The Alma Mater

“Alu paratha, Anda bhujia.”

I mumbled bellow my breath and let those 4 nostalgic words hang in the air in between us.

As if on queue, he echoed:

“दो Alu paraNtha, दो Ande ki bhuruji aur Chai, 40 rupees, 11 number” and moved on to the next customer. 11 is the serial number of my order.

I got goose bumps. It is like a Deja Vu. Can’t believe 33 years have gone. It seems like yesterday I was standing in front of the same canteen of boys’ hostel no.8 in Delhi AIIMS.

I strived to pluck those words from the thin air that belonged somewhere long back -to another winter in 1986. 33 years gone. Difficult to believe.

33 years back, I used to stand here at the same counter and regularly order – “Do Paratha and egg bhuruji.” It was the staple for resident doctors in AIIMS.

The food quality was not terrific. But it is filling and definitely tasted great after the Raju Mess of SCB.

…

Nothing has changed in the corridors of these hostels of this great institution. Boys in all sorts of apparel, from White coats, stethoscope dangling in odd angles to loafers with T-shirts all busy munching on their first meal of the day.

…

In fact, this is my 4th time here.

In the ’86, we had come as a bunch of young turks to explore Delhi for housejobs after our MBBS. We didn’t have any address, had no roof, no hot water nor any blanket for us. 3 of us were adjusting with a friend in the Guyer Hall of DU. But food was ready at the AIIMS hostel.

Again In 1987, I got a PG seat in AIIMS and became a boarder. But the mess remained same. Food remained same.

In 2005, once again I got a fellowship in Newborn in the WHO center for South-east Asia which incidentally was located in the Pediatrics department of AIIMS. Something never changes in the AIIMS- The trade mark green-white building and the crowded boys hostel mess.

And now in 2019, as I come to visit my daughter, (her hostel is beyond my access), I stepped into my old mess surreptitiously and ordered meekly. But the greeting was powerful as it was then. loud and authoritative, “दो Alu paraNtha, दो ande ki Bhuruji aur Chai, 40 rupees, 11 number.”

The hostel mess smiled at me like an old friend.

As I poked into the oily Alu Parantha beside all those kids, suddenly I felt like a teenager once again.