Gerald D'Cunha

    “Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.”   Pierre Teilhard de Chardin   I remember my excitement as a kid… I loved making the Christmas crib… Back then, in our village home, there wasn’t any electricity, not to mention money… The crib, that kids like me set up, was in today’s lingo – purely organic… The hills raised out of mud fetched from nearby paddy fields, the stones from another hill – a real one – nearby, the grass from a neighbour's backyard… the   light for baby Jesus' manger   came from the desi jugad – a candle placed inside a coconut shell , or - if there were some coins to indulge in - a little bulb lit up through torch batteries and wires… Whatever that was, it was pure joy… As I grew into adulthood, I saw it dimming, slowly dying… But, the child in us seldom dies…Don’t you agree? As you become an adult, the excitement of setting up the Christmas crib gets replaced by several other simple things… Each one of us ha...

Today , too, I  received on my cell-phone, some inspiring texts from my well-wishers. As I always say, the best thing that can happen to you, early in the morning is: the thought that someone, far away, is thinking about you, your well-being. It really feels good. You do feel like a ‘winner’ in life! And, today, I received, early in the morning, these two messages. Shankar was my student more than two decades ago. He, along with his two friends – Rohan and Neeraj, were very close to me. Then, they graduated, did their respective MBA’s and other Post-Grads, and settled well in life. They got married, for which they did remember me. They kept in touch for some years, and as life demands of us, they got too absorbed building-up their respective families. We lost contact. And, this morning, I received this message from Shankar: “Sir, we are extremely excited to announce that we are blessed with a beautiful baby daughter… Both, mother and baby are fine.”...