Gerald D'Cunha

  “I told her once I wasn’t good at anything. She told me, survival is a talent.” Susanna Kaysen   S ome days ago, a dear friend of mine and his wife called me. They wanted me to help their house help’s son in the Accountancy subject. “Our house help belongs to UP sate, who has been living with us for a very long time. An extremely sincere and caring woman, she has been taking care of our son (now a young man) since he was a little boy.” They continued, “Her own 16-year-old son, who lived with her husband in their village has left home and come here. The boy is fed up with the physical and mental abuse from his father. Because of the situation at home, he hasn’t prepared for the upcoming class X1 exams (which are scheduled to be held in the second week of February), particularly in Accountancy. Can something be done?” I have already completed the portion with my Class X1 students and revision classes are expected to go on for a week or so. When I checked with this bo...

  “Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.” Carl Sagan   A while ago, I was talking to a friend of mine from Kerala. The topic of discussion was, how, through tough times, some survive, while some don’t. He gave me an example of what he had just witnessed around him. Apparently, one of his elderly aunts, who was fair and beautiful, suddenly seemed a lot anxious to notice some dark patches on her face. When she went to see her doctor, he prescribed some cream so to do away with those dark patches from her fair face. But, then, Covid struck her the very next day, and within the following two days, she was gone! Meanwhile, in the same household, a cat had given birth to four beautiful kittens. As soon as the babies were born, some dogs attacked the mother cat, and the babies were left orphaned, all of a sudden. There was fear of attacks from not only the dogs, but also from some male cats. The kittens, somehow, survived… “Now, they are young, hale and health,” s...

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...

Pic.: Sundar Srinivasan T he birds in the sky, the fishes in the sea and the animals in the jungle, all leave in the morning in search of food. No one has instructed them to do so; they know, if they don’t leave home, they will die of hunger... And, man? Every morning, you and I leave home, too. But, is food – satisfaction of the hunger of our stomach - our only objective? It is not. Still, we all leave, every morning... Else, we know, that we all will starve of hunger ... not just of our stomachs, but, also, of our minds, hearts and souls... Our survival instinct is the greatest motivator... Deep down, in all of us, there is that desire to live, survive... protect ourselves from our predators... Birds, fishes, animals and man – we all have this burning desire to remain alive... From this basic desire, follow the other desires: food, clothes and shelter... And, for man, the social animal, there is a greater drive, a greater reason... It is: the desire t...