Gerald D'Cunha

  “We will be judged by, ‘I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was naked, and you clothed me; I was homeless, and you took me in’.” Mother Teresa   F rom Richard Attenborough’s movie, ‘Gandhi’, two powerful scenes come to my mind… First scene: One of Gandhi’s most faithful followers - an English woman associated with his work for a long time – one day, in his Ashram, expresses her deep wish to be converted into Hinduism. Bapu’s response takes my breath away… “You do not deed to convert yourself into a Hindu,” he tells her, “You just need to become a better Christian.” The second scene: It involves, once again, a young Christian priest, an English man, who has been deeply inspired by the ideals of Gandhiji. He mentions these ideals in one of his Sunday sermons in the church… We see some hardened men and women walking out. Apparently, they have come to church to hear what Jesus said two thousand years ago, not what this ‘coloured man’ (by all yardsticks, m...

I am Anna! Nobody became an ‘Anna Hazare’ just by donning that ‘sexy’ Gandhi topi! Nor did the scourge of corruption go from this country… No, the Black Money worth crores and crores of dollars, stacked in those Swiss lockers – as the folklore goes – has come back to India. No, not yet.  The Delhi fast ended… and, we thought Anna had won. The Mumbai fast flopped… and we thought Anna got cow-dung on his face! Yes, in this great national pastime – the ‘tamasha’ -  we are either with the Government or with the opposition or with Anna. We are seldom with ourselves! We expect Anna to do the ‘the scavenger work’ for us… Clean this mess. This ‘S..t’ called corruption!  We are fools of the first order… We have pinned hopes on Kasab. Means: When he is hanged, our nation will be free from terrorism! Now, we have pinned hopes on this old man, Anna… Means: When he fasts, the Government will pass the Bill… and, Bingo! Phut goes the corruption! Anna has promi...