I am reminded of few more friendship tales. Harbaksh Singh too was a good friend. It so happened, when we were filling university forms for SPM examination, Harbaksh asked me for a pen. I do not know what crossed his mind he asked me to fill his form with my hands. When the result was declared Harbaksh had stood first in the class. Harbaksh developed an impression that besides being a friend I was his lucky charm too. We all know Harbaksh was always interested in appearing for civil services examination conducted by UPSC. When it was time for filling the UPSC examination forms, he was in Jalandhar. He came all the way from Jalandhar with the forms and asked me to fill them. He stood sixth in all-India merit list. He deserves full credit for the marathon effort he had put in. However, he was very thankful to me for my ‘magic touch’. When he was Deputy Commissioner Gurgaon, I visited him along with Kaka seeking his help for my wife’s transfer. He was more than helpful. I met him a number of times after that especially while we were preparing for Silver-Jubilee meet. He had promised to come but could not make it.
Kaka has always been protective about me like an elder brother (although he is younger in age) especially after the incident that happened during CR election in first prof. Later when I flunked in Anatomy, he persuaded Sukhy to teach the subject to me. How can I forget that Sukhy used to visit me in my house every evening to teach me Anatomy till the completion of supplementary exam. Sukhy has been a brilliant student. I have heard rumors when Sukhy was doing MD (Medicine) the then HOD had instructed him to skip his classes because many a time his probing questions had left HOD speechless. Kaka has been my strength all through these decades and I cherish his friendship.
Chaman Lal was in our hospital batch. If you can recall he was from Jalandhar. He was jovial and hard working. He would always address me jokingly as “Oye CR”. We remained friends even after college days while we were in PCMS. Maninder Singh who is now a Pediatric Neurologist in California has been a very good friend. His father who used to work in Indian Railways loved me like his son and we spent hours together gossiping.
I have been very fortunate in making lots of friends amongst senior and junior batches as well as my own class. Rajiv Mirchia’s name stands out amongst them. He is witty and naughty. He even now makes fun of me by calling me with his own version of acronym CR. Although it is very embarrassing but I have always taken it in its stride.
Throughout the five and a half years of study I experienced a number of infatuations and crushes like any other teen. At least for once the Cupid’s arrow did hit through my heart. However, I could not muster enough courage to express my feelings. I can only hope for better luck next time.
Dinesh Kumar Sharma
