Gerald D'Cunha

“When you are scared, you stay as you are.” Stephen Richards T he other day, while talking on the phone, a woman asked me this question: “How do you keep yourself positive, always?” “Who told you that?” I replied, “If alone you knew how negative I feel right now!” Then, I added three emojis – a gentle smile, a crazy laugh and a warm heart! I sincerely wanted to tell the woman this: “My friend, I am just like you… I experience every emotion under the Sun and the Stars… Sometimes, I feel like an eagle, and, sometimes, I also feel like a frightened dove. I do think, sometimes, that I have all the answers in Life, and, I sometimes, I also think, that I am clueless about everything!” The woman on the other end wasn’t convinced at all. She seems to have convinced herself, that there are some people in this world who ‘always’ keep themselves positive. So, she said, “Your Posts give me a feeling, that you are a real positive person.” ...

“It’s okay to cry over something you thought you were healed from.” Unknown A nother thing, which I have been doing during this lockdown period, is watching some amazing commercials. One reason for this is, that, due to the lockdown, I miss conducting our summer programme on Personality Development. In our PD sessions, I used to play so many of these commercials, just to drive home the points: 1.     We all love stories… and, everything in life – including our communication – is nothing but a story. 2.     A story has a soul in it only when it has real, raw emotions. Else, the story is dead. I have, always, encouraged our young ones and little ones to speak from their heart. Many would understand this, and many wouldn’t. So, I would play dozens of these great commercials – very creative, very soulful – and leave it at that… The message would be loud and clear… even though not a word...

M usic and mediation! I, often, wonder if both are same… Early this morning, I was listening to Yani’s popular piece – ‘Nostalgia’. Frankly, when we soak in this kind of music, there is no need to meditate separately… For, music is mediation! Let me share with you some of my favourite quotes on meditation alongside some my favourite pieces of music from Yani… Hope, you, too, will say ‘Music is meditation’… “I said to my soul, ‘Be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, for love would be love for the wrong thing; there is yet love, but faith and love are all in the waiting; wait without thought, for you are not ready for the thought. So, the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.”   - T.S. Eliot “Mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With ea...

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”  ―  J.K. Rowling,  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets “We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.”  ―  J.K. Rowling,  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix I haven’t read a single Harry Potter book… I have only watched one – the very first – Harry Potter movie. Now, even if you think, I am dumb, it’s alright; but, here is my truth: I couldn’t understand, at all, what was going on there, when I tried to read the very first book! Little kids have read all the books, I know… and, kids, young ones and adults have raved about the movies. Good for them, really. But, I have been clueless about a lot of Harry Potter stuff… Anyway, whether J.K. Rowling’s famous tales are really so great is not the issue here. The books and movies, sure...

Pic.: Anima D'Cunha I am never tired of telling our young boys and girls, even little kids, during the PD sessions, that everything they tell in the class - be it on stage or in groups – is a story. “Everything you tell here is a story… everything can be told as a great story,” I remind them, “and you are a great story-teller.” I, also, remind them, “Our life starts and ends with stories…. As little kids, we listen to stories told to us by our parents and grandparents… Then, when become parents and grandparents, we tell stories to our little-ones.” Stories sustain life… They give meaning and hope to our existence! L ast evening, my wife and I watched the latest edition of the movie ‘The Jungle Book’. Like almost everyone around us, I, too, have watched the earlier version of ‘The Jungle Book’ many times over. I have read the book, too, several times…  And, yes, the story doesn’t cease to fascinate me… Such a simple story… but, how timeless!...

Pic.: Shoba N. Krishnan “How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!” -        John Muir T oday is the main day of Diwali and I haven’t, yet, sent a single greeting to anyone. But, I have already received ship-loads of them… They are still coming and will continue to come, maybe, for the next couple of days. But, if you ask me, “Who has sent you the Diwali greetings?” or “Do you remember any wordings?”  you will get only my blank stare! There is nothing ‘exclusive’ or ‘special’ about greetings we send or receive, anymore… They are mechanical, impersonal and bereft of true feelings – affection and care. Am I generalizing? No, I am not. To me, the biggest concern, today on this auspicious day of Diwali, is this: “Will my greetings be noticed at all? Or, will they pass like ships that pass in the night?” Well, on the upside, I have, suddenly, become ‘conscio...