place of slums and plums.

My destinaton AIIMS,the oldest med school

in india,is a shiny plum building in the mid of all slum.My pain in
unexplainable places increased I entered the campus.My toil was
tiny,freshen up the older sour gone aquaintances.Life’s short,burying
hatchets,that was all.But after a thorough security check of a nepali kid
studying in ‘pakistan’,the indian hawaldars still couldn’t keep their
mouths shut. A train was waiting for me due in 4 hours to
amritsar.Getting in was urgent, now emergent.I tried the undertable
way except for my undertable wasn’t heavy enough.Then I tried the
kemcolian way;brag,order,beg you are from KE and get away with
it.works wonders in pakistan,but fickle hopes in india.

We are kemcolians.We have an ego,a rather huge one.my kemcolian

ego was done&dusted and crashed&trashed within a very itsy-bitsy
time.I found its pretty easy getting hurt too.The rage was building .I
have had a freakishly hard time the last 4 yrs in KE and I am out being
harrased for nothing and being a kemcolian is making it worse.And the
news that I got a supply just the very morning didn’t quite make it
swell.We are kemcolians.

‘Ghadi ward ki gadhi chal raha hein?”An old husky voice subtle as a
voice could get approached me.I am not turning back,I am certainly
labouring not to get excited.Its not a shock that it was the last thing on
my mind that I thought I would hear.Finally a relief though,a ray of
light.Unfortunatekly my ray of light had been through light years of
sunshine.”Ghadi chalta hein lekin hum mobile ke ghadi dekhlete
hein.”That’s the best I could come up with.My left brain slapped my
right brain right that instant.From the hindi/bengali aachar accent he
shifts to the more coloquial victorian pickle english.”I was there in
1944.I was 20,excited,enthused and mystified about going to KE.It was
lahore,the city of lights,cultured than delhi.I remember the enormous
DH and the ghadi ward.other things are just a blur.I was in love with
college,so green,so clean,and the mall and anarkali were near.They
were the hot places.Study was difficult.We were 30 people in the
class,20 hindus,5 muslims and 5 I don’t remember.But we ddidnt
care.we were proud to be kemcolians.It was hard getting in,even
harder satying in and much harder leaving it.Then gandhiji started
fasting and my lahori feast was over.”

I held my breath.He is attached with something he cant experience no

more.He is wanting me to share my similar connaitre.I wish so badly,to
have been in a better mood.I wanted to say good things happenin in
his old college,but I couldn’t,my throat fixed, my heart astray.And I am
ashamed of it.(Say something…..say anything.) “it’s a uni now,lots of
students,new buildings,and no trees.”It was a lowly experience from
the start.Russians say you cant cheat experienced eyes.My recent
aquaintance obviously apprehended my hostility.”I know it’s
a uni now.My son is a doctor here.He likes the internet.But you seem
not to like KE.”I made up lies.I tried to cover it up.But his wisdom was
no match for my silly lies.Then probably came the biggest words I ve
ever heard.

“Whilst other colleges have turned to technology,KE still believs the

finishing touches should be handmade.They rough and tough you
up.some might consider this crazy;But after being trained in medicine
and much more importantly being intricately trained for life,you will
undersatnd whats it about.its hard to prove genius in a single day,but
give yourself time and the possibilities are endless.My biggest regret is
that I didn’t get my last year to graduate.”

He had to leave.That was it.The goodbye wasn’t important here.I had

got in.(The constable saluted me this time.A little ego boost.But that
was also not important anymore.)he loved KE more than me.The
realization was a sorry story.I didn’t start loving my college more that
insatnt.but I certainly respected it way more,and the possibilities are
endless.

I have had hit rock bottom,at least I think I had.The whole saga of ‘The
KE System’ hasn’t left me untouched.Religious and cultural bias is a
never ending perpetual issue .I have been trying to fit in since the
1st day and I don’t see a slim chance of its occurrence.I have blamed
KE for my ups and downs.Mostly downs.I have failed my friends,friends
have failed me.i have failed by one mark,passed by grace marks.I have
failed in petty society politics,I have failed my own IQ and EQ.My 4
years in KE,in normal eyes,is a 50% passing rate with nothing
subsatntial to show in research,academics or extracurrucularly.Then
it hit me.It was my now so famous Dr.House moment :’Normal Eyes’.

150 years is a huge time.Both for dinosaurs and humans and all
others.Evolution has made the weak perish.KE is the institutuion which
produces the unperishables.Others only existed,for we have lived.Like I
said normal eyes;we kemcolians don’t have normal eyes ,we have
gifted eyes.We shldnt be caring what normal eyes express.We look at
the world differently.We know it’s a hard place but still we believe we
will serve good.We will be great.Normal eyes don’t know what KE is
about; Some 80 yr old Indian did,and may be a 22 yr old nepali is on
the process.The legend is still going on strong.Its ways might be
tough.But when the going gets tough,the tough gets going.Tough
times never lasted,only tough people did.We are kemcolians.We are
tough.
KE has taught me that when the time comes that I so fear,the strenth
and the wisdom to meet it will be given to me.Our institution is leading
us to drink the cup of life down to its very dregs whereas others would
only sip the bubbles on top of it.

Happy 150 years KE.We will protect you.