Gerald D'Cunha

  “The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.” – Rumi   H ave the stories dried up? Come on… They can never be. There are a hundred stories unfolding before my eyes throughout my day… I want to tell them all in my daily posts. In fact, since I posted my last blog on June 15, so many wonderful things have happened in my life… So many things –- both wonderful and awful –- have happened in the outside world… The football world-cup had some underdog heroes… I started writing stories about them; but, gave up… The deadly earthquake in Venezuela deeply moved me… Tried writing something around it; then, gave up… My first blog book (of the ten-book series) was released at a grand function on June 21… My well-wishers shared images, videos and heaped praises; but, I didn’t post a single image or a word… It’s a mystery, quite frankly, as to what makes me write… A dear old student of mine (62), called some days ago… She was shattered… words wer...

  “Yes, and how many ears must one man have before he can hear people cry?” From Bob Dylan’s song – ‘Blowing in the Wind’ O ur two-month summer programme just concluded, yesterday. We had decided to keep the certification ceremony simple; and, therefore, held it in our newly-renovated premises. Three of our young students were capturing the memories through their mobile cameras. Tanvir Shaikh, an aspiring pilot, was one of them. Around 1 noon, all of a sudden, Tanvir’s phone rang (as he hadn’t kept it on the silent mode)… The ringtone was a soothing azan (the Islamic call to prayer). Among the 25-plus members present in the room, he was the only Muslim. The haunting sound of azan had turned every head turn towards Tanvir… who sounded apologetic for not keeping his phone on the silent mode. I, instantly, said to all, “It’s a beautiful call to prayer... Let’s be silent for a moment.” I let the azan play, as the Grace before meal…… The stillness in the room was very poig...

  S ome months ago, while speaking on phone, a friend of mine (62), said, “Mujhe phir se pyaar ho gaya hai.” (I am in love again). Before I could say, ‘What?’, he clarified, “Krishna se.” Well, I knew about my friend’s fascination towards ISKCON during last few years, and I had observed how anchored and peaceful he had become. It’s an amazing transformation. Still, that early morning, when he said, “Mujhe phir se pyaar ho gaya hai,” I wasn’t thinking about ‘Krishna’… Instead, being a mortal, I was thinking, “What… at 62?” Then, two weeks ago, this young girl (23), who had just completed her LLB, had turned up for one of our Sunday Workshops. Everybody’s eyebrows had gone up seeing the ISKCON marks on her forehead, prominently displayed… It’s clear, that the young girl had not only just turned a lawyer, she had, also, just turned Krishna’s beloved… “Very good,” I thought, “it will help her stay away from the dirty, dark stand-up comedy shows.” Of late, it’s interesting to ...

  Sometimes, big trees grow out of acorns… I think, I heard that from a squirrel.” Jerry Coleman   L ittle squirrels are my favourites… They are very inspiring creatures. If you watch them, you will notice how busy they are –- all the time jumping and hopping… all the time collecting acorns -– the little seeds of oak trees … for that matter, seeds of any trees… yes, they gather them, dig holes in the ground and burry so many of them, all over –- to save them for the winter season. But, then, they are known for their forgetfulness… Most of the seeds do not get retrieved by these forgetful squirrels… and, they grow into mighty trees… and, trees grow into gigantic forests… M any years ago, on seeing my relentless acts of writing, publishing them into books and magazines, a gentleman had reminded me of the relentless acts of little squirrels… “They just burry the nuts in the ground and forget about them. The nuts, which are forgetfully left behind, become great trees.”...

  “I sit before flowers, 
 hoping they will train me in the art of opening up.” Shane Koyczan   T oday was the second session for this group of young kids. They come from underprivileged areas of our suburb. An NGO has been helping them through computer and AI skills. The same NGO has requested our Centre to help them in their soft skills… develop self-confidence, communication and interpersonal skills. I found one of the young girls a bit lost during the session. “ Beta , you are feeling ok?” I asked her. Then, to involve her in the proceedings, I nudged her gently to come up to the stage and tell something about her… To my surprise, the young girl did not get rattled. She stood there in front of about 20 of us (including her peers, two instructors and me). “You can speak in Hindi, if you wish,” I encouraged her, “Or, you can mix Hindi and English.” The girl chose to do it mixed… “Friends, my name is Muskaan… I have recently cleared my tenth standard, and I ...

  “I concluded, that in politics, as in life, the real struggle  is not us-versus-them. It is us-versus-us.”   Miles Taylor   D uring yesterday’s PD session, our young kids were debating.  Most of them have just cleared their class-10 and are seeking admission in what they believe to be the ‘best colleges in town’. It’s very interesting –-   even entertaining -– when you listen to them. Some are fed-up wearing uniforms till now… So, they want to be free from it by joining some town-side colleges which have no uniform… Some want to step out of their ‘suburban bubbles’… explore the joy and roughness of commuting by Mumbai local… “Nothing else teaches us how to be rough-and-tough,” they argue. Some assume, that some of the downtown colleges will give them the ‘best’ teaching, while some think, that these colleges will help them with varieties of clubs… “Such exposure makes us confident in life,” they assert. When these young kids debate on this su...

  “Dare to fail and you will never fail to dare!”  Selma Benkiran   T hirteen-year-old Aarya was on stage, this evening. She wanted to share with us about one of her major fears -– the fear of failure. I knew about her passion for playing football since she was very small. She played for her school and regularly toured with her school team, both inside and outside the state of Maharashtra. She was a crazy fan of Lionel Messy and had spoken animatedly about him in the class (She had attended our PD programme consecutively for five summers) arguing with others, as to why Messy was greater than Ronaldo… why he was the real GOAT. Thus, this evening, when she was on stage, I didn’t expect Aarya to share what she did. She told us about her nagging fear of failure -– how, often, it weighed upon her head, made her feel overwhelmed, and even prevented her from taking part in several important competitions… “What if I fail?” Well, to those, who are not familiar with fear o...

  “Lord, we don't need another mountain There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb There are oceans and rivers enough to cross Enough to last until the end of time.” From the song ‘What the world needs now’   by Dionne Warwick S ome days ago, I messaged to a young mother: “Ma’am, Noyonika (daughter) has to attend a workshop tomorrow from 4 to 6 pm. The topic of the work shop will be ‘Effective use of time.” Then, I added, “Ma’am, even you can join the workshop… You know, it’s a useful subject.” It's was 10.30 in the night when I sent this message. “Noyonika will attend the workshop, Sir. I won’t be able to attend as it would be a working day.”   She added, “Sir, I am still on my way home.” And, here at our home, we were set to go off to bed. I told my wife about the conversation I just had. A couple of days later, during the Public Speaking session, Noyomika was on stage. I told everyone about the conversation I had with her mother a few days earlier...