FROM AABHA: 12. NOV. 1987
Years ago the foundation was laid
On it stood grand and homely, my college.
Soon voices were heard
Footsteps echoed –
It had come alive!
Amidst the Kaleidoscope of faces
You could overlook that ordinary man,
That gait,
That diary in his hand,
That smile.
But it would be difficult.
For surely you might go for a camp
or join the SSL
or play basketball
or attend a poster-making session
or try copywriting at X.I.C
or backbend at Yoga sessions.
The ordinary man suddenly did not seem ordinary.
You hesitatingly ventured forth to the Centre
Which your complacent self denied
Its need for existence,
And at the first hello
You knew you would no longer be the same.
Maybe you had coffee with him,
or passed on a message
You waved across the quadrangle
For you had met him once.
But the creaking door swung open
To what seemed a safely locked up
dim memory of defense-
Suddenly you wanted to jump,
Laugh,
Do a jig!
You had found a friend.
That still moment would move on
To many such moments to come.
He laughs with you because you want to laugh,
He gives you chocolates because that’s what you like,
He gives you cards for that’s what you need.
He never asks.
You cannot shock him-
The shrug is characteristic.
You cannot beat him-
The logic is invincible.
But you can make him cry
If you are hurting.
Though he has his sentinels
He battles with yours.
And as the voices fade
You see depths to the planes and angles
Of the monumental foundation.
Terence, Thank you for caring!