" A New Beginning"
20th July 2017
Around 3:50 pm I got a call from my colleague to accompany him to the government-run B.J Medical College to assist an acquaintance of his from Rajasthan to get admission procedures done for first year MBBS.
I have been to this campus a number of times but this time it was different. As I made my way through the entrance there was this huge lecture hall where the counseling process takes place. As I peeped through the door I could see numerous anxious, fresh, bewildered, confident, nervous teenagers with hope in their eyes and pride in their parent's. I could not help but imagine myself attending counseling in the same lecture hall approximately 8 years prior. Instantly I was taken back to the memory lane of me making a very crucial and daring choice--of staying back home! My rank was good enough to make me eligible for admission in any medical college in Maharashtra even the most sought after Seth GSMC and KEMH Mumbai. But I chose to stay back in my hometown and my alma mater Dr.VMGMC Solapur is what I had decided to pursue my graduation from.
I was ridiculed, belittled even labelled crazy and homesick for my choice for a very long time to come. But my brother once told me "You are not defined by your city, your institution or anything else but what you do and how you do it". With such turmoil and constant pressure I was trying to fill my preference form but my hands were shaking. My mom noticed that and asked for special permission for my cousin to come in and fill the preference form for me.
"I am facing a miscommunication due to my language bhaiyya!" said the young aspirant, forcing me out of my memories. He was tall, thin, wearing a T shirt and formal trousers, had spectacles and a distinctively beginners appearance on his face and in his voice. It was a strange feeling seeing him, he reminded me of someone, I wasn't sure who? Maybe myself in first year or my colleagues back then but here was a typical first year student. He was already tired by the countless paperwork and formalities running here and there very typical of a government run institution. Somehow me and my colleague ran around and made sure all the paperwork was done within the crucial time before the college was shut for the day. To the point that heroically we had to open the already closed Anatomy Department for his final document submission by pleading the clerk and the peon.
As we bid him goodbye I opened my wallet and found a receipt of my own admission into first year MBBS. What left me astounded was the date which stated 20/07/2009.
In the years that passed a lot changed, many ups and downs, created many stories of joy, of sorrow, of self doubt, of celebration, of toiling, of friendships, of hardships...what didn't change was a fresh crop of budding flowers whose petals will unfold in their own unique way beautifully spreading fragrance wherever they go..Identifying themselves with this noble prefix.."Doctor!"
Around 3:50 pm I got a call from my colleague to accompany him to the government-run B.J Medical College to assist an acquaintance of his from Rajasthan to get admission procedures done for first year MBBS.
I have been to this campus a number of times but this time it was different. As I made my way through the entrance there was this huge lecture hall where the counseling process takes place. As I peeped through the door I could see numerous anxious, fresh, bewildered, confident, nervous teenagers with hope in their eyes and pride in their parent's. I could not help but imagine myself attending counseling in the same lecture hall approximately 8 years prior. Instantly I was taken back to the memory lane of me making a very crucial and daring choice--of staying back home! My rank was good enough to make me eligible for admission in any medical college in Maharashtra even the most sought after Seth GSMC and KEMH Mumbai. But I chose to stay back in my hometown and my alma mater Dr.VMGMC Solapur is what I had decided to pursue my graduation from.
I was ridiculed, belittled even labelled crazy and homesick for my choice for a very long time to come. But my brother once told me "You are not defined by your city, your institution or anything else but what you do and how you do it". With such turmoil and constant pressure I was trying to fill my preference form but my hands were shaking. My mom noticed that and asked for special permission for my cousin to come in and fill the preference form for me.
"I am facing a miscommunication due to my language bhaiyya!" said the young aspirant, forcing me out of my memories. He was tall, thin, wearing a T shirt and formal trousers, had spectacles and a distinctively beginners appearance on his face and in his voice. It was a strange feeling seeing him, he reminded me of someone, I wasn't sure who? Maybe myself in first year or my colleagues back then but here was a typical first year student. He was already tired by the countless paperwork and formalities running here and there very typical of a government run institution. Somehow me and my colleague ran around and made sure all the paperwork was done within the crucial time before the college was shut for the day. To the point that heroically we had to open the already closed Anatomy Department for his final document submission by pleading the clerk and the peon.
As we bid him goodbye I opened my wallet and found a receipt of my own admission into first year MBBS. What left me astounded was the date which stated 20/07/2009.
In the years that passed a lot changed, many ups and downs, created many stories of joy, of sorrow, of self doubt, of celebration, of toiling, of friendships, of hardships...what didn't change was a fresh crop of budding flowers whose petals will unfold in their own unique way beautifully spreading fragrance wherever they go..Identifying themselves with this noble prefix.."Doctor!"
Comments