…BUT FRIENDS ARE FRIENDS!
Though tapasvi and hemant were (and are) my best friends, sometimes I hesitated to put my ideas in front of them. I had fear of rejection. I never could withstand rejection of my ideas especially by near ones. After a few months of first MBBS, I had one spark of such an idea. I was not extrovert but was able to speak with my batch mates. To give reality to my idea, one day, without telling tapasvi and hemant, I went to the other boys’ hostel.
‘Whether would my batch mates welcome my idea? If they welcome my idea, how will I explain keeping aside tapasvi and hemant? What would I pursue to tapasvi and hemant if my idea falls out as a big fiasco? What if any highly intelligent friend directly rejects my idea? And what about girls? I did not have any `girlfriends. Who would convince them? Any way if my idea clicks then everyone in the class would remember for lifetime. So I should give myself a chance’. These were the thoughts storming my mind when I was on the way to the “nursing hostel” – the other boys’ hostel.
To put forward my idea, I met ketan dada, bimal, anish, pragnesh, vimal, chirag, charan, alpesh, dhabuwala, rasik, girish, sandeep, kapil, and other friends.
“Friends, ours is a big batch of 100. I was wondering since few days about whether we can get to gather in our lecture hall in the evening time. Every one from us can come to the stage and present something... May it be a song, a joke, a story, or we can have some discussion on some current topic. Some one can even deliver an academic lecture. We have a lot talented friends which already are able to storm the stage. But our purpose should be to give chance to those which never have performed on the stage. No one should be left out. This will not only help us boosting our confidence level in general but can also help us in presenting ourselves better in the exam vivas.” I told my friends in the nut shell.
“But what about microphone system and do we need to put some money to keep going?” some friends were skeptical.
“In my opinion, we do not need any money but we need ourselves and our will to keep going. We may ask dr nishith (our warden and Prof of physiology) to provide us the keys of the lecture hall after the college hrs” I suggested.
Surprisingly, nothing terrible happened. In fact it looked as if I stole everyone’s thought. My idea was welcome! Well, back at my hostel, I had to face the two terrible! As expected, since our campus was like a small village, tapasvi and hemant heard about my suggestion from the mess.
“Very unfair neh!” I was greeted with clear dislike on their face. “You say we are your best friends… you behave otherwise! We heard from some one that you are planning some kind of weekly meeting of the batch with the others… can’t you tell us first?”
“I should have... but I could not. I feared you both would reject my idea and would not let me present it to the other batch mates. So first I tried to get green signal from the others. I am sorry for my distorted perception about your support and reaction…” I tried to explain in best possible way. After much explanation and persuasion, I could possibly able to get them on my side.
Thus, soon, our meetings started – every Thursday. The deptt of physiology co operated fully. They gave us keys of the big lecture hall without any hesitation.
Our meetings lasted about an hour after the college hrs. There were many enthusiasts in our batch and initially there was no problem in getting the number of performers. We even repeatedly requested our ‘silent’ friends to come on the stage and present something in front of all.
I remember once beji bombarded a whole lecture on a topic of physiology! Probably that lecture was on physiology of pain, if I remember correctly. Girish had good collection of haiku. Anish used to be our announcer. Jasmine also used to do that job nicely. As our meetings became a regular event, it started getting popular. Even our seniors like GD and setu became our guests to encourage us. The remarkable thing about the show was neither did it consume a single penny from any one’s pocket nor we used any funds from the college. It was proved beyond doubt that our programme can go on without money.
Once upon a time, we could not get keys of the lecture hall. So we immediately decided to shift to the vast terrace of the PSMC. Bimal and jasmine were the announcers, if I remember correctly, and hemant presented some extra boring collection on news paper wedding ads!
Our meetings provided us a base to welcome our new junior batch ( Madhvi, vasundhara, sonia’s batch) in a unique way. I need to write a separate story for that interesting event. Also, election of our 1st CR was done in our meeting without any regulatory authority from the college.
Sometimes the meeting had very hot discussions. I remember a discussion on the topic of killing frogs for routine experiment in the deptt of physiology. Every one expressed their views against such killings, but pragnesh had to say something else and just after his speech, the meeting boiled like a volcano! Kapil and friends became very furious and wrote slogans on the walls of the deptt of physiology. (More at :)
The meetings provided a good base for all of us to interact. Once bimal said “Neh, if these meetings become regular campus activity, we will pass this tradition on to our junior batches. Our batch would be remembered as the pioneer of these meetings forever.”
But that dream was never to come true. As the time passed, stage became monotonous. Those which loved to perform performed always and the shy ones remained shy. Despite our forceful efforts to get them on the stage, they never turned up! Secondly, some students started their groups and so most of them became least interested in the class meetings. We lost the initial charm eventually.
But this was not the logical end of the meetings.
So a time came when tapasvi and hemant had something harsh to say.
“Neh, we meet every week but have you ever thought whether you people could do anything which you claimed to do at the beginning? We do not see any simple student on the stage!” hemant was truthful but his words were sharp enough to be painful.
“See, hemant, we tried our best to do that. You know this very well. We are successful to an extent. I agree it is not the way we wished. But if the silent students do not come on the stage, even after repeated requests, what can be done?” I had nothing more to say.
“Nothing! But you all failed! That is the truth…”
“Yes ... hemant is right. There are only a few students which come to stage and these meetings are only for them!” tapasvi also supported hemant. “We have decided to raise this issue in the very next meeting...”
Both of my best friends were against me. However, many others were on my side. Before the next meeting, everyone was informed about special presentation by hemant and tapasvi.
I do not remember much about the last meeting, but hemant stood up and started speaking and then there was chaos! That was the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment