Gerald D'Cunha

  “There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people.” G.K. Chesterton   “I am a human, not a stone.” I keep reminding it to myself, whenever I feel bored. Like everyone else, I, too, had invested so many years of my energy and time pursuing things dear to my heart. And, suddenly, like everyone else, I, too, felt disoriented and helpless during these uncertain months of   pandemic… But then, is my situation as bad as so many around me? I am 63. What about those kids, young ones and the middle-aged? What about the very elderly and the sick? It’s easy to say “I am bored” or “Life is boring”… Very easy. But, what benefit does it serve? Boredom is a natural state. As I said, if I am not a stone, I would experience it, now and then. But, if I complain about being bored, endlessly – and whether during the pandemic or normal times -   then, I say, that it’s sheer lack of zest for life… Life is unpredictable. If we just accept this truth with o...

"There are no uninteresting things; only uninterested people.” G.K. Chesterson L’ le Alice would not have discovered the ‘wonderland’ and experienced all her fascinating adventures had she not been bored that day… and, had she not been curious to find how deep the rabbit hole was and what lay inside it! In Life, Alice, the Rabbit Hole and the Wonderland – yes, all these are the fine metaphors… If we are human, we shall experience boredom, time and again. And, that’s the time to go near the rabbit hole in our backyard and get curious: how deep the hole is, and what lies inside… Every habit that we have formed – and every new habit we are going to form - if we think about it, is something that we have done when we were bored in life. Just think about it! So, now, when we find ourselves locked inside our four walls, for nearly four months – and not knowing how long this situation may continue – we are left with the same choice as l’le Alice was left w...

Pic.: Ashok Ahuja T here was a big smile on my face, a while ago, when I saw what a 14-year-old had shared on FB:   ‘MOST OF THE STUDENTS GET LOW MARKS’, it said in big-bold letters at the top.  At the bottom, it said, in big-bold letters, again, this:  ‘BECAUSE OF THIS MARK’! Yes, in between stood a smiling, curly-haired boy – Mark Zuckerberg! Well, Zuckerberg was smiling, perhaps, knowing well how kids, and even little babies, got on board his bullet-train – Facebook –  ticket-less ! This little lady – who will be giving her SSC Board-Exams coming March – is very busy: I have lost the count of the requests she has sent me to play, of all the games in the world, this: ‘Find Your Secret Crush’! Ma’am, I have taught you ‘Personality Development’…  You know I will be 57 next July… You know my son might get married in a few years from now (Hope, he  doesn't  read this Post!)… And, you want me to find...

It is good that we all get bored in life… very regularly, of everything that we do. It is good, because, everything that is newly created – rather, invented - in this world by anyone has been done only because someone had been terribly bored doing the same thing, in the same way and doing it over, and over again! So, there we are: bored soon, listening to music and watching movies or TV shows… Bored we are going to schools, offices and our temples… Bored we are preparing or eating our food… Bored we are learning our subjects or preparing for our exams… Reading and writing bores us soon… Gymming, Yoga or Salsa bores us in no time… Making money and making love, too… Meditation too, prayer too. Every human activity has to hit this roadblock called ‘boredom’… Perhaps, it is Nature’s way of helping us slowdown… contemplate, re-think… If necessary, stop doing the particular activity completely and start afresh, something n...

“I find them boring, these days,” my wife said this morning.  She was talking about my Blog Posts! I smiled and said, “It means, you should take a break; stop reading them!” “But…” she wanted to say something! I have been writing like this for over three decades now… Anything and everything that touches me… small or big, one line or ten pages… happy, sad or mad. Whatever comes along my way, which my heart feels, soul wants to celebrate… I call them my ‘notes’… I used to write them anywhere – in my dairies, on the used-envelopes, on torn sheets… anywhere… Sometimes, I would read them for my friends… All my books came from them, and will come from them… I turned them into my Blog Posts about five years ago… began to root them through FB since this March… Yes, I have been writing like this just the way I have been eating my ‘staple food’ – rice and curry or sabji and chapati s… Just the way I have been taking bath or jus...

"Familiarity breeds contempt!" Yes, it does. Everything in life, when I become too familiar with, I get bored with… I slowly begin to take it for granted, dislike it…  And anything I dislike, do mechanically, can never be a source of joy and happiness in my life.  Well, I know this truth. That, unless I love what I do, love the people I interact with… unless I approach the same work, the same people with a childlike curiosity, with a twinkle in my eyes… yes, familiarity is bound to breed contempt in my life. If I claim that I have not been bored or tired of my teaching – over three decades – I will be simply lying. Teaching was, is and will be my sole passion. But, then, because I keep doing the same thing, over and over again, every single day, year after year – I become too familiar with it, fatigued and, at times even frustrated. Like most of us do, I too have often wondered: “Where else will I find my happiness?” ...