From There To Here

 

 

This was originally published on The Ziauddin University Atlas blog.

 

As I go through words I’ve written quite a few sunsets ago, I marvel at what an evolutionary creature the human being is. I can not but help ponder over the magical transformation that I have undergone – and I’m sure many will recognise their own reflection; from a mere fetus seeking nourishment from its mother to a medical student struggling to make her mark. From struggling to comprehend the basics of addition and subtraction to understanding the mystical entangles of the seemingly unfathomable progeny of observation, cognition, emotions and innate intellect.

From there to here.

From learning how to put one foot in front of another and maintain a sense of coordination while doing so, to learning how to interpret ECGs. From playing hide-n-seek with playmates to playing hide-n-seek with anger and contentment, sadness and gaiety, love and hate. From tuning the vocal cords to enunciate the alphabets, to perfecting the skills of writing research articles. From spilling milk over clothes to determining blood groups in the laboratory.

From there to here.

From drifting to sleep after enjoying fairy tales that encourage dreams of the deceiving ‘Prince Charming’ and mirages of ‘happily ever after’ to nights of insomnia hounded by the fear of failing intermingled with the bittersweet desire to be your own ‘Knight In Shining Armour’. From baby food to caffeine. From toys to a stethoscope. From an innocent childhood to a responsible adulthood. From falling prey to the stench of ancient, stifling stereotypes, to being the warrior in a battle of revolutionary ideologies.

From there to here.

From breaking toys to breaking hearts. From putting bandages over scratches received while bicycling, to healing wounded relationships. From being scared of scary fictional characters to fearing the demons around us and within us. From Tom & Jerry to international politics. From Enid Blyton to Tolstoy.

From there to here.

From Merriam-Webster Dictionary to Dorland’s Medical Dictionary.  From Cinderella to Anna Karenina. From pure, blissful innocence to painful awareness. From convenient dependence to peremptory independence. From pure love to a cauldron of love, hate, expectancy, pride, anger, contentment. From reading to writing.

From there to here.

From living to breathing. From talking to communicating. From looking to observing. From enjoying to relishing. From breathing to living.

From there to here.