I have something in my mind which I would like to share with everyone out here. But I don’t know how to express it in words. It’s like sharing my experience in life on a whole, which all stared off from Fr. CRCE. God has given a brain and a heart to everyone. Very few use their brains to it optimum use and lesser are brave hearts. So those who have some unutilized parts of a brain, simulate it by working hard over it, practicing problems, some take classes, some sit with experts, some way or the other people work over it and try to get over their limitations. My point is what about those with a very weak, soft and broken heart? At times, life throws such problems and difficulties straight in your face that even family support isn’t enough. Not that they don’t understand us, it’s just because we think the other way. At such stage, many think that their families are backing them up not because they are good enough in life, but just for the heck of it, for you have a blood relationship with them.

 

So whom we should go to?
 

Friends?
 

            Now how many of us have those kind of friends who can share our sorrows. May be there would be some. So they’ll support you for a while and cheer you once in a while. But don’t you think even they come with their own set of limitations, problems, inabilities, etc. It’s like they’ll provide you “food” when you are “hungry”. Once, twice, thrice…..how many times? Is that enough for a person to sustain throughout his life? The answer is “NO”. Here, I am not trying to boil down the importance of friendship, but showcasing it through a practical point of view, only for those who don’t have in them to fight back on their own. At such times, you need someone to hold your hands, to place you back on the track, to cheer for you and hear you out, someone to teach you “fishing” and not just providing you with “food”. Yes, now you will be able to sustain on your own, you’ll be at least able to try and walk on your own. You may fail once in a while, but then the very person who taught you, would be there by your side to help you out. He may not give you your “food” but will surely iron out the flaws in your way of “fishing”.

 

For me, and some of my friends, that person is Dr. Ambrish Bhatt.

I was back from a year drop, few KTs pending, confidence at an all time low; initially I hardly spoke to anyone from my new class. All my friends had progressed to the next class. It was difficult for me because I build relationships at snail’s speed. Unless and until I get completely comfortable in the presence of a person, I won’t speak, forget making friends. And whenever I tried to, the “dropper” thing kept playing in my mind. If at all I overcame it, there was a teacher who would remind me about it in front of the entire class. So for first few months, it was first row, first bench for me. I couldn’t even muster courage to look back and say a “Hi!” to my new classmates. I just didn’t have it in me, no doubt that they tried their best to break the ice. So my only TP after lectures would be reading the posters on CRCE notice boards and walls, and newspapers in library. And that is where I read that our college has appointed a counselor, Dr Ambrish Bhatt. Should I give it a shot? Wouldn’t I be uncomfortable speaking to him about my problems, won’t he find them odd? The pessimist in me started working over time!

 

I remember it was Wednesday and our batch practical got cancelled. I had nothing else to do, was planning to get back home early but then the optimist in me took over. I headed straight to 512, right in front of our principal’s cabin, to meet him. Again, I didn’t know what to start off with, how to share my thoughts, and how much personal detail to share. Had a glass of water and I knocked on the door, “Ca..Can I come in Sir??”. “Yes, come in”, came a pat reply, while I was busy trying hard to avoid directly looking into his eyes he offered a handshake. I did that with a lose hand, sweating, least comfortable and “this is not the way young man” got into my ears. I tried again, this time with a slightly firmer approach. “Try beta” he said. “Yes sir, sorry sir” I uttered, this time trying really hard to make it a proper handshake. “That’s better, now sit down” he said, offering me a seat. I sat, my eyes wandering here and there. “Look here” and after a pause, “look into my eyes if you are talking to me, I’ll hear only those things which you’ll speak looking into my eyes, and will ignore if you start looking here and there”. “Ok Sir, sorry sir”, “Stop saying sorry for each and everything, you are not guilty for anything and shouldn’t say sorry at every drop of the hat”, “Ok Sir”. “How old are you?”, “Sir twenty”, “you look much older, not less than 27,28; sit straight, be comfortable yaar, I am not your teacher and you are not here for viva, have some water, sit back and relax”, “yes sir, thanks”.

I can go on with the description of my first meeting with him, but then the initial part is enough for you all to guess that my learning curve had just started off.

 

Every minute spent with him, every conversation, SWOT analysis, feedback program…..everything became a part of my syllabus to become what I am today. Not a topper of my class, neither into sports, but a person who is happy for whatever he has, who knows what his strong points are, who knows his limitations and how to overcome them. People who knew me all along can feel the difference, my parents, family and friends. It’s not like he gave me some inspirational speech or a solution to my day to day problems, neither, but he used to hear my point, my view on different things, and then helped me channelize my anger and frustration in a right direction. I didn’t go and talk to him on how to become successful or how to score better marks. For that hard-work is the only answer, I went for reasons much more important and above them because marks and success don’t give you the calmness of mind, body and soul. It wasn’t “Art of Living” that I wanted to learn, it was more of “Joy of Living”.

 

Over the last three years, the bonding, comfort and most importantly my confidence increased. Earlier it used to be easy spending hours with the counselor discussing small aspects of life, and then I guess it was time for many such “Farhans” to come in. The “wait outside for five minutes” game started. And trust me even that was worth it. Waiting outside to meet him were my college mates and it was an opportunity to try breaking the ice with them. And there is where I got friends with Rajesh Ravi and Akshay Prakash, both from Production and many more great acquaintances from various other branches and batches. My classmates form the first batch too met me there, Saurabh Bhavsar, Aditya Sankhe, Raquib Akolawala, Pratyusha Panda and Naved Ahmed.

 

The queue exists even today, every Wednesday. So sometimes I try catching up with him on the stairs or steps, and at times on slope or outside the garden, and his cell number is nothing less than a 24-hours helpline for me and many others. Few months left for me and my friends to wind up our engineering. The objective of this article is to inform our juniors that there is someone appointed by the college to take care of your emotional needs, an expert one at that. Your friends might tease you, people might even laugh at you,

 

“Tu kya baat karta hai itna counselor se??”, “Arreee, you are not normal kya?”, “Why you need help man??”, “Don’t you have friends to share?” and many such questions and comments would be there thrown upon you. Ultimately, you have to decide, what exactly you are looking for, what you want…..the “food” or someone to teach you “fishing” and as I said earlier, a course in “Joy of Living”.

 

 

You can contact Dr. Ambrish Bhatt on 9820323060.

He visits our college every Wednesdays between 11.00am to 03.30 pm.

 

All the very best to all those who want to work on themselves before they start working on circuits, programs, operating systems or lathe machine!!!!