Gerald D'Cunha

  There are two tragedies in Life: One is to lose your heart’s desire. The other is to gain it.” George Bernard Shaw   A hungry man doesn’t need fasting to please God… He is already fasting. He wants desperately some food to eat. Therefore, Swami Vivekananda said, “A hungry man’s God lives in his cooking pot.” It’s one of the contradictions of life. The contradictions are ironies, paradoxes… and, they are not only amazing, but, they can be, also, funny, at times… Just look at these contradictions of life. A dear friend of mine had shared them with me the other day…   CONTRADICTIONS OF LIFE Author unknown 1.     Inspite of so many colours, white is considered class. 2.     Inspite of so many voices and sounds, silence is considered ultimate. 3.     Inspite of so much to eat, fasting is considered healthy. 4.     Inspite of so much to travel and explore, meditation under trees and on mountai...

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly… What is essential is invisible to the eye.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry,  The Little Prince “Y our finger prints are unique… Your voice is unique… You are unique… There is no one in this world that is exactly like you… Because, God doesn’t create duplicates.” Well, I have said this countless times, to countless people, and from countless platforms… But, I did not discover this so-called ‘truth’ about us. I heard it from others and just began to believe in it. And, because I believe in it so much, I keep telling others the same… Yes, with the hope that they, too, would believe in it… Trying to remind someone - ‘You are unique’… ‘You are special’… ‘There is no one in this world that is exactly like you’ etc, etc… can make the fellow feel good. It’s like telling our partner in our intimate moments, “Oh darling, you are so amazing, so, so, so special’! And, it’s like reading Linda Goodman’s c...

T o me, the greatest educator is the one who inculcates in me the value of living in harmony with others… What a value that is! What an education! When I look back at my life of six decades, I truly feel, that one ability to grow up harmoniously with people of all faiths, class and character, has been my greatest education. Despite the extreme polarization we all get to witness, time and again, around us, and despite the seeds of hatred that are being sown all around us regularly, a significantly large section of people has chosen to live in this very world in peace and harmony rather than being obsessed with the illusion of living in ‘another world’ with a grander kind of life… What is the use of hating my neighbour now, here on this very land, and still consumed by the desire of living with ‘like-minded neighbours’ when we move to another land? To me, whoever undermines the importance of living in harmony here and now and sells me a pipe-dream about ...

Pic.: Azriel D'Souza   M y friend, Mukesh, who resides in the same building where I work from, had come to invite me to his house, yesterday. “Gerry sir, there is a puja at my place today morning,” he said, “please come for a while, any time at your convenience, between 2 and 6 to accept Prasad. ” I went around 3.45 to Mukesh’s place. House was packed with visitors. Mukesh’ family offered me a plate of delicious Prasad. In the hall-room, they had placed a framed photo of Mukesh’s deceased parents. People stood before the photo to pay a silent homage and after that dropped a tern or twenty rupee note in the plate in front of the photo. It was a refreshing picture of Mukesh’s parents who looked young and happy in that picture. Mukesh’s dad died before and soon, his mother did. Both,  particularly  Mukesh’s mother, were very ill when they had passed away. When I stood before the picture, I felt very happy to see Mukesh’s parents with s...

Pic.: Sherry Haridas “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it, always.”   ―   Mahatma Gandhi I have, always, found a lot of solace in the statement: “Being peaceful is more important than being right.” If I believe in its opposite – “Being right is more important than being peaceful,” I should be prepared for a life of never-ending conflicts, enmity, compromise with ethics, company of disgruntled people, and, above all, isolation… In the long run, the human heart aspires to be at rest… To let go and feel the quiet space inside… So, the being-right mindset is, always, donned by the one who has put his own ego-thrill before anyone else’s welfare…The larger-good is a foreign vocabulary in such a person’s kingdom… Losing is tough to accept f...

I just said, "Lotus," and, he reacted, "I know, I know." I was surprised. I asked him, "You know, you know ... what?" He replied, "Lotus is one of the most beautiful flowers, considered to be, even, sacred ... But, it is born and it lives in the muck, the ugliness." He was right. I was about to say that. But, so old the analogy is, that he seemed, terribly bored and annoyed with it. "I know, I know," was his way of protesting any more 'bombardment'. "Tell me, what you want to tell me about the Lotus," he had dropped his resistance, almost making me puzzled. He was a wealthy young man. He had begun his pursuit of wealth when he was just a teen. "I want to become really rich, really very, very big." That was the resolve, that saw him to the other side of the sea. Now, in his mid-forties, the man has a dozen questions to ask. He asks them to people like me. Sometimes, our answers satisfy him. But, most of the ti...