Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Sudha Ahuja “The winner is one who knows when to drop out in order to get in touch.” - Marshall McLuhan     T his is the authentic list of the ‘most-successful college-dropouts’ of our times. And, this list comes from the revered TIME magazine. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford, James Cameron, Buckminister Fuller ( architect, thinker, inventor, futurist), Tiger Woods, Lady Gaga and   Frank Lloyd Wright (America’s most celebrated architect). Remember, these are, certainly, not the only ten most-successful college-dropouts. These are the well-known ones. There are thousands of successful college dropouts around us. They didn’t like studies and went about doing what they passionately believed in and loved. It reminds me of our own movie - ‘3-idiots’. Rancho is the classic example. He came out of the college, never compromising on any of his idiosyncrasy , in flying color. But, that ‘flying-color engineering...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty I n the eighties and the early nineties, we had Doordarshan as our only TV channel. We had, also, the one-and-only Sabira Merchant with her popular programme ‘What’s The Good Word’. My wife, for one, was a huge fan of Sabira Merchant and her programme. Those were the days, one never heard so much (as one does these days) about Grooming, Etiquette, Finishing Schools. The term called – ‘Image Consultancy’ was not yet born. Just today, I saw a two front-pages (full) of Bombay Times with aesthetically designed advertisement by an Image Consultancy organization inviting women to be entrepreneurs (Free Workshop). It shows how the idea has caught-up with the masses, these days! Well, I am talking about all this, in this Post, today, because, one of my dear friends and trainers at The Dawn Club, Mrs. Satinder Oberoi, had a long-cherished dream: to get trained under the legend and the ‘original guru’ – Sabira Merchant. So, some days ago, she atten...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty T he other story – yes, set in the jungle – is here... “O nce, in a jungle, a Cheetah was teaching his son the art of hunting. As the training session was on, they smelt a prey at some distance... It was a deer. “Son, listen,” the Cheetah whispered to his cub, “a deer is on our way. Watch me how I hunt, okay?” “Okay dad,” said the little-one, excited. Then, the father and the son hid behind a large bush, where they waited holding their breath. And, as the deer was about to cross their way, the Cheetah, the seasoned hunter, leapt from behind the bush and tried to grab the delicate deer. But, the deer escaped... The chase began... The faster the Cheetah ran, even faster the deer did... till the dear disappeared completely from the sight of Cheetah... The Cheetah, finally, returned to his son and collapsed, completely exhausted... Looking at his father’s plight, the little-one remarked, “Dad you lost and the deer won.” ...

In the latest Hindi movie, ‘Ferrari Ki Sawari’, the twelve-year-old Kayo is an exceptionally talented batsman. His father, Rusy (Sharman Joshi), is an ordinary clerk in a RTO office. But, he wants the best for his son… He is ready to make any sacrifice… go to any extent to see that his son realizes his cricket talent. Kayo is easily selected for a cricket camp at the Mecca of cricket, Lord’s. But, the hurdle is the money required to fund this tour – Rs. 1.5 lakh! The story revolves around this issue. The laughter and tears… the joy and frustration… yes, all revolve around this massive dream of a father to help his son go for the training camp at Lord’s… He wants to see his son where he deserves to be: in the Indian Cricket team! The story has a story within. Rusy's father (played by Boman Irani), as a young man, was a brilliant cricketer, too. He was almost selected for the Indian Cricket team… Yes, almost. But, the story tells us how your...