I just marvel at the way Life unfolds to bare its Beauty as one moves ahead in Its Path,ambling at times and trudging along at other times. But whatever is the way one rolls along,Life never loses its charm,always seducing one to live it to the brim. And it's wonderful to observe and feel the changes that one undergoes in his journey.And thus as my life goes on, 18 years after my graduating out of medical college, It feels so good to hear every now and then, about what my college-mates are doing at the moment and where and how.The more I get to know about each of them,shining more & more in their respective places scattered all over the world as professionals in various disciplines of Medicine, the more "fulfilled" I feel.
There's a reason why I am writing this little note.If I run back in Time,scurrying through those invaluably special memoirs of my life which specially stand out as fluorescent milestones, memoirs of a highway along which I'd once trotted on in a journey six years long as an undergraduate in my medical college.
A few days back I came across a news which a former class-mate of mine had shared with the website that acts as an internet forum for us all - batch-mates of the class of 1987.And that was about Dr.Sandeep Shetty,another batch-mate, who now works as a top state-level administrator in Government Health Services.The news was about the luminous height of the level Sandeep Shetty has worked his way up to,in the administrative/bureaucratic heirerchy. All of us were pleased to know that.
Now that I find myself pondering over Life and its endless surprises,I won't hesitate to share a trivial memory,20 years old,with you since I am specially remembering Sandeep Shetty here.There was a time when Sandeep Shetty and I were in eagerly regular exchanges of thoughts & opinions about movies like DEAD POETS' SOCiETY or GOOD MORNING VIETNAM or BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY or MISSISSIPPI BURNING etc. This was this time when I,in my early 20s, used to revel over the Martin Scorsese's and the Brian D'Palma's or the Oliver Stone's for that matter,and I remember devouring the artistic & intellectual brilliance which were abundant in movies of classic genres, procuring those now-extinct videos cassettes on rent to enjoy them at home playing them in the little VCP that we had at (it couldn't record).I guess you can roughly recall the period ..
Coming back to Sandeep Shetty, I must say that our exchanges during that period of time were more regular & frequent than they actually were throughout the rest of our college-life. Though there was a transient phase of growing fondness for Shetty for his thoughtful comments over a poignantly good movie,I discovered (or should I say re-confirmed )the presence of a nasty trait inside the 20 year.old me.I was good in Pharmacology because I was fond of it(my father was a medical representative for a long time).Though I flunked horribly in Pathology (in the written - the tormenting first ever academic failure in my life),I got rather good marks in Pharmacology. Sandeep Shetty seemed to be good in Pharmacology too,and he was most generous in his appreciation of my retentive memory of kinetics & dynamics of most drugs when we got into discussion mode weeks before our 2nd.Professional Exams.I remember feeling sunk to devastating depths as I searched for my name in the list I wanted to be in...
I don't remember Sandeep Shetty's performance in that exam when it came to success or failure,but my agony increased to near-villainish levels when I found that his marks in Pharmacology were better than mine..I remember resenting that undesirable "phenomenon" and pangs of Jealousy pursued me to borders of frenzied brooding and sulking.Worse- I started to misbehave with Shetty,petrifying whenever he appeared in my field of vision. My spontaneous smile vanished and my vocabulary reduced to one -liners that kept on being less frequent and more sarcastic.Poor Sandeep Shetty couldn't fathom what was wrong,and slowly he apologized himself off our 3 month-old companionship.I was sadistically happy to see the back of his disappearing figure.
Pathetic stuff.
I discovered that I could potentially be that pathetic.
Though our relations became perfectly normal when we started frequenting the hospital wards a few weeks later(and he was most gracious when I stepped up to talk to him,much to my relief),I never apologized to him or brought up the Curious Case of Nasty Anirban,for discussion ever.We have met later many times after leaving college and his omnipresent grin never disappeared.
Life is Beautiful.Today I find myself truely happy. Over-happy? .No. Just happy & sincerely so.And I Feel Wonderful Tonight - that's the reason behind my sudden urge to pen down and share an archetypal inglorious episode of my life,one that I ought to have brushed under the carpet. Why does an unselfish Happiness, a blissful serenity of Peace overwhelm me - that any one of us might possibly feel here,as we share with and talk to,laugh and cry with everyone else,days in days out ? Well, I wouldn't want to explore the reason for this one at least.But I have come to identify one of Life's polyrrhythmic facets. Life is a Wave. A consistent Sine Curve progressing ahead forever with unflinching perfection in its ' wave-length' and 'amplitude' .The crests and troughs - high or low,happy or sad,sunshine or rain,smiles or tears,war or peace,victory or defeat,light or darkness - are the best lessons for the traveller who embarks upon his journey. Life itself is the best guide for the lost, the best oasis for the weary and the thirsty, the best shade to rest under off rain or snow. Yet it is never the hiding place for the fugutive.
Life is a Grand ,Grand Celebration of the indomitable spirit of man who guides one another unto greener pastures in eternal springtime from season to season,while attending to a bird with broken wings or giving shelter to a shivering pup which has lost its way.If I were a minstrel of the 60s,I might have crooned - "And Here's to you Sandeep Shetty ,Your friends Love you more than you could know...!".But that is Not To Be. So as you stand high today,making our own heads high too,I have to repay a debt I have owed you for 20 long years. What could be more appropriate an occasion than in here and now, as we celebrate the Spirit of friendship and bonding that touches our hearts in all odours and hues every day. And I must say now without a twitch - I AM SORRY SANDEEP SHETTY
No comments:
Post a Comment