Gerson da Cunha, adman who wore many hats, dead

MUMBAI: Ad man, actor, theatre personality and activist Gerson da Cunha (92) passed away in Mumbai on Friday after a brief illness. Starting off as a journalist, he moved to the ad world, spending 25 years and going on to head Lintas, among the most formidable names in the industry then. da Cunha, who had a stint with UNICEF, was also associated with several platforms engaged in civic activism, including AGNI, helping citizens understand civic issues and motivating them to get involved.
Gerson Da Cunha and I were family friends and we were born a month apart. I was born in May 1929 and Gerson was born in June of the same year. He was a few days younger than me. I have known him since my school days, though we went to different schools. He went to St Mary's in Mazagaon, close to his house. I went to St Xavier's in Dhobi Talao. But we knew each other from a very young age. We are Bombay Goans, as they call us in Goa. His family probably settled in Bombay much before mine. My family has been here for 200 years. We came in the time of the British. I think his family came here during the Portuguese era. They had settled in Mazagaon.
Gerson and his brother, Sylvester, were both in St Xavier's College. Gerson had been in theatre since his college days. Then, I remember, he graduated to a higher form of theatre and he used to be a great friend of Alyque Padamsee. They were both in theatre and later on, worked together in the advertising agency Lintas. Gerson's interest in theatre led him to his marriage with Uma, who was a film critic. Gerson used to accompany her to the Cannes film festival every year. Later, we were told that Gerson's heart was pumping at a much slower rate, but he would not let this daunt him or keep him from going abroad every year.
Gerson also did a stint outside India with the UN in Brazil. He was sent there because he spoke Portuguese very well. He was there for a few years. Later, both of us joined hands in activism. Gerson ran the NGO AGNI. My friend and former municipal commissioner D M Sukthankar was also involved with AGNI since his retirement. We used to take up causes to ensure that people were not taken for a ride. Of late, our work had increased but even during the time of the Congress, we used to fight the injustices meted out by the government. The last time the three of us got together was in 2005, when we filed a PIL against people who were calling for bandhs. Bandhs are not allowed and they inconvenience everyone, including small children who don't get their milk and migrant labourers who don't get a meal as they eat out in restaurants daily. We had gone to court on this issue and managed to get the two political parties that had called for the bandh fined Rs 20 lakh each.
Every year, I used to go to his house on December 31 around 7.30 pm. We used to go to the church near his house to remember all the things that happened during the year. And then, we would come straight to Gerson's house to herald the new year and disperse by around 9.30 pm. Gerson was not a person you would forget once you met him. He had a very imposing personality -- with his beard, his kurtas and pyjamas and the stick he always carried. His diction was very distinctive. We have lost a real towering personality.
His biggest contribution was to get people who were not politicians but who were really interested in the city, into the municipal corporation. His biggest initiative was to see that people were registered and that they came out to vote for the municipal elections. He would arrange meetings in different halls and church parishes. In the impending municipal elections, the city will sorely miss him.
He was passionately fond of this city. We were born here and grew up here. This city has grown up on us. It was part of us. And that is how it was with Gerson. His main contribution to the city was to fight for it. A line by poet Dylan Thomas goes: "Rage, rage against the dying of the light." That is what he would do.
(Julio Ribeiro is the former police commissioner of Mumbai. He spoke to Sharmila Ganesan Ram)