Translucent day

It is as clear as day.
It reminds me.
Of Dr. K.
Dr. Karim.
I was just 15 when I met this short, Bengali man, and he grinned at me.
We were walking through a hallway at UMD, I was wide eyed as I usually am in big places with lots of people; people who looked like me, people i had never seen my entire life. until one day. one day. so i was suppose to be getting into medicine. i was native. i still am native. and the program was for natives. to get them into medicine, cuz, man , the' aint no native docs. i'm only 1/4. but still. thas k.

Dr. Karim was my mentor. Imran, Autumn, Nina, and....me. with college students and Dr. Karim and Dr. Amjad. and we were curing HSV-I and II with plant extracts--Jerusalem Cherry and St. Johns wort.

I didn't know you then, of course. But I know you now.

I miss Dr. Karim. Last year, he fell in a man hole in Bangladesh. He was visiting his mother, who was sick. The doctors told him he would never walk again. They made him take off of work. They told him to stop teaching. He said, "Never!" and now he is walking. I saw him last summer, and he as usual, forced me to eat eat eat. Like all South Asian men. I remember how he used to yell at Imran and smile at me. Imran was convinced Uncle Raj hated him. (Uncle Raj= Dr. Karim). But no. He discovered it was tough love.

We embraced when I left. Dr. Karim is one of the main reasons I'm here at Carleton. (can we say, recommendation????)

I just thought of this, cuz I was writing out invitations to my graduation. Sigh.