Mukta...

As I sit down tonite to write this post...I can't help but think about the way "Love Story" by Erich Segal starts...Those who have read the book would exactly know what I am refering to...

One of the greatest follies perhaps about every journey that a group of people undertake together is that...the noise and the celebrations at the end often tend to drown the faint voices that though started with us...don't make it till the end. There are those who leave us somewhere along the way...forever.

I can still remember the converstaion that I had with arguably the most brilliant and fiercely competetive lady I have ever come across in my life. It was a typical 1st Semester evening...all of us totally tired from the daily grind and trying hard to avoid thinking about the routine that awaited us the next day..and the next day through mindless chit-chat outside the cafe. She and I were talking about how sometimes everything seems so "in-a-plan"...like we exactly know what's gonna happen next and we're mere just going along the flow. She had been going pretty steady with someone for quite sometime and the way it looked, a year or two after passing out of the course, they were sure to tie the knot. Her to-be mother-in-law literally doted on her and there was nothing more she wanted from life. Of course, apart from the best damn marketing job the campus had to offer! Oh...yes...she wasn't the types to take what came her way. Rather, she was one who set targets and then work hard and endlessly to achieve them. In short, she was a winner all the way. Though as I said, in a lighter vein, she almost admitted that it does dissapoint her that there are no surprises in store for in life. And that...she more or less had a clear idea of how her life was going to turn out in the years to come...

When it happened...it wasn't just a surprise. Shock would be more apt. We were all stunned. Mukta Juneja, PGDM-I, SCMHRD was diagnosed of last stage leukemia. The fighter she was...Mukta didn't throw in the towel without a struggle. But this one time...she lost.

On 3rd of Feb 2005, Mukta passed away...

I wouldn't lie and say that I knew her too well. I did not...we were barely beginning to come to terms with our course and she and I were in different divisions. But that incident (and that talk I had with Mukta) taught me one thing. There are no guarantees in life. Nothing is forever. Do the best with the time you have, i.e. our today. Not all of us may get the luxury to live to see another tomorrow...

We miss you Mukta...