Home that once was

Every time I go home; trips short or long, I experience the same jitters, the anxiety to see family & friends. The first smell I remember as soon as I land in Bombay is of the phenyl cleaned floors! So typical of home I tell myself.
However, after I spend 2 weeks or so with my family, I start getting a little bored with everyone busy in their life, not any more friends around, nothing to do at all! The same Nagpur where I spent 21 years of my life, where I was born & raised as a kid, Nagpur that contributes toward my Marathi dialect; so many facets of my personality & the place where I made the very first friends of my life! The same Somalwar (Ramdaspeth mind you!) which once was more fun than any Disneyland in the world, VRCE (yeah rite now VNIT, but always VRCE for me) where I learnt from anything to everything. The metallurgy dept. stairs where we all sat for 3 years & passed comment on almost every moving creature.
Now whenever I go home, all these things are present, but its no more fun being in somalwar without my partner in crime Marshneil, no fun in VRCE without my rocking project partners & batchmates. The meta stairs are not fun anymore, without expert comments from Chandreyi. The canteen looked deserted without Abhay/Vinayak/Sumeet & me not discussing any philosophy on life anymore. However, all of us have been aptly replaced by some younger dudes & chicks & I saw them having the same fun.
No doubt I always get nostalgic whenever I visit these places, but I think trying to hold on to time is like trying to grab fistful of sand in your hands, the tighter you try to hold it, the sooner it’ll slip off between the gaps! It’s better to let that sand slip off & build new memories on the strong pillar of the old ones.
They say; Home is where the heart is, my heart is still at Home!

I did learn a few things.....

Arati once forwarded me some interesting one liners, I got inspired & came up with my version.

I have learned that,
It’s never too late to say sorry to a friend.

I have learned that,
Jobs & careers may come & go, but friends & family stay forever.

I have learned that,
It’s an excuse when we say we lost our naivety in the hustle of the world.

I have learned that,
You can’t be a size 2 for the rest of your life!

I have learned that,
You will always get a driving ticket when you are having a difficult time balancing your checking account.

I have learned that,
Never be the first one to arrive for a party & the last one to leave.

I have learned that,
Things never get so bad that they can’t get worse!

I have learned that,
I always learn it the harder way.

I have learned that,
Never trust realtors, lawyers, doctors, car dealers & the government.

I have learned that,
No matter how good a gambler you are, the House always wins!

I have learned that,
I always perform better under stress.

I have learned that,
Money doesn’t buy happiness, but it’s more comfortable to be sad when the bills are taken care of!

I have learned that,
Life is always unfair, all one needs to be is a fair interpreter.

I have learned that,
People think I am alright when I sound obtuse!

Robert Lee a.k.a. Munnabhai MBBS!

I came across a very moving tale in RD, about Robert Lee, an aspiring Olympics gymnast, turned into a Physio doctor by a sudden stroke of fate. While Lee was training for gymnastics of Olympics 1984, he hit the ground & his ribs were paralyzed. He got stuck to a wheel chair as a teenager, that year he watched the Olympics with his parents on his wheelchair! A fighter that he was, he won scholarships & went all the way to Med school & became a doctor. After completing his residency, he is working at John Hopkins as a resident doctor. He says when he was undergoing treatments, doctors always fumbled among themselves & never bothered to inform him or his family about what exactly was going on. That was the time he decided he wanted to be a doctor who would relate to his patients. People claim, he has enabled many dormant nerves to function, just because he could connect to his patients emotionally or was more attentive to his patients’ needs. Lee can connect to his patients may be because of the ordeal he has went through in his personal life. Isn’t it nice to actually have a doctor who is treating his patients physiologically as well psychologically! Isn’t this what our very own Munnabhai MBBS wanted too?
You are damn lucky if you haven’t come across a doctor who never wanted to connect with you on any emotional level. Now I know they are busy, but how can a patient open up his trauma if he is still intimidated by his doctor’s status & attitude? I have had dermatologists who even went to the extent of telling me that my Eczema is chronic & I am not going to die with it! Dude even I know I am not going to die of it, but please I don’t need to hear about death when I am already down with the pain killers you prescribed & my skin problems. I understand, it’s all plain simple science for docs & every patient is treated as a “case study”. But do they realize, what can happen if this case#1 could not communicate with the doctor? How I wish they made medicos take psychology classes in med school as well. Now the churlish will argue how everybody should take psychology classes as a part of college curriculum & I don’t believe it will hurt in any way. However, how much damage can I cause to my customer (some weirdo Honda or Subaru engineer) versus a doctor. With a death, that family is devastated, if any doctor can change the fate of any family by being more attentive/sensitive when he is with his patient (BTW he is going to be there anyway), I personally believe the patient will recover sooner!
P.S: If any doc happens to read this blog, plz ignore technical mistakes as long as u get the crux!