Gerald D'Cunha

I was talking to a very elderly woman, who I call aunty. I have always admired her for her grace and wit. Every Diwali, she would send to our place a small box containing homemade Diwali sweets and snacks. We always felt special warmth when we opened that box… Simplicity, sincerity, love and blessings always came packed in it…  Yesterday, when I met her, she was very apologetic… “I have not been keeping well for some months… I won’t’ be able to send you Diwali box this time,” she said, “This is my age of no choice, no voice!” I pulled aunty close to me and said, “Aunty, don’t bother about the sweet box… You did it for so many years… Now, you take some break. Wishes and prayers are enough… You give us yours and we give you ours.” “I feel bad,” aunty said, almost choked with emotions! Later, at noon, I had been to the station area to pick some simple Diwali gifts to ‘a couple of people’. I saw a white, posh, chauffeur-driven Audi. I was curious to se...

Pic.: Pradeep Nanda S o, the long-awaited - and  a lot-hyped-up - Mumbai Marathon, finally, got over, yesterday. “More than 40,000 took part,” today’s TOI headlines say, proudly…  Well, some ran full, some ran half, some quarter… and, some a little at least… Yes, there was a lot of buzz around it, a lot of life… The preparation for it, itself, was a huge thing… The participants, their families and friends were proud…  as if, it was something extra-ordinary - like a great sacrifice or martyrdom… that deserved 21-gun-salutes from the rest of us, the bystanders… yes, those who did not or could not run… Someone from our Society had been practicing for it along with his little girl for some time. He completed half, it seems. I did not know this. “We should honor them during the flag-hoisting ceremony in our colony,” a lady suggested to me, last evening, very excitedly. I am the Hon. Chairman of our Society, you see… I smiled… On the same day, that is ...