Courting a Gymmie – Part I

Innumerable times, my friends have patiently heard me talk about him and his Jamalpur connection for hours at length. However, I really doubt if they were ever able to comprehend me fully. The following is the first in the series of articles titled 'Courting a Gymmie'. This series is intended at expressing the different ways in which 'our' life has been affected by two events which started with a gap of just a month.
Happy reading to all of you !
Happy writing to me !
Happy life to both of us !

Preface

Well, first things first. I really don't know if I am authorized to write what I am about to. Of course, we live in a democracy with right to speech being a prominent fundamental right, but what I am about to pen down has a very deep connection with an elite group of people who take great pride in the fact that they had to clear UPSC to be a part of it. This group has such privileged membership that after an existence of more than 80 years, their membership has only recently crossed the 1000 mark. They are elite enough that they have a culture of their own; protocols which are not easily understood by the ordinary janta.

The question is that how did I get associated with these high class achievers. Actually, one member of this group has touched my life in ways I can only feel. And since this group has been an integral part of his life since last six years, it became mine as well. I am a third party, invisible observer to all the major activities of these people, their ways, their ideas, their cult as a whole. The one thing which gives me a slight feel good factor and keeps me from feeling left out while being there in an invisible way, without registering my presence, is the fact that I came into his life before this culture did, even though the time gap was only a month (if we go by the official figures). And of course, kudos to him for taking me along as a part of his ownself, when he entered this new world. To be frank, till date I feel somewhat awed by these people and their ways.

To cut the foreword short, this article is about looking at this different world from the other side of the glass. The purpose of this article is to reveal and express how this group called SCA, the life being lived at JMP and the people called Gymmies (and later on SAMs) has affected me;- an ordinary girl with nothing extraordinary to boast about.

But before I start, my sincere apologies to one and all who might feel offended by anything written here or may be at my mere impudence to write at all about something that’s totally theirs. Dear all, it is not at all intended to do any dishonour to any of you or the culture of Jamalpur Gymkhana.