Gerald D'Cunha

  “Patience is the companion of wisdom.” Saint Augustine   T hough I woke at 6 in the morning, today, I have been extremely slow-paced till this minute… It is nearing 4 p.m. It looks like I have been ‘unproductive’ throughout the day. Except for one class in the morning and a visit to my bank, I have done nothing in terms of any routine, quantifiable work. Even this blog, I tried to type, but, strangely, couldn’t move even a word! So, the question –  a quiet guilt – did pop up in me: “Was it a wasted day?” That very question has now opened the gate for this blog: I realize, that the quiet moments are my spiritual moments. Every minute need not – and should not – be filled with the so-called ‘productive’, ‘quantifiable’ work… The heart needs rest… The soul needs nourishing. These don’t happen when we are rushing - frantically rushing - to accomplish more in less time… The periodic retreat – when I am prompted to keep my tools down and just ‘be’ – is needed to r...

  “Perhaps, the earth could teach us… everything would seem dead; then, be alive.” Pablo Neruda   A ll of a sudden, since yesterday, I have been getting on my phone some old funny scenes from the popular TV show of the fifties – ‘I Love Lucy’. I don’t know how this ‘feeding things’ happen on our phones; but, sometimes, they happen for the right reason… I remembered my wife the moment I heard ‘I Love Lucy’. For, she really, really loved Lucy and her hilarious escapades in her New York middle-class, rented apartment. Well, when the ‘I Love Lucy’ show was first aired in America (CBS) from 1951 to 1957, I wasn’t even born. And, my wife was born more than a decade later. The show began to be aired on our glorious B & W DD during the eighties, when my wife was a school girl… She just loved Lucy! Thus, this morning, the first thing I did was to tell my  wife about her favourite Lucy… “Show me, show me,” she jumped. I showed her some scenes, and my wife was jumpin...

  “When you are crazy, you learn to keep quiet.” Philip K. Dick   W e cannot survive without breathing. But, you see, breathing happens without our interference. God has been so kind, so generous and, I would say, so forgiving, that He has extended this mercy to each soul, in each corner of this world… A homeless man and a man who lives in a mansion, both, are equally privileged when it comes to this mercy from God. Breathing is just there… It’s happening. So, if you, I and everyone has taken it for granted, it shouldn’t surprise us at all.   Everything that God has given us ‘free’ in life… are we not taking it for granted? That’s why, whenever we pause to observe our breath… or whenever   we battle for each breath, yes, that’s when we realize what a precious gift each breath has been! A conscious pause, therefore, is crucial to make us connect to our breath, and, thereby, to the benevolent Creator Who makes the breathing happen... “I need to write ev...

  “Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Abraham Lincoln   I PL games are thrillers, action-packed. But, what I am amused most about these games – oddly, you may say – is this concept of ‘Strategic Time Out’. Presently each side – the bowling and batting side – gets two-and-half minutes as STO to reformulate their strategy, mid-game. Fans may complain, saying it ruins the flow of the game… Critics may complain, saying that’s a smart way of generating more revenue from commercials. But, whoever says whatever, I think, in Life, everything that is fast and furious needs these priceless STO’s… As kids, we called them ‘Recesses’ in our school; didn’t we? The school life was a grueling one, right? Think of the concept of sleep, siesta, cat-naps and power-naps? What are all these for? Why are there retreats in every religion and culture? Why do people take breaks… go on a vacation? Life is hectic… Fast and furi...