Gerald D'Cunha

  “When people will not weed their own minds, they are apt to be run over by nettles.” Horace Walpole   L ast evening, I was talking to the father of one of my eleventh-standard students. The gentleman and his wife, both, hold big positions in the respective companies they work for. My student is their only son. He goes to one of the best colleges in South Mumbai, and he goes for tuitions in his every subject. Apparently, the young man understands all subjects conceptually (including Accountancy, my subject). But, he lacks self-motivation… He doesn’t do any practice at home, comes late for his classes, misses classes regularly, and, for his every flaw, he offers a ready excuse… There is a reason why he does what he does – I mean, he keeps justifying his flaws… That’s what his parents and I are constantly worried about. He has aptitude, but no attitude. “How can we help the boy? How can we motivate him to take self-responsibility towards his studies?” So, when the...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty “E verything happens for a reason… and ever person comes in our life for a reason… That, every problem, eventually, gets solved and every enemy, eventually, relents… That, there ‘is’ a way even though I cannot see it, now… That, there is a valuable lesson in every hardship I endure… That, tough times make me tough…” Let me tell you this: Telling all this comes easily to me when it comes to telling others. “Don’t worry, be happy… everything will be alright.” But, when it comes to telling it to myself, the same words do not come to me so easily! T wo days ago, I was with a small group of my friends. They have been harassed by another group of persons for a long period of time… Several efforts have been made by several people to prevail upon the harassing group… but, in vain. The harassment continues, and it seems as though there are no options left… there is no way ahead… it is a dead end! So, two days ago, when I was telling this h...

Pic.: Alwyn Mathias “No force on earth can stop an idea whose time has come.”   ―   Victor Hugo W hen I was small, back in our village, I would feel excited seeing seeds sprout in the wild orchard. They were all sorts of seeds - cashew seeds, mango seeds, jack-fruits seeds, tamarind seeds, berry seeds, coconuts seeds, papaya seeds, chikoo seeds, guava seeds and all sorts. Many a times, after returning from school, I would attempt to plant a cashew or a mango seed in place of my choice… And, then, I would go there, every day, to check if it had sprouted…. Most of the times, it hadn't… and, I would wonder ‘Why’? “Because,” my mom would tell, “all seeds don’t sprout, my son.” “But, why so?” I would insist. “For, that’s how God wants it to be!” my mom would calm me down. Today, I attempt to plant seeds of different kinds… One of them is my ideas. The ideas that I try to give life to… Like I did as a little...