Love

Have I ever talked about love before? Over the past decade or so, I've made up lots of definitions of 'love'. They were related to different things - food, book, colour, boys, sports, style, song, chords, etc, etc. The one thing that was common in all of them was constancy - the constancy of my feelings for all those things. So I have come to the conclusion that love is what is enduring and unchanging. Feelings that change over time are not "love". Yes, Jill, wonderful discovery!! You've really got out some new information! The path of the whole world is about to change!! (I hope that sounds sarcastic enough:-p)
I'm not going to take names obviously. As a teenager, I had my share of crushes and great loves. Every new crush was supposed to last forever, be that "special someone". It was good while the feeling lasted. Then, one fine day, I would get up in the morning and ask myself what I even saw in that guy!! But, it was during this time that I found I was better at being in love with broader things- like certain food, cricket, tennis, Westlife songs. Yes, I felt that zoom in my stomach every time one of those came into the picture. And it has remained unchanged over a long time.
Day before my Dad and I went for the IPL match between Pune Warriors and Mumbai Indians. Before I start gushing about the whole experience, let me give you a background about my mental state.
I AM CRAZY ABOUT CRICKET! I am obsessed with it. The obsession started in 2003 and has continued till date. I used to just list cricket as my favourite game before that year. I can watch any game of cricket involving any team. I obviously prefer my faourite teams, but I'd still watch a match just for the love of the game. Before I entered Medical school, I knew the names and faces of all the international cricketers, their coaches, the Physios and the Umpires. Since, entering Medical school, I can't boast upto that extent, but hey, I'm pretty much a walking encyclopedia about the current players. I love reading autobiographies of cricketers. My ultimate dream is to go on a cricket-nations tour and visit all the cricket grounds in those countries, reliving my favourite matches in each of those stadiums. As every other fan, I would do anything to talk to my favourite cricketers.

The Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium

Go ahead, call me stupid. But, the game is my release. This and Harry Potter are two things that get my mind off everything else on earth. Oh yes, also a Rafa match. But, I'm drifting away. I love cricket and I love me for loving it.
So, we went to Gahunje, and my first reaction on seeing that field was, "OH MY GOD!! WOOOOOWWWW!!" A circular field, velvety green, surrounded by the stands with no pillars, the grass all fresh and inviting, it was beautiful!! I think the Wanderers or MCG or SCG will obviously be more inviting because of the history attached to them. But the Subrato Roy Stadium was simply stunning!!
The match was good too :-) After all, Pune did bowl well. It was disappointing to see us lose by that one run. But, hey, that's cricket :-) I was excited that I finally got to saw Michael Clarke (especially the dancing Michael Clarke) and Steve Smith for real. I think that really made my day. I realised that my passion for the game and its players and its teams is for real. When I was sitting there, my mind was off everything else. I heard news that would have, at another time, gotten me pissed. There, it made no difference. It felt so refreshing to be in that state of mind.

Dad and Me Cheering Our Team On :-))

Over the past few months, I've been wondering why I seem to drift away from things and not feel passionate or in love about anything. The game made me realise that my thoughts aren't right. I do have the passion. If I'm not feeling passionate about something, I'm just not into it. Its time to throw all that stuff away. As usual, it has been cricket to my rescue again :-)
Come on, man Pune, get back to your winning ways!!
Our Inter-disciplinary Seminar on Hospital-Acquired Infections was held today. It was a success in every way :-) We all spoke well, and since the topic and the way we handled it ( we went infection-wise rather than subject-wise) were different from the usual line, the crowd was kept interested. Over all, it was a great experience. I loved being on stage (as usual :-)). I was very disappointed with some of the teachers sitting right in front and yawning right through our presentations. As teachers, they are not expected to do that. We, students, spend a lot of time and energy creating these presentations and running behind these very teachers asking for their help. In return, we get a lot of attitude and high-handedness. The least they could do, is on the day of the real thing, be mentally and physically present and supportive.
It has been a tiring week. I don't feel all that great about it. But, I have my awesome presentation to look at and World Laughter Day (6th May) coming up, to brighten my mood a little. Come on girl, lets stand straight and face the next week with your head held high!!

An Interesting Week

I haven't been able to get a lot of time all week, to write about all the stuff that has been happening around college. So I'll start right away.
This may sound a little strange, but BJ does not have its own convocation ceremony. I didn't think much about it either, when I first heard about it. But the more I think about the amount of years and days we spend here, the amount of LIFE that we learn and live here, it does seem a poor way of celebrating an amazing 6 years of life, without a convocation ceremony. Mom and Dad said that, they didn't really think about all that when they finished with their course. It seems that there is a huge convocation ceremony at the MUHS, and the certificates are just handed over by post to students here.
Any way, the current batch of interns ( Batch of 2003) decided that they did want a convocation of their own, and wanted to do it all in a grand way. We had auditions for the organising committee, and I'm very happy that I made it into the committee. I'm in the Anchoring committee. For the moment we don't have anything to do as such, due to lack of information. So we're handling the invitation designing. Over all, I'm really excited about it all. This experience is different and , the output of it all, should be very satisfactory. We've had about 2 complete committee meetings, and two sub-committee meetings, and they have been learining experiences all the way. The convocation will be held on the 7th of March.
Apart from the convocation, the Firodiya is being talked about a lot. It is an inter-collegiate art competition. And by Art, I mean Art as in a play, songs, dance, music, fine arts, painting... the entire package. The guys are all deep into practice, and none of have seen a full-stretch of the play yet. We keep our fingers crossed any way.
BJ also won the first prize in an Inter-Collegiate Band Competition, held at Symbiosis day before. It is supposed to be of a good standard, this competition, and our band's lead singer was a first year batch-mate of ours. So obviously, we're a very proud batch, currently.
Yesterday, we finished with the Anatomy Seminar too. I didn't end up participating, but one of my really close friends did our poster. Prabhjot got a special mention for it, and we can't be more proud of her. She's given herself a hell of a nervous night, and the rest of us , some nervous days too. The seminar was more of a celebration of sorts. After finishing with the posters and presentations, we had a cultural program of a kind. It was refreshing to look at the Anatomy department dressed up and really happy for a change. All the participants did really well. Shreya and Mohini from my group of friends got the 3rd and consolation prizes respectively.
The week has been an interesting one, as the title of the entry suggests. I'm hoping that the next week is great too. Two weeks of continuous 6 days of college are pretty draining, so we're all looking forward to the second Saturday of this month, coming up next week. For students in BJ, this Saturday will be more important as a Holiday than anything else!!

Seminar Over!! Oh and also the Submission

It wasn't all that bad. In fact, I think I would have given a great presentation had I not been told to finish a 15 min gig in 7 mins. But, I enjoyed doing it. I wasn't scared at all, as I thought I might be, and it was amazing to come up with a presentation which garnered comments like, " The slides were amazing, the animation great. I wish you'd had more time." We had a situation in the middle, with one of my friends fainting and going into a fit on stage while giving his presentation. He really scared us all. But, thankfully, we got it all back. Basically, it was a good seminar. I wish we'd communicated more with the teachers. It would only have turned out better. The audience was about 50 people. We expected less, but thought that people would attend the seminar at least for the sake of attendance. Guess the thinking was wrong, but the expectation right.
The gist of it all is that I'm thankful that I took Therapeutic Uses, really grateful to Mom for doing what she did and simply enjoyed presentating my entire slide show. Even the laser beam, which hadn't worked throughout the seminar, worked for me!!
Moving over to the submission, I really thought I'd go blank when I stood in front of our batch-teacher. But, luckily, he called us in groups of three and asked Prajakta, Prabhjot and me questions whose answers we actually knew. We all got 24 out of 30, the highest in our batch. I know, I don't really deserve it, because I'm basically still clueless about Abdomen, but for the sake of a good day, I wanted the submission to go well. Didn't want it like last time, where I got a 12 and was left cursing myself all through the remainder of the day. So, 20th Dec, considered to be a sort of landmark in the last few months of year 2008, has passed and passed well. No real regrets , just a terminal exam to look forward to. Not a nice thought, but if I could manage today, I can manage that too.

4 Days For The Seminar

I know it sounds strange, but I'm more worried about the seminar than my abdomen submission, which happens to be on the same day. But I guess, when I take something really seriously, I do get worked up.
The presentation has turned out beautifully. Its actually what I wanted it to be, when I gave my name for the seminar. All thanks to my Mom, who's converted my average presentation into a delight to read, watch and teach. I'll never say this to her, but she's actually done something I can never thank her for enough. She's given yet another instance to say," You're the GREATEST Mom in the world!" Thanks a ton! I know how much work she has, and yet she can come up with time to sit and turn my presentation into what I wanted it to be. And look at me, after all the 2 o'clock nights that I put in, I came up with something that did need fine tuning. Any way, at least its done, and I'm sure it won't bore people to death.
We had revision of all the microscopic physiology pracs today. I just couldn't bring myself to prick me, and when i did, well, I simply had to do it all again. Its so wierd. Only on sunday was I thinking of how I'd managed to prick myself months back, when now, I couldn't even think of putting a pin on my skin. And hey presto!, the entire package just came up!! Well, as happens every time, my ring finger is blue-black again, and pains at a slight touch. And I'm pretty disgusted with myself and the teachers. Will definitely be glad when all this gets over.