Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Chetna Shetty A t the start of our every Tai Chi session, our teacher guides us through a meditative exercise… very akin to the ‘Shavasana’ in Yoga. While ‘Shavasana’ is done lying down (like a corpse), the Tai Chi exercise is done in a standing (basic) position… It takes about ten minutes… But, if done faithfully, it can give us everything that we have gone there for… What have I gone there for? Yesterday, Clint, a fellow-student in our Tai Chi class (who is a HR Consultant), asked me this question: “Why did you join Tai Chi? What benefits have you reaped?” Clint’s question was a sincere one. So was my answer… Yes, Tai Chi has benefited me immensely… Like this… During the awareness exercise, our teacher guides us to become aware of our body - head to toe. We realize how heavy, how stiff our bodies have become… how shallow our breathing… how fickle and slippery our minds, our attention… One of the instructions of our teacher, yesterday,...

Pic.: Usha Prasadh S ome days ago, we attended a silver wedding of a lovely couple we knew. While wishing, I gently tried to place the gift envelope (cash) in the gentleman’s hands. “No, no, no… Please, please, please!!!” the gentleman made me feel as if I was an alien around there… It was then, it sank into me that on the invitation, it was ‘clearly’ written: ‘ONLY BLESSINGS’! Well, two days earlier, the gentleman had called my wife to say that they had come to our residence with the invitation and our door was locked. “Please don’t bother about the invitation,” my wife had assured him, “we would be there to wish you.” So, that night, we were, indeed, some aliens out there, as no one else had turned up with gifts and envelopes… and we didn't even notice that till “No, no, no… Please, please, please’ happened! It was Friday night… The next night, there was another wedding… a real wedding, not a ‘Silver’ one. In this case, the card...