Gerald D'Cunha

U mang, my dear ex-student, and, now, a dear friend, is a creative guy… He has been in films-ads-media-related industry for years, now. Presently, he must be shooting somewhere in the southern or northern part of India, I do not know… But, this much I know, that, amidst all his high-tech-and-super-fast-and-man-eat-man kind of life, yes, amidst all his midlife glories and debacles, among all his ecstasies and sorrows, Umang found his ‘mighty happiness’ in a dasa he made for breakfast, this morning… So, he shared his mighty joy with all of us, on his FB Timeline: “Made a dosa today for b'fast. The first time ever. And it was perfect. Perfectly round, perfectly crisp and golden. Mighty happy!!!” Dosa and Idli were the local staple-food for us in South. The batter had to be prepared… Till I was a tenth-standard boy, we had no electricity at home… So I remember helping mom to prepare the batter… It was a giant grinding-stone and, I was really good at grinding! ...

Pic.: Chandrasekhar Varier T wo days ago, a doctor-friend of mine had invited me for a dinner in a nice restaurant. We were three of us, the third one being a lawyer-friend.  We spent more than two hours… and, during this time, I sent only one message, but didn’t pick up a single call … My doctor-friend picked up one call but did not read or  send any message… and, my lawyer-friend seemed as though he was not carrying a mobile with him. Yes, it was so peaceful and so free from the endless encroachment which we all are so used to… The lawyer-friend was not on Whatsapp. The doctor-friend told us that he had got fed-up with the ‘groups’ and found such kind of communication to be an unwanted source of stress and anxiety. “I have informed all concerned that I prefer sms’s and I may not read the Whatsapp messages,” he said. Technology has come light-years ahead. It was supposed to make our life easy and comfortable. It has. But, it has, also, brought a...