Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Shoba N. Krishnan “How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!” -        John Muir T oday is the main day of Diwali and I haven’t, yet, sent a single greeting to anyone. But, I have already received ship-loads of them… They are still coming and will continue to come, maybe, for the next couple of days. But, if you ask me, “Who has sent you the Diwali greetings?” or “Do you remember any wordings?”  you will get only my blank stare! There is nothing ‘exclusive’ or ‘special’ about greetings we send or receive, anymore… They are mechanical, impersonal and bereft of true feelings – affection and care. Am I generalizing? No, I am not. To me, the biggest concern, today on this auspicious day of Diwali, is this: “Will my greetings be noticed at all? Or, will they pass like ships that pass in the night?” Well, on the upside, I have, suddenly, become ‘conscio...

Pic.: Malabika Ganguly “That's the real trouble with the world… too many people grow up.” - WALT DISNEY I t is quarter to eleven in the morning, and these kids – about fourteen of them – have no plans to go home for their breakfast. They told me that they all had planned last night itself to come down to ‘enjoy’ at 6 this morning…  Six boys and eight girls. I seldom saw them down, so carefree and happy, for so many months now. Their school bus ferried them even before the Sun had come out fully; in the afternoon, they came home only to drop their school-bags and then off they would rush for half-a-dozen tuitions and classes. I would hardly see them playing down, together… The school and the rat-race had deprived them of what kids of their age had to get – simple playtime... So, today, as their Diwali vacation is on, it was a delightful sight to watch them all together doing the utterly simple kid-stuff here in the open… As I opened m...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty T oday is ‘Dhanteras’. It’s believed to be an auspicious day. Laskhmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity, is worshiped today. People buy gold and silver on this day and believe it would multiply many fold in their lives… But, what is interesting is that this lucky day comes on what is, also, believed to be an unlucky day – thirteenth day of the dark night. ‘Dhan’ means wealth and ‘Tera’ means thirteen. Brought together, it means wealth comes on thirteenth day… Luck comes on an unlucky day! Dhanteras is the first day of the five-day festival of Diwali. It starts with prayers for prosperity… I n life, everything hangs on our beliefs. People believe, today they should buy assets and should not sell them. In the morning, I met a jeweler-friend, who was so happy for this day… He expected a roaring business. For him, sale of gold – loads of it – brought loads and loads of prosperity. For his customers, a few grams of gold-purchase meant prosper...

Pic.: Sheela Krishnamony “I didn't find out what happiness means until I got married... and then it was too late.” - Anonymous   A week before I was to get married, I remember visiting the residence of Nisarg*, a dear student of mine. I had been there to invite his family for my wedding. When Nisarg introduced me to his dad, I said nervously, “Sir I am getting married.” In my nervousness, I had swallowed the middle letters from the word ‘married’… and Nisarg’s dad was quick in pulling my legs, “What… Getting MAD?” I turned pink and heard my dear student Nisarg trying to calm me down, “Don’t worry sir… both are same.” By both, Nisarg had meant… getting married and getting mad! This was some twenty-five years ago… Every time, a young-man or a young-woman comes to invite me and my family for his or her wedding, my heart goes back to what Nisarg’s dad had asked me that afternoon… and it smiles. “Have I become mad by now, or have I ...

Pic.: Chetna Shetty Y esterday, some of my students were excitedly discussing about Chhota Rajan’s arrest in Bali. “Next will be Dawood,” one of them said. The young-men were college kids. “Have you all heard about Haji Mastan, Karim Lala and Varadarajan?” I asked them. “Who are they?” they sounded clueless. “Who ‘were’ they?” I corrected them, not “Who 'are' they?” Then, I told them that the three names were of Mumbai Dons. “These Dons ruled the Mumbai underworld when I was of your age,” I said. “What about Don Vito Corleone?” I further probed my students. “The God Father!” their faces lit up, “He was deadly!” “Is he still deadly?” I enquired. T he kind of Mafia Don Corleone, Haji Mastan and Dawood and their-type represented will, always, be there around. Almost all Dons start off from petty stuff and grow up to become the monsters they are. For example, Chhota Rajan – Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje – started off with selling ticke...

Pic.: Chandrasekhar Varier “In learning you will teach,  and in teaching you will learn.”   ―   Phil Collins “T he best way to learn it well and learn it fast,” I, often, tell in my class to all my students, “is to teach it to others who are weaker than you… Teaching is twice learning.” Some of my students get the point. But, others miss it. “How can I teach another person something, if I myself have not understood it?” they think aloud. Their argument is:  “To teach it to others, I should know it first; shouldn’t I?” I ask them, “How keen are you to learn, to know it? If you badly want to learn it – badly want to tell yourself the story – then, you ‘will’ find how to teach it others… How to tell them the story well.” I know of a middle-aged man. He has come up the hard way in life, and, after obtaining his doctorate degree, has been an administrator and a professor in one of the reputed educational institutions around. But, becau...

Pic.: Natrajan Ramsubramani “Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers.” - Robert Green Ingersoll I was teaching a young girl, this morning. While she was writing, my attention went to what was written on her wrist: ‘White Hope’. “What does that imply?” I asked the young-one, just out of curiosity, “Any special reason for having it there?” “Yes sir, there is a reason,” my student said, “I went through a disturbing phase a couple of years ago. During that time, I came across an inspiring article in which I found this phrase, ‘White Hope’, for the first time. It instantly caught my fancy. Ever since then, it has been there on my wrist as a constant reminder – not to lose hope in life.” “Beautiful!” I nodded, “May it continue to bring you white hope, always.” J ack Johnson was the first African-American boxer  to hold the World Heavyweight Championship (1908-1915). Racism was rampant in America and domination of boxing ...

Pic.: Chandrasekhar Varier O n the eve of this Karva Chauth , there was a beautiful story by Vikram Battacharya doing rounds on social media. It was about prince Siddhartha leaving his palace in the middle of the night… He had left behind Yashodara, his young wife, and their just-born son, not uttering a single word… He had moved on into the wilderness to seek answers to his ‘personal quest’ which he was haunted with… This incident in the life of Gautama Buddha, if we stop and reflect upon, can sound so disturbing… How could he be so selfish, so indifferent and insensitive? Why did he marry in the first place, and why did he go for a child? Was he not responsible for them? Was he not supposed to discuss his plans with his wife… How could he just walk away like that? What is the big point in seeking answers to your personal questions at the expense of your loved one’s well-being? Didn’t Gautama feel the guilt… the weight of his decision while he was wandering in th...