Gerald D'Cunha

  “You could jump so much higher when you had somewhere safe to fall.” Liane Moriarty   S ome days ago, I had asked 13-year-old Darshil and his 11-year-old sister, Tirtha, to write at least five of their privileges in life. That day, during the Zoom session, I told them the story of Ekalavya, the tribal boy from Mahabharata. I tell about this boy, Ekalavya, in every Personality-development session, while helping kids, youngsters or adults to become self-confident and proactive persons… I call it ‘The Spirit of Ekalavya’ and, often, ‘The School of Ekalavya’. What Ekalavya did was the most proactive act towards building his self-confidence… No blaming, no self-pitying and no reacting. So, to me, Ekalavya was a better student, a better learner, a better young man than Arjuna. I am not interested in the archery… The story gives us enough proof for his brilliance in archery, too. But, then, to me, that’s a small feat on his part… The greater feat was, that he beat Arjuna,...