"Coat of motley colours"--- a celebration of friendship !
“ Coat of Motley
Colours “ or COMC is not a mere phrase
or an abbreviation.
It is a batch of people who pursued five years
of medical education together in Gauhati Medical College way back in 1989 to
1994. it is a name coined thoughtfully and passionately by their comrade
Nirupam Goswami who shockingly met with
an accident soon after they came up with their first journal in 1995.
How very aptly
was the name coined for the batch with a difference!
The white coat
that they chose to wear by enrolling into the medical fraternity, this
particular batch saw motley colours within themselves and thus their
polychromatic congregation has indeed stood out from the rest in their
perspective. The innocent, anxious yet confused minds of that batch destined to
percolate each other’s life way back in 1989 are now dignified statures of the
society catering their skilled dexterity to combat various illnesses of the
people at large. But no matter how much greatness they have achieved in social
standards, their hearts have preserved the same euphoria of love for their
friends even after two and a half decades of time.
What is the reason of my intense
exfoliation of emotions towards them?
The friendship
that they share has appealed me to sketch a picture of it with my words.
Although I am not a part of them but has a string attached which gave me an
opportunity to witness their dazzling friendship attaining neon brightness. I
happen to be the spouse of Rituraj, a shade of this polychromatic congregation,
hence my participation.
As they celebrated
the completion of their silver years in IORA,Kaziranga ,with much fervor and
nostalgic pomp, I closely availed the chance to experience their illuminated
silver spirits.
As an
Aquarian, I have always been fascinated by Friendship, simple and true.
Therefore, this magnanimous celebration of their friendship enthralled me in a
very special way.
“Pack up quickly ... we will have to
leave for Kaziranga tomorrow morning at the earliest,” Ritu announced after he
came back from his evening rounds in the hospital. “ But we were supposed to go
on 26th ? “ my query almost annoyed him as he was calculating how to
reach the venue on the D-day as some organization declared a bandh due to the
inhuman killings by the terrorists group. This surprise schedule put me on my
toes to pack up our things as soon as possible. We decided to travel to a close
proximity of IORA and thus booked a hotel room in Bokakhat.
We reached
Bokakhat in the evening and put up in a hotel just 20 minutes away from IORA. I
have never seen such enthusiasm in Ritu in the last 20 years of our courtship.
The following day bandh was supported and observed by one and all as the
incident of killing innocent children and women by the terrorists were
vehemently condemned. After 5 pm , when the so called bandh ended , we set out
for the venue.
The reception of
IORA was full of familiar faces busy checking in into their respective rooms
and the organizers giving away a bag full of mementoes to each and every member
of the batch with warm hugs and joyous laughter that echoed in the kaziranga
wilderness. History was on the making, the once slender figures attained pounds
of extra mass and emerged a lot different in
their appearances but their hearts were still sparkling with the same
essence of friendship for which they have traversed thousands of miles to get
together on that day. Isn’t it a fascinating aspect of friendship?
While we
approached the reception , Ritu seemed overwhelmed to meet his friends while me
and my two daughters watched them from a distance. Most of the faces were
familiar to me as I know them for as long as 20 years and hence I greeted them
with my warmest smile. Ritu hurriedly deposited a bag to us and went back to
enquire about our room to check in. Me and my elder daughter decided to explore
the bag and was utterly surprised to
have found a novel addressed to my elder
daughter’s name . I could read her happiness in her smile and found that the
bag has been packed with gifts for each and every one of us with a personal
touch. I guess , more than the gifts , the message of including the extended
family of the members to the COMC circle that came across gave a more pleasing and
satisfying effect.
We checked into
our respective room and got ready to attend the inaugural ceremony of the 25th
silver jubilee of ‘COMC’ and cultural evening meant for the children of the
batchmates .
The evening
started with two-minutes mourning silence for the eternal peace of the souls of
the innocent killings that happened a
few days back in the state. After the traditional lighting up of the lamps by
the children accompanied by their mothers , the evening gained its dazzling
momentum with the soft syllables of Judy Ba anchoring the show. One by one, the
kids performed leaving the audience awestruck. Each and every kid was special
in their own way.They performed with utmost confidence, leaving
their respective parents biting their nails with nervousness as to what they
would do up on the stage. My daughters, Rimmy on the guitar and Pipi,my younger
one, on the keyboard played a hindi number together which honestly made me bite
my nails.I could recover from my nervousness only after their performance .
Under the
able co-ordination of Rashna ba and
Rupnayan da , the heart-touching homage
presentation paid to the two bereaved
souls , Nirupam Goswami and Angela Marbaniang , made me shed a few drops of
tears although I didn’t know anyone of them personally . Friendship
immortalizes the selfless love it carries along with it even when WE cease to exist.
Apart from the few
couples who were from the same batch, most of the members were with their
spouses from a non-medical background or
medicos of a different batch. While interacting with Ijaj da’s wife , I found
out that she knew the stories she has been told by her husband about his
GMC days and was having fun relating the
faces to the characters she has once imagined. I could feel her involvement in
COMC through her husband that day. Perhaps, that is another way how
friendship flourishes between a husband and a wife too.
The Delhi group of batchmates including Ritwick da, Nilanjan da, Nandini ba,
Biswajyoti da , Diganta da, Manashi ba
presented a drama depicting a glimpse of the hostelers of Hostel No.2 of the wonder years with hilarious fervency
enthralling the audience with amusement and resultant laughter echoing in the
auditorium.
The most important
proposition forwarded by Dipti Ba that
evening made me accept the fact that this particular batch
really stand out from the rest .The proposition , forwarded and approved by Rupnayan Goswami and was accepted
unanimously was to register the COMC into a non-profit
organization to cater their selfless services to the society at large.
What a noble
thought to immortalize a legacy of friendship with such ardor!
The heart-warming
aspect of the celebration is the bond of friendship they have cherished for as
long as 25 years and still going strong year after year with every silver hair
.They have taught me the true sense of friendship and the legacy it carries
along with it. They parted to meet again and again in life.
The commendable
efforts of Chandra Shekhar Bhattacharyya, Rupnayan Goswami, Soumarjyoti
Hazarika, Diganta Deka, Durlobh Doley, Rupjyoti Goswami , Sonali Barman, Neelam
Khound, Geetanjali Sahariah Khound and Minakshi Sarma made it a flawlessly
successful event.
“I am inspired
by your efforts and I know my words are not enough to justify your credibility
that you have put into the successful execution of this event. My apologies if I have misquoted anything.
May your friendship grow forever and ever more.“
