Tales of A Medical Student Nothing

First Week at Med School

In some ways, my life has completely changed over the last one week. Identifying nerves of an isolated dead hand kept in a try is not something you'd routinely do on your dining table. Not if you're normal anyway. But that wasn't the critical part of the change. The important fleck was the sense of direction the whole week at Maulana Azad Medical College- my center of activity for the next five and a half years gave me. The intuitive feeling that yes, I am in the right place heading in the right direction. The sense of pride at what I've chosen to do and the self-belief that had so far eluded me. I'm a long way to being useful to the world but still a step closer than last week. I'm changing and I'm going to change the world.

The five continuous hours of anatomy felt long only on the timetable. They say it's just the euphoria of college but I don't see it dying down too soon. Fresh out of school, we're all experiencing the kind of freedom and footloose that is so often romanticized. And yes, no uniforms! I see faces I didn't even know were in my class everyday. There is so much human variety, I'm just glad my new friend likes Coldplay. The respect and admiration for our teachers/ professors/ doctors is flaming even though they themselves expect it to simmer in just a few days time. We're all squabbling for the early benches and lining up for buying all our Ganongs and Grays. We’re geeky (or nerdy as some people prefer it) and proud.

It's a long and perilous way to the end. And the end is endless for there really is no end to curiosity. We're all in our own individual races for that fateful day when we'll be able to make our patient smile. Some of us will shine, some falter and some rise from the ashes- with tears that heal.