Gerald D'Cunha

  “Don’t tell your friends about your indigestion: ‘How are you?’ is a greeting, not a question.” Arthur Gulterman   I do not know the context in which Arthur Gulterman said what you read in the above quote; but, every time I send greetings to others, or receive them from   others, this quote pops up to make my heart smile… During the Lockdown, like everyone else, I couldn’t go to a barber shop (You may call it a Salon or Studio)… the Urban Clap sent the barber (Hair stylist) home. Mine was this young, enthusiastic man called Saba Ansari… I stuck to him... I never saw a barber shop ever since… Saba was with Enrich before joining Urban Clap. But, he is on his own, now. He has built a strong base of loyal customers, that he doesn’t need the shoulders of Enrich or Urban Clap, anymore… He is not even 25…. Married, has a little kid, and works from dawn to dusk… Yesterday, when our doorbell rang and I opened the door, I was pleasantly surprised to see Saba… He ...

  “There has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries.” W. J. Cameron A dear friend of mine, who is a spiritual teacher, would, often, joke about his own fraternity, just to drive home the point: Here on earth, no one is ‘free’ from the human desire to be liked, followed and praised. “Do you know, that there is competition among we religious teachers, too?” He would, often, poke fun at his own fraternity. “Our popularity is measured by the no of footwear outside our doors?” Well, that may have been a joke my friend would crack just to make us feel less burdened with our own human nature to seek more attention. But, the truth has been – in my opinion - this: Freedom is tough! T oday is 26 th December.   In once England-ruled countries, it was called the ‘Boxing Day’. How did this name come about? One of the versions is that, on 26 th , the servants were sent on a day off with boxes of gifts… “Physical greeting cards are extinct these days. Greetings ...

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...

Pic.: Usha Prasadh S ome days ago, we attended a silver wedding of a lovely couple we knew. While wishing, I gently tried to place the gift envelope (cash) in the gentleman’s hands. “No, no, no… Please, please, please!!!” the gentleman made me feel as if I was an alien around there… It was then, it sank into me that on the invitation, it was ‘clearly’ written: ‘ONLY BLESSINGS’! Well, two days earlier, the gentleman had called my wife to say that they had come to our residence with the invitation and our door was locked. “Please don’t bother about the invitation,” my wife had assured him, “we would be there to wish you.” So, that night, we were, indeed, some aliens out there, as no one else had turned up with gifts and envelopes… and we didn't even notice that till “No, no, no… Please, please, please’ happened! It was Friday night… The next night, there was another wedding… a real wedding, not a ‘Silver’ one. In this case, the card...

Pic.: Rohit Makhija T his Post is about ‘Good-morning’. The first person to greet me ‘Good-morning’ is our doodhwala boy. The door-bell rings around 6.15 every morning and I open the door to take the milk. “Good- morning sir,” the greetings come before the milk... “AHHHH!” I can feel the positive vibe, “Good-morning beta ; thank-you,”  I give the vibe back to the young-boy, who, after doing the morning milk-rounds, goes to do his regular job as an office peon. Honestly, I feel very, very happy about this young-man, who must be up on his feet before 5 every morning and goes about doing his door-to-door service by giving every resident more than what his line of duty expects, calls for… He lives in one of the slums in our vicinity and has studied till twelfth.. So, every time I close the door, I shake my head in a pleasant disbelief and ask, “Who must’ve inculcated this value in him?” W hen I reach my classes, invariably, a group of young-students ...