Every time Deepavali comes, come back to my mind the inspiring stories of Rama’s sacrifice, Bharata’s love, devotion and righteousness, his mother Kaikeyi’s stubbornness and father Dasharatha’s atma sankat… Though the primary school I studied in (St. Peter’s ) was run by the local church authorities, the atmosphere out there was purely secular… I grew up among scores of non-Catholic friends – Hindus, Muslims and Jains… Brahmins and Harijans all. The stories from The Ramayana and Mahabharata enchanted all of us… Thus, as a grown-up man, today, I am quite aware of why Deepavali f

  “In the first thirty years of your life, you make your habits. For the last thirty years of your life, your habits make you.” Steve Jobs   M ost of our habits are our blind spots… We cant’s see them, while others can. I have many such habits – things I do mechanically, unknowingly, through sheer habits… They are so deeply-settled in me, that, unless I make a conscious, determined and persistent effort to unsettle them, they will never go away from my system. Often, our closest people in our lives - like, in my case, my wife or son – only can tell us as-it-is… Others, don’t like to offend us, you see. Well, in this Post, let me touch upon some harmless habits. I mean, even though they are unrequired, useless, their presence wouldn’t harm us or anyone else around us. At worst, they can make us smile, even laugh… It’s okay… It’s okay… They are like our good-old habits… If they they can make someone giggle, good… But, our nearest ones keep screaming, “Stop it,”… “Get rid of i

  “Surely, of all the wonders of the world, the horizon is the greatest.” Freya Stark M y dear friend, Jayaprakash, and his wife, Shital, are both Chartered Accountants. Their son, Vedant pursues Chartered Accountancy and daughter, Shrushti, pursues Law. All of them are voracious readers, music lovers, while Shital and Shrushti are Bharat Natyam dancers. But, what I admire the most about these four is their insane love for travel… Every summer, this family explores one more part of the globe - often, a remote one, and often, a buzzing one. (On foreign lands, they rent a car and drive for days). On realizing how richly this family has been valuing travel around the world, I only end up consoling myself with Harun Yahya’s words: “I always wonder why birds choose to stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on earth; then, I ask myself the same question.” Well, that’s my way of justifying my limitations, and, yes, concealing my envy of those who travel the way my fri

“None can destroy iron, but its own rust can. Likewise, none can destroy a person,   but his own his own mindset can.” Ratan Naval Tata   F ollowing the demolition of Babri Masjid (on 6 th December, 1992), communal riots broke out in Mumbai (Bombay) and destroyed the delicate social fabric of brotherhood… Scores of lives were lost and crores of rupees, too… Communal clashes are clashes between two communities – who follow two different faiths. But, imagine, you and I burning down each other’s homes, killing each other’s families, looting, raping, lynching – imagine getting reduced to such levels, just because we are instigated against one another… It's the worst form of living… The darkest form of worship! The communal riots had left so many citizens, who truly loved the secular spirit of this city, deeply moved.   Mr. Ratan Tata, who was young and energetic then, wrote a moving piece in a leading English daily – visibly shaken and saddened. From my side, just