Guru purnima or Vyasa purnima is celebrated to express our gratitude and respect towards our gurus, our teachers. Gurus are those evolved beings who selflessly enlighten us and guide us throughout our journey.
I am blessed with many such wonderful gurus throughout my entire journey. My parents, my brother, my school and college teachers, my neighbors, my close friends and relatives have all been my strong support system and my mentors all throughout and I am so grateful to each one of them.
Since i started writing this blog i have been waiting for this opportunity to write about my wonderful guru: my Sir who has played a pivotal role in shaping not only my career but also my personality. Today I felt it was the best time to express my feelings.
Around 13 years back, I was participating in an educational program for preschoolers as a part of my post graduation studies. Dr. Umesh Vaidya - a well known pediatrician in Pune was our chief guest. After the entire program, I carefully listened to his speech and I clearly remember how awestruck I was! 😯 I had thought to myself that "he seems like such a pleasant and humble being and what a wonderful and knowledgeable orator. My seniors are really lucky to have gotten an opportunity to work with him and learn from him."
Six months later I ended up interning at the same hospital and at the same unit which was headed by Dr. Vaidya. From there the journey of learning something, that was completely new for me, had initiated. Within no time I fell in love with the unit and the work. Working for small pre-term babies and helping moms, started bringing me so much satisfaction and peace that I decided this is what I wanted to make a career in.
Dr. Vaidya (whom I would be referring as 'Sir' in rest of the article) has always been such a busy doctor. He has a really tight schedule, packed up IPDs and OPDs and lot of administrative work that he voluntarily takes care of. He is so punctual, extremely dedicated and works really hard to provide optimal care to his patients.
All these years, every morning me n my colleagues would attend his patient rounds at sharp 9 am and every afternoon his counselling sessions. The rounds would be filled with academic and practical knowledge and the counselling sessions would be filled with that knowledge which none of the books could have ever provided us.
Right from the way Sir greeted and received his patients inside the counselling room, to the crystal clear counselling which answers all important concerns and queries that the patients have, that too in a limited time. I am so impressed, every time I observe his work and get to learn something new from him every single day. Patients who would enter the room crying would leave the room laughing away to glory and this change would happen within a matter of minutes.
When I had decided to take up lactation counselling as a profession he had to strive really hard to convince the hospital management and all the doctors about our importance. He indeed has always been such a foresighted person. A visionary, who knew that nutritionists had a very important role to play in the NICU since human milk feeding and breastfeeidng is the very first nutrition for any baby and its lifelong benefits is something that everyone is well aware of.
Sir cares for everyone around him. He looks after the comfort and betterment of all his students, doctors, colleagues, paramedics and all the nursing staff in whichever way possible. He never denies help to any person who comes to him with any sort of complaints.
As years passed by, the bond between sir and me, kept getting stronger. He didn't only support me with my career but also guided me at various phases of my life. Whenever I felt lost and requested his advice, he would always listen to me patiently, provide balanced perspective and give rock solid support without forcing any of his views and expectations on me. He has always given importance to the opinions of all of his students while managing patients. He believes that there is no age limit to learning and never fails to find time for teaching his students.
I was this clueless, introvert girl who was not very confident about her own abilities back then and Sir kept trusting me with so many responsibilities, encouraging me whole heartedly even for my miniscule successes. He is the perfect example of practice what you preach and he always leads by his own example. He is an epitome of humility and has taught me how to enjoy small joys of life.
He has been a teacher, a mentor and a guide to innumerable students like me and even he doesn't realize how much he has impacted our lives.On occasion of Guru purnima I wish my sir wonderful health and express my heartfelt gratitude for all that he has done for me. 🙏🏻🙏🏻 💐💐
He has not only inspired me to work sincerely but also to spread my knowledge and work without expectations. He taught me to be ambitious but also remain grounded and learn to count all my blessings. 😊😊
