This is a letter to the MBBS Batch of 2013 from my University.
Dear Batch 2013,
Hey Guys! Remember me? I am Jasmine, Roll no. 54.
I guess it has been long enough, so I can understand if you don’t remember me at all. But that’s okay, ‘cause this letter is meant for you anyway. Most of you might not know this about me but I have some weird fantasies that keep me going. Over time these imaginary scenarios have become my life goals. I don’t think it’s healthy to live like this, but it is what it is. And I am writing this letter because I fulfilled one of them, the biggest one.
From my early childhood all I actually wanted to do was go to college. Blame it on the television shows or movies that I used to watch back in the day, but I would get really excited just by the thought of it. Life, friends, college festivals, the night outs, sneaking in etc . I wanted to do it all, especially Convocation. I always had a vision of myself sitting with my kids and showing them my graduation pictures, dressed in a pink saree and black robe and hat and saying “college was the best time of my life.” I have low-key always believed that these pictures are proof that you went to college and graduated. And without them, my kids would never believe that I am a doctor.
Looking back I don’t think I appreciated how grateful I was to be in a Medical College, surrounded by keen learners and kind friends. There was a desperate need to be liked and appreciated by my peers and my teachers. The pressure to do well in exams and to get through the semester by not getting a lot of attention on you. Having made such a huge decision to pursue a field that takes more from you than give, you learn to make sacrifices quite early on. I am sure we all have sailed in the same boat. Consuming glass after glass of frappe in the Nescafé park, sitting for hours in the library, obsessing over our biometric attendance, looking for paneer in the sabzi, we have a shared ordeal.
But it’s the moments I have spent in the dissection hall cramming for the weekly tests, or managing to sit under a fan in the Forensic lab and not being able to hear Dr. Harpreet from far away, still prepared to answer what Rigor Mortis is, a skill I am proud to have learned and it brings a smile to my face. We have seen so much together, from planning a mass bunk in first year to having a full batch attendance in Dr. Gaurav’s surgery lectures, we grew up. We all have always had each other’s backs. Maybe back then I would have not appreciated it, but now I do.
The seniors and juniors who have become peers now and professors who became mentors and guides, time has bonded us all together better than ever. Ours is a batch that has worked through, studies through, been through most in the time of COVID. It breaks my heart to hear stories of my batchmates falling severely sick, losing family members, being exhausted with work, depressed with postponement of exams and other future plans. It has been difficult to say the least and we have collectively come through it (well, almost). What I feel internally for all the graduates and future graduates in medicine, is Pride. I am privileged to have the honour to hear your stories and call myself a part of this community.
When I finished my training and was packing my bags, I was so thankful for being able to leave the college grounds because terrible memories had fogged my mind and I was unable to see things wholly. But now, I never think about the friendships that didn’t last or the boy who ghosted me, I get nostalgic about the happy memories. The acquaintances who became friends and the connections that deepened. My college holds a different meaning to me now and it’s all because of people like you. You came through for me in the darkest of times and proved to me that Andy Bernard from The Office has always been right when he said, “I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you actually left them.”
From sitting in the most uncomfortable benches that hurt my bottoms very much to standing in a queue outside the Principal’s Office asking for my attendance, to finally getting my Degree. It has been an eventful journey with lots of lessons learnt and just one regret. I don’t have a picture with all 180 of you (including the Gold Field batch). I packed and left before we could have had our Farewell and the cherry on top is that our batch never got our Convocation. This Pandemic has taken a lot from us and the one chance we could have gotten to reunite and rewrite some stories was lost as well.
I recently got my degree and I am super excited to share that my fantasy and life goal to have a picture clicked in a graduation gown did come true. I had to knock on a few doors but I made it guys!
One thing I have learned from my college is how significant freedom is. And there is nothing better than to live life like a free spirit. So, when life throws you lemons, make something resembling a lemonade and dress up in a pink saree and rent out a graduation gown! Fulfill all your fantasies and decorate your life with those pictures.
I wish things were different, I wish I could be with all of you and together celebrate the nerve wrecking feeling of being an MBBS graduate. I believe that in spirit we all are together, cheering for each other and having each other’s backs. That’s what our community stands for. It’s hard for me to believe that the girls I used to dance with at our hostel dance parties are now married and have kids and the boys who used to ask me to mark their proxies are now working super hard and doing great service. We all joined together and left together and then life happened. Taking us all to our different paths, which I am sure are full of joy and challenges. Just always remember that no matter what society expects you to do, you are all worthy of experiencing life on your terms and I do believe that our paths are going to cross in the future and I will be nothing but proud of all of you.
Wishing you the best for your futures. I know you will shine no matter what trajectory you choose. Let nothing stop you.
Love, Roll no. 54