The first day of my university was an eye opener for me. I realized that it won’t be easy to survive in this harsh world. I knew that I would be meeting and facing people who may or may not like me. In the beginning I was extremely guarded and used to keep mum. I was totally into books and considered others arrogant, rude and insensitive. Those who bunked lectures were devils for me. It was very difficult for me to become friendly with any of them. I always thought that my batch mates won’t be able to understand my bleeding disorder. I must tell you that I have a very bad habit of forming preconceptions about others.
Most of my batch mates started considering me an emotionless being. In the first semester, all of us were trying to know each other. A nice bonding was created between all of my batch mates but I was still guarded. I tried to maintain distance from them and allowed none of them to know about my Von Willebrand's Disease. I would become irritated when someone used to give wrong answer to the professor’s question. Frankly speaking I became very rude with my batch mates. I was secluded. No one ever tried to come and talk to me. My faculty mentor would ask my batch mates to suggest me to worry less about studies and have some fun. Once she agreed to sponsor outing of our batch just for me. It was really touching. But I denied.
After few months, I had an argument with Ashna. That was the day which marked the beginning of a wonderful bond between me and my batch mates. I cried and told them about my bleeding disorder. They were shocked to know about it. Surprise is the appropriate word to describe the reaction of my batch mates. Shohinee wiped my tears while Suchitra gave a pat on my back. All of them made me realize that they were not insensitive human beings.
Now, our batch is like a wonderful family which laughs together, dines together, shares joys and sorrows together. My friends respect and love me. There is a special bond of understanding between me and Suchitra. One thing which is common in both of us is our obsession for DOGS. We go to dog academy (which is in our university) together to play with dogs and understand their behavior. Both of us are keenly interested in animal psychology. Our favorite dog is Genius who is cute golden Labrador. Ashna is the food monster of our batch and Shohinee (we call her “Sho”) is a superb baby sitter. She is extremely good at dealing with kids. Sho has a lot of experience as she worked for more than two years with ADHD, Autistic and MR kids. Fortunately I was always posted in the adult psychiatric units. Mehej (our Miss Assom) tells me that I must work with kids in the psychiatric unit because the manifestation of the disorders or psychiatric condition of kids is different from adults. I am trying to work with kids who have behavioral or neurobiological disorders.
Coming back to my batch mates, Tanya is the one who keeps track of my grooming. She makes sure that I wear matching pant with my kurta (a kind of Indian outfit) or shirt. It took me a long time to open up with my friends. I am fortunate that all of them understood that I am a different person who prefers to be in my own world of thoughts. I must tell you that my friends gave me a nickname “Prawat”. I know it sounds very manly but it is alright. Whenever they call me by this nickname I feel their love and affection for me. I am fortunate that I am blessed with such caring and compassionate batch mates.
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