Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Chetna Shetty H er name was Mrs. Liticia. She was my class teacher when I was in third standard. I must have been eight or nine year old, then. And, she must have been in her early thirties. What I remember about her the most is that she was very fair and pretty; very loving and caring. As a kid, I was very scared of most of my teachers... But, Mrs. Liticia’s warmth and care made me feel very secure and loved... Nearly fifty years have rolled by... How a teacher has touched you when you were a little boy, yes, this beautiful feeling has lasted so long! S ome days ago, while I was in Mangalore, my hometown, I had this strong desire in my heart to see Synthia, one of my earliest students. I hadn't met her or talked to her for years and years. It was just a year ago that we got in touch with each other; even then, we hardly communicated... Today, Synthia  is a mother of two young-children and well settled in Mangalore. When I spent about...

Pic.: Madhusudan D. Jeurkar   T here are, always, some defining moments in our lives. I have mine… One of them is when I first picked from a roadside book-vendor, in Fort area, Napoleon Hill’s famous classic - ‘Think & Grow Rich’. I still remember that afternoon, some thirty-four years ago. I was stranger in this city, and I was without a job. Worst, I was absolutely low in my self-confidence… and, I was filled with self-doubts and fears about my future... constantly consumed by the question – “Is there a place for me in this world?” Yes, it was during this period – I call it ‘The Great Depression of my life’ – my hands reached an old copy of Hill’s famous book. For me, that was the ‘Manna-from-heaven’. I wanted it so desperately to survive in my ‘desert’… And, yes, I did. C an a book change one’s life? If I say ‘Yes’, it is my opinion, my truth. I have given a brand-new copy of ‘Think & Grow Rich’, ever since then, to scores of...

E ver since I first read Dale Carnegie's’ classic on Public Speaking – some thirty-five years ago - one thing has stayed like a rock in my mind: Unless we are enthusiastic and persuasive enough, we can not leave an impact on our audience. Period. For years, I have been helping small and young children, both, to speak well in public with loads of self-confidence. I am more and more convinced, as seasons pass by, that none on this planet, leave alone a small fry like me, can take away this basic lesson of the old master, Dale Carnegie, from the text of Public Speaking. Today, let me write something more on this. T o speak well, you need to possess incredible amount of conviction. You need to believe in your ideas, your words… Just as you would believe in your God… Just as you would believe that the Mount Everest is the tallest and the toughest mountain to climb, even though you haven’t seen it, touched it and felt it! Yes, you...