IIML Friends

It has hardly been a day, and I have started missing IIML badly. Although the serene and calm faces of my family members sleeping beside me give me comfort, yet I lay awake thinking of the moments that will never ever come again. Feeling of relief and exuberance at the successful completion of  PGDM has given way to this strange feeling, that is making the lump in my throat get bigger. Gone are the assignments, the projects, the classes, the case  studies, the mid-terms, the end-terms, the lectures, the late nights and the early mornings, but also gone away , probably never to meet again in the same situation and circumstances ,are my friends. Gone away too are the professors, the staff, the walls, the buildings and other inanimate objets, to whom no sane person can get attached. But what is it that is happening to me that is making my eyes misted and Why? Is it the Piscean in me who tends to grow emotional at the drop of a hat, or is it something much deeper? I do not know what it is, but all that I can say and wish at this moment is for Life to  grant the very best  to all my friends, and hope that they will keep in touch. Getting on the phone doesn’t take too much. I had read this poem by Charles Hanson Towne long back, and am reproducing it here partly, for all of you to ponder, reflect and act upon ...

Around the corner I have a friend, In this great city that has no end;

Yet days go by, and weeks rush on, And before I know it a year is gone,

And I never see my old friend's face, For life is a swift and terrible race.

He knows I like him just as well, As in the days when I rang his bell

And he rang mine. We were younger then, And now we are busy, tired men:

Tired with playing a foolish game,  Tired with trying to make a name.

"Tomorrow," I say, "I will call on Jim, Just to show I am thinking of him."

But tomorrow comes - and tomorrow goes, And the distance between us grows and grows.

Around the corner! - yet miles away . ........................