Gerald D'Cunha

    “Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.” Theodore Roosevelt   O ne of the most endearing qualities about our former President, (Late) Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, had been his childlike approach to almost everything. Be it as our country’s ‘Missile Man’, or, be it as its most adored President, Dr. Kalam had been   the epitome of simplicity and childlike curiosity. And yes, of human spirit and perseverance, too. So, some days ago, when Dr. Swati Mohan suddenly exploded into limelight, following her feat as Mission Director of ‘Perseverance’ – NASA’s Mars Rover (2020), as an Indian, I felt proud, too. Well, that is not the only reason why I am writing this Post… To me, Dr. Swati Mohan is a global citizen – a star-struck curious-child like the one anywhere under this God’s vast sky – than being an American, Indian or even Indian-American citizen. I am more fascinated by how she got hooked on to the Stars and Planets in space. In other words, l...

  “Please hold my hand. For, every balloon needs a string to stay grounded.” Wald Wassermann   I was supposed to meet someone at a particular bus stop, last evening. As I had reached a few minutes before the scheduled time, I decided to rest on a bench next to the stop. A gentleman was already sitting on one end of the bench. I settled on the other end, conscious of the social distancing at the public places. Yes, there was space for another person at the center of that bench. Just then, a young girl, who looked like a 17/18-year-old – stood before me and hand-gestured: “Hello, move aside… I want to sit.” For a moment, my Patriarchal/Teacherly pride seemed suddenly pricked… I was about to fume: “You little kid, you could have said it little gently, with little more respect…” But, some reserve wisdom came to my rescue. I got up and smiled, “Please take your seat, Ma’am.” By then, the person I was waiting for had arrived… and, off we both went. By all probability...

  “Maturity comes not with age, but with acceptance  of responsibility. You are only young once;  but immaturity can last a life time.” Edwin Louis Cole   N irav* is a bright kid. Why did I call this 17-year-old, who has joined one of the ‘best’ Commerce colleges in South Mumbai, a ‘kid’? Well, the ‘kidhood’ – I mean the ‘childhood’ – as Edwin Louis Cole says has nothing to do with our age… Some of us stay ‘kids’ for our entire lifetime, you see! Poets and spiritual teachers sing praises about ‘being childlike’. Hope, we never hear it - ‘Being childish’! So, our smart kid from one of the ‘best colleges’ in South Mumbai, is not the one the poets and spiritual teachers sing praises about… He is ‘Childish’, plain lazy. Laidback! Am I making a big deal about it? Weren’t we all been there, done that? We are lying, if we say ‘No’! We all loved to sleep like logs when Sun was almost halfway to mid-noon. I am talking about the days when there weren’t any ga...

  “Don’t’ be satisfied with stories – how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” Rumi I f we sincerely seek answers, won’t we find them? Similarly, if we sincerely sit alone, listen to our hearts, trust, and go by it, won’t we do well in life and be happy, too? The more I think on what I have just wondered, the more I get convinced, that most of us are afraid to seek answers sincerely… that, we don’t sit alone, don’t listen to our hearts, don’t trust, and don’t follow our hearts. If so, how can we do well in life and be happy? “You don’t need me,” I was yelling at some of my students, yesterday, “You need yourself.” Well, at their age, did I know what I know now? No, I didn’t. So, there is hope. Yelling is my problem; not theirs. ‘Self-improvement’, ‘Self-development’, ‘Self-growth’… These expressions, I think, have been highly manipulated. When I try to help someone telling my story – how I did it – it, no doubt, sounds nice, exceptional. But, that’s my story… ...

  “The toughest opponent you’re ever going to have to face is in the mirror.” Rocky Balboa S ince last evening, I must’ve watched this video, at least, half-a-dozen times…  And, let me confess: I did so for Pete Seeger! Pete Seeger was 90 when he was pumping life into that mammoth crowd at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C, in Jan., 2009. It was at the inaugural concert of Barack Obama’s first Presidency. I bet, almost the entire crowd was made up of people around a quarter or a third of Pete's age! During his lifetime, about two dozen Presidential inaugurals came and went, two devastating World Wars exploded, apart from many more wars his country plunged into… He lived through the Great Depression… the Cults and the Isms, the Godliness and the Godlessness… And, through it all, he survived with his songs and music… Yes, I watched the video – ‘This Land Is Your land, and This Land Is My Land’ - just for Pete Seeger, the Legend… Yes, I prayed, as I watched it ov...

  “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...

  “The best kept secrets are those in plain sight.” George Banister   “T he whole Universe conspires in your favour when you really want something.”…   Is this what they call a ‘Conspiracy Theory’? If not, this one must be: “When your mind is idle – and heart is bereft of trust -   the whole Universe conspires against you.” “Idle mind is devil’s workshop”… Whoever said this first, he must have been a true angel! He must’ve, also, said this: ‘A heart bereft of trust, is the breeding ground of unhappiness.” Why would anybody – I say ‘anybody’ – be so obsessed to see me doom? Why would he be so sadistic to pull me down? Yes, there IS jealousy and there IS insecurity in this world. Yes, there ARE some people who believe, that my success means their failure… My happiness means their unhappiness and so on. But, that’s not the ‘Whole Universe’… Everything is not a ‘Plot’… a ‘Coup’… a ‘Conspiracy’. Sorry. Everybody, out there, is not a ‘conspirator’. Sorry....

  “You never have to change anything you got up in the middle of the night to write.” Saul Bellow   L ast morning, my very trusted friend, and a fellow-trainer, Dr. Deepak, had shared a beautiful poem titled ‘The Will of Amrita Pritam’. It was so beautiful, that it had inspired me to write my yesterday’s Blog – ‘The Language of the Heart’. This morning, my trusted friend sounded a bit concerned… He shared another post which claimed, that the poem attributed to the revered poet from Punjab was a ‘FAKE’ one! Now, what would I do? I wrote this reply to my friend: “As desired in the Will (Kisi ka bhi ho), our ‘Lies, Greed, Envy, Selfishness… all have gone into the funeral pyre. Let’s not lose our sleep over it, dear Deepak. I wrote that piece from my heart. There ends the story. Thanks for the sincere concern. Love.” J esus Christ did not write the Gospels... Mathew, Mark, Luke and John did. These four men are telling us Jesus’ life story using His own words. Now...

  “The burning embers within me burst into flames, My body becomes a fire-lit torch. Ho someone! Send for the mid-wife.” Amrita Pritam   I don’t remember liking prose or poetry while I was in school. It was in my junior college, that   I started liking both. Amazing teachers had sparked this liking in my heart. It continued in my first-year degree, too. English or Kannada – it made no difference… Amazing teachers did. Later, as I started expressing my deepest feelings – love, joy, fear, worries all – in my private notes, I freely allowed myself to do it. Oblivious of the so-called ‘rules’ of prose or poetry, which the school syllabus stressed upon, now, I was blissfully and freely expressing whatever and however I wished to… When some of my close friends exclaimed - “It’s a beautiful piece of prose/poem”, I wondered - “Is it?” I still wonder!  For, I have no clue about the 'rules' of prose or poetry… School and college are long over, and there are no ...