GMC a Pilgrimage within .
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Oh, how do I give my thanks,
to my college, Grand Medical College;
How do I turn my heart into words;
she gave me knowledge,
she gave me science,
she gave me my means to survive,
to walk proudly in this world.
On a rainy day, I came to this forecourt;
To tell you the truth, my heart started pounding.
Looking at the unbelievable vast stretch;
I was gone, lost a little, a little scared.
Though there was no one around I recognise;
they all looked bright and clever.
Built from stones, those large spacious buildings;
That huge grand of comfort, everything was like a small village,
a modern Gurukula.
And in that long, wide and tall autopsy hall;
There laid on the table, eye irritating, brain numbing, with terrible smell of formalin, the dead human bodies.
Then there was the unavoidable anatomization;
My mind shaken, by a little curiosity, a little disgust and profound compassion.
Rarely did I held scalpel in my hand, rarely did I made dissections;
My mind was overwhelmed, by the ephemerality of human body and life.
Physiology and biochemistry was better than that;
There was imagining, understanding and thinking in it.
Without looking I could see a fantastic world;
In that mortal body there was infinite, self illuminating intelligence, I was left stunned and astonished.
The function of different cells, network of blood vessel, nerve secretion of hormones and enzymes. The flow of small electrical current throught heart and brain, everything was like a magic show.
An already introverted mind of mine, was seeping deeper and deeper;
Into enquiry, into search, into silence.
After seeing all the happening in the body, knowing its fleetingness;
From where the search for meaning of life begins.
For me, the brilliance of science was felt outside.
The cave of enquiry and intelligence was opened inside.
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Translated by my daughter Richa .
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Dr.Vikrant Prabhakar Tikone
https://kavitesathikavita.blogspot.com (Marathi poems)
