Gerald D'Cunha

  “The emotion that can break your heart is, sometimes, the very one that heals it.” Nicholas Sparks   E very time I get overwhelmed, I cry. And, every time I cry, I feel good about myself. I believe, that there is no shame in my tears… I am not at all embarrassed about showing my tears, my fragile veneer. Yes, as long as my tears come from an honest space, I am at peace… I am healed! When I feel grateful, I cry… When I feel anxious and scared, I cry… When I feel joyous, I cry… When I accomplish something, I cry… When I fail, I cry… When people tell me, that I make difference in their lives, I cry… When I feel the touch of others, I cry… When people, who I trust, betray me, I cry… When people, who I love, leave me, I cry… When my child is born, on his every milestone, when he leaves… when he arrives, I cry… I cry on my every ‘prodigal-son experience’… on my every ‘Desert Experience’… When I stand before the vast ocean, behold the amazing hues of...

T o me, the most powerful scenes and the dialogues in the movie ‘Gully Boy’ are those involving Murad ((Ranveer Singh) and his father (VijayRaaz). In one of the scenes, the father, as usual, goes on his rant and ridicule over Murad’s ‘ na layak’ and ‘ faltu ’ activities… He blasts, “Saara din ghar pe baitke khata hai tum.” “ Tu nahi khata hai kya?” Blasted the young woman sitting on my right along with her mother. This young woman was so involved with the dialogues and the lyrics, that like many other young ones (in groups) did, she was jumping, rapping and yes, doing the dialoguebazi throughout the movie. My wife, who sat to my left, whispered a couple of times,, “Double paisa vassol’ … Well, I had to control myself, though! “Apna time ayega, ” is the driving force that propels every underdog in this world. Everyone, who has done it – come out from his ‘slums’ – has done it because he or she did not want to be ‘there’ in that ‘filth’, that ‘abuse’… that...

“Never buy Gold, simply earn it...” -           Mary Kom A week ago, I received a call from a retired school-teacher. I knew her from the days when she taught in a state-board school. She was an excellent Mathematics teacher and was very popular among the students. After her retirement, she started tuition classes from her residence and students from different boards – SSC , CBSE, ICSE, IB, all – thronged to her place for guidance in Mathematics. I always admired this gifted teacher, who, in her late seventies still reached out to young school-students and kept herself extremely positive and productive… This time, the teacher had called me to check if I could do something about her granddaughter’s nursery admission in a certain ICSE school. I was surprised… She had been a very popular teacher herself… had taught thousands of students… knew so many well-connected parents… and, of all the people, sh...

T here is a ‘tapri’ (chaiwala ) just outside the suburban degree-college, where I visit these days to hold soft-skills programme. As I reach very early in the morning, I love to relish a cutting chai , sitting there for a few minutes, before I walk into the college premises. Today morning, as I was sipping my cutting, a tall elderly-man settled next to me on the baakda . Seeing me in my formal attire, he asked me, “Are you a visiting faculty in this college?” “Yes sir, you can say so,” I replied. “What do you teach, here?” the elderly man asked. “We have a training outfit, Sir,” I explained, “I and my associates conduct some soft-skill programme for the students here. “Very nice… Very important,” the gentleman said, “I did that for several years in many reputed Mumbai-colleges.” “I am happy to hear that, Sir,” I exclaimed. He was quite an elderly man and looked frail, too. So, I asked him, “Are you retired now, Sir?” “Well, a teacher nev...

“Make sure your worst enemy doesn't live between your own two ears.” -             Laird Hamilton P resently, I have been visiting a suburban college in Mumbai (along with our team) to conduct a soft-skill programmes.. The students of this college belong to various streams, including B.Sc I.T, B.M.S, B.Com, Banking and Insurance etc. And, students from F.Y, S.Y and T.Y all attend the programme. The unique feature of this student-mix is that they all hail from absolutely ordinary families. The Trustees of this college, too, hail from extremely ordinary families and they are seriously interested in providing fine education to these eager young boys and girls. Before our team started off with the programme, the Principal madam, who is passionate and committed about her mission, gave us a simple brief: “Most of our students belong to the first generation… They will be the first graduate...

A s a student, both in school and college, I was always scared of my exams. Obviously, I did badly in all my exams. Somewhere in my S.Y. B.Com, I had decided to enjoy studying and leave my exams alone… I wasn’t keen on preparing for exams… I was only keen – in fact, obsessed – to ‘discover’ more and more and more! Planning for exams, trying to excel in them, needs the right ‘exam-cracking’ mindset. I did not possess one. I just wanted to ‘express’ myself well… and, teaching became the medium… and, the subjects I taught just happened to be  there… So, for nearly four decades of my teaching, I have never ever asked a single student of mine, “How much did you score in your exams?” I don’t even keep a track of their exam dates… I don’t hold the typical ‘Tests’ and ‘Test series’… I do not like to correct papers and declare marks… All these are assumed to be so essential and typical of all ‘coaching’ system… May be… But, I tell my students, and I stick to...