Gerald D'Cunha

“Sometimes, the most beautiful truths aren’t ahead  but beside us, waiting to be noticed, to be cherished, to be seen.” AshRawArt   A dear friend of mine retired, a few years ago, from BARC where she worked for several years as a senior scientist. In an organization like BARC, the tag ‘Scientist’ or a ‘Scientific Officer’ makes no one raise his/her eyebrows... Every other person working there wears that tag. And, yes, hardly anyone is impressed by the crown – ‘a PhD’... You are only one of the many out there... Now, this Post is not to belittle a Scientist or a PhD... It’s to show my appreciation for the ‘never-say-retired’ sprit of my friend. “I am retired, but not tired,” she loves to say. Just as a famous person said, “Retire from work, not life.” Two days ago, I was talking to this friend about her recent trip to Cambodia. “Did you cover Vietnam, too?” I asked. “No, I don’t like to rush through my trips... I don’t like to pride myself saying, ‘I covered five...

  “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...

  “You don’t stop laughing when you grow old; you grow old when you stop laughing.” George Bernard Shaw   W hether we like it or not, and whether we want it or not, we age… the body and the mind begin to lose their vitality, their responses. To some, the deterioration comes faster, and to some, a little later… but, it does come, Sir. None of us will stay eternally young, dashing, agile, alert, attractive - and making headlines. Even if we want to, we won’t be able to… Hema Malini was, once, a dream girl, right? She fell for a very, very handsome married man, Dharmendra… Today, Hema Malini is relatively active via politics (Even though, some of us wonder what has been her contribution in that sphere!). Dharmendra, apparently, spends most of his time in his farms… But, every time I watch this Sholaywala Veeru and compare him with his ‘dost’ – Jai, aka , Amitabh Bachchan, I wonder, why Jai is still there in that space, and Veeru, sadly, isn’t! L ike most around me...

  “Remember the blue sky… It may be, at times, obscured by clouds; but, it is always there.” Andy Puddicombe   I was talking to a young college-girl, yesterday. “What are your main hobbies? What activities make you happy and peaceful?” I asked her. “Sir, it is crochet,” the girl said, “I find it very relaxing.” To this young girl, it is crochet; to me, it’s my writings; to someone out there, it may be swimming, exercising, singing, poetry, reading, or, simply, sky-gazing… Each one of us pursues some activity or the other as our hobby that makes us happy and peaceful… very relaxed, as the young girl said. Our days can be frantic… running and rushing, keeping us constantly anxious… A hundred emotions, when clash inside the mind, it can drive us crazy… Only, when we slow down… step aside from our rush, we can see things ahead clearly. Katherine King puts it beautifully: “Slow down… You will get there faster.” E very activity can be done with our mindfulne...

  “The word ‘Listen’ contains same letters as the word ‘Silent’” Alfred Brendel   D id you know that? That, the word ‘Listen’ contained same letters as the word ‘Silent’? Well, I did not know that. But, I know, that only when we are silent, we are able to listen. Robert A. Heinlein dramatically describes this phenomenon when he says, “It was darn quiet; you could hear your hair grow!” Outside, the Nature is full of sound… Inside, the mind is full of sound! Life, by its very nature, is restless… Noisy. It’s only when we pause, be still… and listen to the life outside and inside, that harmony comes. It’s peace… It was Bob Dylan who said, “Sometimes, silence can be like thunder.” What an irony! Bob Dylan’s songs and lyrics are known to take away the sound from the thunders! The poet-singer knows how the thunder and silence come together to make life! Last evening, I was listening to his legendary song – ‘Blowing in the Wind’ – but covered by another amazing singer...

T ime to pause… Time to press the re-set button… Time to reflect… Time to slowdown… Yes, as Charles Dickens opened his famous tale – ‘The Tale of Two Cities’ – these are the best of times and these are the worst of times. And, as I quoted Mark Twain, in my last Post, “There is no security in life, there is only opportunity.” Maybe, the Poet wanted to say, “There are only ‘opportunists’!” And, I am already hearing the voices of protest: “What’s wrong with that – i.e., in being ‘opportunists’ in these hard times?” You see, Life has to go on… and we have to somehow survive. How many days can one sit at home doing nothing… Sorry, earning nothing? Yes, a guy like me, who always depended on a classroom set up to teach my students, now, is desperate to find an alternative method of teaching – online, sitting at home. Well, for me, it may be an ‘alternative method’; but, not to those who had been doing through that route for years. Now, suddenl...

“Slow down... Life is crossing the road.” ―  Debasish Mridha R ight now, my body, mind and heart – all three yearn to rest. “Enough of aggression,” I hear them remind me, “Slow down… Keep your tools down… Just yield.” Almost four to five hours in the morning, today, I found myself in an aggressive mode – aggressive in the sense: I was result oriented, my words were piercing, patience was on the edge… and I could feel I was getting the work done from my students. Yes, there was that immediate sense of achievement… But, when it was all over, I could also feel the vacuum… the energy was all depleted… all my students gone and I was left alone, here, to wonder: If there was another way of going about it… A way where my energy would be conserved, words not as pricing as they were and patience not as edgy as it was… So, now, when I have dropped my tools and aggression and able to reflect, yes, I do feel, that there certainly was anoth...

Pic.: Alwyn Mathias “Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” -  Lao Tzu S ometimes, when I meet some of my ex-students, after many years, I get amused by two of their familiar questions: “Sir, do you still teach?” And, this one: “Are you still ‘there’?” I am so used to these questions from my ‘very successful’ ex-students, that I have my answers, too, kept ready for them… To the first question, I ask them with a grin: “What else do you want me to do?” To the second one, this: “Where else do you want me to go?” I don’t think there is anything wrong with or surprising about the questions of my ex-students. They can’t believe that, after thirty-six years, I can still continue teaching the same way as I did then… They expect me to ‘grow’…. run my classes more professionally, the way others around me do… yes, like a good, profitable business… They want me to hire teachers and run it through them… wherein I should just ...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty S lowing down is the solution for many, many of my problems... I know it; but, I keep ignoring it... And, then, some crisis happens... and, the truth stares at me again... Just as it does, right now: When I eat... If I can shut off everything else and only focus on my eating... see the food which is there before me... its color, feel its aroma... eat slowly, chew well in my mouth... experience its taste fully, enjoy it as it gently passes down through my throat and stomach... With less quantity of food, I can have a satisfying, healthy and kingly meal! When I taken bath... If I can shut off everything else and only focus on my bathing... see the water falling off the shower or the tap... feel its coolness or warmth as it touches my body... experience the cleansing process... the shampoo and soap experience, the steam that comes from the bucket or the tub... the fragrance, the smoothness of my towel... The bathing experience can be, in...