Gerald D'Cunha

  “The only real prison is fear; and the only real freedom is freedom from fear.” Aung San Suu Kyi                                               Y esterday was the last day for my twelfth-standard batch (HSC). Even though my students get my daily dose of pepping – call it inspiration or pravachan – during every session, every day, all through their academic year, on the last day, when they go away from me, I have something spontaneous and special to tell them, always… Yes, that is when I truly feel the power and the privilege of being a good teacher: How much, willingly or unwillingly, my students realize they have received from me… And, how much I have received from my students! For some students, it may have been months and months of daily dosage… and, for others, it may be a single dosage… It’s just a little spark that sets a massive forest on fire, we kn...

  “Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” Rumi   I n one of our summer sessions on Personality Development, I asked our young participants to come up on stage and speak extempore on this topic: ‘Five (at least three) ways in which I can build my self-confidence other than public speaking’… The outcome was really interesting. Many of them had joined the programme hoping to build their self-confidence through public speaking. In other words, their idea of a self-confident individual was limited to a confident public speaker… So, to think of five (or at least three) other ways of building his/her self-confidence, other than public speaking, meant - ‘What else?’ And, yes, there were many others who came up and share their views… By taking more and more responsibility towards self… By making a promise and keeping it… by giving a commitment and honouring it… by being punctual… by being less reactive and feeling less he...

  “Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” Rumi   I n one of our summer sessions on Personality Development, I asked our young participants to come up on stage and speak extempore on this topic: ‘Five (at least three) ways in which I can build my self-confidence other than public speaking’… The outcome was really interesting. Many of them had joined the programme hoping to build their self-confidence through public speaking. In other words, their idea of a self-confident individual was limited to a confident public speaker… So, to think of five (or at least three) other ways of building his/her self-confidence, other than public speaking, meant - ‘What else?’ And, yes, there were many others who came up and share their views… By taking more and more responsibility towards self… By making a promise and keeping it… by giving a commitment and honouring it… by being punctual… by being less reactive and feeling less he...

I started writing since I was 17-18, not because I was good at it; but, because I was bad at it. Same is the reason why I started helping others in Public Speaking – yes, not because I was good at it; but, because I was bad at it! Many people do not understand the logic behind what I just said. “How can you write daily when you are bad at it? And, how can you help others in Public Speaking when you yourself are bad at it? Well, my job is not to convince others… My job is to convince myself. That, despite my own handicap of English, I can still write; and, despite my trembling heart, I can not only speak in public, but also help others. I recognized my two handicaps – English and Stage Fear - when I was dreaming of becoming a teacher and a writer. So, I went about overcoming my handicaps by - going out there and doing it. By writing daily, for over forty years, I hope, I have in me, now, enough confidence to write in English… By speaking in public, despite...

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” -      Robert Louis Stevenson A nupam, a dear friend of mine, is a young and energetic trainer in Soft Skills. It’s a delight to watch him involve his audience, mostly young ones. I know, from my own experience of over four decades, how difficult it is to keep them awake and alive. Unwittingly, we all – teachers, trainers, coaches, preachers and so on – devise our own methods of involving our audience, especially the young audience. There is no single method that suits all of us… We discover and settle for the one that suits us best… “Yes… No… May be?” Anupam throws the stone in the pond… And, instantly, you see the ripple effect… Invariably, it is ‘Yes Sir”! Your audience is made up of minds like your own. The attention span is short… Mind is fickle, it drifts. So, you need to keep tickling them, keep prompting them… “Hello… are you with m...

“How you treat yourself is how you are inviting the world to treat you.” -           Anonymous S ome days ago, I was holding a training session in a reputed college in Mumbai. There were about 80 participants, all of them from S.Y. BMS. The subject was: ‘Self-confidence and Communication Skills.’ As I always do, I had shared with the young ones my own story. The reason why I do it is because, If I am expected to guide the in that area, then I need to tell them how I did it for myself… Was I self-confident and good in communication when I was their age or was I struggling with the same issues? If I have overcome my problems, then, there must be a road-map… I, always, share that with young kids, wherever and whenever I hold the programme on this subject. During the Q & A time, a young boy had a question. “Sir, I could really relate to your story,” he said, “I, too, was innocent and c...