“Forty Years after leaving MKCG campus” by Bidhu

“No distance or lapse of time can reduce the friendship gained over 5 years of togetherness”.

The 1970 batch of MBBS had its Reunion at Toshali Sands Resort,Puri-Konark Marine Drive from 26th Feb to 28th February 2016.This is the 6th reunion of our batchmates, nearly 40 years after completing the internship and leaving the campus of MKCG Medical College,Berhampur.The earlier editions of our reunions were held at Puri(Pantha Nivas,2000;on 25th year of passing out the MBBS course),Rourkela(2005),Konark(Yatri Nivas,2010),Konark(Lotus resort,2013),Gopalpur(Mayfair,2015). Since 2010, we have met at more closer intervals.Most of the batchmates were born between 1951 and 1953.This improved frequency of reunions reflects a desire of these bunch of 60-year oldies to meet the friends (and their families).

In this 6th edition at Toshali Sands, thirty seven batch mates and Madhavi Padhy(spouse of Late Ajit Padhy) attended,making it an effective total of 38 batchmates.Three had given a confirmation,Sadasiv Swain,Niyati Senapati and Bijay Mohanty,but could not come to the Reunion because of health and other preoccupation.With spouses and children,we were a total of 66 persons at this reunion.

On 26th Feb,we all reached the hotel, approximately 7 km from Puri, around lunch hours and checked into our hotel rooms spread over a green peaceful ambience. This hotel property is 30 years old and is well known in the tourist circle.The hotel staff had made arrangements for a hot lunch,which was a welcome spread.Ramanath Sahu,who stays in Puri, appeared for a brief time at the lunch tables adjacent to the conference hall and was not visible afterwards!We soon retired for a siesta of one hour. By 4 pm,we trouped into the Indraprastha conference hall for the ‘welcome session’.Ajay Upadhyaya,Prasanna Misra and Sudhansu Panda conducted the session.Six had come to the reunion for the first time,T Bhubonchandra Singh,K Nilachandra Singh,Rabi Narayan Mohapatra,Srikant Mohanty,Madhavi Padhy and Balakrishna Panda.Many of us met them after four decades.They fumbled with their explanations for this long lost connection and we learnt a lot about their career and family journey.They had changed in their appearances;so too the others over the decades.Sunandan,son of Uday Misra came up to  put it plainly, “I realize,my father and his batchmates are now old,yet they should get a spark from this reunion”. The ladies,Arati Mohanty,Pratima Mohapatra,Nalini Jatania and Manorama Panda took over the podium and audio system.They sang and made the house sing. An impromptu Antakshari created an warm atmosphere.We had a break after tea,to rejoin at the poolside of Toshali Sands for an evening of entertainment and dinner.The ‘Gotipua’ dance,by a troupe from Raghurajpur,in Puri district made us all sit up and absorb the rhythm and beats of this dance form,a precursor to Odissi.It is mainly performed by young boys, and is a dying art with its inherent struggle. The weather was cool, the surrounding trees and bushes added to an atmosphere to relax, regale and re-connect with each other.We celebrated the marriage anniversary of Baikunth and Shakuntala Das.Baikunth was emotional “this is the first time we cut the anniversary cake in our married life”.Shakuntala was a joy to watch singing,and her beautiful voice was a surprise revelation to us all. Laxmi Mohapatra,with a little prompting,took over to make us laugh with his ‘prabhu’ narrative.Life has been running on two tracks of joy and pain.The snacks and dinner were served in time and all of us went back to our hotel rooms, with a promise to get up early!

Most of the batch mates and the spouses got up early on 27th Feb, some leaving for the beach and another group walked around the hotel premises. The morning hours on a sea coast has a balmy air.The hotel staff had not made proper arrangement of vehicles for going to the beach,a distance of 2 kms across from the hotel and for serving tea at the beach or poolside. Despite our joy of being together,these gaps in arrangement lead to disappointment and unpleasant some exchanges.The morning tea arrived at poolside by 7:45,the group from beach returned walking back  and we all joined together moving around cups and cookies.A short break to take bath and we were quick to come back for a breakfast.The rest of morning hours were spent in small groups,chatting and relaxing till we all gathered at the Indraprastha hall at 12 noon.It was a somber and solemn time for us all to remember the departed the batchmates;their faces projected in front of us on a whitewall.From our first year in MBBS,when we lost Usharani Acharya(B),those who have left us are nine from our batch including her:Narayan Das,Pushpashree Das,Niranjan Debata,Rabindranath Mohapatra,Ajit Padhy,Bijay Sahu,Pradipta Samantaray,Natabar Swain.We prayed for their souls and their families.This solemnity was rightly followed by another presentation,“the Himalyan Journey” from Bibhuti Pradhan.In this age of texting,email and Whatsapp,we were all aware about the rich bond between Bibhuti and the mountains.To see the slides of his journey and then hear him,took us to the heights and made us touch the nature in its barest. A few batchmates joined us on 27th Feb,the Day 2-Golak Behera,Pradipta Das,Ajay Misra,Bipin Mohanty and Balakrishna Panda.Group photos were taken on the platform adjacent to the pool;batchmates,spouses and all combined. We were all hungry after this,went for a lunch and the well deserved afternoon nap. The most significant part of our reunion meeting started at 3:30 pm in the Indraprastha hall.Ajay Upadhyaya put up on an easel board a framed painting,made by him specially for this reunion and he had brought it from Hertfordshire,UK.He declared, “after many years,I have dared to do this painting”.This fond gesture was appreciated by all.It was time to make our batchmates talk,about themselves,the life-family balance,the experiences they have gathered.We looked forward to hearing our friends.Prasanna Misra,Bidhu Mohanti and Sudhansu Panda conducted this session.It was an orderly affair,a friend would come up to the podium,take the mike(those with spouses,came up as a couple),and say a few things mostly to enlighten us.A replica of Ajay’s painting was put on a small canvas,framed with inscribed name of the batchmate and brought from Delhi.This was handed over as the ‘reunion remembrance gift’;along with a  copy of ‘ MKCG 1970 Batchmates memory book’ to each of us attending the reunion this time.Prasanna Misra has made the singular effort to collect all materials for this book.In coming years it should be improved,with the help and contribution from all batchmates.

 

During this interaction, some of our friends-Badri Biswal, Mihir Mohapatra,Madhavi Padhy,Bhubon Singh and Nilachandra Singh were quite emotional; and some were quite funny-Laxmi Mohapatra,Laxminibas Prasad,Satchi Panda. Upendra Biswal and Sudhanshu Panda gave us a few suggestions; like batch mates should volunteer to join a reunion, rather than being contacted repeatedly. Bidhu Mohanti informed the house that during his calls and contacts with our batch mates for this reunion he learnt about different health problems of at least 20 of our batch mates, who showed reluctance to travel. This health issue should be a concern for all of us, and we should be sensitive in future why some are unable to attend the reunion.Sudhansu presented the budget of last reunion at Gopalpur on 07 March 2015.Golak Behera opined that whereas financial transparency is a good thing, yet we should not be critical about expenditures. We all agreed that as far as possible a broad objective should be to present income versus expenditures. It was decided that for the next reunion Ajay Misra, Bibhuti Pradhan and Mahesh Rout will jointly work and coordinate. It was 6 pm and dark by then. Ajay Upadhyay and Prasanna Misra closed the meeting; with a hint that the evening holds more promise.The 27th evening was our batchmates’ test of talents.Laxmi Mohapatra and Golak Behera sang Odia bhajans.Ajay Upadhyaya showed his skills of singing on Karaoke.Some of us like Prasanna,Uday Misra,Mihir Mohapatra joined in the chorus.From the ladies’ side,Madhavi Padhy,Manorama Panda,Pratima Mohapatra and Shakuntala Das sang.Others, who sat around tables under the sky, exchanged a continuous level of conversation,banter,laughter and repartee.A friend of Madhavi Padhy,Rajalakshmi Misra who had accompanied her,expressed that “you all batchmates still maintain such warmth,even 40 years after your MBBS graduation,it is very toching.”The hotel management came to meet us and we expressed to them the few glitches and as well our appreciation.We reached the dinner time,this is the only reunion where we stayed for 2 nights together at a place.

On 28th Feb morning,we did not go to the beach.Most of us formed groups and discussed on topics ranging from God to breakfast menu.The highlight was a morning Yoga session of 40 minutes conducted by Madhavi Padhy,with skill and deft movements.About 16 of us learnt the basics of Yoga.We returned back to our hotel rooms,packed our luggage and returned to have our breakfast.It was touching(and a relief) to see that Baidyanath Nayak and Umesh Chaudhury(both post-transplant) got the right types of foods over the 2 days.We gathered for celebration,candle blowing and cake cuttings-on this date-the birthday of Sudarshan Dash and the marriage anniversary of Mahesh and Geeta Rout.The breakfast was done by 09:30 am.The friends and their families started bidding ‘good byes’ and left the Toshali Sands.Bhubon and Nilachandra appeared to be quite nostalgic when they talked to us about their return journey back to Imphal.Around 10:30 am,the few who remained were Prasanna and Sudhansu to carry out the winding up arrangements with hotel staff.This 6th edition of the Reunion of MKCG 1970 Batch ended.These oldies gathered,ate together,sang,mixed with each other and parted.