True stories - batch
Another course gets over. Another set of batch mates are parting. It hurts. Even after all this while. You've grown up, become a man, got engaged, have a direction, tried to become mature and understand everything. And still it hurts. My sister says it is not related to growing up and it's related to being sensitive at heart. I dunno. All I know is that I had a very very good time of my life here. We the batch of 14, exceeded all expectations in our work, academics, classes, extra curricular activities and especially in the bonding that developed between us. We could laugh, enjoy, curse, fight, abuse, troll, party, criticise and still at the end of the day remain together with the best of impressions about each other.
I will miss Naren, the guy I think understood me and my passions the most, I will miss trolling him as a group but secretely admiring his superbly cool nature. I will miss Rajan, the serious guy, who unexpectedly hits you with his sense of humour. I will miss having lots of fun with him. I will miss trolling Kabilan, studying with him, bambooing him despite our obvious size difference while still astonished by his principles and his hard work. I will miss Chikku, the thick lipped beauty, will miss seeing him going to the lib from his room at 2am. I will miss his accent and PGI will miss such a committed soul whose work came before anything else in his life. I will miss Raneesh, the unsung hero of the batch, who balanced his family, child, siblings and a lot of difficulties throughout the course and still managed everything perfectly, without ever complaining or staggering even once, being loved and appreciated by everybody. I will miss seeing the duck like gait of Sushant, I will miss fighting with him over silly things but still end up making him do things that he doesn't want to, because he cares for us as a batch much more than I ever imagined him to. I will miss Dada, miss hearing his 500-men-came-to-kill-me-one-day-stories, miss being appalled by the way he studies, miss admiring him for the work he put in to pull through balancing his family parents and his age with the demands of PGI. I will miss Nitish, miss losing in the badminton court to him, miss his superb organisational and leadership skills, miss his work hard but play harder funda, which played an important part in keeping us all together.
Although I might see them more often I will miss Jasse, will miss bitching and complaining about him, but will also miss admiring him at the end of the day for his absolute brilliance, composure and for the role he plays for his family. I will miss pulling, the laziest person ever, Sumitas leg and irritating her, but I will also miss being there for her when she needs someone to sort out her problems because I was always in awe of her. I will miss Nikhil and his nod-and-smile routine, miss studying with
him (irritating Kabilan along the way), while still admiring him for his strength to go on, unperturbed. I will miss the filmstar, Laxman, his speed and efficiency, and his absolutely amazing approach to work, study and play. I will finally definitely miss Arjun, miss cribbing about him but I will also miss his amazing doubts, his outstanding brilliance and his out of the world approach to crisis situations.
When I told about how I feel to my best friends, HE and SHE, both of them told me that we were moving ahead in our lives to bigger and brighter futures and not going to DIE!!! The world in indeed a small place with the invention of cell phones, whatsapp and fb that we will not miss each other as much as we think we will. But I told them I had to write this. For letting them know how much they meant to me. For thanking them for being there for me and giving me a chance for being there for them. For letting them know that memories will always stay intact. And for letting them know I will always be there for them, one ping away. And I'm sure they'll be there for me too, just a click away. Because there is one thing that the 14 of us from 8 states and 2 countries shared. It is pure unudultered love.
Signing off with lots of love
Prof. Ram
