Completing 25 years of your professional life with success and recognition is no doubt a great feel.
And, as The Vission Eye Centre celebrates its Silver Jubilee Year, it would be apt to acknowledge the faith of all those who helped make it happen, by trusting The Vission Eye Centre and giving me the care of their vision.
The Queen celebrates her jubilees for a whole year, why can’t we? I feel strongly that this is an accomplishment worth celebrating and with full humility, I take it on myself to expressing my experience in a few words. And, when one considers a commitment to any unique lifestyle of service and utmost dedication, that milestone is more memorable.
A Jubilee is a time for looking back and looking forward. Let the trumpet sound and the music play as I look forward to my second inning, with the same earnest and determination.
Looking back at the quarter-century in this long and arduous journey with challenges aplenty and guiding myself through this maze with a lot of determination, hard work and expertise, makes me smile today with a lot of satisfaction and gratitude.
The initial years were tough, let me admit, as one had to source funds from banks on the one hand and negotiate (and plead) with the owner of the premises and the society management (for my first clinic) to permit an eye surgeon to practice. Starting from there until today, The Vission Eye Centre has covered a long and evolutionary journey. Starting with millions of dreams, hope and immense zeal and today when I celebrate another year of birth (of my successful journey), nothing has changed except the fact that the dreams have come true. And now are new.
Juggling between academics and the continuing changes in medical science, to economics and branding and visibility, personal goal-setting, autonomy, to responsibility towards elderly parents, guiding my children on their educational pursuits, efforts for charitable professional activities, the endless hospital attachments and managing them all… …..while maintaining the right values and virtues befitting the best in the profession, is the real feel of contentment and delight.
Needless to say that it is the journey that is the most important part…. The destination is incidental with all its trials and tribulations… multiple small steps… some good decisions… some not so good… each of them teaching great lessons in life, but all culminating into something that makes me feel that the ride over the last 25 years has been worth all of it and much more.
As years passed, the love, affection and gratitude on the faces of patients’ (and their relatives), gave a new meaning to life. Over the last 25 years, I had the opportunity of attending to and treating the vision of a whole lot of people including His Holiness-the Dalai Lama, the who’s who of the film fraternity starting with the Superstar of Superstars
and a true legend in his own way, Mr Amitabh Bachchan and the family, the Late Yash Chopra and family, members of the well-known Kapoor family, Sonu Nigam, Salim Suleiman, Ayan Mukherjee, Siddharth Malhotra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, among many others; government bureaucrats and ministers; police personnel; industrialists; sports personalities; leading members from the financial intermediaries, among others.
And, when many new patients came in for treatment giving the reference of these high profile individuals, it made me a sense that my skill and deft handling of the eyes was making its mark and made me feel complete and satisfied in more ways than one.
And yes, I will not be able to complete this note on The Vission Eye Centre’s Silver Jubilee without mentioning a few sentences on Mr Bachchan. Whosoever one may be, one cannot just not admire the icon’s presence of mind, his humility, qualities like punctuality and modesty. I have been fortunate enough to see at close range his love and devotion to his parents (they were ailing at the time I started knowing him) and how he would rush every now and then to their side despite his hectic work schedule. Tempted to state confidently that lucky are those parents who have a son/daughter like the BIG B.
And, as The Vission Eye Centre completes its 25 years of existence, the best words of appreciation and recognition came from the kind words of Mr. Bachchan “Wishing you all the best Doc Himanshu Mehta .. you gave my eyes a 'Vision' I had been struggling with for years .. ever grateful a journey of 25 years, that is some achievement .. congratulations !!”. Grateful, Mr. Bachchan.
And as I start my second inning, I take fresh guard in working towards the dream of taking The Vission Eye Centre into the list of among the few top eye clinics in the country. AMEN.
