Gerald D'Cunha

“ Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose.” -        Bill Gates -          M any years ago – yes, when I was very young and untested – an elderly professor, who had experienced life far more than I had, gave me a hard lesson. He asked me, “What do you mean by ‘the lasting success’? Obviously, my young and untested blood had made me coin that phrase – ‘the lasting success’… That was the last time I used that phrase… The dressing down came to me quite early in life… to keep reminding me of that illusion called ‘Success’… Ever since then, ‘Success’, to me – if at all anything – is a ‘fleeting moment’ of immense satisfaction and joy… Yes, a moment of fulfillment … but, one that comes with a ‘shelf life’… Momentary, fleeting… what the enlightened souls call – ‘Transient’! E verything in life – every success story – comes with a shelf...

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” - Helen Keller L et me clarify my position right at the start, here: I am not writing this Post as a supporter of Congress Party or its President, Mr. Rahul Gandhi. As I have told many times before, I keep party politics and hardcore religion at bay. Particularly, if my writing is going to poison the minds around me… If it is going to divide and polarize. I have been observing Mr. Rahul Gandhi’s political growth just as any of you would – reading about him, watching videos of his speeches and interviews, listening to people debate about him And, what had shocked me, always, was how systematically and relentlessly he was made to look like a joker, an idiot… a ‘Pappu’… and so on. What is even more shocking was this: most of my friends around me would think and believe so… would ...

A s a student, both in school and college, I was always scared of my exams. Obviously, I did badly in all my exams. Somewhere in my S.Y. B.Com, I had decided to enjoy studying and leave my exams alone… I wasn’t keen on preparing for exams… I was only keen – in fact, obsessed – to ‘discover’ more and more and more! Planning for exams, trying to excel in them, needs the right ‘exam-cracking’ mindset. I did not possess one. I just wanted to ‘express’ myself well… and, teaching became the medium… and, the subjects I taught just happened to be  there… So, for nearly four decades of my teaching, I have never ever asked a single student of mine, “How much did you score in your exams?” I don’t even keep a track of their exam dates… I don’t hold the typical ‘Tests’ and ‘Test series’… I do not like to correct papers and declare marks… All these are assumed to be so essential and typical of all ‘coaching’ system… May be… But, I tell my students, and I stick to...