Gerald D'Cunha

Pic.: Nishant Joshi I find it very difficult to close my eyes while doing the Tai Chi walk in our Sunday Tai Chi classes. The moment I close my eyes, I lose my body-balance… The eyes open up, instantly. Our sir says, we need to train our mind. “It is difficult in the beginning,” sir reminds us, “but slowly and steadily, if you keep practicing it, you will be able to do the Tai Chi walk closing your eyes.” Then, gently tapping a little below my belly-button, he asserts, “Focus on this ‘man’!” The ‘man’ is ‘Tantien’… He lives some three finger-width below my belly-button and about a third of the way in toward the back. It is the center of vital energy, movement and physical awareness of the body… Our sir says. Our sir keeps reminding us, that, a large portion of our troubles brews in our mind… Mind doesn’t easily give up the control. Letting go and surrendering – even though it is for our own well-being and peace… No, it doesn’t come to us easily… The mind just...

Pic.: Internet “One must ask children and birds how cherries and strawberries taste.” - Johann W. Goethe T he youth of our housing society have planned night cricket (under-arm) for three days, starting from tonight They want all of us – the old and the young, the ladies and the gents… and the little-ones all – to take part in it…. Yes, just for the fun of it… Just to let our hair down on these three nights, at least… Life can be as serious, as grim as we want it to be. And, the same Life can be as fun-filled, as playful as we want it to be… Yes, I know that I haven’t held a cricket bat in my hand for over forty years now… I was 17 when I played some gully cricket, back in our village… So what? Yes, so what… These young-guns are telling me: “So what, sir… You can hold the bat now, at 57!” Sandeep, who works as a senior executive with an Insurance Major - and who has two lovely school-going kids - posted this on our community group, late la...

Pic.: Azriel D'Souza S ome years ago, when the Bishop had visited our Parish, in his sermon, he casually told us this interesting fact. In the first Century, the early Christians were being persecuted by the Roman authorities. So, they would gather secretly in dark places, light candles and quietly worship there. So, lighting candles before Christian worship – Mass, Novena, Holy Hour whatever it is – became a practice. It has been there for over two-thousand years… and, unless someone really tells us, “Dumb-heads, why do you need those candles in broad daylight, that too, when there are such bright lights and chandeliers all over the church? That Sunday, I wished our Bishop said that! Candles are still being lit in our church, whether it a night or a broad daylight… It is something they do there, because it has been done so before. A religious custom! Why ask… Why stir the hornet’s nest? Leave alone, why get crucified like our Master - Jesus Chr...

Pic.: Usha Prasadh B oth in my classes as well as in our PD sessions, I keep reminding our young-ones, “Look, if you lie down with dogs, you will rise up with fleas.” It is the blunt way of reminding them, “Look, the birds of the same feather flock together.” In life, we tend to get attracted to those people who have our own habits and characteristics… The simple example is this: If I like to smoke, I like to be in the company of those who smoke… If I like to drink, I like to be in the company of those who drink… Taking it slightly further, if I am a chronic cribber, I like to associate myself with cribbers… On the other hand, if I like to exercise, run marathon, go hiking and attend life-enhancing Workshops, I am drawn to those who have similar inclinations… Yes, Like attracts Like… Though they say “the opposites attract,” I think, it is so only less frequently. What we see frequently around us is: The positives attract positives and the negatives attract nega...

Pic.: Uttam Ghosh I love movies with good stories… with tight editing, great music and cinematography… I love them even more when there is great drama, emotional hold and spectacular performances. Sanjay Leela Bansali’s movies have most of these elements… He creates extra-ordinary drama and grandeur out of very ordinary stories… I loved ‘Black’ so much that I watched it three times! Not because I have been a huge fan of Amitabh Bachchan, but, I found the movie emotionally very gripping, dramatized extremely well, performances top-class… and, above all, the music - just spell-binding. But, I wasn’t moved to watch his other movies the way I was by ‘Black’. Yet, ‘Bhajirao-Mastani’ appealed to me a lot. I loved the story-telling… the drama, the grandeur, the costume, the editing, the music and the cinematography… the performances… and, above all, the passion of the movie-maker, Bansali… It was oozing out in every frame! So, I watched the movie twice… Once, all alone, ...

Pic.: Azriel D'Souza W e are introduced to some nice things in life through our children. My son has done that, often, to me. One of them was the rock band, EAGLES. Now,  EAGLES  ruled in seventies when I was a college boy. Yet, I wasn’t introduced to their music. I was more inclined to love the Pop and Country music… ABBA, Boney M, Bee Gees, Lionel Richie, Kenny Rogers, Lobo, Neil Diamond, Don Williams…. So, anything ‘heavy’ wasn’t my cup of tea… I was blissfully ignorant about some of the fine music that belonged to other segments…. So, when my son was in school – in ninth standard to be precise – one day, he called my wife and me, made us sit next to him before the computer, and made us listen to ‘Hotel California’… yes, again and again and again… He told us stories about how the song had come about… How it had undergone changes over the years… He showed us the original track… and showed us the one the group had performed decades later when t...

Pic.: Usha Prasadh ”If the room is dark for twenty years, it doesn’t take another twenty years to bring light in.” - Sri Sri Ravishankar T here is no direct road to heaven… No short-cut, no express-ways or flyovers… and, certainly there are no ‘freeways’… The road to heaven ‘has to be’ through this world – through its plateaus, plains and mountains… through its jungles and deserts, rivers and seas… through its conflicts, sorrows, joys and  jubilation … None of, here, wants life to be tough. But, the life ‘is’ tough. All of us want our problems to go, once and for all. But, they don’t. The more we try to shut ourselves from the problems and sufferings of this world, the more and more they come to haunt us… Closing our eyes to the reality of this world will not help us… Opening our eyes to them, will! Prince Siddhartha’s father, the King, did not want his little son to see and experience the problems and sufferings of the wo...

Pic.: Azriel D'Souza I n life, a great deal of our stress comes from our deep need - rather a misplaced desperation - in us to prove ourselves before others... We have a need to please others… gain their approval, validation, appreciation, praise and love… We desire to be in their good books… We have a desperate need in us to ‘show’ them we ‘are’ good, efficient, successful, well-off, intelligent, respected, very religious, have great families, and all such things… As someone said, “We want to stand on top of the mountain and shout: “Look, I have arrived!” I am 57 now. But, the child in me? Joe became my fast friend when I was in F.Y.B’Com. He is two years older than me… He is a successful businessman, now; his two daughters are married and they have children… Back home, in Mangalore, Joe has a massive mansion, cars… and he is blessed with a loving family… But, when we were in college, our home-situation was identical –...

Pic.: Nicole Gubin M y dad was a very nice man, very loving… His boss, too! The thing that my dad’s boss – a well-educated and a pious Muslim gentleman – loved about my dad was that he was very skilled and honest. The thing that my dad’s boss hated about my dad was his excessive drinking. Drinking was my dad’s huge weakness. He would drink every day but within his limits. But, on Sundays and social occasions, it would be a complete knock-out scenario. And because of his excessive drinking on Sundays, he would, invariably, skip work on Mondays… or go late. Often, he would skip work for many days in a row… He would, also, spoil work! But, because my dad was a skilled lathe-machine worker – even more than that, because his boss was a kind soul – he managed to survive in that workshop for so long. Any other boss would have thrown my dad out, long back! Yes, like all kind souls do, my dads’ boss, too, gave my dad a long rope to hang on to. He counseled him like hi...