Nostalgia for Nair

I wish that I could turn back time
to those days of yore and glee,
and wander down those hallowed halls,

together, you and me.

How sweet it would be to once again
see all your faces there,
and skip along the corridors
where youth was free of care.

I'd love to feel the ambiance
of days that are no more,
where tender hopes were plentiful
and dreams were meant to soar.

I'd like to see your cheerful smiles
that brightened like the sun,
and feel the rush of eagerness
for journeys just begun.

But oh, alas, those days are gone;I can't go back to see
those teen-aged classmates of mine,
except in memory.

How long the road has wound since then,
how far I've had to roam,
but the glorious days I shared with you
will always whisper home.

Perhaps the roads you've taken too,
have led both far and near,
but I suspect that in your hearts
those nostalgic days are dear.

So take my hand and we will ride
the winds of memory
back to the time when we were young
and full of joy and glee.

-Ruth Gilis

Was in my alma mater T.N. Medical College today to attend the convocation of the last junior batch in college I know.. after this batch i am officially a 'stranger' in the college ;) Seeing the ecstatic faces of all the people present there made me nostalgic and brought me back to our own times at Nair..

We joined Nair not knowing what lay in store for us.. we entered its hallowed halls with fear in our heart, anxiety in our minds and expectation in our eyes.. some had come here after traveling a thousand miles and some just a few kilometers.. yet, as Erich Segal says in 'The Class', we all knew that we were merely at the beginning of the greatest journey of our life..

As we discovered the joys of staying away from home (read night-outs, bunking classes, trips to lonavala, painting the town red etc.) over the years we also realized the true value of home (read good home-cooked food, not having to wash own clothes, getting up by mom's cajoling and not a shrill alarm clock etc.!!)

 

In more ways than one, our stay at Nair converted us into men and women of caliber and strength.. it made doctors out of us laymen and gave us the direction in life we were to follow.

While roaming around the campus, I remembered all the places where we used to spend time together.. the old canteen where we used to invariably be the rowdiest table, the place near the CT scan building which used to be so quiet before they shifted the canteen there(!), the OPD steps where they have now developed a small garden..

The library and the L-shaped corridor in front of it where we just used to sprawl and pretend to study the whole day, fifth floor platform near the steps, the formalin-reeking anatomy dissection hall, the practical labs, the place near nurses quarters where we used to sit and chat for hours together and later during internship, the wards and labs which were our eternal haunts..

When we held our oaths on the convocation day, it was as if we held the world in our hands!! It was the day of accomplishment, a day of feeling proud, a day for making our parents proud.. Our entire life stretched in front of us and we could do with it as we pleased.. God! how naive we were..

As I saw the same gamut of emotions reflected in the eyes of our juniors, my heart was filled with some fond remembrances and some bittersweet memories.. like us, they were eager to leave the cozy, amniotic safety of Nair and dive into the shark-infested waters of the real world..

And as they take the plunge, I wish life is generous to them and gives them many more fond memories to cherish in the coming years, as it has so graciously given to all of us.. we may have not been brought up in the labyrinths of Nair but it is this place which made us who we are today and shaped our futures for us..

And even though i could never fathom the meaning or translation of this cryptic phrase, I have to end this post by saying out loud.. Yalakapad narakapad haiyo haiyo :)