Gerald D'Cunha

  “A river cuts through rock not because of its power, but because of its persistence.” Jim Watkins   I love rivers… They are very, very inspiring. Whenever we see a deep, serene river, we, often, forget how, hundreds of miles away, they originate. Invariably, they originate as violent, fierce waterfalls somewhere in mighty mountains…   and, from there,   they flow down, making their way all through, till they join the oceans. If you try to stop them, they make new way to reach their destinations. But, river being a river, it has to flow constantly; it has to persist… It has to join the ocean… I love this story about every river. You and I – generations after generations – may come and go… while these rivers keep flowing. “D id you go for the Maha Kumbh at Prayagraj?”         No, I didn’t. But, several of my friends did. Almost all of them are back and have resumed their daily grind… What about the ‘change’? I mean...

“Universe is made of stories, not atoms.”         Muriel Rukeyser   O ne of my students, a 16-year-old   from class X1, is very fond of my blogs. “Sir, can you share today’s blog?”… he keeps sending this request, mostly, when he sends his homework. This morning, I was asking them this question: “Do you know the difference between Carriage, Freight and Cartage?” I keep asking this to my T.Y. students, too. Though Commerce (Accountancy) students use these terms almost every day, in every sum of Final Accounts, they seldom pause to know the difference… Invariably, all Commerce students. So, I try to catch my Commerce kids young and encourage them to ask questions, so that they find the answers early. “Unless you ask the right questions, you won’t get the right answers,” I keep reminding them, “Enquire… Be curious, childlike.” “Carriage, Freight and Cartage – all these terms refer to transportation cost,” I explained, today. I continu...

  “If you light a lamp for somebody, it will also brighten your path.” Buddha   T o help someone who is needy, we need a heart that contains empathy. And such a heart, normally, wants to stay anonymous. The moment the heart feels the need to broadcast about the help just done, the help ceases to be a genuine act of giving. I know of this middle-aged man, who, always, pays the school/college fees of two/three needy students, every year. He has been doing it for years, and quietly. As Jesus said, this Good Samaritan gives with his right hand without his left hand coming to know about it… This morning, the gentleman reached out to two needy college students by paying their full year’s fees. Not a soul, other than he and me, came to know about it… Why do we do such quiet acts of kindness towards the needy? This man is an ordinary man with an extraordinary heart. He knows, that he cannot solve the poverty of this world… that he cannot reach out to each and every nee...

  “Children are not things to be moulded, but are people to be unfolded.” Jess Lair   I have not played any competitive game in my life, leave alone a high-pressure game like the one (Cricket) going on, today, between India and Pakistan… Yes, leave alone playing such a game, I haven’t even played a competitive gully-game. But, I know this: without experiencing pressure, there can’t be a competitive game… And, what about the exams – board exams, the regular school and college exams, entrance exams, and high-profile exams? I don’t think, we can free some amount of pressure and stress from these exams… And, I believe, that a reasonable amount of stress in life is a ‘good stress’… It is necessary to keep us alert, agile and prepared… Imagine, a student who is just not bothered about his/her exams? Is such a stress-free approach okay for you and me? A s a teenager, I remember getting stressed out before my every exam. I had been an anxious kid, always… I had high de...

  “Breathe darling… This is just a chapter; it’s not your whole story.” S. C. Lourie   N o doubt, there are ample number of problems in life. But, who decides, whether they are big or small? Often, we see our problems through the magnifying glasses… That’s why they look bigger, overpowering. We are, seldom, able to see them through right lenses, if we go about our lives carrying those magnifying glasses. Often, it takes another soul –   a S. C. Lourie-kind - to help us see them through right lenses and gently remind us: “Breathe darling. It’s only a chapter; it’s not your entire story.” When we see our problems through the magnifying glasses, we, literally, stop breathing… ‘We’ includes ‘we all’. A couple of days ago, when I saw my students (Class X1) taking their studies casually – seeing them going nowhere – I started fretting and fuming. At the end of my marathon fretting and fuming, I could see things through the right lenses… I had calmed down, I was ...

  “The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill; and, the willingness to learn is a choice.” Brian Herbert   “I am like this only”… Well, we all are ‘like this onlys’… There is a deep-rooted nature in all of us. You may be a born-extrovert, while I may be a born-introvert. So, this innate nature, I believe, is what makes us say - ‘I am like this only’… Shy people, I know, will, always, remain shy. Their basic nature gets formed in their mothers’ wombs. So, when they realize what they are born with, it becomes easier for them to work around it… I said, ‘to work around it’… I never said, ‘to do away with it.’ For, I firmly believe, that, while the social skills can be learnt and acquired, they can’t be replaced by completely uprooting our innate nature… Susan Cain describes this inner plight of my type of shy souls like this: “Introverts may have (acquired) strong social skills and (learnt) to enjoy parties and business meetings; but, after...

Expectations are like fine pottery. The harder you hold them, the more likely they are to crack.” Brandon Sanderson   M y first batch, today, was to start at 8 am… I was the first one to arrive, that’s at 7.50. A couple of them arrived between 8.10 and 8.15… A couple of them joined online, late though… A couple of them didn’t show up at all… and, none of them had done the homework… The irritation was building within me… The questions were incessantly popping up from the hot furnace: “In a few days, these young kids will be ending their year: What is my contribution to their growth and education? Will it be the marks they are going to score, or will it be some subtle intangible things – like, being more self-responsible, more sensitive towards others’ feelings, towards difficulties of their parents… being punctual, committed and thankful?” I found myself letting my steam, like it did from a hot furnace… I may spend my lifetime trying to teach a cat how to bark… but, i...

  “You don’t have to see the whole staircase; just take the first step.” Matin Luther King    I knew of a very gifted speaker, trainer and motivator… He was a livewire, and he was extremely dynamic even at his ripe age. When I first met him, he was 50. And, for the next thirty years or so, I heard him telling me, passionately, about a book he wanted to write… He had the story in his head and even the title. Every time he would talk about it, I would remind him, to start putting his story down on the paper or type on the computer… “Start now, start writing down even if it means a little portion of your story.” That never happened for three long decades. Now, this gifted man is suffering from advanced dementia… The story seems to have died in the mind! “Someday is not a day of the week.” Yes, Janet Dailey had cautioned us, a long time ago. Are we waiting for that ‘Someday’ to show up? Most likely, it wouldn’t… The best time to start writing our story – an...