Xavier's

Today, after what seemed like an eternity, I found myself driving through the roads of South Mumbai and suddenly, my spirits rose as I realised that I was very close to my alma mater.

Have I told you about Xavier's? I think not...and even if I have, I still want to write about it because today my heart sings with those memories and I can't resist the desire to express them. :)

It was probably one of the most blessed occsasions in my life when I walked through the main entrance of St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, knowing that I would be completing my undergraduate studies there. Life was to change forever once I set foot in those premises...

I had never been to Mumbai before. My life until then, had been spent in Calcutta and Delhi. When I shifted to Mumbai, it wasn't for a vacation, but for keeps...luckily, before I joined college, I had a couple of months to orient myself with the city, getting familiar with its people and its indomitable pulse.

Mumbai rapidly became my idea of home. I was comfortable with the people, quickly learnt the public transport system, savoured the seafood and took long walks on the beach. I found the weather agreeable and soon learnt to accept the overpopulation and fearsome traffic snarls with the singlemindedness of the regular Mumbaikar. Delhi, by comparison was cleaner, more spacious and had a lovely winter, but had never really made me happy. With the exception of a few wonderful friends I had there, there weren't many people in school that I could relate to. I spent over two years feeling like a misfit and doing much to avoid the attentions of the school bullies. When it was time to leave school, therefore, I did not feel any measure of sadness, but rather looked forward most expectantly to starting a life in Mumbai, where my folks were relocating.

Expectations can be tricky things...they often turn up at the root of most forms of unhappiness. I knew this but still preferred to think of Mumbai as an exciting new chapter in my life. I trusted in the Universe and believed that there was something magical waiting for me on the west-coast of India, where I had never walked before. The day I walked into my College, I realised that it was the magical gift that had been prepared for me.

How should I describe Xavier's to you? It was a feeling of oneness that I had missed for so long in Delhi. I did not know anyone in that college and was completely unfamilar with its classrooms and corridors, but something in the air whispered a welcome. Somehow, I felt very safe in that building...and I knew that the whole place wanted me to be there.

One of the first thoughts that spun through my mind as I walked through the ancient building was, "I'm in Hogwarts!" :) You see, I had just begun a studious devouring of JK Rowlings books and my imagination was brimming with their contents. So, when I walked through a myriad different passages and stairways, looked at strange gothic architecture, dozens of stone gargoyles and a generous sprinkling of faculty members (who had obviously been around for ages), there was a little part of me that was staring at the place with the wonder of a student entering Hogwarts for the first time!

Over the three years that passed, Xavier's steadily gave me some of the greatest gifts that life sent my way. A superb group of friends with whom I have enduring ties (even though they are now literally scattered across the globe!), an education that changed forever my view of things - broadening my perspectives, taking me within as well as without - and a desire to transcend intellectually, emotionally and spiritually. I found myself engaged in discussions with some of the finest minds that it has been my privelege to meet and in their presence I learnt to examine my own thoughts with fresh perspectives. We grew together as we touched each other's lives.
There's something about Xavier's that makes you want to make a persistent impression on the canvas of existence. It's not necessarily about achieving world renown (although there is no dearth of Xavierites who have achieved that)... it's more about touching the lives of people you come in contact with and somehow leaving them with something positive, no matter how small.

"Provocans ad volandum" - provoke to fly - is the college motto. As eaglets leave their eyeries and leap into the air - the wind beneath their wings and their eyes fixed on the gleaming sun - Xavierites leave their College at the end of their education, secure in the knowledge that no matter where life takes them, they have what it takes to ascend, to rise above the milling throngs of humanity and help others reach the same place...