Gerald D'Cunha

  “Grace is free, undeserved goodness and favour of God to mankind.” Mathew Henry   T ragedies have a strange tendency of uniting us. When they strike, we see in us a mysterious surge of brotherhood… All of a sudden, extending a little helping-hand seems natural to us… Well, I agree if you think, that I am generalizing this phenomenon… Forgive me for that, Sir. Exactly a year ago, when Corona Virus exploded into a Pandemic across the globe, almost all of us were gripped by fear and uncertainty. Some of us, including myself, didn’t step out of our doors for months. But, I remember during those initial total- lockdown days, hundreds of young men and women going out of their way to reach out to those who were panic-stricken… Some with supply of groceries, some with medicines, some with a helping hand by coordinating things with hospitals or graveyards. Here, I am talking about lay people like you and I… Doctors, Nurses, Police and those on essential services… yes, the...

  “ All the shine of a thousand spotlights, All the stars we steal from the night sky Will never be enough Never be enough Towers of gold are still too little These hands could hold the world, but it’ll Never be enough Never be enough.” ‘Never Enough’ from the movie ‘The Greatest Showman’   I am very fond of Elvis Presley’s songs and, particularly, his performances on stage… He was blessed with a velvety voice and mesmerizing looks… He was charismatic, just electrifying! Now, when people like you and I deeply admire glamorous superstars like Elvis, we unwittingly let the Law of Attraction operate in us… We quietly attract the qualities of the stars who we idolize… We long for fame and success… If not as much as Elvis achieved in his 42 years lifetime, a tiny percentage of it, at least ! But, then, loving Elvis’ songs and performances is one thing. And, loving to be like him, is different altogether. With his phenomenal success and fame, Elvis’s life was...

  “Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse.” Sophocles   M ahima*, my eleventh-standard student, has been very particular about her commitment to my Zoom sessions. Also, she has been very particular about doing her homework. Ditto, I learnt, has been her commitment to her college and other tutors. So, last afternoon, when she did not connect on Zoom, I and some of her fellow students kept calling and messaging her – ‘What happened’? … ‘The session has started’… ‘We are waiting’… ‘Please join’…!” But, the messages were left unread and the calls were left unattended. Knowing her well, I concluded, that she must be really unwell. Thus, we continued with the session without Mahima. This morning, there was a short e-mail from Mahima: “Good Morning Sir, I hope, you are doing well. I couldn’t attend any class yesterday; or, even for that matter, I couldn’t use any device, as it has a screen. I was having a severe headache and doctor told me to take res...

  “We must live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” Martin Luther King Jr. M ost of us have two faces: One reflects our inherent selves as gentle humans. The other reflects our superimposed selves as ‘politicians’. I think, this is true for all of us. It means, that I am no exception. In the heart of my hearts, I know everyone around me is just like me – a human being, my brother or sister, as we all are children of the same God. So, there is no difference at all between ‘them’ and ‘us’… What they eat, wear and pray to and what we eat, wear and pray to – yes, for the gentle soul in me, it never matters. My ideals spring from this space – It’s so beautiful… so Life-enriching! But, the moment I become a ‘politician’, I am compelled to walk around wearing the other face… the superimposed, dishonest, false face. I am compelled to hide my true feelings of love brotherhood… I am compelled to take hard stands… I am compelled to express my divisive and hateful word...

  “The greatest single achievement of Nature to date   was surely the invention of the molecule DNA.” Lewis Thomas H ow big is really big? And how much is really much? The ‘bigness’ and ‘muchness’, somehow, don’t lure me anymore. But, it wasn’t so, many years ago, when success meant ‘how big’ the numbers were… How many students I had (How many branches), how much I earned, how popular and widely known I was… What I began to realize, over time, was this: If I let ‘size’ and ‘popularity’ to decide the state of my happiness, then, that very need could become a constant source of my anxiety and worry. Because, deep in in my heart, I knew, that ‘size’ and ‘popularity’ would slide… When they did, would I be prepared to ‘accept’ the reality? “What goes up comes down!” It’s not just a Law in Physics, it’s a Law in Life, too. The most beautiful pageants - ‘Miss Universe’ and ‘Miss World’ - and ‘The Strongest Man on Earth’ – haven’t they all shrunken? What about ‘The Fas...

  “Aggression has no ears.” Mahrukh Memon I am a believer in ambition. Honestly, to realize any of our dreams – whether it means academic excellence, good health, good relationships, success in business, or even conquering the world like Alexander-the-Great – yes, the way through is only ambition. Saints and Satans, both, are driven by the same fuel - ambition… But, but, but… The difference in our approach lies in the ‘means’ we adopt to achieve our respective ‘ends’… As Mahatma Gandhi said, our means are as important as our ends. I would go a step further and say, our means are more important than our ends! As humans, you and I want to progress in life. None of us looks below for our inspiration; we all look above. So, the rich and the famous, the bold and the beautiful have always been our weakness. And, along that route, some of us lose our way… Some of us, mercifully, don’t… Dhirubhai Ambani built the largest business-empire in a very short time. But, his means, a...

  “One of the keys to our happiness is bad memory.” Rita Mae Brown   A lmost all the viral videos become so viral, because, someone simply shoots them without stressing out, and uploads them without expecting anything in return. Ask anyone, whose videos have gone insanely viral, and you will see a simple, joyful heart behind it! On the other hand, if I write something or create a piece of art and attempt to make it viral, it mostly doesn’t even take off! The best things in life are simply spontaneous… Unplanned and done with no expectations. I am sure, many of us have come across this video, lately:     Then, someone added these rustic beats and made it even more heart-warming!   “With mirth and laughter, let old wrinkles come.” This is what William Shakespeare tells us through ‘The Merchant of Venice’. Well, I think, our old wrinkles come not through mirth and laughter alone; the sorrows and anxieties, too, pave way for them!   W hen 20...

  “A thousand sorrows prepares a man to preach.” John Piper   I think, one of the most misunderstood – and misused – interpretations of the teachings of Christianity is this: Jesus died for us… He was sent down by His Father, The God, to redeem us from our sins… So, He is our Redeemer, the Salvador, the Saviour and so on… How nicely, we have washed our hands of our sins and responsibilities! How nicely we have used Jesus as our cross-bearer! What a flawed logic: We are the sinners; but, He has to carry the cross… We are the criminals; but, He has to be nailed on the cross! I can’t swallow this teaching, Sir! Each one of us, here on this earth, is supposed to carry our own personal cross. Yes, God or His Son will come to our help only when we perform our personal responsibilities. “God saves only those who help themselves.” Why on earth, do you think, that this old proverb still floats around? So, if I wake up to my personal responsibility towards my life, the te...

  “Be kind to others. Because, the world is dealing with three pandemics same time: Greed, Corruption and Corona Virus.” De philosopher, DJ Kyos   “H ello Sir, how’re you? This is my new number; please save. Please do get in touch with me whenever you plan to visit our beautiful land.” Who was this man, and which beautiful land was he referring to? Both, my wife and I, had a desire to visit beautiful Kashmir – which was, always, hailed as ‘The Heaven on Earth’ - for a long time. But, for a very long time, our desire was crushed under the painful reality of endless insurgency on the one side and the merciless deluge on the other. It took decades for the people of Kashmir – whose main livelihood depended on tourism – to limp their way back to normalcy. So, in the summer of 2016, when our 25 th wedding anniversary was approaching, we both decided to fulfil one of our long-cherished-but-buried wishes. By then, tourism was substantially back. A couple of our family...