Gerald D'Cunha

  “Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us: We taste only sacredness.” Rumi   I t’s tough to please everyone. In fact, when we recognize the tendency in us to please everyone around us – with the hope of making them happy – we, often, sense the stress in us. It’s an unnecessary weight – self-inflicted. In this Post, let me confine myself to that innate need in us to do good to people around us. Sounds familiar? We are humans… social beings. We have our near and dear ones. So, we tend to stretch ourselves – go beyond our bounds – to help others, do good to others… And, I do not have to say this: that’s what we are expected to do in our relationships… Here comes the hard question: Are we, also, ‘expected to expect’ appreciation and gratitude from those who we reach out? Do we expect these from them? A t this moment, if my heart is feeling sad, hurt or let down, perhaps, I have been silent...

I n my last Blog, I wrote about two young girls, who found great joy in writing their Notes in their journal. Their writing came in the form of little poems… which I always call ‘scribbling’. Invariably, the young ones scribbled most of these Notes when they were sad, worried, afraid, confused and weighed down by regrets, shame or guilt. Actually, to their age, these moments of sadness and conflict were natural… But, being extremely sensitive and alive to life-situations, these young ones would capture these feelings and express them through their writings… As I, too, had started writings similarly almost at the same tender age, I could easily relate to these young ones… M y last Blog was about the pure joy a young one would derive through the process of self-expression and, how, slowly, the desire to ‘go big’ – publish, monetize, become famous and so on – would creep in. Though such desire also is natural, my emphasis in my last Blog was, that a young one should...

Pic.: Rohit Makhija I t is a human tendency: If my present life-situation is pleasant, I want it to last… Last long so that I can enjoy it more and more. On the other hand, if the present life-situation is unpleasant, I want it to go… pass as quickly as possible. But, Eckhart Tolle says in his acclaimed book, ‘The Power of Now’, that our present life-situation - the situation in hand – is right there before us to provide us with the experience we need the most. He says: “Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness.  How do you know this is the experience you need?  Because, this is the experience you are having at this moment. No matter how much I try to avoid the unpleasant experience of my present life-situation, the truth is, that, it ‘is’ there, right before me! Whether pleasant or unpleasant, when it is there, I have to accept it as a godsend… as something God wanted me to experience, r...

Pic.: Neerja Panchal I did not know who Heath Andrew Ledger was until my son told me about him. It was through my son’s highly-charged recounting of the legend of ‘the Joker’ – the character Heath Ledger made immortal and left behind as his enduring legacy - that I was inspired to watch all the Batman movies with my son. Let me tell you, I truly realized why my young son, and millions like him, were so spellbound – almost numbed – by the untimely death of Heath Ledger, barely days before the release of his amazing film! Did Heath Ledger know what a stellar performance he had given in his last movie? A similar thought had passed through my mind when Yash Chopraji passed away after putting his heart and soul into his last movie – ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’… What a title? Just think about it… Till my last breath! Yes, till my last breath, I shall endeavor to do what my heart longs to… and, I will do it with all the passion in the world! I really...

It is not necessary that the day that starts with your foul mood should end in a similar way! I was in such a foul mood this morning, that I was determined to throw myself out of it, before the donkey brayed! So, the first thing I did was: pay tribute my good-old friend Mulla and his darling donkey.  Yes, how, one morning, he had overcome his own foul mood, I remembered that story… and, I decided to pay homage to my never-say-die friend in my morning post.  He had pointed to the ‘centre of the Earth’…. Right under the right foot of his sweet ass! To pour more stink on Mulla’s foul mood, an extra-smart bumpkin had asked him, “Hey Mulla, can you show me where the centre of Earth is?” After sending that post, I had felt a lot better. A lot liberated, in fact! Many got back to me to tell that it had ‘donkeyed’ away their foul mood, as well. One of them was my dear, dear friend and a well-wisher, Shri Uday Acharyaji. Just Uday, to me. H...

Last evening, I had been to my younger brother Viva’s place. He has two lovely children. Ritesh, the first child is in sixth, and Rhea, the second, is in Senior KG. Both the children are smart and the parents are really taking good care of them. Last evening, when I had visited their place, Sonu, Viva’s wife, was not at home. She had taken Rhea for the speech-and-drama class. The class would take more than an hour, and Sonu, was waiting for all this duration, so that she could bring back Rhea. Just for me to say ‘Hi’ to Sonu, Viva took me by his car to the place where Rhea was learning. Sonu came to meet me along with Deepa, her friend. When I was talking to them, I found a lot of sadness on Deepa’s face… I did not enquire about it. But, I guessed what it could be. Deepa was married to Mahesh about thirteen years ago. They have not been blessed with any children. In fact, Mahesh’s elder bother, Sunil and his wife Sudha, who have been married for over 2...