The cab dropped us off at a familiar address in Baltimore, 20 N. Pine Street. The building looked bigger and more imposing than ever before. The prominent sign “School of Pharmacy” was not visible but a modest "20" on the entrance indicated the steps that I had climbed every day, for the half decade that I pursued my Ph.D. Aparna and I entered the lobby where a diligent security guard took us through the prescribed process before letting us into the building.
Richard, the only professor still at the school had kindly agreed to meet us and show us the place. His office was the corner office on the sixth floor, the same room which the head of the department had occupied almost 20 years ago when I had stuck my face around the door to enquire about the admission process, in my salwar kameez and bindi. We caught up on old times and I was happy to show my lab and desk, as proof to Aparna, of my claim on this place, my Alma Mater. Much had changed, including the department structure, the curriculum and teaching methodology but some things were the same. The heavy plain wooden doors which we had decorated one Christmas, for a friendly inter-departmen “door-decorating contest”, the simple wall-mounted black phone, the bright yellow cabinets for solvents and the lab coats hanging on the wall. The lunch room which had housed an ancient microwave had been converted to offices, but had previously served as a meeting place for students, some American, some Chinese and many Indians. I had colored a paper drawing of a turkey for Thanksgiving and won second prize one year. Another year, I had binged on the different cakes baked for a Valentine’s Day Bake-off contest which was rigged and won by the kind head of the department, Dr. Shangraw. Today there is a sign honoring his contributions and an endowed chair named in his memory. What a wonderful family he had created for all of us students, so far from home but welcomed with open arms for having one characteristic, a desire to learn.
We walked out into the warm summer sunshine on familiar streets, past the historic dental school, the veterans hospital and the renovated medical hospital. The small park which hosted live musicians at lunchtime in the summer weeks still managed to hold its own amongst the concrete jungle of downtown Baltimore. The old library location was now a parking lot and the new one stood across the road, five floors of well-lit bookshelves, wired, provide with private cubicles for quiet study and an extensive online journal collection. What had been missing on this campus then was a place for students to have some fun. The brand new student center had taken care of this lack by and now housed exercise equipment and a large swimming pool.
Lunch choices in the café included not just vegetarian but vegan choices as well. We rewarded ourselves with delicious coffee cake before heading off for a few hours of sightseeing at the famous Balitmore Inner harbor. It was a day with clear skies, pleasant enough to walk but warm enough to appreciate the cool breeze that tousled our hair on the water taxi ride to Fort McHenry. The star-shaped fort is considered to be the birthplace of the US national anthem, Star-Spangled Banner, written by Francis Scott Key. Federal Hill looks down proudly on the inner harbor with the flag waving majestically. Fell’s Point is another well-known spot, pictured in the popular movie “Sleepless in Seattle” where we stopped for a few pictures.
We shared a Ben n Jerry’s “Imagine Whirled Peace” ice-cream sundae and watched groups of school kids dressed in identical t-shirts on a field trip to the Balitmore aquarium. An old gentleman was belting out soulful jazz in the amphitheater. We walked back to the MARC commuter train station located adjacent to the Camden Yards baseball stadium, home of the local team, Orioles. Street vendors sold tees with Orioles and Mets (NYteam), hotdogs and burgers, ice cold water and sodas. The mood was cheerful and contagious as we boarded the southbound train back to Greenbelt, where we were staying with friends.
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