Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Amrita Jeurkar on my way back from the bank, I just saw a couple of young-kids preparing the ‘old-man’. These young kids, literally, live on the streets… Their shanties are built right along the roads and, they have nothing as their roof except some torn plastic sheets… This is biting cold these days, and I see them sleeping at night outside their shanties, right on the open streets…practically, half naked… leave alone the blankets and thick sheets! So, today, when I just saw those young kids stuffing in the old-man’s body with whatever they could lay their hands on, I know, that they, too, are excited as I am to burn behind their past and embrace with hope and open arms the New-Year to come… Yes, like me, they, too, have hopes and dreams… Like me, they, too, expect a bright and prosperous New-Year… Like me, they, too, want to celebrate the coming of New-Year… Will the New-Year be bright and pr...

The idea of a new year is not new to us. There are so many of them… The Christians, Hindus, Parsis, Buddhists, Jains, Jews, Muslims… all have their own new years. Again, among the Hindus too, there are different new years… Like today is Gudi Padwa. It is the new year of Maharashtrians. There is Yugadi for Kannadigas. And so there are for people from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and Punjab… and for people from every other state… their own. This Post is about the essence of the idea called a new year… and not about who celebrates it… when, where and how. No matter who we are, we all need to end the old to pave way for the new. Our old ways of going about our lives, our relationships, our pursuits of success and wealth, our expectations from others or our grievances about them… the way we look at our own selves and the way we look at others… our fears and anxieties, our despairs and hopes, our envy and rejoicing… Yes, all of these need to shed their oldnes...

I am writing this Post early in the morning. It is dark outside… very quiet… I am absolutely undisturbed by any outside happenings… Mind is not agitated; it is able to watch itself without getting clouded or bogged down… Mind tells me: That, there is enough strength in me to deal with any challenge, any uncertainty… That, there is a way out of every maze Life throws before me… That, no matter how harsh and hell-bent many a people seem, there is, always, some way by which they come around… That, the challenges are the only medium through which, we are able to tap our creative resources… Discover our strengths, explore new paths and stretch our limits… That, it is not prudent to decide when mind is numb with fear… That, it is not sensible to judge people, label them, when mind is wounded… That, patience pays… That, wisdom prevails… The storm ends… The ocean calms down… The skies turn brighter… The heart, hopeful… New, rene...

“I find them boring, these days,” my wife said this morning.  She was talking about my Blog Posts! I smiled and said, “It means, you should take a break; stop reading them!” “But…” she wanted to say something! I have been writing like this for over three decades now… Anything and everything that touches me… small or big, one line or ten pages… happy, sad or mad. Whatever comes along my way, which my heart feels, soul wants to celebrate… I call them my ‘notes’… I used to write them anywhere – in my dairies, on the used-envelopes, on torn sheets… anywhere… Sometimes, I would read them for my friends… All my books came from them, and will come from them… I turned them into my Blog Posts about five years ago… began to root them through FB since this March… Yes, I have been writing like this just the way I have been eating my ‘staple food’ – rice and curry or sabji and chapati s… Just the way I have been taking bath or jus...

W hat did I first think of when I woke up this morning? Did I think of something happy or something sad? Did I think of someone dear to my heart or someone my mind feared? Who was my morning angel? What was this day’s my maiden prayer? Who was the one I feared… and why? Who was the one who brought me hope, strength and peace? Who is the one who rules my heart even to this hour of the day? Who is the one who rules my mind? Why do I need good angels in my life? Why do some constantly coup against me? Why do I still bless them? Why do I still believe that Heaven is here – right amidst my sorrows? Why do I look for newness in the old? Why do I see a King’s banquet in my daily bread? Why does goodness be the only treasure I must seek? Why should I not believe in dying with a bitter heart? Why should gratitude be my only prayer? Why should not I lose faith in my home… my simple home? Why should not I search for God somewhere away from my own soul? What...