A VISIT TO ALMA MATER

‘There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”

 

 I am not sure in what context Mr. Nelson Mandela said the afore mentioned.... but this perhaps, was the predominant emotion that drove many of us (1965-70 ) to the reunion at BIT Mesra Golden Jublee Year on 26th Dec.2014. It was also a pleasant surprise to find that another group ( 1985-89) also had made a similar decision.

 

The fact that many of us were accompanied by our wives was never going to be an issue because for most of us it was the first time we were meeting our batch mates after about 44 years. We in any case were going to start from scratch  to re- establish the bonding we had and so could the spouses. As per reports from them later, it was a very pleasant experience for them to be part of this reunion.

 

I now believe in the theory that nothing in the memory is lost ,it just gets filed in the respective files in the brain  & is ready to be retrieved if you send the right signals. With each hug and bits of conversation everything came tumbling down. 

 

We had difficulty in recalling & remembering the names which was  attributed to our graying and balding pates. This got obviated by a name tag which we got next day to be hung around your necks.

 

Somebody ,on the day we were once again departing ,said that how astonishing it seems that this meeting has made all of us feel all what happened 44 -49 years back was so fresh in our minds. It was all wanting a trigger like this reunion.
 

While it was a great happy reunion ,it did have poignant moments. We were supposed to very briefly describe ourselves to rest of us as to what we did in all these years. We had to, in this process, to confront  the tragedies, many of our friends shared with us .It was heart wrenching .That we are mortals came as a thud when we remembered those who had left us.
 

This reunion will remain as one of the most pleasant experiences till we depart from this world. Everyone perhaps shares with me the sentiment to have such  reunions  again for a reunion. Wonder if we can meet in Kolkata in 2015 as was proposed during one of the sessions