Gerald D'Cunha

  “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” Maya Angelou   S ome days ago, I was telling a group of underprivileged children how our random acts of kindness had ripple effect… “Kindness, always, spreads… It is contagious,” I explained to them in Hindi. Then, I encouraged them to share one or two acts of kindness either they had done towards others, or others had done towards them. Many stood up to share… Our random acts of kindness, invariably, are not only done by us randomly, but also done by us towards random people. Often, they are done towards people who do not even deserve our kindness. I know, it is difficult to accommodate that view: “Why should we be kind to someone who doesn’t deserve our kindness?” “A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve,” says Joseph Joubert. Mother Teresa famously said, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” Well, we aren’t talking, here, about the ‘big acts’ of kindness – the Mother Teresa’s...

I seriously feel, that God is more impressed by our random acts of kindness rather than by our loud acts of charities. Today is Thursday… the Sai Baba day. My elderly maid, who has been helping me to keep my workplace clean for over twenty-five years, turns up with some mahaprasad … either from a local Sai Baba temple or from another house where goes to works…. She has been doing it for years despite my request not to bother… A few minutes ago, she handed me a small container of sheera … She knows , I love sweets, particularly the sheera … What is my maid’s motivation? What does she gain from pleasing me like this? An hour ago, a sales representative of a Pest Control agency had visited my office trying his luck. I did not go for a contract with him… but, I spoke to him gently and offered him a glass of cool water to drink… It was exceptionally hot outside and he must have walked miles trying his luck… So, what was my motivation?  What did I gain from p...