ha
I
have attended many silver jubilee anniversaries, celebrated golden jubilee
marriage anniversary of my parents, and of course participated in many first
birthdays, and first anniversaries, but ruby anniversary? I had never attended
or even heard of a ruby anniversary of anyone’s birthday or marriage being
celebrated. And celebrating Ruby anniversary of a college batch? But that
exactly was we bargained for, to celebrate Ruby anniversary of our MAMC batch
1970-74, when during our monthly kitty lunch in December 2013 at the Kwality
restaurant, someone reminded that in 2014 we would complete 40 years of our
batch. You have to attend one of these lunches to realize what this lunch
stands for. For those 90-120 minutes once in a month, we forget who is
respected GP in one’s locality, or an accomplished and much sought after
consultant, or professor of a premier institution, or an office bearer of a
state or national association, or a judge in the consumer redressal forum. We
all are there naked (please, don’t take it literally), with no barriers or
inhibitions of language or mannerism, and telling and retelling all kinds of jokes,
throwing ridiculous ideas and suggestions up in the air, and shooting there
only. It is as if for those many minutes we go back in time every month.
However,
this time when someone threw up a suggestion of celebrating 40 years of our
batch in 2014, people listened seriously. Silver jubilee celebrations had gone
back into time, the memories of which were already getting blurred, and golden
jubilee was still 10 years away. Who knows what tricks time would play over
next 10 years with our health, memory, or even life? When an idea is within the
hearing range of Upendra Gami, you better be serious about it, because he will
not only make a blueprint for its execution, but would form a team, sell the
idea to others, motivate them to join, and would get down to the drawing board
for a perfect finale. That was what he did to this idea too. It is not that
there were no misgivings; Seekar said in his characteristic style, “naa tel naa
kadhai, banane chale mithai”; in fact, he wrote a cheque writing this phrase
and sent it to Gami.
But
the response, soon after the first email hit the sent button, was overwhelming,
more so from our NRI batchmates. So many of them evinced interest, and finally
made it too. If Upen et al were working here for the success of the reunion (it
was christened Ruby Reunion), Ajit Nagra took the reins for its US operations.
What
is to be appreciated, is the perseverance of the team against all odds:
batchmates not responding to emails on time, not giving final commitment about
attending, not being prompt in coughing up their share of contribution etc. But
the team continued to update all those who had expressed interest about the
selection of the resort, arrangements for commuting to the venue, detailed
programme of activities planned during the stay there.
Chitra
suggested the idea of having a dinner on the 18th December as a
prelude to the Reunion. That would prepare the batchmates for the emotional
reunion that was to unfold on 21-22 December. Batchmates responded in good
numbers braving Delhi’s cold and traffic jams, setting the ball roll for the
grand finale. As Upen later said, ‘well begun is half done’.
Descriptive
epidemiology: finally, 113 people checked into the Best Western Country Club on
the morning of 21st December 2014. 65 of these were batchmates from
1970-74 batch, 45 were the spouses of these batchmates, 3 were the daughters of
this batch. 47 of these 113 came from overseas, 13 from UK, 2 from Switzerland,
and the rest from US.
Meeting
many of these batchmates after 40 long years were emotionally charged moments. The
batchmates, who had never made any ETEC (eye to eye contact) during their stay
at the college, or would not touch the other with a pole, were now greeting
others with warm embraces and tight clasping of hands. Every moment was like a photo
opportunity, and people obliged one another with photographs multiple times. Ajit
Nagra smilingly and untiringly obliged everyone taking multiple shots till the
right emotion was captured.
Chitra,
Tripat, and Reenu (Mrs Ajit Nagra) had their own reunion; they are school
batchmates from Presentation Convent, Delhi.
Poonam
et al planned the cultural evenings quite imaginatively. There were some
discoveries too. Vimal Sodhi could very well stand up as a historian and bring
out old memories from the archive. Ashok Khurana would do very well as stage
comedian. Rakesh Sood is not far behind as an improptu comedian, and has a
great talent for photography. He would take pains while photographing even a
small group, arranging people and the background, adjusting his own posture,
and would explain later the composition and texture of the photograph. Ajit Nagra
is already perhaps a professional photographer (his photographic gear suggests
that); he not only talks about the shutter or aperture, but also of white
balance and the compensation, while composing a photo. He takes great pains for
a photo to come just right. I am thinking seriously of doing an internship with
them (Ajit and Rakesh, please offer a scholarship and free board; your student
won’t disappoint you).
We
had very interesting meeting with Sudha Jain Khandelwal and her husband Amar
Khandelwal. As you would probably know, Khandelwals are a small group of Vaish
(baniya) community (unlike Agrawals, which is a very large group), and it is
very unlikely to have two khandelwals who do not have some common relatives.
And when we were chatting with them, very interesting facts emerged about some
common relatives. To cut a long story short, Sudha Jain Khandelwal seemed to
develop some identity crisis after some revelations. She cannot decide whether
she is my batchmate, or Chitra’s aunt or grandaunt! I do not know how to help
her; I usually handle adolescents or young adults if they are going through
identity crisis, but have never handled a senior citizen with such a crisis. I
am firm believer in this world being very small; in fact wrote a small piece
‘It is a small small small world’ some years ago, and meeting with Sudha and
Amar bhai proved it once again.
My
special tributes to the spouses of our batchmates for being so generous in
taking out time for indulging their better halves. They participated in all
activities (singing, dancing, mixing and frolicking with others) with no
reservations, and were complimentary to their partners. Like one said, “Many
years ago I made a very wise decision in my marriage; now I live off of my
wife’s income”.
Batchmates were overwhelmed by the warmth and
bonhomie that came so spontaneously. They were effusive in complimenting the
team for its organizing this event.
Titiksha summed it up so well, “Each detail looked into, every one made to
feel special & precious, death dealt with delicacy & respect shows the
compassionate loving hearts & selfless efforts of all the core group
members of 74 batch who could make it possible because of the loving
support of their spouses & family. We feel very fortunate to
be a part of this spirited, unique group”.
This
reunion took place 15 years after the last, which was the silver jubilee
reunion. Someone has already suggested that next one should be earlier this
time, after 5 years. Let us hope, we meet up again after 5 years in greater
numbers.
Till
that time, enjoy fresh air, lot of laughters, plenty of exercises, and frequent
social interactions. That will keep the batteries charged.
Cheers
Sudhir
Khandelwal
24/12/2014
