Gerald D'Cunha

W hen we are in a position of power, we can scream angrily, suppress others with our caustic, sarcastic, angry words… and, yes, we can easily get away with it. But, the one place from where we cannot get away is: from our own ‘conscience’. But, what if our conscience is dead? When I said, ‘position of power’, I never meant the position of the Prime Minister or the Chief Justice of India or the Army General… I meant: as a parent of my children, as a teacher of my students, as the Principal of my school etc. Angry words and screaming, sure, get us the attention. We learnt it as little babies… Remember the old saying: “The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the grease”? I haven’t been in high power zones… My zones are the commonplace ones… I am a parent, a husband, a brother, an uncle, a teacher etc.… and my world revolves around it. But, in this limited zone itself, I am able to realize how much I ‘misuse’ my position ...

W hen we are in a position of power, we can scream angrily, suppress others with our caustic, sarcastic, angry words… and, yes, we can easily get away with it. But, the one place from where we cannot get away is: from our own ‘conscience’. But, what if our conscience is dead? When I said, ‘position of power’, I never meant the position of the Prime Minister or the Chief Justice of India or the Army General… I meant: as a parent of my children, as a teacher of my students, as the Principal of my school etc. Angry words and screaming, sure, get us the attention. We learnt it as little babies… Remember the old saying: “The wheel that squeaks the loudest is the one that gets the grease”? I haven’t been in high power zones… My zones are the commonplace ones… I am a parent, a husband, a brother, an uncle, a teacher etc.… and my world revolves around it. But, in this limited zone itself, I am able to realize how much I ‘misuse’ my position to have my way. But...

Pic.: Neerja Panchal “Finally, never ever be afraid, if you are right. The shrill voice inside you will tell you What is right and what is wrong. Be true to yourself, to that shrill voice inside you… and then look! The whole world will be on your side… God will be on your side... What else in life, then, matters?” I n life, you need integrity to be confident, happy and peaceful…. ‘What you know’ and ‘what you do’ should be in sync… Living with integrity gives you strength. It gives you courage to overcome adversities and discouragement in life. Dear, trust in you instincts, your hunches. Trust in your conscience – that shrill voice from within – and follow it all the way… Yes, it will guide you to be on the ‘right’ path… It will tell you what is right and what is wrong… It will tell you when you go astray in life, when you hurt, when you deviate from your true path… Yes, it will help you to re-align your...

One morning, in the summer of 2007, Apurv Verma, who was one of my students in 1983-84, just appeared before me in my office. I was pleasantly surprised to see him after so many years.   When Apurv came to me, I was putting together an inspirational book titled – ‘The Cheetah’ to be released in June that year. I knew someone would appear, from nowhere, to help me up financially. My heart opened up before my dear student, and Apurv, who was then a Vice President of one of the multinationals, said ‘yes’ without even blinking. So, on June 10, 2007, on the annual Graduation day of THE DAWN CLUB students, we held a book-releasing ceremony. During the function, I put my arm around Apurv and spoke fondly about him to the audience. In response, he spoke kindly about me and, showed every one two books that had left a great impact on his life. He had brought a copy of each book to gift me, and he spoke something about the books and their author. ...