Imprinted Fossils

21st July, 2008

.. My this years b'day party..

.. And the moment when The Gang gathered..

.. Once again..

.. But for one last time together..

.. Memories is all that remains of all that we have done in past 5 years..

.. It will be a fabrication if I say I will pen down all those memories in this post..

.. Because Google doesn't have sufficient space to occupy all that..

.. Consider this a tiny little Memoir..

.. A Memoir which by no means is reminiscent because what we share will always keep us fresh and driving all throughout our lives..

30th Septemeber, 2002

.. Orientation day

.. Our first day in a medical college, which considers itself one of the best medical college in Gujarat, which by the way is true(Consider how poor other colleges may be)..

.. The day when no one ever thought we will end up making a group like this - full of potentials, full of exuberance, overflowing with candor, abundance of special talents and most importantly unexpressed yet strong emotional attachments with one another..

.. I guess first time we gathered was at a party of RD and Donnis combined.. With almost 20-25 people there in..

.. That was just the origin of Gang and start of one memorable 5 and half years..

.. First and the only time I guess we used snow sprays in the party(Much to the irritation of hotel staff.. lolzz)

.. First year was all about knowing each others good and bad nature, all about break ups and make ups, only Donnis and Anuja got lucky to hook up with each other though..

.. Dissection tables were always fun.. Those delicate touches which were a feature on my table, you better ask Rushyal though he experienced it only from second year.. hahaha...

.. Talking about Rushyal - He shares some memorable!!! experience with one of our surgery sir too, I hope you remember, huh??(Hydrocele..!! Lolzz)

.. Bunking lectures was also quite a feature, especially with Anatomy department being as it is..

.. Though our attendance can never fall down.. Each one was an expert to pull off an attendance of atleast 7-8 people..

.. Biochem was probably the best department at that time.. We were lucky to study under HOD like Harry Potter(Haridas sir) for first six months after which he left for US.. Though Chaku and Shobha maam were gr8 too..

.. Who can forget our hyperthyroid sir in phyz.. Yeah, Rao sir.. Whether his over-excitement to teach was because of his passion or just a symptom of disease, we will never know.. No offenses though because there is no match for him and his enthusiasm really..

Second Year

.. Come second year and the so called Gang disintegrated into few sub gangs(for the better)..

.. I dont even remember when exactly this core group of 9 pple was formed..

.. Have you ever heard, when talents come together, they always tend to identify each other much easily.. May be that was the case.. Second year cul-fes was fun.. From organizing to winning as usual..

.. Champions came to know each other even more.. 

.. No need to boost about individual performances, cause there is no single field which we din't conquer..

.. May it be in sports - Chess, TT, Carrom, Badminton, Pool and ofcourse Anuja's Rangoli every year..

.. Or May it be  others like SUDOKU, Quiz, Treasure hunt, Singing - both solo and band etc..

(Sorry if i miss many things, we have achieved so much that its difficult to remember even)

Mahabaleshwar

.. There came a trip at Mahabaleshwar, which I was unfortunate to miss(Or fortunate as Me and Sam discussed, cause there is one memory less to look back to which reminds us that we can be no longer together enjoying the same way as we did.. Valay is even more lucky that way as he missed AULI trip which was the most memorable of all without any doubts)..

Journey Continues..

.. Days and years went by..

.. Dont even know when we actually developed some habits common to each other..

.. Rush started sayin "What is" for quite some time which was infectious to whole class..

.. Anuja developed this habit of hers to start punching my deltoid..

.. We have a very common trait between us.. When we started a discussion on something, it was never ended and infact was always diverted to something rubbish.. Exactly from the habit by which all in the group became Hathoda Masters..

.. One more thing about us all, We never gave up for what we thought we were right..

.. And pretended not to give in even in those things jeni ame jid pakdi hoy..

Nick-names

Some funny nick-names we gave to pple in the group as the years passed by -->

.. Rushyal - Rush, Pamto, Scroti (sorry for writing this one here, couldn't stop from writing it.. Guys, I hope u remember why we called him this, lol) and Most important of all, Creep..

.. Nikunj - Nicks, Natu, Nuts, Niku, GM (My list of nick-names is by no means exhaustive)

.. Vaishal - Bali, that just about justifies him.. Remind urself that Kaante's dialogue.. Plus Bali starts from B (I dont need to emphasize more on B with so many associations to it, Right??)

.. Dhwanil - Donnis, Don, Adonis (Only he was the one who called himself Adonis though, a narcissist, lolzzz)

.. Anuja - Puncher, At times some of us called her schizophrenic (Sorry to expose u, lol, I know i will get punches of my lifetime for this, but I am missing your punches already)

.. Simit - Sam, Simcity was given by Patwari i guess hehe..

.. Rohan - RD

.. Urmil - Bond

.. Valay - Vali, Valley, Rich Man

.. Shachee - Rich Woman(Aapdi party udhar che yaad che ne??)

.. Shehzad - Rusti

.. Pooja - Dida, Diii

Navratri

.. Personally being a garba freak, I have always been waiting for those 9 days..

.. And I always had fun with Diii, Sam, Ravi and Nidhi around.. Not to mention, joined by Bali, Rush(When he came, it was definitely fun unlimited...!!!) and Rd at times..

Final year

.. They say its the most stressful of all.. No-one knew what lied ahead of us..

.. Thats when we were together most of the time, as we developed a habit to read in college, right till the closing ceremony of reading hall at midnight..

.. I can still remember Me and RD gathering on the day before university exam, making a list of 10 of our personal hunches for the paper.. And no one can deny how good our hunches were, I remember atleast 3-4 questions every paper out of our hunches..

Uttarayan

.. With so many being kite flying crazies, Uttarayan was real fun every year..

.. Only RD, the B'day Boy, Potani B'day par kalank che not to like Uttarayan..

.. 15th Jan, 2007..

.. Surgery Paper 2..

.. In our bags there were no books..

.. Instead, it was full of firkis..

.. Imagine giving university exams, with kites and firkis in our bags that are placed outside exam room..

.. And that 15 min ride breaking all signals to Bali's place after exam to utilize every bit of light was too thrilling for having a fun of one hour Uttarayan..

Internship

.. Final year ended and Internship started..

.. Though I can't figure out how it ended, just seems to be yesterday that it was the first day..

.. Earliest of shock just before our internship started was Valay disclosing his committed status in front of all, which they claimed was not more than few days(I am still spying to get the real duration though & I have succeeded in finding some clues timing back to second year..!!!!)

Uttaranchal

.. Then came the best 10 days of our lives..

.. Yes, Undoubtedly.. 

.. The Uttaranchal Trip..

.. I don't think I can ever pen down all that happened in Uttaranchal  here..

.. But few of those memories are definitely worth mentioning..

..Train Collision..

.. Our journey started in a train, which took 12 hours more to make us reach Haridwar..

.. A truck collided with the train just outside our bogey(They say the truck driver died on the spot), but the point of interest is not that, what is amazing is all of us were asleep and nobody even knew till the morning that such an accident ever happened, even though train was stationary for more than an hour.. 

.. Masters of Sleep..

..200 meter Sprint..

.. Me, Rd and Simit(I guess, or may be Donnis) got out at Delhi station.. 

.. That for us was a coffee break, turned out to be a 200 meters sprint.. 

.. Cause our train started leaving and we three had to run behind it to actually not miss it.. 

.. If we missed that, we had all our luggage in train.. But that sprint was fun, Isn't it?? Lol..

..Food Attack..

.. We reached Haridwar very late, but amne to Srinagar pohochvani utaaval hati..

.. We reached Srinagar at around 10-30 that night.. Not to mention by a Qualis journey..

.. Man, Those rooms of GMVNL hotels were amazing for the minuscule rent we paid..

.. Nobody can forget the dinner that night..

.. Between 8 of us, this was the total order..

.. Around 15 plates of Paneer Sabji(Could have been more but unfortunately hotel wala e aai ne kahyu ke have khali thai gayu lol)

.. Imagine the no. of Rotis needed for that much of Sabji..

.. So many papads before that..

.. Dal fry and rice, atleast 5 to 6 plates, after eating that sabji..

.. And When everything in that hotel was over, Sweets took over, courtesy Rush, who actually insisted we should taste it.. Finally it never ended as to just taste it..!!!!

..Crazy Ride..

.. How can I forget mentioning the ride from Srinagar to Joshimath..

.. And that we actually gave an additional tip of 50 Rs. to driver just to drop us safely to Joshimath..

.. And that Bus passing just aside the landslide was real heart stopping moment too..

..Blizzard..

.. Jumping to Auli..

.. Given greetings by a blizzard, Auli welcomed us..

.. We were never given this hard a beating as much as that sucking snow did, to reach our room via chairlift.. All faces were red far before we reached our room..

.. Skiing was real fun..

.. Don't even have words to express those days in Auli..

..A day to fight..

.. That too over a matter that could have been avoided..

.. I was all over others and others were all over me, not understanding it was not my fault..

.. But after I threw away my keys and shades on the dining table plates and went back to my room, What happened there is what I can never forget..

.. Sam came on to the room, allowed me to cry, gave a big hug for as long as eternity and finally calmed me down.. Sam, Thanks for understanding my anger and calming me down the way you did..

..Joshimath - Prisoner's den..

.. I bet, No one will ever forget that..

.. Holi added on by North India, A perfect ingredient for the locals, One traveller seen and he is sure to be looted by locals.. Call it their tradition or insanity, but thats true..

.. We were stuck up in a hotel, not able to leave for Kaudiyala, where our next destination - Water Rafting - was..

.. Even Worse -> Hotel was locked from outside.. We were held like a prisoners in that hotel.. Imagine hotel manager risking entire hotel in hands of strangers, so that he can save himself if local people attack us to loot..

..Motion Sickness..

.. That day in hotel, we finished up 500 gms butter with bread in addition to many biscuit packets and loads of other snacks which we had..

.. On our way to Kaudiyala, I remember very few who were not suffering from Motion Sickness, mainly because of the butter we finished up..

.. Every 10 min our Car had to stop because someone was ready to puke out all the stuff..

.. One hell of a ride to Kaudiyala..!!

..Kaudiyala..

.. If our experience at Auli was mesmerizing, Water Rafting at Kaudiyala was a tough fight for that place..

.. All I can say about Kaudiyala is this.. And all will agree this will say it all..

"Row Baby, Row Baby, Row Baby, Rooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwww Babyyyyyyyyyyyyy"

..Delhi..

.. Trip is not over by any means yet..

.. Delhi can never be missed.. Akshardham to Dancing Fountains to Delhi Metros.. 

.. Everything was simply amazing..

..Crazy Shopping..

.. But Delhi trip is not over if we don't go shopping..

.. We spent on shopping, the amount which was more than total cost of rest of the trip..

.. Forget our narrow escape at Delhi in terms of train earlier.. We narrowly missed our plane to Ahmedabad.. We went shopping at 12 noon.. Plane was of 2-30.. And we left for airport at 1-30.. Not to mention, All busy shopping meanwhile.. Only Bakra was Bali, Ek jagya e ubha ubha amaaro luggage saanchavato hato lolzz...

.. Uttaranchal is carved within us as much as we are in each others heart..

Internship

.. We learn..

.. We read..

.. We give exams..

.. We see patients..

.. We prescribe..

.. Badha ne potani aukaat khabar padi gai ti when it comes to actually practicing in front of patients..

.. But that one year was full of learning and full of maturing, not only as a person but as a doctor too..

..Academic achievements need not to be boosted, i guess.. They stand for themselves..

Rush's B'day Party

.. Time for Rush's Bday party and Salad eatery was fun..

.. Food and us, leave the rest for hotel manager to describe..

Marriage time

.. Donnis-Anuja's marriage is also worth mentioning..

.. Though there were very few of us left to actually attend that ceremony..

.. Anuja, We actually wonder if it was u who was besides Dhwanil in the ceremony?? Lol. 

.. U looked so so different in Saari.. And I can bet ke that is the only time in your life when u ever wore a Saari and it will remain so for the rest of your life..

5 and a half years

.. And finally it had to end..

.. We had to be apart..

.. All flying to different locations in US..

.. I bet those departures at airport were not fun :(

.. But one thing for us all..

.. These 5 and a half years that we shared, time that we had together, can never be erased..

.. It only lies deep within us all..

.. Never to be faded..

.. A colossal circuit of memory..

.. A circuit which is imprinted in our brains..

.. Years may pass by..

.. But they will remain forever within us..

.. Because they are nothing less than IMPRINTED FOSSILS..

But then, Fossils are dead, our memories are not and they never will..!!!!!