Gerald D'Cunha

Pic,: Chetna Shetty W hat these little kids and young men learn in the Ganpati pandal… yes, they can never learn in their schools and colleges. In my own housing society, the Ganeshotsav has been organized for last fourteen years without any break… and, each year, it has been done in a bigger and grander way. The young men, who started it all, are now busy with their respective career and families. The little kids, who had been watching and assisting the seniors, have now grown up and taken over the charge… and, I see the same pattern unfolding, now. The little kids, who are now seen running around their older counterparts, are being moulded to shoulder the responsibility… For fourteen years, to sustain a big-scale event like this, without infighting and ego-hassles, is something commendable. The schools and colleges haven’t taught these little kids and young men all this… They have learnt it on their own. That’s why, I said, “What they learn in Gan...

Pic.: Avinash Mantri Y ears ago, when I had decided to do something about my poor English, one of the things I did – and found it very useful – was telling a nice story in two tenses… Past and Present. Over the years, I have helped hundreds of people who were earnest to improve their English with the same method… Yes, write a nice story down in both the tenses… and tell it to someone. T his story shall always remain etched in my memory... I draw my own morals from this beautiful story: The Lord knows my worries and burdens... All that I need to do is, remain dignified and graceful in carrying my burdens... and remain sincere in my intentions and prayers... He knows when I am too shy to ask Him for help... He knows when I am arrogant and when I am humble... And, above all, He is my best friend... KRISHNA AND SUDAMA PAST: K rishna and Sudama were great childhood friends. Their friendship had blossomed when they were study...

Pic.: Vivek D'Cunha “E ver since I was born, there's been one person who has fed me, loved me, taken care of me and mostly guided me. It's you – my one-and-only granny!  And, today is your 80 th birthday…  Happy birthday Mai… I miss you loads. Come back soon. Much love. Muwahhhhh !” Well, the grandson, who is saying “I miss you… Come back soon” and who is blowing his ‘Muwahhhh’, is my 22-year-old nephew, Sherwin, who lives in Mangalore. You can see him in the picture with his dashing granny, my mom! She turns 80 today. She has gone to Kuwait, my bother Rony’s place, on a holiday. I called, a while ago, to wish her… and learnt that they were in church. So, I am yet to say to her, “Happy b’day mom.” This Post is for all my young nephews and nieces. When we, the five sons of our mom, were of the age of our nephews and nieces, our mom was young – in her early forties. She was energetic, optimistic, hardworking (back-breaking is...

Pic.: Bhusahn Thakkar   S ometime back, my friend, Dr. Deepak, in his Blog Post, shared with us a wonderful story. It was about the fishermen in Japan, who went into deep seas to catch fish. It took for them days to return to the shore. So, in order to bring home fish alive and fresh, these fishermen would erect huge water-tanks on board. And, to doubly ensure that fish remained alive till they hit the shore, they would put a couple of big sharks into the water-tanks! When I first read this story on Dr. Deepak’s Post, I remember how my heart had smiled! “Hey, I know who the fishes here are,” I remember my heart saying, “I know who the fisherman is… and who the sharks are!” Yesterday, my younger brother told me this: “If my daily challenges and problems were not present in my life, I don’t think, I would have got up early today, come to work and perform it the way I am doing now.” Then he added, “I don’t think I would even believe in Go...

We live in an imperfect world… and with imperfect people all around us. Above all, we are imperfect people, too. This imperfection should instill in us the wisdom not to keep unnecessary expectations from people around us… Rather, keep them to the minimum and keep only reasonable ones. Similarly, it should not turn us bitter when we see others spreading false propaganda against us… even plot against us. It is an imperfect world, and people around us are imperfect. We, too, are imperfect. So, people can be unreasonable, ungrateful and vengeful and vindictive.  The main thing is that we have to live in this world and with the people around us. It is important that we keep our respective faith in our values, our God and life itself… in the goodness of life. We should remain buoyant… Pro-life.    The persons who act mean towards us are there to make our faith in life even stronger… and not to rob us of it. It is not ...

    “God has not called me to be successful; He has called me to be faithful.” What did Mother Theresa mean when she had said this? Yesterday, I had shared in my Post what our PD students – kids, young ones and middle-aged – had to say on: ‘What Success means to me’. This morning, after the Mass, there was a send-off for our assistant parish-priest, Fr. Simon. In his emotional speech, he quoted Mother Theresa:  “God has not called me to be successful; He has called me to be faithful.”  Fr. Simon knew that during his two-year tenure, whatever he had performed was done by him with full commitment and love… He had been faithful to the mission he was assigned to… That, he had the silent satisfaction and pride of not compromising on his commitment… That, he had been faithful. He said in his speech: “So, my dear parishioners, as Mother Theresa had said, I too consider that, two years ago, God had ...