The Weekend Before The Exams

Its tough, trying to think of exams from next week, precisely, next Friday. And I'm not exactly completely prepared. So I'm in major soups of all sorts. I'm really worried about Physiology. But hopefully I'll manage somehow. What I really wanted to write about was the dissection we started this week. Its the Head and Neck, and we dissected the scalp and even the brain. AND I LOVED IT ALL!!!!!! Its like one of the biggest things in my life really! Me and liking dissection and even doing it. The brain looked amazing! It looks just like the way we draw it. The other body parts differ, but this looks exactly the same, as the diagrams we take mintues to master. Guess, that really took me by surprise. I was thinking of sitting in the library today. Unfortunately, the maintenance work had to come up today itself, so well, my experience of studying in the library has to wait a little longer. Maybe Monday. I'm thinking of trying to finish with Biochem this weekend. Hopefully I'll be successful in this attempt at least. I've put pictures of our brain dissection.....Its not as gross as it looks!

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.

A Month To the Exams

I know I haven't written in a long time. I've been trying to catch up with all the work I missed and trying to study hard for my exams which start on the 2nd. Luckily my batch has a great time-table. People say it is cramped up, but we finish off in a week and nothing can be better news than that. So 2nd is Anatomy, 3rd is Physiology and 5th is Biochemistry, followed by pracs on 6th, 7th and 9th. On the 6th we have Biochem, so its lucky us. We'll be able to answer decently.
In the past few days, I've been trying to work on my presentation. The Seminar's quite close and I have to get it ready by Friday, so that I can have enough practice and can pull off the coup well. I have a feeling I'll do a great job with it. Mom and Dad are helping out too, so obviouosly, it's exciting.
Which reminds me, I have officially now started watching Dad's operations. A bit of a surprise coming from me, but I had to do it and it turned out to be quite a treat. Well, not a treat, but after the dissection hall, anything is better. Only the spinal anaesthsia sucked a bit. I've had a dread for injections and that sorta shot that dread to at least 10 times more. I took the video and according to Dad it has turned out very well. I even attended a workshop on hernia, which was full of live hernia surgeries. I watched three of them. Not that I understood much, but well, all a part of the experience.
And another good news is that our street play was selected for the finals. They are to be held today, and hopefully we should win. I basically gave up on it, after a week, because it took up a lot of time and I got very tensed about my terminal preparations. But I did go and see the end product twice, and I'm glad they did what they did. Watching that street play made me feel for the first time that I was a part of BJ and proud of it.
Overall, college has been good. We don't ,or rather, are not allowed to do much of dissection. mostly its our Batch Teachers who do it all now. Leaves us a lot of time to revise. Everyone's got into the habit of getting B.D. Chaurasia to the dissection hall and read it in there. Officially speaking, its not allowed and and we got a hell of a firing from our HoD of the Anatomy Department. I have never seen him as angry as he was yesterday, screaming at us and the teachers as loudly as he could. Guess he'll never even consider liking our batch now. Just three more days to go before a glorious weekend. Looking forward to that.

Wow, Thats Pretty Unlike Me

Taking on a Biochem Seminar to work for and then a street play to work in is quite unlike me, you know. Especially when that means that two hours of my everyday routine will be gone and exams start in the first week on Jan. But there's another voice in my head which says: College-life is there to enjoy. You didn't exactly do that in Junior College, why don't you do it now?
And my point is, doing all this will just help me. Having 6 friends is not enough, especially in college. Participating in these things is gonna help me get to know more people and in turn, evolve me as a person. Besides, I've always wanted to participate in plays. Its another thing that a street play is way out of my comfort zone, and not exactly my style either, but then thats what Life is, isn't it? Getting out of what you do well to do something you've never tried out before and give it a shot. Its makes you feel adventurous and spices up life a little. Otherwise, what was my life before this? get up in the morning, get ready , take the 8 o'clock bus and reach college. Then, spend the entire day in college cursing the lectures, getting bored of practicals and looking forward to a frustrating 3 hrs of dissection hall. Come back home at 5:30 pm and then study for about two hours or so, write my blog, go off to sleep. Thats it: Day Over, before you even know it.
Now at least I have some things to look forward to, to make college a better place to go to. Ahh well, lets see how things go. The topic is Effects Of AIDS. We've gotten a few themes down, today we'll be doing some more mind-searching for creativity. The auditions were supposed to be yesterday, but that didn't happen. And may be it'll happen today, or maybe it won't. Just don't know.
Apart from that, college is the same. We've started with the clinical pracs in Physiology, so its definitely a little more interesting to check each other's pulse and Blood Pressure. All my parameters are normal, so there's nothing to worry about in that department any way. We had an interesting lecture on Synapse yesterday. I actually read it from Guyton before sitting to write my blog. Still got some pages left, but the fact that I read it on the day when she taught it, is definitely a thumbs-up for the lecturer and the topic.
And a last minute note about the Spanish Sports year. They just seem to want to add on more and more and more. Being an avid follower of Tennis and a loyal fan of Rafael Nadal, I did not believe Spain could win the Davis Cup. But their rally to come back into the game was very inspirational, and awe-inspiring, really. Congrats to spanish sports. Its been a heavenly year for them, and something that all other countried should look up to and try to gain.

A Weekend

My first since coming back, and I feel so great about it. Medical education is really stressing. And thats not about how much you have to study, but just about the going to college, listening to the lectures, doing your practicals, going into the dissection hall; you hardly get any time to sit down and think. So a good holiday on Saturday and Sunday really rejuvenates me.
We're gonna have a Biochemistry Seminar on the 20th of December. On the topic of Enzymes. I decided to participate. Its Chemistry after all, and I have a good feeling that I can make it all more interesting than our teachers in college, so I decided to have a go at it. My topic is Clinical Aspects of Enzymes or Uses of Enzymes. I think it'll be a very interesting topic to speak on, and I'll learn a lot too. Luckily for me, I had a choice and I was the first person to give my name from my batch, so it all really worked out well. Now all I have to do is work hard on it. And since I'm pretty excited about it, I think I'll do well.
Moving on, I also registered for the Arts' Circle. I dunno how much there is for juniors in it, but I've given my name and that means I'll at least be notified about it. So actually, I've managed to do all that I had to DO as such in college. I'm glad. I was able to take off this weekend without the thoughts of the left-overs......Now its time for enzymes to make way into my small head and then their uses. Go Enzymes!!

I Held Spleens!!!!

Not today. Yesterday. We had histology today. Yesterday, having seen our batch teacher, Uddhav Sir, complete the removal of the spleen, I was somewhat excited. It looked really clean and hygienic. So I thought " Why not try it out finally?" And I did.
Its a hard organ somewhat, the spleen. But the ends are soft, thats what Ekta and I noticed, after having held over 5 other spleens in our hands. And they vary. In size, in shape, in weight, in everything. In some, the vessels can be easily identified, in some they can't be. Rather, in most, they can't be. We had just one spleen in which we could actually identify the hilum parts properly. So it was interesting yesterday, for a change.
Physiology pracs have now the clinical pracs. We finished with the pulse, and all peripheral places where you can note the pulse. Needless to say, I got all of them in me. Sometimes you do have advantages of being thin. Its Blood pressure next, on Monday.
Today was fine. Just looking forward to the weekend. One more day and then a two day break. Really need it. So here's to a saturday which will come in one more day's time!!!

A No-Cadavers' Day

Yeah. Going back to college is tough. Gotta catch up on a lot and everything, but seriously, today was amazing! Worth the three days I spent, before today in college. We just had one and half lectures owing to BAMS exams and our college being a centre. And then, when we went into the dissection hall, there were torsos on the tables. Thats what they are, by the way, torsos.
Our batch teacher told us, that today was a reading and learning session so thats what we did. It was fun, to sit and read without having to look at the table and wonder what you are doing next to a dead body in the state that it is.
So it has been a good day. I'm finally studying really hard and am liking it. Just need to increase the blocks of time. One more day gone, another one to come!

Back To College

I've had a lot of time to rethink my life, and I think that's what's best about a holiday. You go to a place away from your regular life, and think. For me it was less about thinking and more of running around but thats what travelling stands for to my family. Basically, I needed this. To ponder on some things that have been plaguing me since my CET got over in May, I even got a few answers. It is quite something, that a change of scene can do so much. It seems ages since I attended college, and obviously thats not a prospect to look forward to. But my point is, that now I look at college from a different perspective, and that sort of makes it all more tolerable.
Of course, the climate's sickening. After having endured the cold, cutting winds of NY and Buffalo, coming back here to a warmer climate was one of the worst realities. I hate warmth, and after 18 days of shivering and clinging to sweaters, I now can't exactly heave a sigh of relief. Its strange, but my body just adapts to cold better than it does to warmth.
Coming back just makes me realise how much of a break it was. I didn't know what was happening around here, wasn't in touch with the news, the film reviews, the cricket, the football, and it felt good. Today, its almost like coming back to a new place because of whatever I've missed out on. guess you need that sometimes!
Jetlagged a bit, but not as much as I expected. Thanfully we have a holiday today for Gurunank Jayanti. I couldn't have brought myself up to the task of going to college early in the morning. But its college time, and I gues I should get ready now.

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!!!!!

Getting Ready

It was an emotional send-off for Dad yesterday. And that does NOT include tears and sad sorry farewells. What it included was a lotta questions like "Did you take your ticket?", "Did you take the passport?'' , " What about the policy?", " Have you locked all the bags?", "Should you really carry that watch with you?", " How much of Indian Currency d'u have? Give it to me!", "Where is your handbag?", and last but not the least " Have you taken you passport, ticket ( better keep the xerox copies in every bag) , the policy and the letters? Lemme check it all!" The list is really endless but you just have to be so careful with him. Its not like Dad can't travel alone, but God!, we all are dead worried about him till he reaches his destination safely. He should have reached by now. I'll message him after I finish this.
As my Dad's busy crossing the Arabian Sea, Europe and the Atlantic, we all are busy getting ready for our VISA interviews, as in basically, me. Mom's been a show trying to tell me everything possible she can and actually looks quite sure about us doing well. Hopefully she'll be allowed with my brother and me for the interview. I've been trying to mug up what all I've kept in which file and things just get hazzier and hazzier. I'm just more excited about the trip to Mumbai. I just go back all the trips I took in the month of April to the city for all my entrance exams, and I really enjoyed the 'going there' journey. We'd wake up early in the morning and then start off at like 5 am.....It seems like a different world now. All so long ago when nothing was sure, when all did was to wait for May 8th, when I was actually just a kid preparing for her exam and nothing else.....
And this time when I make a trip, I'm an adult trying to stand up on her two feet, a girl going for her OWN VISA interview, a doctor in the making, and just not a kid! Tomorrow I might have to suffer the very first rejection of my life and that too straight on my face. There will be no waiting for a written result saying 'Your Rejected'. If it has to be done, it will be done then and there. Hows that for a girl who's turned 18 just two weeks back? I guess it'll be a cool reminder of sorts about what the not-so-rosy world out there is all about. And if I get a yes, it'll be my first success as an adult and ,well, that'll definitely give me a bigger outlook of life and a first step towards achieving the Ultimate Dream! I'll definitely become more of an adult than I am now with the entire trip where I will have to take care of myself, where I will have to behave in a particular way......and it is all so exciting!!! I miss my old days of fun and frolic, but I am so looking forward to taking my own responsibilties and living my own life on my terms. So it all happens in probably half an hour tomorrow. Just wait and watch!
I'm confident of speaking well, after all English is my forte`, so guess I'll be okay. Hope I get the papers right, thats all.
Going back to my dad leaving, I didn't go for dissection in college yesterday ( not it actually happened. Nobody turned up on my table). And l'il brother caught a rickshaw and came home as fast as he could to see Dad off. After all, if he took his school bus he'd take ages to come home and never get to farewell Dad. Sweet na!
Thats it. We have a holiday today and day after, so its a holiday for me for three whole days!!!

A Poster I Don't Understand

The past three days haven't exactly been the best I could get, but then life is not always happy and rosy, so I guess, have to accept them and move on. We had to pay some money and submit a form yesterday to the MUHS to register our Eligibilty for the course which started 2 months back. As I start to take more control of my life now on, I also do my work on my own. So that led to having to stand in the scorching sun of 10 am for half an hour in front of the bank, an hour and a half in a double line inside the office which is so small, you wouldn't even notice it if you walked across, and a final hour just inches from the counter. It was madness, to tell the truth. I seriously prefer the AC banks with four different counters doing the same thing. Of course, this time it wasn't my choice and I had to settle for something I would very well have avoided. In a way it was fun but the sweating-as-u-stand definitely didn't work on me. To add on, there was just one small air cool which blew cool air through half of its actual surface area. Yeah, well, its done. Thankfully, by the time I reached the college office to submit the form, there wasn't a line there. That work got over in a like a min and a half!
I felt more satisfied than ever after having done my bit of standing in the line. Two of my friends went away after half an hour and then came back to get stuck in that heat for more time than I did, so it does pay off to listen to your mom's advice people!!!
I'm eagerly awaiting Wednesday, when we will have our US VISA interview. I really want to get that VISA and I really hope it all goes extremely well.
And finally, onto the title of today: We have this poster on the topic 'Intrinsic Muscles of Hand'. There are so many of them , its hard to remember each and every one. And the clinical anatomy just goes on and on and on. Just have to sit with a dictionary by my side for it all. But I'm confident that we'll do well and win the competition.

Slums, D'u Call 'Em?

I wouldn't. Not when they have their own television, their own refrigerator, their own music systems, dress decently enough to look like they have a 1BHK home. But it was an interesting experience to walk through the slums for the PSM Pracs today. We visited an Urban Health Centre, and then the slum adjoining it. It has population of 15000 people, and yeah, they all don't exactly have a lot of space to themselves. The hygeinic conditions are more towards the bad side, with water flowing along their doorstep, and the women washing clothes pretty much in your path. But, it wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. We even got a few pics with these two school girls and they replied a "Welcome" to all our Thank Yous. So a good trip. It was interesting and quite a change from the scenes of BJ Medical College. We'll be given a family per person later on in our student-career and we have to graph their health and all. Its all an interesting task and I'm looking forward to that challenge. Moving on with describing today, I did dissection!!! After 1 month and 21 days. Not that it was all interesting. I still got as bored as usual. But yeah, i did have comments like, "Pranjali, aaj kya khake aayi ho ki tum dissection kar rahi ho? ( Pranjali, what have you eaten today that you're doing the dissection?)" Thats actually all that was out of usual today....

This a photo of us with the two girls I've talked about. I'm the one, whose yellow top's been seen. This seriously was fun!!

Ah Well, May Be Its Not Done!

The last few days have been more of a I-don't-wanna-go-to-college in the morning and a tired soul in the evening, by the time I came back. yesterday was perhaps the best time I've had with dissection. We had already detached the arm from the torso, so we hardly had anything to really do. We read for the first hour and talked and just sorta wasted time. Then our batch teacher came and he asked us questions for another 15 mins, after which he himself told us to read! So the three of us ( Ekta, Prajakta and I) sat together to do the actions and nerve supply of all the muscles ! It was fun! We were doing it aloud and in a chorus, so we looked like we were singing aloud. People from the other tables were just staring! And the best part of it all is that we managed to get them all rote! So I'm done with all of the most messy parts of Anatomy! We had our snatches of idiosyncrasies of sorts. Ekta asked me what the nerve supply of Supraspinatus was. I said, " Suprascapular." Then she asked, " What about subscapularis?" Prajakta replied, " Thats a mucsle na!" God, we just burst into laughter that shook our entire table.
Those three hours took my entire attention of my ring-finger which was paining from the two pricks I'd taken for the blood smear, in the Physio pracs. Not that I got my blood smear right ( it was just average, but , yeah, I can work with it for the next prac.), I just got two deep prickes, a blue-black segment of my ring-finger and a frown on my face. Why do we have to prick ourselves so many times? Any way, my body's crazy when it come to healing of wounds. It takes ages for it to do so. And now, I've already had about 20 pricks on the ring finger alone, in the same region! The marks haven't even gone! The marks make me even more scared. How can you prick yourself in a region where ther is already a prick, which hurts and oozes blood at times?
Thats what my day had been like, yesterday. I did have a funny doubt. I notice every time I get a prick, my ring finger becomes warm and my little finger becomes excessively cold. The other two fingers and thumb are at normal temperature. My mom was also puzled with the phenomenon. We're still trying to look for a good answer to this problem. Any one know why it is so?

The Day When I'd Studied

Yeah, the day lives up to its name really. I did everything that had to be done about the Humerus ( bone of the arm), and had a lecture in its actual sense today. The feeling of having done all that our batch teacher ( a new one now. A Dr. Kailash) told us, a feeling of revising the stuff, a feeling of 'I'm-not-learning-anything-new'. For the first time I really liked the LCD. And I'm really proud of that fact!
The lectures today were good too. The one cardiac cycle was just so enlightening. And that sir, Dr. Jaltare was extremely good at the topic too! Basically, it was better day than I expected it to be, after having woken up with my left leg paining like anything. Plus, Mom and Dad got their visas for the US, so thats one worry of today gone.
For the prac from 11 to 1, we went to the tuberculosis centre. It was a good trip! We were told and showed all the medicines that patient has to take, according to the category of his disease, plus we were made to see what the bacilli look like under the microscope. They look like thin lines of pink. We call them rod-shaped. The smell in the lab ( of sputem) made me really sick, and what was worse is that all the people out there worked without masks. The lady making the slides wore gloves, but the one checking the slides, was bare-handed! I wonder whether its safe. After all, tuberculosis is an infectious disease, and when you are working in such a centre, you just have to maintain the precautions. You don't wanna have tuberculosis as an occupation-hazard! When, later, in the Ladies' Room, I mentioned this fact aloud, the lady who had taken us on the tour, was found standing just behind me! It was embarrassing, but I really want her to have heard what I said and ,hopefully, do something about it. Thats all there was today. Interesting, that is. Life goes on otherwise in the med-school. Met a school friend of mine after college. I felt more lively than I have ever in the past one month. What they say is true. Friends made in school are friends for life, and nobody can ever take their place!

The Week Preceeding The Most Important Day Of My Life

Submission was great. I managed to score a 19 out of 25, which I think, is a decent score, considering that I'd only done half the portion really well. I was totally blanched before the viva. I couldn't even think properly. My heart had gone completely weak, n I felt I'd just drop onto the floor out of nervousness. Thankfully, by the time I reached the table, I was a little calmed down and that helped me answer all the questions well. I'm pretty happy.
Moving on, the rest of the week has been more of a wait for Sunday. So, I was dying to have the Friday come. We attended the solo singing competition in the Vedant festival. Enjoyed a bit. There was a tour of the entire of Sassoon Hospital as a Preventive And Social Medicine practical. We had to walk in the sun, the only sad part of the entire walk. We even went into the 'dead-house', the common name for the cold room in the forensic department. The dead bodies had been kept there after having been post-mortemed. Our cadavers have trained us for everything. The dead bodies just looked like people sleeping, naked.
Birthday yesterday was great. A nice and quiet family get-together, with lots of friends calling up and bothering to remember my b'day. Thats always special. We watched 'A Wednesday', a fantastic movie. I loved it! Over all, I couldn't have thought of a better day to turn 18 and a better day to celebrate it. I want a guitar as my b'day gift and I hope I can get it soon.
And a last word of hope and peace for all the victims of 9/11. As every year goes by, I wish that it can only push you towards a new dawn, a new desire to move on, and the persistence to fight for peace and brotherhood. To all those lost souls, may they all rest in peace. Amen.

Ha Ha! Not Bad!

The tutotrial turned out to be quite good, except for the writing part. I've hated writing long answers. I mean, you have to start froma place that isn't even mentioned in the question just because you have to write a long answer! But, thats what's required so who can challenge? So, as I've said, I hate writing long answers and yesterday was no different. But, I managed it somehow and got past it all. I still need to repolish my answers a bit, but I guess since it was a first attempt, I'll improve. I'm praying with all my heart that tomorrow's lower extremity submission is on the same lines.
That reminds me, one of the PG students has a project going on where she takes our height, head length ( ant. to post.), the outline of our palms and feet. It was funny when she asked us for that. What kind of a project is that? But it may give some grest results so too early to comment.
My friends think I'm getting too angry now-a-days, at small things. I've always been short-tempered but this seems to be reflecting a little more than usual. Is it college frustration getting to me? Or is it simply something else? Still gotta find that out. But I wonder you know. I mean I don't feel anger and frustration showing in my writing right now. In fact it looks happy and excited about the next challege. Tc Bye!

Teachers' Day

Nothing special....Just wanted to remember all my teachers once and thank my stars for having them. I hardly am responsible for my success. They are people who have toiled like anything to make even a small amount of what I am today.....So thank you. Especially, my school teachers, 'coz you are the people who created a me out of an uncooth young bud brought before you. So Thank You.......There is nothing that can repay what you've given me.....and I guess trying to repay would very well insult your efforts.......
I'm bugged. Got a tutorial tomorrow....Hoping it goes well.....I mean, yeah, i kinda know whatever I do, but I hope I can write it all.....Gotta study and write my article so cya!!!!

The Rainy Days

We've had tremendous rainfall every day for the past three days. There's been flooding, slum-damage, accidents, tree-falls, motor-vehicle breakdowns, traffic-jams all over the city. With the drainage the way it is in the city, the water could just stop short of getting into the first floors of buildings. Watching helpless people stuck with their broken down vehicles, old people trying to walk around on foot in the rivers on the streets, melts my heart to its last bit. I wish I could talk more about it.
On to college, we had another pricking session on Tuesday. And my earlier prick hadn't even healed. To make matters worse, I was selected as a volunteer for the session. So the Sir pricked my ring-finger one hard time and did it all, and then I had to do it all myself again. Having the cold, hard and fast and a runny nose, I was breathing through my mouth half the time. So after taking my first prick, I started sucking the blood slowly and steadily, without any air bubble coming in, before my breath began to give way. The teacher was there saying, "Good, good, very good" and then suddenly, " Don't suck with your mouth!" Had to prick myself again and did the same thing again! The teacher got tired and my cold increased. I asked her whether I could do it with somebody else. I'd had enough of pricks. The first time I was pricking myself, I pulled hard at the needle out of its cover and got it stuck in the back of my fore-finger. That hurt. Seriously hurt. And that blew my confidence to pieces. First the paining prick from the volunteering, now another one from my mistake. And then two more! Ask yourself why I wasn't ready for a fifth prick on my hand.
But had to do it finally. The teacher appreciated my cadour. She had to. And I did it all. Maybe not exactly smooth, but I managed it. She was delighted when I showed her my own Leucocyte count. " Very Good!" Those words really put some ease to my aching hand. The back of my fore-finger still pains, but the rest is fine.
We had the Staff Debate today. Topic-" Sex Education is a Must" Interesting. It was fun watching the staff fight it all out. And we were allowed to give the Dissection a miss. So anything will do. Even a boring debate would have done it for me. Luckily it wasn't.
We've got a tutorial and submission coming up. Finally have to study now!...Good Night!!

Two days of Fever

Yup, thats what its been. Courtesy a lecture I attended sitting right under a fan working at its full speed, I ended up with fever on thursday. It was horrible. My face was all red, palms all white and eyes all droopy. Didn't know what to do really. The PG student who was taking our lecture was staring at me all through and finally managed to ask whether I was ill or what!
Decided to call mom to tell her I was coming back, but the sweetest person that she is, she said she'd be there to pick me up. I' ve spent a day and a half at home. Yesterday, I went to college. It was ok. I mean, when there are ten other things to think about you automatically start feeling better. Dissection however got me down again. The formalin kills man! My eyes were watery and my ex-runny nose was runny again. by the time I came back, I had an awful headache and all that I wanted to do, was to go off to sleep. Better today, and will get even better tomorrow. My signs show that I'm improving so thats great. I hate being ill. Thats really it for now. Gonna start studying hard from tomorrow, so enjoying myself on my last day of holiday as such...
Ending with an excerpt from my diary entry on Thursday:
"Hello and welcome to Redland!!! D land where Pranjali Sharma's all red with droopy eyes, a red-hot nose, runny nose, white palms, cold soles n luvly washed, wet silky hair. Where my ears choke up n throat is sore, where my mouths half-open, body shivering; where Pranjali Sharma is sick n ill wid fever, yet looks 'khoop goad' (very sweet) in Mohini's words.

No pics n today

Its irritating man, the pics all are tilted and there's nothing in blogger that can help me get them correctly arranged. Can some one please help me out here. Some of the pics are so good, and cute, really wanted to post 'em.
Moving on to today, I actually managed to prick myself well and get the blood out in one straight line without any air bubbles in the pippette. Thanks to that Sir who was pressing my finger hard and actually made me complete my prac. Hb count's 12.4. Good enough. Imagine a girl who looks healthier than me had an Hb count of 10.6. So obviously a victory of sorts. The lectures were boring. I wasn't feeling good and the teachers just added on the torture. I've got a sore throat and a cold. Fever any time now. But I actually understood something in the Clot lecture! Thankfully, the biochem lecture was about stuff we've already done, so wasn't a guilty feeling, when I wasn't paying attention.
There was another surprise for me in store. One of my friends is in the NDA, n we haven't talked in a long time. There's no range in his cell there. He actually called today! I've been thinking about him for the past few days and wham! there's a call. I was in the dissection hall, so couldn't talk much. Hope he calls tonite. I mean, I really have to know what NDA in really about. Dissection was ok. Our batch teacher was very unfair to us. Just because we couldn't answer some of her questions, she decided to mark us all absent. Lame! I feel like a school-going kid as I write this sentence. And we had fun trying to make the Non-Maharashtrians speak Marathi. Some of them don't even have the dialect rite! God knows how they are gonna stay here for the next four and half years.....
Well thats it. Really pissed with the pics problem. Wanted to post them, but the wrong tilt destroys the entire beauty of the pic!

An Experience

Before I talk about today in college, or about yesterday at Lohagad Fort, or about a cute guy who happened to share my surname, I wanna talk about this conversation I had with my mom's friend's husband. This friend of hers is a teacher in Physiology( hasn't taught us yet!) in BJ. So my mom said that she'd drop her home, and ultimately, we ended up going to her place. So that's where I met her husband. He's very jolly person and a Translator by profession. He was very sweet and all, and as mom and aunty went around for a round of the home, we sat talking. The substance of our conversation was mainly about how I ever topped my school ( St. Mary's School, Pune), and then went through a very different system to get admission into the best college in Pune. Since their daughter is also in Mary's, he wanted to know more about my concept of the school. That's where he said that he took around 32 yrs of his life to know what he really wanted to do. He went through commerce, then management and was into industry( in the true sence of the word), before his career took a path that he liked. He said that, he never really felt at ease with whatever he was doing or with whomever he was interacting, because they always seemed to be totally different than he ever was. There never seemed to be much of a connection between him and his 'friends'. And so he was there, when out of the blue, by Fate, (as he put it), he met a professional translator and his path fell into place. All though the conversation, I almost felt like I was talking to myself. This is exactly what I feel at this stage. The confusion, the don't-really-like-what-i-do thing, the want to do something different, the desire to be a writer but not be allowed financially. God! For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm not going through this, being the only one to do so. There are other people like me, people who've gone through the same things I'm going through right now, people who've had the same aspirations I have now. And he maintained diaries too. So the world is really a small one and Fate has been good to me today. I know that I want to keep writing and be a writer, yet continue with medicine, because its a way of life. I feel like I've been drifting through the system, and now I kinda feel that there's a reason to it. I feel light and sorta empty-headed but in the good sense. Thank you uncle for that 10 mins of conversation, it helped me sort my life out a bit. And will help me enjoy my time in a medical college a little more...:))
Now for the trek. It was awesome. And I realised I have no stamina. India is a beautiful country and all, but the sites we encounteres at Lohagad and even at the Malvali railway station were just more than breath-taking. It was serene, pure, raw, truly NATURE. When you talk about nature, you generally talk about the trees, the mountains, the rivers, the waterfalls, the clouds and the overall beauty of the place. What made the Bhaja caves and Lohagad fort more beautiful was the history attached to it. At almost every step we took, we could feel the history surrouding us. Lohagad was beautiful and very, very cold!!!!
We took about 3 hrs to reach the fort after we had finished with the Bhaja caves. It was tough, the journey. The road was simple, but it was horrendous trying to walk up and continuously for 3 hrs without any experience. I was quite famous as 'Red Tomato', when we stopped for our first halt, and then as a lesser red one when we reached the top. It was embarrassing, especially, when Raunak kept on teasing my face colour.
The top was drizzly, because it was enveloped in the dark cloud cover. We had our lunch in a cave-like stone room, and then had an intro kinda session with seniors. Our trip was cut short by a quarrel between our management and the locals. So we started down almost an hr earlier. the road which seemed tough when we walked up, was quite easy and we carried on without any incidents of slips and broken parts. Because of the rain, the ground was quite stick-muddy and slippery but we managed fine. The bestest moment of the trip was when we all jumped into the waterfall.
We had never expected that our rope-leaders would allow us in there, but they were all for it!!!. So it was a walk on the water covered stones, and then suddenly a fall, because they was no stone!!!! It was seriously fun and God! we went crazy. I fell so many times but never stopped. We had water fights, photos, laughter, lens problems and total fun! There was none slightly dry by the time we all finished. The experience of splashing water on somebody you don't know and vice-versa, of somebody pulling you up when you've fallen down, of you doing the same, the screams, the 'BJ' shouts........it was a whole new world. And of course, our clothes got clean, our face got washed, we felt cold instead of hot for a change, and felt like this big group of FRIENDS who were having a LOT of fun.
There was a sad part to it too. My shoes which had started to give way to wear and tear, finally lost it all in the water. When I came out, I was in a pair of shoes in which one was with half the sole hanging in the air, and the other with the top of the shoe coming out of the sole!!!I managed in till the end, because of the long laces with which i tied the top and the botom of the shoes together. I was better off than another girl, Mrida, who suffered a worse fate of shoes early on in the climb to the top. She came down, on socks with all stuffing that our seniors could find. We learnt a lesson: Carry an extra pair of shoes every time you go on a trek.
We finished the journey coming back in the local from where we started, me being totally wet. In the local, the specials were in the form of our male batch-mates singing in the most unruly voices, songs that we hate and like in the typical BJite and Marathi style. It gave me headache while coming back, and encouraged stares and comments from passengers both ways. I really enjoyed it all. There was no fall, no losing-my-cell incident and total 'dhamaal' ( enjoyment+ fun+laughter). I pity those who did not come and feel bad for those who did not enter the waterfall. I'll post the pics in the next post.
Onto today, the interesting incident: We separated the leg from the cadaver; the result of super-human effort by our dear table-mates, who bother to touch the body. I didn't watch the process because of the effects it would have on me after it was over, and the video of them doing it was stuck in my head. But, I am an integral part of it all, any way!!! Today, was a little less productive than usual, bcause the formalin hurt my eyes so much that my eyes couldn't stop watering and I even got a cold!
Thats what it has been. A great weekend. The pain in my , umhh, gluteal region and the upper part of my fascia lata, doesn't count much in the experience of a lifetime..:)))

A Rare Occasion

I was siting and reading my Cunnigham as usual during dissection. I mean, its kind of a universal fact- 'Pranjali Sharma does not touch the cadaver'. So, being true to myself, I was siting and reading the book while Prajakta ( the gal who does the cutting work. I'll never say it to her but Thank you!!!! I dunno what I'd do without you, my dear!) was doing the dissection. I'd read a bit of the chapter from BDC yesterday, so I could actually understand what Cunnigham was trying to say. Really engrossed as I was, I was oblivious to my surroundings. Suddenly there was a voice apart from mine ringing in my mind: "Have you ever participated in the dissection?" I looked up and to my horror saw a teacher standing above my head. I stammered, " Yes, Sir. I did the dissection on the first-" . He cut me, " When you talk to a teacher, you should stand up and talk." Crap!! " Yes Sir. I cut the skin on the first day. Now she does the dissection and I read and then we figure out all the contents." " And what about the other two girls? Don't they read?" "I don't know sir." And then he asked me where the Sciatic Nerve and the Gluteus Maximus was, what the origin of the sciatic nerve and what the function of Gluteus Maximus was. Thankfully, I actally knew all that stuff! So he was impressed. In fact, most of us answered right, so he was happy with our table. When he went off, I just sat down in relief wiping beads of sweat from my forehead ( exaggerating!!!).
And then I realised, the 'he' was none other than the Head Of Department Of Anatomy, Dr. Savgoankar!!

Thinking Time!

Today was about 'No Dissection'. We had LCD, thankfully in the classroom, unlike yesterday, and then Histology Practicals. So, I didn't get dirty or sick of the smell, and my head's clear about writing today.
First of all, wanna remember Sushil Kumar and Vijender Singh for their efforts to get the medals. It was one of my proudest moments as an Indian, to hear the news. Especially when its games like Boxing and Wrestling. I, especially, feel that Sushil Kumar deserves more of the credit, because he did what no one had ever expected of him. Goddamit! People didn't even know his name before yesterday. But today, you stand proud and tall, and that is what matters the most. They showed his home on TV. And looking at all of that we realise how much he might have suffered during the years he's spent being unknown. Its not easy, and thats why he deserves more adulation than a Sania Mirza or an Ajali Bhagwat. Sania is nowadays more style than substance. Its almost as if she's lost her appetite in tennis. When you see greats like Rafael Nadal and Justine Henin, trying harder even after they've achieved their goals, trying to show support for some one like Sania Mirza feels like an insult to them and to you yourself.
Moving on from sports, coz I can really go on and on and on, I'm gonna talk about myself and BJ. I've been wondering whether mine has been a right decision. Mom enjoyed college, every day was a special day for her. For me, its more about a treasure game. Search for the treasure of a fun day. I thought that learning what we are would be interesting, I'd look forward to studying ( something I'd forgotten in the 12th). But its not happening. I keep wondering if this was the picture I saw of myself. And evry time the answer is NO. I did not. And I wonder whether, I'm forcing myself to do something I just don't have enough liking for. May be its the study load catching up with me. Dunno. Well, I need to sort myself a bit. But before that a serious need to do the Gluteal Region and Popliteal Fossa. Besta luck to me!!!