Gerald D'Cunha

“Life is too short to stuff a mushroom.”  ―  Shirley Conran S ome days ago, a dear friend of ours, who lived here in Mumbai, had been with his wife to our hometown, Mangalore, on a brief vacation. He was 62 and healthy all along. Besides, he was always adored by loads of friends. Though was not blessed with an offspring, the couple was content and done well for itself in life. Importantly, as they did not have their own children, the husband and wife, both, had helped out many of their relatives in education and  to become doctors and engineers in life…  I was, always, glad to note this side of their life story… that is: if God hasn’t given you your own children, treat someone else’s as your own… Yes, they did so… and so beautifully! Two days ago, I learnt from my sister-in-law, who lives in Mangalore, that our dear friend had succumbed to a massive heart failure. “Last night, we all met in a birthday party here… He was so ch...

Pic.: Natrajan Subramani T here is this dialogue in the Hindi movie, ‘Wazir’. It comes from the wheelchair-bound Punditji (Amitabh Bachchan). He tells his new friend, Danish (Farhan Akthar): “Tomorrow if God asks me, ‘I gave you a long life… what have you achieved?’, I will tell Him, that I have made my friend laugh.” “Big deal,” you might react… But, when life is tough, it ‘is’ tough to laugh… In the movie, for Danish, the laughter is tough… and, his friend, Punditji, knows how valuable it is… that, he dramatizes the importance of it, saying, that, if God were to ask him what he had achieved with his long life, he would answer: “I have made my friend laugh.” Well, that’s a movie, the reel-life. In real life, if God were to ask you and me the same question, what would be our answers? I am a huge fan of Amitabh and Fahan. I liked ‘Wazir’… but, essentially, I found it to be over-the-top (not in terms of performances)… unconvincing. But...