by Humaira Nabi
SRINAGAR: Srinagar’s weekend air was filled with nostalgia, laughter, and melodies of a bygone era as the 1975 batch of Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar celebrated its golden jubilee reunion, a first of its kind in the college’s history.
For two days, 48 doctors who had once walked the corridors as ambitious teenagers returned, this time with silver in their hair and decades of medical service behind them. They came not just from Kashmir, but from Delhi, Kolkata, London, New York, Melbourne, and Auckland. Some arrived with spouses, some alone, but all carried the weight of half a century of memories. There were 15 families who attended the reunion.
Fifty years ago, in 1975, just 67 young men and women from across Jammu and Kashmir walked into the Anatomy Hall as freshers. It was a landmark batch — the first ever to enter GMC through a rigorous written entrance examination. Most came from humble backgrounds, carrying dreams that would take them through long nights of study, hostel camaraderie, and clinical rotations, before graduating in 1980. They went on to complete internships and house jobs, secure PSC confirmations, and move into postgraduate studies, eventually scattering across India and the world as accomplished doctors.
This September, they returned, silver-haired, accomplished, many with spouses by their side, but still with the spirit of those teenagers who once crowded the hostel corridors.
The reunion began in GMC’s iconic Anatomy Hall, where it all started for them in 1975, the first batch to enter through a rigorous competitive entrance examination. They paid tribute to departed classmates and teachers with a solemn silence before laughter took over. The scene soon transformed into an echo of their youthful days as doctors-turned-grandparents picked up the tumbakhnari and sang Kashmiri folk songs they once hummed during hostel nights.
“From scalpels and stethoscopes to tumbakhnaris and songs, it felt like time had rewound itself,” said Dr Altaf Hakeem, an oncologist and the key organiser of the meet. “Our batch has a peculiar distinction. We were the first to come through a proper entrance test. We stood at the beginning of a new era of medical education in Kashmir. Fifty years later, we wanted to remember it in the same spirit.”
Day one of the celebrations unfolded at the Royal Spring Golf Course overlooking Dal Lake. A soulful performance by Kashmir’s famed singer Rashid Hafiz filled the evening with melodies, while kahwah, shirmal, and laughter made the perfect company. Dinner stretched late into the night as classmates caught up on lost decades.
The second day saw them return to the medical college for a formal assembly. Teachers were honoured with gifts, memories of departed colleagues were revisited, and photographs were clicked against the familiar walls of their alma mater. Later, the group set out for a sunset cruise on Dal Lake before gathering at a hotel on Boulevard Road. There, overlooking the shimmering waters, they cut a cake to mark 50 years since their admission, sharing Kashmiri handicraft souvenirs as tokens of remembrance.
Doctors who had made their names across the world, like Dr Ravinder Ogra from New Zealand, Dr Farooq Padder from the United States, and Dr Anil Bhan from Medanta, sat shoulder to shoulder with their local colleagues. Old rivalries dissolved into hugs, and decades melted into a single weekend of warmth.
“The organisation was flawless, from music to memories, from kahwah to cake,” said a participant. “This was history for GMC, something that will remain etched in our hearts.” Behind the seamless execution was an eight-member organising committee of batchmates who had worked for months to pull the event together despite challenges. “We have seen the ups and downs of Kashmir’s situation,” Hakeem recalled. “That everyone made the effort to come — from across continents — shows the strength of this bond.”
The reunion was not just about nostalgia; it was also about reaffirming the bonds of a generation that healed thousands, carried Kashmir’s medical legacy across the globe, and still found time to return to where it all began. They regretted that around 15 of their classmates from Australia, the UK, the US, and the Middle East could not make it to the event.
As the Dal’s night waters reflected the lights of Srinagar, the doctors of the 1975 batch raised their cups of kahwah to each other, classmates once, family forever.
