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...

  “Someday, we are going to look back and wonder, how we ever got by without AI.” Derek Haoyang Li   I t’s almost 9 p.m., here in India… and, it’s 7.30 p.m. there in Abu Dhabi. I just concluded my online (Zoom) session with a group of CBSE students. Such a routine of online classes for long-distance students has become a new normal for many like me. Yes, all thanks to the Pandemic. Even my local students have an option whenever they are unwell or out of station… They needn’t miss my class; they can join online… And, as Derek Haoyank Li says about AI, I, too, find myself saying the same, looking back: “How I ever got by without these online platforms?” Looking back, you and I have to say the same about every kind of technology… Imagine machines, transport facilities, phones, the internet, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter ( ‘X’), malls, multiplexes, OTT platforms, Amazon, Swiggy, Wefast, GPay Paytm, Zomato, OLA, Uber, Urban Clap – there are scores of t...

  “The word ‘Listen’ contains same letters as the word ‘Silent’” Alfred Brendel   D id you know that? That, the word ‘Listen’ contained same letters as the word ‘Silent’? Well, I did not know that. But, I know, that only when we are silent, we are able to listen. Robert A. Heinlein dramatically describes this phenomenon when he says, “It was darn quiet; you could hear your hair grow!” Outside, the Nature is full of sound… Inside, the mind is full of sound! Life, by its very nature, is restless… Noisy. It’s only when we pause, be still… and listen to the life outside and inside, that harmony comes. It’s peace… It was Bob Dylan who said, “Sometimes, silence can be like thunder.” What an irony! Bob Dylan’s songs and lyrics are known to take away the sound from the thunders! The poet-singer knows how the thunder and silence come together to make life! Last evening, I was listening to his legendary song – ‘Blowing in the Wind’ – but covered by another amazing singer...