Gerald D'Cunha

“Grace means undeserved kindness. It is the gift of God to man the moment he sees he is unworthy of God’s favour.”\ Twight L. Moody   O ne question, which many of my dear ones ask me while wishing me on my birthday, is this: “So, what is the plan for the day?”… Or, “How did you spend the day?” This means - “What’s special?” Let me tell you this: Just as my dear ones ask me this question, I, too, ask the same question to them… Yes, "What’s special?” It’s my 66 th birthday on 24 th of this month. Was it ‘special’ in any sense? Was there a ‘plan’? If by ‘special’ or ‘plan’ means something cozy in a fine-dine restaurant, or a vacation at an exotic location – No, I did not have anything ‘special or ‘planned’… It was just like another day, which had begun and ended just like any other day… But, yes, it had, most certainly, made me conscious of a couple of things about my life… I was still able to walk, talk, see, hear, feel, laugh, cry – and, above all, work and fe...

  “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin   O ne of the questions many parents frequently ask me is this: “Do you conduct tests?” Well, I don’t have to explain to you as to where that question comes from. After all, they want their young ones to ‘score well’ in their exams. So, a good score means good learning. Conversely, a poor score means poor learning (poor teaching, to be blunt!). I assume, that the insistence on regular tests comes from there… Fair enough… I lay a great deal of emphasis on my students’ attitude along side their aptitude. “Put your heart and soul and learn… Learn like it’s a story… Get hold of the concepts… Learn logically, with a practical bent of mind… Stay self-motivated… Stay focused, passionate and committed.”… This is my daily charging in the class… “Marks are the by-product of your work, not the main product,” I keep drilling into the young minds. Mercifully, many parents and students understand the depth...

  “The goal is for your midlife crisis to turn into a midlife discovery.” Joan Anderson   “T ime and tide wait for no man.” Woman also knows, that this old message applies to her, as well. A couple of days ago, Ratna* had excitedly shared how happy she was to tell me, that her second son (Class 10) had been selected for an important stage event in his school… I had taught Ratna, some thirty-two years ago, while she was in her TY B.Com. She is a dear friend, now. Besides being a bright student, she was also a talented trained-singer. After completing ICWA, she worked for a big company for some years as a Costing professional. She had married to her college sweetheart, who was busy establishing himself as a Chartered Accountant. Eventually, they moved abroad, gave birth to two sons… Ratna’s life began to revolve around her husband and two little sons… Meanwhile, Costing and Singing sat quietly on the backburner… “O nly mud settles in life,” my dear friend Dr. De...

  “Afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.” Robert Frost   T he morning, soon, becomes the afternoon, you see! We grow old… It’s afternoon, now… What the morning suspected, yes, the afternoon knows… That’s something so beautiful about Life… With age, we mature like good wine… That’s something so beautiful about Life, too! So, when I complete 64 tomorrow, how shall I celebrate this milestone? Do I know, that some hours are still left for the celebration, and, anything can happen in those few hours? I think, this tendency of counting our age by the number of years simply drops when we begin to value each blessing in our lives. Rightly, it is said, “Count your age not by the numbers, but by your blessings.” So, I ask myself on the eve of completion of my 64 years on this planet, “Can I start counting, at least, 64 blessings in my Life?” It sounds silly! Like everyone else, I, too, have never bothered to count my blessings. I know, I will get ti...

  Is it ‘Aaj baap buddha ho gaya, or, is it ‘Aaj beta bada ho gaya’?   I keep saying, that, to me, the need to write something every day is like the need to breathe every moment! So, whenever some of my friends do not see my Blogs, for a week or so, they get worried: “Is everything alright?” they check. I had posted my last Blog on 5 th August… Today is 15 th . Was everything alright at my end? How could I survive without writing – without breathing? Our only son, Kenrick, got engaged to his long-time love Nishta (we call her fondly, Nina) on 12 th of August. There was a small engagement ceremony with a few family members and friends. These are still Covid times… Hence, it had to be short and simple… Very intimate. During the days of preparation for this special day, one night, I got up and penned something very intimate and profound for the young couple… I poured my heart and within half a night, I came out with a small book…   I named it - ‘August Rings’! ...

“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That is his.” Oscar Wilde O n my left wrist, there is a dark-pink birth-mark. That looks like as though a woman has left it there with her sweet lips. Whenever people notice it and ask, some touching it gently – “What is this?”, I tell them, “My Mom’s kiss!” So, when Oscar Wilde said, “No man does,” he, perhaps, hadn’t seen these pink lips on my wrist… Thank God, I am spared from the tragedy! We were five brothers; and I was the second son of my Dad and Mom. When there are no daughters at home, one of the sons is bound to be treated as a girl of the house. I don’t feel like a ‘sissy’ when I claim, “I was the girl of my parents!”. On the contrary, I feel like a real ‘man’! With that dark-pink birth-mark, I seem to have inherited some of my Mom’s characteristics… Mom was hard-working… So am I. Mom was hyper-sensitive… So am I. Mom was compassionate… So am I. Mom was simple… So am...

M any of us have heard this story… An elderly man is sowing seeds of a fruit tree… His little grandchild asks him, “Grandpa, how many years will it take for these seeds to become trees and give us fruits?” “At least ten,” the grandfather tells. “But, grandpa, you are too old, already… You will not be there when the fruits come,” says the innocent child. “Yes my sweetheart, I won’t be there when the fruits come,” says the grandfather pulling his little grandchild close to him, “I am sowing these seeds for you!” M any a time, this image of the man and his little grandchild does appear before me… Every time when I think of my elderly mom or in-laws, the same image does appear… Every time I watch grandparents and parents doing so much for their little ones, the same image does appear before me… We are humans, and we I are ‘selfish’ by our very nature… We earn and we shine essentially for ourselves. But, then, somewhere along our pursuit, we all realize, that...