I just came to know that at least one person is reading my blogs. It is an understatement to say that I am thrilled!
Gargi is among my best friends, with whom I had lost contact for nearly 20 years. Now that we have resumed contacts for the reason that most 40 year olds resume contacts, we have resumed the bonds we shared in the medical college hostel in the 5 years that we spent together.
If you didn't know, 40 year olds resume long lost contacts because by then they are professionally and family wise settled, and suddenly realise that something is missing in their lives and that something is their youth. They get nostalgic and want to connect with old friendsand then the intense desire for a reunion starts. They start hunting for old pals and sweethearts on facebook, linkedin and other internet sites.
Our class, the Gauhati Medical College batch of 1987, similarly wanted to celebrate their 25 years of knowing each other. Even counting the 20 years in between when most were so busy with career and family, (which includes getting divorced for some) that they did not care to be in touch with classmates living within few kilometers of each other.
Gargi and I suddenly came back into each other's lives on Skype one fine evening. I was trying to Skype my sister who had just moved to the US through my facebook login id. I used to think Skype was something exotic and and had never cared to use it earlier. It was only because I needed to contact my sister, who had a phone connection to which we could not call from India, and I desperately needed to contact her for some reason, that I decided to try out Skype. She had a laptop and wifi connection, but could not be contacted over phone. That is the USA. In India at least all phone connections can recieve calls.
I saw Gargi online on Skype when trying to contact my sister and that resumed my long lost sisterhood with Gargi. She was due to come to India for our class reunion and we were very excited about meeting up.
Gargi is among the most wonderful human beings that I have known. She unfortunately went through some deep personal tragedies just after passing MBBS, during which time I had no means of being in contact with her. The internet was non existent for people like us, as were mobile phones. I heard about her losses and mourned for her on my own.
In the medical college hostel, her room used to be the adda room. Everyone loved her. I often regretfully wish I had her personality so that everyone would love me too. I invited unpopularity, I think because of my lack of tact. There must be other reasons too, but someone else will have to tell me about them. I do not know what they are.
She is among the most enjoyable company I have known. We would laugh a great deal when with her and enjoyed all her addas. She hardly ever was mean or nasty about anyone. I think it is her innate nature to be non judgemental which makes her an effortlessly good person.
Recently, Hariharan uncle, my fathers colleague from NDA, and a retired Professor of Physics got in touch with me through email. Which was a very pleasant surprise. My father had retired 18 years back and getting a mail like this unexpectedly in your inbox is quite thrilling. Uncle had found this email id on google in a press release of my father's fictionalised history 'A Mole in the Breast' based on the Indo Bangladesh war which had been released way back in 2008.
Uncle thought the email id was my father's so had addressed the mail to him. My father is very intelligent but still hasn't figured how to read a message on a mobile phone. So maintaining an email account, even though I have opened him one, is expecting the impossible. I wrote back to Uncle, my excitement obvious in the language, and told him it was me. I asked about Aunty, his genius IIT alumnus son Sridhar, his daughter Radha who was senior to us. Sridhar and I were batchmates, though we studied in different schools as the mission schools we studied in were not co-ed.
We exchanged phone numbers, talked on the phone and all were excited about this electronic reunion after such a long time. A month later I was sick and in hospital. Uncle and Sridhar would call us or email us to enquire about my health and treatment status. One day, Sridhar asked me on gmail chat if I wanted anything to keep me busy like books or CDs. He probably sensed that my mental status was less than optimum and suggested I read the Shri Sai Satcharita, one chapter every day.
I said I would. Next he emailed that he had ordered the book and sent it to me. After 2 days Flipkart delivered the book to where I was living in Mumbai. It is a voluminous book, hard bound and 883 pages long. Holding the book made me emotional. I actually had tears in my eyes. I have not met the Hariharans since my father retired 18 years back, and not met Sridhar since we left school 27 years back as he had joined the IIT and then moved to the US.
My sister and I discussed this and realised that when one grows up away from relatives in a campus, the people you grow up with become like your siblings. God shows you how much one has to be thankful and grateful about in unexpected ways. It is truly wrong to complain and be judgemental about most things in life.
This blog has turned out really long. I hope the reader reaches this sentence. If you do, thank you very much!
Gargi is among my best friends, with whom I had lost contact for nearly 20 years. Now that we have resumed contacts for the reason that most 40 year olds resume contacts, we have resumed the bonds we shared in the medical college hostel in the 5 years that we spent together.
If you didn't know, 40 year olds resume long lost contacts because by then they are professionally and family wise settled, and suddenly realise that something is missing in their lives and that something is their youth. They get nostalgic and want to connect with old friendsand then the intense desire for a reunion starts. They start hunting for old pals and sweethearts on facebook, linkedin and other internet sites.
Our class, the Gauhati Medical College batch of 1987, similarly wanted to celebrate their 25 years of knowing each other. Even counting the 20 years in between when most were so busy with career and family, (which includes getting divorced for some) that they did not care to be in touch with classmates living within few kilometers of each other.
Gargi and I suddenly came back into each other's lives on Skype one fine evening. I was trying to Skype my sister who had just moved to the US through my facebook login id. I used to think Skype was something exotic and and had never cared to use it earlier. It was only because I needed to contact my sister, who had a phone connection to which we could not call from India, and I desperately needed to contact her for some reason, that I decided to try out Skype. She had a laptop and wifi connection, but could not be contacted over phone. That is the USA. In India at least all phone connections can recieve calls.
I saw Gargi online on Skype when trying to contact my sister and that resumed my long lost sisterhood with Gargi. She was due to come to India for our class reunion and we were very excited about meeting up.
Gargi is among the most wonderful human beings that I have known. She unfortunately went through some deep personal tragedies just after passing MBBS, during which time I had no means of being in contact with her. The internet was non existent for people like us, as were mobile phones. I heard about her losses and mourned for her on my own.
In the medical college hostel, her room used to be the adda room. Everyone loved her. I often regretfully wish I had her personality so that everyone would love me too. I invited unpopularity, I think because of my lack of tact. There must be other reasons too, but someone else will have to tell me about them. I do not know what they are.
She is among the most enjoyable company I have known. We would laugh a great deal when with her and enjoyed all her addas. She hardly ever was mean or nasty about anyone. I think it is her innate nature to be non judgemental which makes her an effortlessly good person.
Recently, Hariharan uncle, my fathers colleague from NDA, and a retired Professor of Physics got in touch with me through email. Which was a very pleasant surprise. My father had retired 18 years back and getting a mail like this unexpectedly in your inbox is quite thrilling. Uncle had found this email id on google in a press release of my father's fictionalised history 'A Mole in the Breast' based on the Indo Bangladesh war which had been released way back in 2008.
Uncle thought the email id was my father's so had addressed the mail to him. My father is very intelligent but still hasn't figured how to read a message on a mobile phone. So maintaining an email account, even though I have opened him one, is expecting the impossible. I wrote back to Uncle, my excitement obvious in the language, and told him it was me. I asked about Aunty, his genius IIT alumnus son Sridhar, his daughter Radha who was senior to us. Sridhar and I were batchmates, though we studied in different schools as the mission schools we studied in were not co-ed.
We exchanged phone numbers, talked on the phone and all were excited about this electronic reunion after such a long time. A month later I was sick and in hospital. Uncle and Sridhar would call us or email us to enquire about my health and treatment status. One day, Sridhar asked me on gmail chat if I wanted anything to keep me busy like books or CDs. He probably sensed that my mental status was less than optimum and suggested I read the Shri Sai Satcharita, one chapter every day.
I said I would. Next he emailed that he had ordered the book and sent it to me. After 2 days Flipkart delivered the book to where I was living in Mumbai. It is a voluminous book, hard bound and 883 pages long. Holding the book made me emotional. I actually had tears in my eyes. I have not met the Hariharans since my father retired 18 years back, and not met Sridhar since we left school 27 years back as he had joined the IIT and then moved to the US.
My sister and I discussed this and realised that when one grows up away from relatives in a campus, the people you grow up with become like your siblings. God shows you how much one has to be thankful and grateful about in unexpected ways. It is truly wrong to complain and be judgemental about most things in life.
This blog has turned out really long. I hope the reader reaches this sentence. If you do, thank you very much!
2 comments:
You are quite right about the 40+ year olds desiring to meet up old friends. About a year ago I met up a friend of mine whom I lost contact with in 1987 (also of Ghorpuri, lived near the Miraj-line railway crossing, and often visited my house). He lives in Blore too. Thru him, I met yet another school classmate in Blore. It does feel great!
So, now someone should take and initiative and plan a get together for NDA kids, Sridhar. I hope you read between the lines :)
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