Gerald D'Cunha

  “Seize every opportunity along the way;   for, how sad it would be if the road you chose became the road not taken.” Robert Breault   T he book that inspired me the most –   I have told this countless number of times – was ‘Think and Grow Rich’ by Napoleon Hill. I found a used copy of this book on the footpath near Churchgate area when I had just come to Bombay (now Mumbai) and was jobless. But, I was dreaming… I earnestly wanted to know how people succeeded. I hadn’t read any motivational books before I read ‘Think and Grow Rich’, nor I had attended any motivational Workshops, leave alone watching today’s YouTube videos! So, when, on the cover of this book, I read ‘Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve’… Yes, it came to me as the Manna from heaven… I wanted to hear it… I wanted to reinforce in me, that what I dreamt in my heart, I could achieve… and there was a way to do it! After more than eight decades since ‘Think and Grow Rich’...

  “I have a perfect cure for a sore throat: cut it.” Alfred Hitchcock   O ne of the things, that would always make me curious and delighted, was while young ones, even little ones, talking openly about their interest in horror films. I would always encourage them to talk about some of their hobbies. And, trust me, many of them would come up on stage and share with us the thrill of watching horror films! “Don’t you feel tense and scared?” I would ask them. “That’s why we watch them,” would be their answer. “Don’t you feel scared to be alone in the house?” I would ask them. “Yes, we do; but, that’s great fun!” that’s how they would justify. “What? To be scared to death – ‘great fun’? “YESSSSIR!!!” the answers would be unanimous… and the excitement of sharing this ‘Dracula experience’ would be pulpable!   T here is something in all of us, that prompts us to go for the nail-biting and pants-wetting experiences in life. I was, generally, a scared-kitten w...

  “If you’re a champion, you have to have it in your heart.” Chris Evert W hat goes up doesn’t stay up… It comes down! This is not only a law of gravity, it is a law of the so-called ‘Success’ in life, too… By ‘Success’, I am referring to our ‘achievements’ – the championship trophies we win, the business empires we build, the wealth we accumulate, the name and   fame we make for ourselves, and the positions we occupy in life – yes, everything that we build in the name of ‘Success’ – our ‘achievements’ – has to come down! “So, why try to achieve anything or succeed in anything, at all?” Is this the question? Is this the point? No Sir, that’s not the question I am trying ask, or the point I am trying to make… The question I am trying ask, and point I am trying to make, is this: “Are we aware of this law – that, what goes up doesn’t stay up… It comes down”? I think, that most of us are aware of this law. But, we live in a denial… We, also, silently wish, what goe...

  “Give the heavens above more than a passing glance.” From the song ‘I Hope You Dance’   M any years ago, there was this student of mine, who was excellent in her studies and a very talented dancer. She loved almost all forms of dance, although, being South Indians, her family had, by default, wanted her to pursue ‘Bharatanatyam’. But, my student was passionate about dancing – just dancing! Incidentally, this young girl was very fond of my writings, particularly the short pieces written like poems (I still don’t understand what poetry means… I just write!). So, on the last day of her class, she wanted me to write something in her scrapbook (Do young kids still keep them?)… I wrote the famous line from Lee Ann Womack’s   song – ‘I Hope You Dance’! Then, I played the song for her on my PC… The young girl was in tears, by the time the song was over. “Thank you, Sir… Thank you so, so much, for everything,” she said, with a warm hug… It’s about twelve years si...

  “Practice doesn’t make perfect; it reduces imperfection.” Toba Beta   I doubt, only practice makes any of us perfect. Yes, practice makes us perfect in any work, only if we do it with all our hearts… If we love the work we do…   If we are passionate about it. Perhaps, that’s what differentiates between the ‘hard work’ and the ‘smart work’… Smart work, invariably, has the heart factor in our work. If we do anything with all our hearts, we shall, certainly,   find enough energy and motivation to work harder, longer, faster and more productively.   Importantly, we shall do it with our own initiative… without being pushed or coaxed to do it… Without worrying about the time we spend on it and the incentives we get from it. Yes, we shall willingly go the extra-mile… And, that’s what smart work is all about.   M any of us, regularly, like and share videos of achievers. Obviously, we wouldn’t do it unless we are inspired by them. One thing is cer...

  “Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of   dead habit .” From Tagore’s poem ‘Where the Mind is Without Fear’   M y previous Blog was about gossip! “Sir, you should blog on this topic. It’s not gossip, but awareness,” Brinal messaged me, last night, along with a moving video on Fr. Stan Swami’s life, work and last days, which lead to his death… I replied, “Brinal, we all are deeply moved and anguished by this. Hundreds of people, with clean conscience, are speaking up. You and I, Christians, should quietly pray… for better sense to prevail and for Fr. Stan’s soul to rest in peace. Honestly, I am too disturbed to write on him, now… Just praying.” “But, Sir, the pen is mightier than sword. You have the gift of writing… A way to reach out to many without saying a word. Of course, at this stage, we can only pray. But, you can do both – write and pray. Please write, Sir,” Brinal insisted. “Of course, I will, dear. I...

  “Rivers know this: there is no hurry… We shall get there someday.” A. A. Milne   E very time someone says, “You are in a noble profession,” my teacher-self gets a nice ego-massage. But, silently, I ask this to myself: “What is so noble about my profession? Is not every other profession as noble as teaching?” One of the worst things that I do as a teacher, often, unknowingly, is losing my patience on my students. I, sometimes, expects them to be like me – do how I do, speak as I speak, achieve as I achieve etc. In a way, I think, that’s exactly how any other person, from any other profession, often, does… the bosses, coaches, trainers, doctors, parents, older siblings – all. I mean, all of us are in the same boat when it comes to expectations from those under our care… we, quite often, lose our patience… “Come on, do fast, and grow fast… become like me!” It takes some hard knocks on our heads and some amount of honesty and humility to see how impatient we all are,...

  “If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anybody, come, sit next to me.” Alice Roosevelt Longworth   I don’t think, that any other animal on this planet indulges in gossip… as the most evolved one – humans – do. Perhaps, this weird irony made Steve Toltz remark: “Sometimes, I think, the human animal doesn’t really need food or water, only gossip.” The latest gossip, which has kept the human animals busy and amused in our country, is the divorce of Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao. When my wife broke the news to me the night before last, I felt like yelling at her… But, then, for the safety of our own marriage, I pretended as if I was deaf… The night passed, and, yesterday the hot news - ‘Tumne suna hai? Aamir Khan aur Kiran Rao ka divorce ho gaya!’ – was everywhere. So, how many gossip-mongers could I yell at? My mother, who hadn’t gone to a school and a college as her sons did, would, always, yell at us when we brought gossip home: “Tho thachen lekh ditolo.” Tr...

  “You spend the first 2 years of their life teaching them to walk and talk. Then, you spend the next 16 years telling them to sit down and shut up.” Anonymous   D oesn’t it sound familiar? Well, it does. And, it also makes us smile, behind which, we can hear our quiet justification: “Hey, is it not parenting?” Yesterday was my mom’s b’day. She entered her 87 th . My wife and I had made a video call to wish her yesterday. Mom sounded cheerful, a lot content. One of the things, that was going through my mind was, how, with age, parents become more and more dependent on their children. Honestly, my mind went back to those initial 2 years when I was a baby… I didn’t remember much about it… But, most certainly, she must’ve taught me, like all other mothers did, to walk and talk! How important it must’ve been for her! How satisfying! What I clearly remember were the next 16 years, when I was getting into my little boyhood and slowly turning into an adolescent… Oh, t...

  “A butterfly did not touch earth by her eyes; because she showed an irresistible fluorescence colour of shyness.” Petra Hermans   S ome things about us will, always, remain with us… One of them is our shyness. I have been saying this, with conviction, for decades. And, at 63, and after helping myself and thousands of shy people like me, over these years, I still say this: Shyness stays! Before we get into unnecessary arguments, let me state a few facts... about me. As far as my memory goes back, I have been a shy kid, always. When I became an adolescent, I became more and more self-conscious, and more and more withdrawn. The self-talk, that everybody was watching me, judging me, accepting or rejection me (mostly rejecting), I was not up-to-the mark, I always lacked something and others were always better than me… my looks, speech, dress, family status – everything was inferior compared to the ones around me… etc., etc., etc. Yes, I remember these thoughts cri...