R.I.P

Thank You Andy!!

2012 has been a very just year. It gave each of the Top 4 their deserving Grand Slams. That's a nice statistic :-)

Congrats to the winners of 2012:
Australian Open - Novak Djokovic
French Open - Rafael Nadal (yay!!!)
Wimbledon - Roger Federer
US Open - Andy Murray

Another interesting fact is that they won in the order of their rankings at the start of this year :-))

To The Teachers Who Made Me

Every year on Teacher’s Day, I call up one school teacher to wish her. I may not call any body else, but I have to call her. This year, when that did not happen, I couldn’t sit still. I kept fiddling with my cellphone, trying her number many times. I wondered, when she did not pick up on any of the calls, whether she had shifted; and whether I would ever be able to wish her a Happy Teacher’s Day again.

This is my class teacher and Maths Teacher of Class 9 and 10, Mrs. Siraj. She was new to our school and was given the responsibility of our class. She was brilliant. There is no other word to describe her. Maths teachers are always intelligent, but she had a way about her. She was strict and, at the same, sweet too. She treated us all equally, a quality so needed but so unfrequently found in our school. She was partial to our class, obviously. The number of times she scolded us for making too much noise (and our class was above the Principal’s Office) are too many to count. She said that since we were her children, it reflected upon her ability as a mother, when we were unruly and noisy. She scolded a lot of girls for being unlady-like, but you could always see that she really cared.

Did she pick me out to be her special one? No. But, she always supported us when it came to sharpening our talent. When our school had to send the 8 brightest students for a ‘Catch ‘Em Young Programme’ by Infosys, she chose me. When I got selected amongst the top 30 in the city to attend this program, she told me that she knew I had it in me to be the only one selected from our school. When I did bad in Maths, she was always there to guide me (in the process criticise me for my silly mistakes). I remember that we had Practice Exams before our ICSE boards. She gave me a 92/100 in Maths, despite my having solved all the sums correctly. She told me that she had cut my marks for the steps I hadn’t written. Nobody was going to look at my Practice Exam marks, but I was not to make the mistake of skipping steps in the Boards. When I got that 99/100 in my boards, I was disappointed because somehow, I had still managed to skip a step or two. She let me solve so many different papers during my Preparation Leave. My mother used to go to school to meet her so that she could correct those papers. And she did it. Without a word about the extra work she had to do.

I still remember that last day of school…we were all so emotional. Our days in school had been cut short by our Principal. We were to sit at home a week earlier now. It was a Friday and we had a double Maths lesson at the end of the day. Usually, this lesson was reserved for tests. This Friday was no different. We complained to all our other teachers that it was our last day at school, and Mrs. Siraj was giving us a Maths test to end school life with. The other teachers must have talked to her, because she came into class and said she wouldn’t want to disappoint us so much. She cancelled that test. Instead, she spoke to us for an entire hour…talked to us about life, about how whatever happens, we stood stand strong and confident about ourselves…how our parents are the foundation that we should never let go of…friends may come and go, but parents always remain there…so even when they become old and tired, we should stand by them, because they are the ones who made us…there were so many other nice things she said…there wasn’t one person in class that wasn’t crying when she ended when the bell rang. She had made cards for each and every one of us. Individual cards with different messages for each of us. She made us realize how much we had loved school, how much we had loved her and how much we were going to miss when we got out of that school.

I say I owe everything I am, to that great school, St. Mary’s School, Pune. I also owe the same amount to Mrs. Siraj. She managed to keep me grounded despite my school values that inculcated a somewhat different idea. She made me a more focused person with the will to do something with my life…to make her proud that I am her student.

The year we got out of school, I called her up first to wish her on 5^th September. I called up other teachers too. But, as the years passed the calls reduced, the contacts were lost, and I probably became a long-gone memory in my teachers’ minds. With Mrs. Siraj, that was never the case. I make it a point to call her up every year. It makes my Teachers’ Day complete. It is magical to hear her voice when she says, “Thank you so much!”, in her typical accent J It’s been 6 years now…and 6 phone calls down the line, when I couldn’t wish her on Teacher’s Day, I couldn’t rest. The idea of not wishing her for the rest of my life, in case she had changed her number, was too huge to digest. I sent out messages to all other teachers that I had numbers of, to tell myself that I hadn’t wasted my Teacher’s Day. It wasn’t enough though. I tried the next day too. When she didn’t pick up then too, I had to believe that I had finally lost contact. I’d lost contact with another favourite teacher of mine 2 years after leaving school. This had at least lasted 6 years. A little disappointed, I turned back to studying when I got a phone call from her!! She wanted to know who’s number it was. When I told her it was me, she was delighted. She actually told me that she had been waiting for my call the previous day, because I call her every year J That made me feel so happy!! I could finally wish my favourite teacher on a day that is made for this very reason. Now, I have her cellphone number. She said, “Now you can call me any time and I’ll pick up.” Thank God. Now I won’t lose contact.

A lot of students in BJ gave our HoDs and HoUs roses and bouquets on 5^th. I wondered whether I should have done the same for them too. After all, they are going to take our Vivas in the Univ Exams. It’s always nice to know that you’ve done your bit too. But, then I thought, “Do I really respect all of them?” And my answer was no. Yes, I respect them as teachers. But its not real respect that I feel. It is more the respect that you’re supposed to give people in power. Mrs. Siraj, now that is what respect feels like. No matter what, I know I want to wish her on Teacher’s Day. When that is the kind of respect I have for a teacher, I shall wish them or gift them too.

There is one teacher in college that I respect. That’s Dr. Khadse, the HoD of the Dept. of Paediatrics. That woman is one hell of a person. She is intelligent, loves her work, manages the Department really well, takes an active interest in us UG students and is a disciplinarian too. That is a woman to respect. And, that is a teacher I took blessings from. Whether she remembers me in the future or not, is a different matter. The point is that such people are rare. There was another teacher I really really liked, but she got transferred to another college a few months back. That was my Guide for the Hospital-Acquired Infections seminar – Dr. Mrs. Dube. A very sweet, soft-spoken person who naturally emanated a radiance of joy and freshness wherever she goes. I missed her on 5^th and made sure I got through to her. Lucky for me, she still uses her Pune cellphone number J

Lastly, that teacher I lost contact with. She was my Hindi teacher in school. Mrs. Joshi.  And the very best Hindi Teacher I’ve ever had. My Hindi literally flourished under her guidance. I even got an all-time record marks of 87.5 and 88 out of 100 each in my papers Hindi grammar and Hindi Literature. There was something about her and the way she taught us the subject. There was so much enthusiasm and love for the subject! It just made you want to do well in that subject! I loved her and her personality. I wish she hadn’t moved to Nagpur and from there elsewhere….maybe someday, I shall meet her…till then, its through this blog that I say, Happy Teacher’s Day, Mrs. Joshi. Thank you for making sure that my love for Hindi only grew J

Angry

I am so ANGRY rite now. Angry to the extent that my concentration is being intercepted by all sorts of childish thoughts about what I would like to do to the person concerned. That led to me writing. Nothing frees my mind more than putting down in words how exactly I feel.

About two years back, we were celebrating the fact that Paediatrics does not include a journal. We did not know then, about a notebook that you have to prepare. This notebook is supposed to have 30 cases. Ok, so I came to know that this year. I spent two whole days and the night in between them, writing this notebook and managed to get that load off my head before the term end examination was done. Unluckily for me, by the time I went to the respective teachers, they weren’t in a mood to sign.

Today, I got the signature from my second CR pretty easily. She was sweet enough to just sign in the index and told us to put ticks inside ourselves. No, it the other CR who’s the nidus of my anger.

Since, in second year we did not know about this journal thing, we didn’t bother to really approach any body. Now 2 years down the line, we have genuine cases in our notebooks, but no CR to get them checked from. The current CRs are playing handball with us (we being that poor ball). First, the CR started checking my journal, but then he got bored and shooed us off saying that he’d never seen our faces, that we weren’t posted under him, so he couldn’t give us his signature. We had to go to the other CR, who told us we had to get permission from the lecturer so that the CR would be eligible to check our journals. All this, despite telling her (and him) that they’d given signatures to the rest of my batch.

 Finally, after pleading to him and given him his supposed due share of respect, he said he’ll check our journals at 7:30 pm. I was not in the mood to go all the way to college, 10 kms away (100 bucks by rick one way) for a signature I wasn’t sure of getting. I gave my journal to my hostelite friend and told her to get it signed for me. But, I should’ve realised that this CR is a jackass through and through. He expects people to come all the way from home to get his darling signatures. And, when they don’t arrive, he simply says, “ No. Tell her to come herself.”

I don’t understand what problem these residents have. It may be called human nature to reap the benefits of attention showered on you once in a while, but, seriously, do you do that when you’re dealing with 9^th semester students, who will be appearing for the Final MBBS exams in 2 months time?? Are you that cold-hearted? What does he know about the trouble of coming all the way from home to college. After all, he isn’t a localite, right?

Jerk, absolute jerk. Ultimately, we have to go to him any way. Because, our appearing or not appearing for the practical exam depends on that signature of his in the index, doesn’t it?

Jerk. I hope he fails in his exam. Or at least, if not that extreme, I hope he falls down after I’ve gotten his signature and fractures his hand so that he can’t sign any more. That’ll save quite some time and energy of people wanting to study.

I am also pissed off at the people from my batch. Yesterday, a few of them went and got his signature. One of those was a girl who used to keep telling me to tell her when I would be going to the department to get those signatures. There are some really mean people in college. Selfish enough to not even inform. Nice. Its been that kind of a day, you know. You’re just angry at the whole world and the whole world actually does things to get you even angrier!

By the way, that workshop in Delhi got postponed. I don’t think I’ll be attending it now. My prelims last from 24^th Sep-9^th Oct. The final date of submission for ICMR is 15^th Oct. So I don’t have much time to do anything, let alone travel. Well, now I’ll celebrate my birthday in Pune. I don’t like that. I was really looking forward to this Delhi trip and spending my birthday there. I guess I haven’t realsied how much this project is jinxed. 

Philosophy

I so love this song. Especially the words,
"Ho Shyaam Bhi Toh Kya,
Jab Hoga Andhera,
Tab Payega Dar Mera,
Us Dar Pe Phir Hogi Teri Subah"

What they mean is, that in your darkest hour, when you're down and out, God will open a door for you, a door that'll lead the way to a bright morning and a bright successful future ahead. So, however tough times may be, keep trying. Help is always going to be round the corner :-) 

Exam Forms

Yes, the day is finally here. That dreaded day when I submit my Examination form. Yesterday, we had to run around a lot for a lot of things that need to be done.
1. The Challan - You get that challan in the Students' Section in college and then after having filled in the details, you go to the bank in college to fill your exam fees. I don't why and how it happened, but when I went to fill in my challan, there were just 2 people ahead of me. For the past three years, I've had to wait in that damned sun and then in a stuffy room (called the bank branch) to pay that money. Yesterday, however, luck smiled upon me a little. I could even go for my Gynaecology lecture, I was so sure I was going to miss!

2. The No-Dues Certificates- There are two such certificates for people living at home (god knows how many for those using the Hostel). One is from the Hostel saying we have no dues there, and another from the College saying that we've paid our fees and we have no dues here either. I was smart and lucky enough to pay my fees on Thursday itself. This fees business is really annoying. I started telling myself that I had to pay the fees way back in March. Obviously, I never did it. I realised that last week and since then, its been a task to remind myself every single night. Somehow, I did that on Wednesday night. I was so lucky, because when I came to college yesterday, there was a HUGE line of students waiting to pay their fees; a line that did not get shorter until the guy collecting the money declared "lunchtime". Phew!! The great part about paying your fees close to the exam form filling time is that you have those Receipts ready at hand. In  my first year, I had to waste a few days looking for those receipts (we'd paid the whole money at the start of the year itself) :-P

3. The Certificates from ObGy and Anaesthesia Departments -  This is new. This is NOT nice. When your examination form have to be submitted the very next day, and that ObGy Department decides to act mean because they have a three-day workshop to conduct, it hits your nerves at all the wrong spots. It definitely made me want to spit all kinds of stuff at my Professors and maybe even the HoD, if he'd turned up. But, I wasn't alone so I was restrained by my friends big time. They did give us the stamps that we required. After all, a whole batch failing because they refused to co-operate will be much bigger news than some stupid workshop that went the chaos-way.
The thing about these certificates is that it is plain useless work. We have to stick our photos on the certificate page of our Journals. Then, we have to catch hold of a Lecturer, and only a Lecturer of the concerned Department to get it attested ( which consists of his/her signature and the stamp of their designation). So, you may have the best of acquaintance with a person at a higher designation, it will be of no use.
Choosing these two departments only, and not the others fails to spark any light inside my considerably intelligent head. The only reason I can think of, is that its their last way of troubling us. Anaesthetists are never outside the OT. So, you roam about carrying your OT material and get inside every OT possible to catch hold of those people. The Department itself is also located just outside the OT. So, you may be told to wear your OT slippers at least, to enter it.
ObGy has the most number of OPDs that a stream can have. Our timetable in ObGy is like a superfast busy Deccan Queen. Every day there's something different. There's Antenatal OPD, Gynaecology OPD, MTP OPD, Labour Room Day, Wards Day and OT Day. 6 out of 6. Nothing repeats. So, getting hold of lecturers is pretty tough. You shall only have one lecturer in the ward on one day, or you simply run around to the other places, located on a completely different floor!

We did get the stamps and the certificates. At the end of the day though, my legs had given in to that accumulated lactic acid. They did not want to walk, neither did they want to move. So did my mind actually. I slept pretty early. But, thanks to that wonderful ghost that haunts me this year (''YOU DO NOT KNOW A THING") I got up early to study.
Exam Forms shall be submitted on Monday ( hopefully, I shall get my No-Dues Certificate from the hostel. It is such a pain in the ass to wait for days on the end for just a formality! I don't even use the hostel, and I weren't forced to pick up books from my hostelite friends, I wouldn't even know where it was! However, I still wait. Wait for the same amount of time as my hostel colleagues. That's the fairness of this world, isn't it?  

P.S. I am officially certified to write my exam now :-D The college thinks so. Do I??