Time To Go!!!!

We’ve packed up, almost. Just the sweet stuff left, which we have to buy today in the evening. The fact that Diwali has come has been totally unheard by us , in this flurry of packing. Today, after watching all those shows celebrate Diwali, did I realise that Diwali is here. Its amazing, how much out of it all we are. There are no lights or diyas in the house. The refrigerator instead of being packed with sweets and dry fruits is almost empty, the last few things left are being packed to take away. I’m amazed at my own view. Diwali is a great festival, and I really enjoy it, but this year its just all so different! So surprising really. Any way, a very happy Diwali to all those who might come across this blog in the next few days. And my exciting trip of the US will be up in the other blog, Journey USA. I do hope its fun and exciting and that all that will be reflected in my blog. Do read it, random bloggers! Awaiting your comments on: http://myjourneyusa102008.blogspot.com/ ( or u could just click on Journey USA in my 'Other Blogs' list) Take Care all, and Happy Holidays!!!!!!

I was just surfing the net and found some very bright pictures to represent an even brighter festival of Diwali. Thought I'd put them up here, since there won't any of mine this year.

Time To Go!!!!

We’ve packed up, almost. Just the sweet stuff left, which we have to buy today in the evening.
The fact that Diwali has come has been totally unheard by us , in this flurry of packing. Today, after watching all those shows celebrate Diwali, did I realise that Diwali is here. Its amazing, how much out of it all we are. There are no lights or diyas in the house. The refridgerator instead of being packed with sweets and dry fruits is almost empty, the last few things left are being packed to take away. I’m amazed at my own view. Diwali is a great festival, and I really enjoy it, but this year its just all so different! So surprising really.
Any way, a very happy Diwali to all those who might come across this blog in the next few days. And my exciting trip of the US will be up in the other blog, Journey USA. I do hope its fun and exciting and that all that will be reflected in my blog. Do read it, random bloggers! Awaiting your comments on:
http://www.myjourneyusa102008.blogspot.com ( or u could just click on Journey USA in my 'Other Blogs' list
Take Care all, and Happy Holidays!!!!!!

Positive Vibes

Thats what I'm emitting today, according to a very close friend of mine, whom I met today. Interesting.....the positive vibes thing. And a little strange too. I have never looked at myself in that way....you know, the image that I portray of myself. Its very strange when somebody just tells you a hundred times that not only are you looking good, but you're also radiating something that is .., well, positivity!
I've been thinking about it a lot, and I guess the answer lies in the fact that life couldn't have been better for me; I have an amazing college, will definitely become a doctor, have an amazing trip of the USA coming up from Monday, have great friends, have an amazing family, have been blessed with more that I could ask for, have a great football club going great guns.......What more do I want to ask for??
And thats just it. I've always been a lover of life, one who would hold onto dear life for whatever its worth, simply because I consider the one gift that is more than anything else in this universe. So I just look at life the way it is and am happy the way it is presented to me. At the end of the day, the fact that you had that day for you is more important than how you spent it. And thats what I value. I couldn't care less about whether my day was bad or good, whether I managed to do all I had to or not, at the end of the day. I'm just thankful for the day and the opportunuties that it gave me or didn't give me. I'm alive and thats more important.
My principle of life has never failed me. I've come to terms with everything and anything. I'm just happy with what I have, and I guess today, the happiness of meeting an old friend translated on my face as Positive Vibes. She said that I've changed and for the better. The fact is, I know that. And I'm very thankful for that. Love Life. Thanks pal, for making me realise this. This entry is for you.

A Different Friday

As the picture suggests, watched Monalisa Smile today. I just love the movie. Not just because it has my favourite actress in it or because of the role she plays, but also because of the strong message that it gives out.

Having been brought up in the 21st century and in a family where my mother is also a professional, I refuse to believe that I could just leave it all to be a housewife, to raise a family, to be there for them. It just sounds crazy and very selfish on the part of the other partner. And thats what Katherine stands for in the movie. The way she trains the young women to make their choice and then the choices they make ( I still wish Joan had gone to Yale, but thats the choice she makes). And lastly, but definitely not the least, the student-teacher relationship between the girls and Katherine. I've always wanted those kind of teachers, teachers who teach by example, who we can look up to and say " Thats my inspiration."

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, I haven't got one teacher who had all those qualities bundled up together, but a group of teachers who've stood together as that one teacher that every student looks for. Its amazing, but when I look at any one of them, its impossible to see them as THE one, but together, they stand for everything that I've always looked for in a teacher. And films like Monalisa Smile really make all that come alive again. And I'm glad that Katherine decides to leave and not give up her principles, just for a good college to teach in. As Betty says in her last editorial, Katherine Watson was a person who walked on her own principles and did not let go of them even when every one else had left her. And thats what makes her the strong person that she is; the strong people that we all are today and will always stay.

4 More Days To Go!!

We booked the car which would drop us at the airport today, just about half an hour back, and yesterday, we said bye to my brother who's now currently taking a tour of Hyderabad. The week's gone really fast, you know, and I suppose the 12 days of journey will go fast too. And then, I'll be facing the usual boring college and studying for my exams.
Its surprising, but my countdown on Facebook has caught the fascination of many of my friends. Really wierd it is to have them asking me "What's the countdown about?" It just gets me all the more excited about this trip and I just can't control myself. I'm having a hard time trying to study too. But I guess, the trip will definitely be worth all the excitement. So come Monday and we're off!!!!

The Aftermath Of The Poster

Thats just happiness at it all being over. We managed it all, only just. But we did it. Saturday was just spent in running up and down the Ladies' Hostel, either trying to make our two representatives learn up their stuff or completing the poster. It was hard, but fun, hectic but great.
At the end of it all, we're just thankful that we've got a bundle of talent in the form of Zinkal Shah, who really transformed our poster into something we never imagined it would be. And we're also thankful to us, wo stuck it out to complete it just 15 mins before the deadline. It wasn't the worst we could've done, so we're all really pleased. And now with a Diwali Break and a trip to the US for me, who cares about what we could've or couldn't have done with the poster.
Seems that our two representatives had a hard time answering the questions bombarded by the judges, and they said that was the case with everyone. So obviously, we didn't win or get a consolation, but I guess that doesn't matter. I still love the poster irrespective of whatever happened or not.
We're now really busy getting ready for the trip. I'm hoping to start studying today, so its a best of luck to me on that.
They are just happiness at it all being over. We managed it all, only just. But we did it. Saturday was just spent in running up and down the Ladies' Hostel, either trying to make our two representatives learn up their stuff or completing the poster. It was hard, but fun, hectic but great.
At the end of it all, we're just thankful that we've got a bundle of talent in the form of Zinkal Shah, who really transformed our poster into something we never imagined it would be. And we're also thankful to us, wo stuck it out to complete it just 15 mins before the deadline. It wasn't the worst we could've done, so we're all really pleased. And now with a Diwali Break and a trip to the US for me, who cares about what we could've or couldn't have done with the poster.
Seems that our two representatives had a hard time answering the questions bombarded by the judges, and they said that was the case with everyone. So obviously, we didn't win or get a consolation, but I guess that doesn't matter. I still love the poster irrespective of whatever happened or not.
We're now really busy getting ready for the trip. I'm hoping to start studying today, so its a best of luck to me on that.

The Aftermaths Of The Poster

Thats just happiness at it all being over. We managed it all, only just. But we did it. Saturday was just spent in running up and down the Ladies' Hostel, either trying to make our two representatives learn up their stuff or completing the poster. It was hard, but fun, hectic but great. At the end of it all, we're just thankful that we've got a bundle of talent in the form of Zinkal Shah, who really transformed our poster into something we never imagined it would be. And we're also thankful to us, wo stuck it out to complete it just 15 mins before the deadline. It wasn't the worst we could've done, so we're all really pleased. And now with a Diwali Break and a trip to the US for me, who cares about what we could've or couldn't have done with the poster. Seems that our two representatives had a hard time answering the questions bombarded by the judges, and they said that was the case with everyone. So obviously, we didn't win or get a consolation, but I guess that doesn't matter. I still love the poster irrespective of whatever happened or not. We're now really busy getting ready for the trip. I'm hoping to start studying today, so its a best of luck to me on that. They are just happiness at it all being over. We managed it all, only just. But we did it. Saturday was just spent in running up and down the Ladies' Hostel, either trying to make our two representatives learn up their stuff or completing the poster. It was hard, but fun, hectic but great. At the end of it all, we're just thankful that we've got a bundle of talent in the form of Zinkal Shah, who really transformed our poster into something we never imagined it would be. And we're also thankful to us, wo stuck it out to complete it just 15 mins before the deadline. It wasn't the worst we could've done, so we're all really pleased. And now with a Diwali Break and a trip to the US for me, who cares about what we could've or couldn't have done with the poster. Seems that our two representatives had a hard time answering the questions bombarded by the judges, and they said that was the case with everyone. So obviously, we didn't win or get a consolation, but I guess that doesn't matter. I still love the poster irrespective of whatever happened or not. We're now really busy getting ready for the trip. I'm hoping to start studying today, so its a best of luck to me on that.


Now that does look gorgeous. We didn't expect it be all that amzing when we started but look what its turned into! An absolute beauty. Especially after our guide said," You can't do anything with a topic like that."


And thats Zinkal Shah, with our poster. All the decoration and the 3-D hands are her domain and she scored a perfect ten there.

The Day Before The Poster Competition

The day before the poster competition and we don't even have a ready poster. As in, we've got the ideas, and the pictures, and the glue, and the ready hands and everything. Separate. Not together. Three of us, bunked dissection by permission, and went to start off. By the time I left, we'd got half the title done, the T.S. drawn and the pictures cut. We have to stick everything tomorrow and write stuff, if the others haven't written it today.
But saying all that, its been fun to work with all the girls. We're the majority in our group and its been quite an experience to make the guys work and be the meddlers in everything. We are really proud of the poster, whatever it might turn out to be, simply because its our work, and we've put a lot into it.
The poster that we had in front of us, did not look as fancy as some of the others are, neither did it have anything that could be called different; but we love it all the same. We started from scratch ( at least I did, with the learning of all the muscles names and stuff), with the information, the pictures, the ideas we had, the ones we dropped, the ones we took to put into action, and basically worked together. I have to say, I have got an amazing group. The rest of my friends have worked in pairs and threes, with the rest of their batch having absolutely no idea of what they were doing. But, I've worked with five other girls, and that worked for us. We didn't bunk entire days of lectures to complete the poster, and even today, we went early simply because I wanted to get out by 5 pm. Our work has been split between us all, and that didn't really put a burden on any one of us. We haven't been greying our hair due to tension, and we definitely haven't been cursing the others. Actually we did, a bit, because of the guys, but after looking at what they did, I guess we're better off with whatever we did ourselves.
So its all down to tomorrow, lets hope Prajakta does well with Harshad for the presentation and our poster goes down well with the teachers. Thats all, really. And obviously excited about tomorrow being the last day of college before Diwali Holidays. Then its the GO USA!!!!

Now Its the Heart

And whats worse about the removal of the heart is that it comes with all the dried and clotted blood filling it, and that sight makes me SICK, SICK, SICK!!!!!
I just can't stand it. The look of that blood......I've been wanting to puck ever since I saw it yesterday. And one of my friends was busy cleaning all that yucky stuff out of the canals and valves and veins and arteries. Just when I thought it couldn't get worse. Will the dissection hall never stop making me feel this way???
And people from my batch have got indifferent to the formalin and the dead bodies, they actually handle organs without gloves!!! Which just adds on to all my rigmarole inside my mind and throat. Gloves just gotta be there, whether you like it or not. Today, our new batch teacher ( Dr. Y Kulkarni, who proudly handles everything without gloves), taught us the entire heart holding it in his hands. And not one heart, but four different ones! And he gave one of them to a girl next to me, named Zinkal. She wasn't wearing gloves, so she just looked at him for some seconds, before he repeated, " Hold the heart in its anatomical position." She handled the heart without gloves!!!YUCK! Its making me sick even writing about it, but that was what it was. And he got all the hearts dipped in formalin. So I was standing in front of him, with water pouring out of my eyes and my nose running, and my face burning because of the continuous wiping of the tears. It was horrible. All the red nose and red face, the smell, the formalin.....God! Dunno how I came out of that place in almost one piece.
The lectures today were really good. We had Blood Pressure by Dr. Jaltare in physio and Biological Oxidation by Dr. Joshi in Biochem. I really enjoyed them. It was quite interesting. The pracs weren't all that great. Thats the day. I wish dissection was better, but then everyone wishes for something more right??

Lungs Out Today!!!

It was actually sickening to watch the lungs been taken out....I wonder what the people who did it would have felt while doing it.....All the formalin spilling out, our eyes burning because of it, the spongy soft lungs that seemed like they'd collapse any minute.....It was sick!!! And my face probably said it all. One of the guys on my table continuously taunted me to do the job of taking the lungs out, after looking at my face.
They looked all black and dirty, hardly like the beautiful spongy pink things we're made to believe they are. I couldn't believe it last week that what I was looking at was lungs, and today, it ws just way beyond trying to believe. We were actually standing all the time and by the end of three hours, my feet ached of standing, and my head and eyes of formalin. You see, the lungs are all filled with formalin. When you take them out, you are actually taking a bucketful of formalin out. Imagine what a bucket of formalin can do to our eyes, if small drops and the smell bring tears and burn our eyes to the core.
I haven't touched the lungs yet. I dunno, but my aesthetic sense ( which is suddenly very well-developed in the dissection hall) hardly lets me raise my finger to it. Even last week, the feeling of the softness of lungs was done by me with a forceps. God save me and the lungs! Thank Him today's torture is over!!

One of my friends feeling the lungs. Strange, but I guess she liked it.

Thats my friend and table-mate Ekta with the right lung that we ( without me) pulled out.

Thats the two lungs from our cadaver. They hardly look as dangerous as they did LIVE.

A Poster + Tea Party

We met quite early today for the poster thing. And we managed to do something at least. It was sort of interesting to work on it, trying to fit in as much as we can, having those suggestions about how to make the muscles out of wool threads. We've finally got together a rough idea of it, and will show it tomorrow before we make the fair and final one.
Since we were in the Ladies' Hostel, I got in a pic of my friend's room and of some interesting bones that another batch has made for their Poster. They've made it out of Plaster Of Paris, and had left it to dry in the common room where we did our work.

Thats the room. I took the pic through the door. Its really small, but not as small as it looks here.


And these are the bones. Quite a work of art, 'coz the students got them all right.

The tea party was great. It started off a little badly, that is boringly for us. We didn't know a lot of people, so it was just us. Then the seniors started with the game of footwaer, where we were given partners and we had to race to get their shoes. Four of us didn't have batch-partners so we had seniors as our partners. Then there was the cross-introduction session whre my partner refused to call me anyting other than "he" and just did not know what orangutan was. And he added that I just wasn't helpful ( which got a lot of oohhhhsss n aaahhhsss from the crowd)!!! We then played passing the parcel with an egg. The person who got out was given a dare. I got one to enact a scene of eloping with my boyfriend, and we had to include everything from where, when, how, what of the journey. It was fun....We spent about 4 hrs....An interesting time, and we liked the seniors for once....

Cute Puppies

I thought of including this three days back, but didn't remember ( usual me). There are these gorgeous new-born puppies in our parking lot at college. They might just be like three days old ( obviously, today, about a week old). They're damn cute and I wanna include them here too. I took a video too, so here, take a look at those little darlings.
They were sorta shicering in the cold wind that was blowing, and that looked so pathetic, that one of my friends actually wanted to put them in a warm blanket and only then leave.


Aren't they darlings??!!!

Thats the mother. She wasn't really annoyed at seeing us, or at least didn't show it.

I'll get in more pics of them as they grow older. Till then, guess we have to make do with the video!!

Poster Time!

I went to the Ladies' Hostel today for the Poster which we have to submit by Sat, and the rough work of which, we have to give in on Monday. It was the first time I've seen the Ladies' Hostel. The rooms are really small! And there are three girls in each. So its three beds cramed in together along with a study table and a common cupboard. Really thankful, I'm not staying in a hostel.
We've decided to do all the bones through thermacol, and I thought I'd do it, so I took up the job. I had to use a blade and I knew I had to be careful, but you know me. I've cut my index finger. It isn't exactly paining, but am I angry with myself!! I can't even type properly. The blade was in the dissection box, but hopefully it wasn't infected, 'coz, its been covered. I've got pics of my finger. They're not exactly clear, but I guess it'll do to tell what has been done by me. I'm so, so, so careless and clumsy!!




There you go. Now with a spotted ring finger, I have to handle a bleeding index finger. :((

Rangolis: Vedant 2008

Hi, during the intercollegiate festival of Vedant, there were these amazing rangolis drawn by the students of colleges participating. Rangolis, for those who don't know, are designs made by spreading powders of different colours the way you want them. So you can make pictures, assymetrical designs, anything. You need to have the knack for it, though. I can't drop that powder to make things work. I'm horrible at rangolis. But these ones were so, so, so pretty, I have to include them. Hopefully the pics will be upright:


A real tribute to Bal Gandharva Tilak. Its really like him!

The caption itself says it all: A tribute to Leonardo da Vinci

People didn't like this much. But I did. The colour combination is great, it really gives substance to the design. And its not easy to make all the people of the same type in this way. The idea's unique!

This is the best out of all. Can you believe thats a rangoli and not a painting?
Nobody had the guts to even move a colour from its place. It was left to
Nature to do it. The rain wore out its simple beauty.



And thats what it is. These are truly beautiful. Putting them on my blog is my way of saying "Well-done" to all those who did them and whom I'll never meet. Kudos guys! I'm looking forward to seeing some more next year!

20 more days to go....

I just can't wait to get to the US. We've started making the plans for everything, what we have to see, how we'll be seeing it all, and its so exciting I can hardly wait. College seems so boring because of it all.
But with the trip to get on to, I've got a lot of homework to do, and for the first time in all of my small college life, I feel like studying every day and feel like listening to the lectures and paying attention to them. Its strange, but I'm under the pressure of having to finish a lot in less time and, as usual, it works! We're working on that poster. A little weird to work with so many people, but I guess I can manage it all.
And the localites in my batch will be given a Tea-Party ( read: ragging outside the college premises) by our immediate seniors. Its on the 12th but I still dunno the venue. I don't like our seniors much, so may be they'll give me the opportunity to like them a little more. They're truly the ONLY people excited about it all. We aren't even interested much. Who cares about them any way! We're doing great on our own.
Today's lectures were good. I like the respiratory system, I've always liked it. Its fun to read about it all. And I like Biochem any way, so Wednesday can definitely be labelled as good day.
And I repeat again, 20 more days to go!!!!

Submission II

And it finally happened. To turn out to be the worst I could expect it to be. I wasn't exactly nervous like last time, with a blanched white face and cold palms; may be thats what was the matter. But then I thought I was more prepared than last time, so I thought it was natural not to get all that worried. Any way, I didn't recognise the Median nerve and totally lost it on action of Brachialis which I said was flexion at shoulder joint instead of elbow joint. I got a 12 and well, I've failed. I'm not too worried about it, 'coz the marks are wrong. I mean, I definitely deserved a 15 at least, so I blame the teacher. Don't have to mention it, but I hate him. Can't stand him at all, thank God our batch teacher changes from tomorrow.
After coming back from college, we went to order the Bathroom tiles and by the time we came back, Mom and I were dead tired. And Mom had to go and see 5 more patients. I really admire the stamina these people have, Mom and Dad. Cudos!
Gotta sleep. One main job done, two to go......and then USA!!!

A Bloody Day

Got my passport today and its a 10 year multiple-entry visa!! Couldn't have asked for better news!
Going back to college after 3 and half days is probably the most boring thing one can do, but well have to do it any way. We had revision pracs in Physiology, and they made us do all the non-microscopic Haematology ( in slang, the pricking pracs) again, whether we liked it or not.
Having been off the pricking sessions for the past two weeks, my ring-finger was quite scarless, and since this might be the last practical involving our own blood, I decided to go for the kill and pricked myself deeply everytime I had to take the prick. We had four practicals to perform and by the end of all that I was stuck with a hot and paining and quite a bloody finger.
My bleeding time came out to be 7 mins because of the deep prick I took, the blood just wouldn't stop flowing out!! Seriously, I dunno why I do it. Its either a superficial prick or a very deep prick. Why can't I get a normal just-right prick?
And to top all that, our submission was postponed. It was supposed to be held tomorrow, but because our batch-teachers have gone out-of-station, its been postponed to Monday!:(( I wanted to get over with it tomorrow and then enjoy a quiet peaceful weekend. Looks like thats never going to happen! Ah well, can't brood over it now. Guess I'll have to study harder for Monday.

Done it!! Go USA!!!

Say Hello To The Newest Tourists Of USA!!!
We got our VISAs and nothing can be compared to the feeling of satisfaction we felt after those ten minutes. Luckily or unluckily depending on your view, almost all the conversation was between the interviewer and Mom. My Bro and I got like two sentences to speak. And that obviously worked in our favour. Those words uttered by that good man will be etched in my memory forever -"So you're all set. Have a safe trip!" I guess even he would have been surprised at the range of smiles those words got on our faces.
The entire trip was great, not just because of the result. We reached the Stars-and-Stripes Lounge at about 11:30 am, after a sicky tour of Mumbai. You kow how Mumbai is, the typical smell of polluted and used air, the stickiness of the stagnant moisture in the air, the sun burning down upon you and giving you the feeling of actually being in a place just short of what hell might be. Mumbaikars love Mumbai, thats when their skins get used to that sticky, gooiy and yucky feeling when they step out of their air-conditioned houses. I hate Mumbai, because I have enough of moisture on my face any way to be handled. I prefer the dry heat, the dry sun burning down on my skin and overall, going to Mumbai just helps me realise how much I love Pune!
Ok, going back to describing the trip, we reached the Stars-and-Stripes Lounge at 11:30am, didn't have to wait outside at all, unlike my parents who had to wait for an hour before they were sent in. There wasn't a better welcome I could think of than the gust of the AC as we went in there. We changed, got washed and refreshed. We then went to the Lounge where we had our share of the breakfast ( twas included in the ticket). Must say, the sandwich was yummy, and then the coffee was my favourite CCD Coffee!!
We waited in the Lounge till our Appointment time was announced and when that was done, we aboarded the Bus which was to take us to the Consulate. Here , well we were subjected to the typical Mumbai hot-n-humid heat as we had to wait in the bus for sometime and then outside the entrance for another half an hour. It was bad, but well, I managed....
When we finally got in, we had a security check. Its the first time that the beeper hasn't beeped as I went through the door. Guess the security lady was surprised too!! I was given a wooden panel the size of a blackboard duster which i had to keep with myself all the time that I was there inside the Consulate. Then, inside the waiting room, we were handed pink slips with our numbers ( according to which we'd have our interviews) and our papers. Having got all that, I had to procede to the fingerprints counter, where fingerprints of both my hands were taken and we submitted our papers.
Then we just sat down waiting for our numbers to be called. The American Accent might have caused problems, but it didn't! Guess too much of television works in my favour sometimes. We had an interview.
The next part of the journey just went in a blur! We came back to the Lounge, got our things and made a headway back to Pune. Overall, it was great, and not just because of the result. The entire system works in our favour and its all really easy to understand. I mean I could easily have done it all myself, and next time I won't really have to be worried about anything. It is all too simple and comfortable.
So thats our VISA trip....can't wait for my next trip to Mumbai which will be to part of Bombay ( had to come out, just never get used to saying "Mumbai"!) I love....The Airport! Look out USA, Here We Come!!!!!