Gerald D'Cunha

  “A man doesn’t begin to attain wisdom until he recognizes, that he is no longer indispensable.” Richard E. Byrd H as the thought – ‘I am indispensable’ – come in me? Oh, yes, yes… Quite often, for quite long. I am sure, I am not alone, or in a minority, in this. ‘I am indispensable’ is a self-destructive thought. It does come, and it is but natural. But, today, I can only reflect on this phenomenon and say: None of us, here, is indispensable. All that we have, here – from our physical body to the body of our work… with all our fame, name, wealth, power and glory - yes, everything comes to us only with a ‘shelf life’… We fade… Just the way everything else does around us! So, how will I greet this thought, if - and when - it returns, today? REFLECTION: Whatever ‘I have’ now has come from God’s grace. Let me feel grateful when it is there, and graceful when it goes. The wisdom, that it has come to me ‘just to stay for a while’ will keep me at peace… Thus, beyond a shadow of doub...

  “Be patient when you have nothing; be polite when you have everything.” Amit Kalantri   Y esterday, I had been to one of the Passport Seva Kendras for the third renewal of my passport. As most of you agree, the process of obtaining a new passport or getting it renewed, or any other issue relating to our passports, has not only been made extremely simplified, but has been made into a friendly and courteous experience. Well, many of us may not find the same experience when it comes to the police verification, in some police stations. I am not painting the experience with one straight brush, though… But, by and large, we feel good as citizens… We come home, respected, valued and, above all, happy… Someone at the top must have seriously taken note of the old manner in which citizens had to go through the same process. I remember going to the Passport office at Worli some twenty years ago to make my first passport… I came home a lot hassled and angry. The staff and th...

“Whatever Life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: With great power comes great responsibility… this is my gift, my curse… Who am I? – I am Spider-man.” I n  our degree college, we had a language (Kannada) teacher by he name Prof. Padakannayya. It was from him, I first learnt the significance of the story of ‘Mahabharatha’. I particularly remember his description of Duryodhana… The eldest of Kauravas – the 100 sons of Dhritarashtra, the blind king of Hastinapur. I remember a passing remark of our teacher while dealing with this story. “When God gives us great strengths,” he said, “He, deliberately, holds back wisdom!” Well, at age 17-18, I did not grasp the full meaning of our teacher’s statement. It took years and years to do it..  But, fully?   Far from it! “With great power comes great responsibility.” Though most of us heard it as a piece of advice to Spider-man from his uncle, it, actuall...

Pic.: Malabika Ganguly S o often, I catch myself praying: “O God, may my enemy die soon!” Well, God understands why I want my enemy to go soon: So that my problems, pain and suffering – my hell – can go with him! Anybody who tortures me unreasonably and relentlessly is my enemy. Because I want to be free from pain and suffering, I want my enemy to go, die soon… And, God understands my feelings… I reason out! But, interestingly, God does exactly the opposite… He lets my enemy live long and strong… so that I can experience ‘hell’ a lot longer before I myself go, I myself die… So, all my enemies are going great guns… It seems, the shorter the life I wish for them, the longer the life they get! Amen. So, someone has advised me to do the opposite… Pray: “O God, may my enemy live long!” This seems to be working… The longer the life I wish for them, the shorter the life they get! What a trick! How strange God’s ways are! W ell...

Pic.: Anand Ashokan I had last watched the animated Disney-movie, ‘Aladdin’, when my son was a little boy. Like everyone else, I remember how his heart would light-up every time Genie popped-out of the bottle... grew big, bigger and the biggest... and shrinked, once  again... With his elastic movements, he regaled our little boy as much as he regaled us, his parents... Disney’s animated-characters seem and sound so real that, leave alone my little son, I – all of age 36 then – did not realize that great Robin Williams was speaking from Genie’s body! Though I haven’t watched the movie for close to twenty years now, I still remember some of its brilliant dialogues. One of them is so profound and inspiring; but, ironically, it comes from one of the most unlikely characters in the movie – the Merchant! “Do not be fooled by its commonplace appearance,” reminds the Merchant, Like so many things (in Life), it is not what is outside, but what is inside, that ...

Pic.: Sherry Haridas S ome days back, I called up one of our Society’s watchmen. “Mishra*, are you busy,” I asked, “Can you come here for a minute?” “Yes, sir... I will be there in a minute,” Mishra said enthusiastically. “You are the Chairman of the Society,” the man next to me, who had overheard the conversation, reminded me, “Don’t ask ‘Can you come?’... Order him to come!” I hid what I wanted to say to this man behind my smile: “My friend, my mom taught me so... and, I have been teaching, for years, this to my students. But, there in the village, my mom did not know it was called – ‘Manners and Etiquette’. She just knew that’s how it was supposed to be!" T here is a power that stems from our positions – as a Minister, a Police Commissioner, a CEO, a Judge, an Income-tax officer, a Chairman, a Secretary, a Principal, a Captain, a parent, a teacher, a doctor, an advocate, and, even, as a compounder of a doctor or a peon in a government office.....

There is a famous line about leadership: “The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang.” We can twist it in different ways: “The strength of the leader is the strength of the gang.” Or, “The vision of the leader is the vision of the gang.”  We need strong, vision-driven leaders… We need them in all walks of life… starting from our homes. Just imagine, when the leader of our own home is bereft of the family vision, and he is timid. Let’s go a little further: our schools, our religious communities, our local bodies and institutions, the organizations we work for, the Government that rules us… Yes, what will be the condition of all these spheres of our lives if we do not have leaders with clear-cut visions and robust spines to lead us? Yesterday, a friend of mine had sent me a passage attributed to Socrates: “A group of donkeys lead by a lion can defeat a group of lion lead by a donkey.” “Hundred percent true!” I shou...

“Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: 'With great power comes great responsibility.'  …This is my gift, my curse. Who am I? I'm Spiderman.” Definitely, yes. Power – any sort of power – is supposed to be used judiciously. Yes, it is not supposed to be misused or abused. And, yes, with great power… comes great responsibility. Thus, as Peter Parker – the Spiderman – reminds us in his movie, our great power can be our gift… or, it can be our curse, too. It just depends on how we use it: as  Spiderman does… or, his arch enemy - Green Goblin does. We all have ‘Powers’… yes, great powers!  As a parent, I have been using my great power on my son – right from the day he was born till date… He is going to be 20, soon. For twenty-one long years, I have been doing the same on my wife… As a teacher, I have been doing it even longer than that! I can recall the times I have failed to use m...