We have a really special connection with the city of Nawabs: Lucknow. This is not a city to be associated with Christmas.
However as we already know, it's neither about the destination, not about the journey, but it's all about the company. Yes, we are strongly related to the city of Nawabs as my husband spent the most crucial six years of his life there. He did his MBBS from King George Medical College Lucknow. I had written a detailed emotional post here, 11 years back.
So he had joined MBBS in 1998, at the age of sixteen and a half, and 2023 marked 25 years of enrollment of MBBS. There's a tradition of grand celebration of Silver Jubilee, which usually happens during Christmas time. This tradition is being carried on for the past 40 years or so, except the year of 2020 (duh!). So we had been looking forward to this awe inspiring event ever since 2023 started. And when December rolled in, we couldn't stop counting the days.
The event was rather an emotional one, with doctors (ex classmates) flying in from all parts of India as well as from other parts of the world. As an outsider medico , what I found most touching is that everyone had scaled humungous heights in terms of career, but never for once I felt any kind of arrogance. The Georgians reunited as if they were back to first year of MBBS, picking up silly fights and laughing as if there was no tomorrow. I was transported to my husband's and his classmates' late teens, which reminded me of myself, when we had just left school and entered the world of medicine. So naive and so unaware of how challenging life would eventually become.
The felicitation ceremony happened in the college campus itself (which is an architectural wonder in itself) . The organisers (batchmates themselves) had gotten made really cute souvenir mugs and sweatshirts for all. The entry fees were humungous (75 k for 2 nights) but I would safely say that it was worth every penny
The stay and parties were organised in Hotel Centrum, Golf course Lucknow which was beautifully decked up in Christmas decor. We had the best meals and the best dance parties over there. Something I will cherish for the rest of my life, because I know that my college's reunion will be nothing like this.
Of course, we had to perform there as well. (What's a celebration without my dance performance 🤣) That was a whirlwind of a trip but it's for keeps definitely!
I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z
This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’
hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla
in collaboration with Dr. Preeti Chauhan