The Chicken or the Egg???

(And my dear friends...this time..its short...and thanks to my colleagues...since i've 'borrowed' experiences...)

The pretty gal walked into the podium. I am sure my eyes weren’t alone in the run to watch her getting ready. Within seconds her lips began moving…and began the ‘melodious’ symposium. It took a few seconds for me to realize that the talk had started…I missed the title…who cares…I knew it is something related to gynaecology…

It has been more than a week since I got posted in gynec, and still I am not sure if I know something more than what I had learned in Obstetrics… (The one in which I was previously posted). I don’t know how fast time flew all these days. I still remember the bewildered look in madam’s face when none of us could identify a Sims’s speculum (an instrument to excavate interiors) even after a week in wards and theatres. (Honestly…I refer to the operation theatres and not the abode of lecture ‘cutters’). It is not exactly the lack of interest…but…hmmm…I don’t know. Some low immortals reason that gynaec is for gals…how absurd? I call that attitude absurd not since such a thought is out of question…but because I know the equally pathetic condition of my female colleagues. Well here is the actual underlying problem (which I reason)…lack of ‘maturity’…being in the third year of MBBS means ample time to relax (misconceptions rule the intermittent time period in the magnificent course). I still live in the world of fantasies. There was indeed a golden age...when I strived…real hard to get into a professional course…then I had dreams…but I worked for them…okay my brains is not dead yet… still I do have dreams…but now…I just dream…so that they remain in dreams!

Hey…is someone calling me…? I was half awake…

Ya the symposium is over…

“Get up child!!!”

A strong sound drags me out of the chairs, “Good morning…hope you had a comfortable sleep…okay…Tell me about the kinds of ultrasound scans done…”

Is it the clarity of my pals sitting right behind me (whispering the answer to me!!!)? Or did the beauty of the presenter succeed holding my attention at least for some time?

“mmmm….ma’am…mmm….trans-vaginal….trans-abdominal…”

Madam had turned red…perhaps she didn’t expect me to spit out…

I sat down…sighing…

Hooo….escaped….

TRING TRING

Oh!…I had forgotten to switch off my mobile!!! It was yelling.

CAUGHT!!!

Perhaps Tenzing and Hillary wouldn’t have turned so happy after reaching the pinnacles of adventure… that smile madam had when she ‘ushered’ me out…I’ll never forget!!!

I was once again an ‘outstanding’ student…

“Hey …do you have balance…I wanna make a call from yer mobile”

And this is the nice part… I am never alone...no remorse…I’ll be on track sooner or later…’tomorrow never dies…!!! ’

Then the madam comes out…, “Hey fellows…when I was in your age…I preferred gaming in my mobile rather than dozing off…

”

the autobiography of a less known medico...

"Amma...im havin a prob wid ma stomach...so when i come home this weekend get some castor oil..", I told amma during a phone call...but the response just shocked me. "Hey if you really need a laxative we'll try Dulcolax", said her. To be honest it was the first time I was hearing that name.I soon checked my pharmacology text and confirmed the drug...dulcolax-Bisocodyl.

Well the element of attraction is the fact that I am a third year Medical Student and my Amma, a loving house wife. Well after having joined the course, lots of similar instances have occurred and still occur. I don’t know what exactly I am doing as a ‘proud’ medico...don't know what the mistake is and where exactly the problem lies.

I have seen more than 25 movies during my first year in college. A pal of mine has reached a number of 98. I go to a family ceremony and the first thing I hear when I am introduced is “wow medical college..? Brilliant boy!!!”. I travel in a train, and the person sitting next to me start canvassing, speaking about the attractions of the special insurance offers that his company has for doctors. A friend dials me, “Hey I have been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. Which is the best prescription?”. But this time I have an excuse, “Da, I’ve just started with pharmacology. Wait for few minutes and I’ll refer to someone and tell you”…hooo…escaped…I sigh…

The worst fixes occur when a really ‘distant’ relative (unknown till I joined the college) rings me to request for help during an admission to the hospital and when a pal of mine calls me and tell… “Hey pal, I have a girl friend and…and…da what should I do now?”…yupp!!!

Every Monday still starts with my vow… ‘and now I’ll start to be a responsible student’. That evening I rush back from college and open Hutchison ( the famous book on clinical practices). Hours later I wake up when my roommate yells.. “hey lets have dinner”.

In between postings, I roam through the corridors with my pals, wearing the coat and the legendary steth around my neck. And then a by-stander approaches me, “Doctor sir, please tell me where I should go with this slip”. I and my colleagues exchange glances puzzled when another by-stander interrupts and start pointing to the correct direction. Feeling that being in wards, where we are posted, is safer we retreat.

Now I am waiting to reach the final year. Simply because I’ve heard seniors telling that something will surely happen during that time!!! All that I am, now, is the proud student of one of the most prestigious medical colleges in Kerala…and nothing more. There are, indeed, a trillion excuses I can use when amma asks me why I am like this! But she is more updated with the news from college. Thanks to my sweet relatives with stethoscopes working there. By the way this is another problem.

But on the whole I just love this life here...!!!

I have pals who often call me just to hear about terminologies they are not familiar with...like ragging, bunking,elections,etc. And then I say, like a tourism promo, "Come to my college for the experience of a life time".

I am sure I would have been no different if I had entered an engineering college or practically anywhere, since I have regular chats with my pals there. Everyone has similar stories to tell. The pile of “supplements” or arrears. Fortunately I don’t have one. Only because, we don’t have that system…here it is the ‘additional batch’ system (for first year university exams), something more horrible than ‘supplees’. But at times I feel jealous of them, simply on the thought that even when their grandsons are admitted in schools I might be house surgeon or so posted at some lovely rural corners where even Airtel or Hutch fears to tread.

Asatoma Sadgamaya
Thamaso Maa Jyothir Gamaya
Mrithyor Maa Amrutham Gamaya…

Come on some one, lead me from darkness to light!!!