Gerald D'Cunha

“There is a huge amount of freedom that comes to you when you take nothing personally.” ―  Don Miguel Ruiz I t’s very, very difficult not to take sides when two people fight, even though it’s very, very important not to take sides. Now, who are these ‘two people’? They can be anybody – from intimately close ones to absolutely strangers… I remember, just a few yards from our local primary-school in our village, there used be weekly cock-fights… ‘Kori Katta’, they would call them in our local Tulu. I suppose, it’s banned now. The players would raise sturdy fighter-cocks at their homes and, assemble every week at those designated arenas, where a huge crowd would round up to watch the brutal game. Imagine those hapless roosters, sharp razors tied to their feet, provoked to fight to the finish… Even when the roosters were bloodily wounded, they would stitch up those wounds up and make those poor cocks fight… People fr...

On the very first day of their first-year-MBBS college, the Dean, Dr. Asthana (Boman Irani), asks the fresh batch of medical students as to what do they dream to do as doctors. An overexcited girl-student raises her hand to impress her Dean that she looks forward to treat her patients as her ‘close friends’. “Sorry, wrong!” Dr. Asthana’s reaction stuns the audience, making the young girl dumbstruck. He tells the packed hall, “For a doctor, a patient is just a body to be treated… and not a ‘friend’.” Then, he dramatically tells the young medicos: “I have been a doctor for decades and I have carried out hundreds of operations.” He shows them his hands and continues, “Look at these hands, they are rock-steady. But, God forbid, if I am to operate my own daughter, these hands will surely tremble.” The young girl and all her batch-mates get the message loud and clear… and, on the very first day… That, as future-doctors, they must learn to per...