Want some proofreading and any suggestions

Here it is.

Please note:

· some of the words/references are in a foreign language (hindi) or Indian English

· OOO means I'll insert an emoji there

Thanks.

Amit

Friends, first of all sorry for being late and jumping the line. Past few weeks were crazy and I fell behind (>16K messages). I took some time off today to read all messages and write my intro.

Amit Chhabra here, aka Chabra, Chabbad (and all other misspelled variants of such a simple last name). I was born, well on my birthday and raised in Kota, Rajasthan. I can be reached at --------------------.

I have lot of fond memories of our GMC days and most of them were unrelated to the academics. Don’t know if ragging still happens at GMC but the so-called ‘rite of passage’ was a rough one, to say the least. I remember sleeping on the terrace (roof) to avoid ragging and still getting caught by the seniors who brought juniors on to the terrace to, you guessed it, rag. I also remember sleeping in the Anat hall after the whole night of ragging. The empty space under the plank for the projector was a perfect hideout. Oh, I also remember sitting next to Gupta ji (Vinod) for Kesri sir’s lecture, and Gupta Ji being his favorite student was frequently asked a question “Gupta ji aap batieye ulner nerve ka origin” and Gupta ji will keep staring at me and say “Batao Chhabra” while I was looking down and whispering not to look at me. Of course, sooner or later I am asked to stand up and answer the question of which I had no clue whatsoever resulting in “Gupta Ji aap baith jao” “aur tum nikal jao meri class se”.

Somehow I reached the final year and had medicine posting in PPR unit with Suryamycin, Borisamide, Shradha (my surrogate mom), Chitra, Repeater from Jupiter, Saral bhai, Deepak Bhatia, Anita and other friends. I use to sit next to Dr. PP Rao in his clinic after the rounds and every day steal one cigarette from his pack that he kept on his desk. Surya, Borisa and I would smoke that cigarette afterward in the BCR as a victory cigar. One day PPR just had one cigarette in his pack and both Surya & Borisa begged me not to steal the last one. But I couldn’t resist and took it out as soon as I had the opportunity. Soon enough PPR noticed that the only cigarette in his pack was missing. He looked for it under the desk, under his chair, and then gave me a long stair. My entire GMC-life flashed before my eyes. OOO

My favorite subjects in GMC, that I also majored in, were BCR and CC.

After completing MBBS I did MOship near Malad and finally learned Marathi. Did some gigs in radiology and anesthesia and got Ophthalmology at Sion in next distribution. Thought now my career will be on the right track but when I went to Sion they told me the teacher retired so the seat doesn’t exist anymore. Everyone thought I was joking until they saw the letter from Sion Hosp. I was told I had an ‘open and shut’ case but by that time I was done with clinical medicine.

Took GRE and got admitted to Masters program at Harvard. Did research fellowship with a group of intervention cardiologists at Harvard who wanted me to take MLEs to join them. But this time I was older and wiser OOO. I joined Medronic (a medical device company) in Switzerland and after 3 years moved to NY to join Pfizer. Currently, I am running a Phase III Clinical Trial in Gene Therapy for Hemophilia B. Truly sexy and exciting field but most importantly, allows me to close my shop at a reasonable time and spend rest of the time with my kids. I have two Amrit (4-year-old boy) and Sophie (2.75yr old girl). We had them very close to each other thanks to my expertise in medicine (prolactin….) OOO. My wife, Justyna, and I met in New York 10 years ago and got married a few years later. She used to work in non-profit orgs (UN,etc.) but now has 2 full-time jobs at home.

We love to travel and experience the beauty, food, and culture of different regions of the world. Been fortunate to have lived in some amazing places so far - Boston, Geneva, London, Berlin, Montreal, New York, and of course Mumbai. These days I spent most of my free time with kids (if anyone has found a cure for kids growing up too fast, please share). Whatever time is left is spent on playing tennis competitively and managing a real-estate company.

Thank you all for being part of my journey during one of the best days of my life. A big thank you to all who conceived this idea and executed it flawlessly. Look forward to seeing you all in Goa (especially the nagin dance by Saral and others)OOO

Sorry for the long winded introduction. Mark Twain said “I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”