THEM 'KEMCOLIAN' FEELS

Ayesha Mushtaq

1st Year

Disclaimer: If you are not the only Kemcolian in your family, chances that you won't be able to relate to this are drastically high. Hence, this article is not meant for you. *No offence* .

“Kemcolian” – This is not any random combination of alphabets, but an entire world in itself. It is a word unlike any other, for it is an identity. A mark of honour and prestige; a symbol of glory and exaltation.

You may have been a topper all your life, but becoming a Kemcolian puts the final seal of approval on that and justifies it. It is what will set you apart from the other high scorers who were probably your competitors during the course of your academic journey thus far. To get into a medical college on merit is nonetheless an achievement on its own, and the magnitude of the accomplishment multiplies manifold if you make it into KEMU. (Need I put ‘the den of kings and queens’ once more?)

Come merit list and soon enough you find out that overnight, you have become a celebrity at home, within family and friends and family friends and relatives and neighbours - in short, everywhere.

Your parents introduce you to all their friends and acquaintances as their Kemcolian son/daughter and it swells your heart with joy to see their eyes beaming with pride every time they mention you.

Even those distant relatives who once pretended that you don’t exist at all or if you do exist then you’re unrelated to them at least; all those relatives suddenly take special pains to track you down and tell you how proud of you they are. Go to some family gathering and you would suddenly find yourself surrounded by aunties whom you may have never even seen before, and all of them want to shower their love on you. And the uncles make it a point to tell their children how you are an example to be followed. Meanwhile, those poor children are like:

The nerdy kids who were nearly always shunned in school and college by most of their class fellows (except the few who were like themselves of course) and kept out of most activities because they did nothing but study, suddenly find themselves at new heights of stardom, as everybody wants to get to know them and forge friendships with them.

These people had always been the apple of eye for their teachers, and now they turn into heroes for the future generations too. The legions of students who pass through the very institutes where these Kemcolians once wandered in search of knowledge are given instances of these people, and they do leave a mark on the history of their alma mater as their names go down in the annals of history of their respective schools and colleges in golden letters.

There’s this particular example from my own college, where five girls from a single batch (and there were only 15 pre-medical students in that batch) made it into KEMU. They are still considered role models back at college, and of course rightly so. The teachers always quote this precedent to their classes, and every subsequent batch looks up to them in the hope of emulating this feat! They may be gone from the college but their legacy lives on. (And those respected seniors are now in their final year in the university.)

The journey to becoming a Kemcolian is no doubt a rocky one, for you have to clear multiple obstacles on your way to KE. First you burn the midnight oil thanks to four years of board exams, and then the stress of the monstrous MCAT nearly consumes you. Perhaps the only thing that keeps you going through all this is the ever-nagging “bas ye chaar saal parh lo aage sakoon he sakoon hai”; and then it too turns out to be merely an illusion. But in spite of all the hardships endured, the family times and social life compromised, at the end of it all when you become entitled to fold your arms across your chest, hold your head high and say “Kemcolian” out loud, all the love and respect that follows really makes you believe the struggle was totally worth it. 

And that's how you say it OUT LOUD !!

Three cheers for all those who call themselves Kemcolians!