Chapter 2 – Pretty Darn Similar to Normandy.

“Every man for himself”

A girl in a pink salwar kameez, heroic surgeries and the noble cause of saving lives were few of the thoughts that crossed my mind, when reality struck, disguised as an alarm buzzing at 0700h, a feat which I have not and don’t want to achieve till I am living in a democracy. I was in a place with new faces and newer expressions on them . Being a creature of  night, I pulled myself out of the bed and got ready for the first faceoff with medical college. With a lot of assumptions, some, which were to be proven wrong and the right ones left in the corner of the head, where the conscious mind hardly bothers to probe, I entered the lecture theatre.

The HOD of Anatomy, a post which can aptly be re-designated as ‘God of Gods’ for us, the first years, started his introductory lecture about the medical profession and the great task which lay in front of us , ie passing our exams ( which are made to flunk you!!) and becoming medical doctors.I remember the lecture as one of the very few in which all students were attentive and not dumb-founded as they would be in most of the lectures planned for that year.

Biochemistry was the next big one, and every medical student, apart from a few weirdos, finds it dry. I was no exception. On the other
hand, me and a few of my colleagues who at least thought they had a life and knew that the subject is meant for either the socially
challenged or those who just want to bore themselves all their lives, had the best nap in the first lecture itself.

The third and the last subject in the curriculum, Physiology, was a cakewalk compared to the big giants, Anatomy and Biochemistry. I knew I would be faring better in the subject because of my nature to write down pages if the concept has hit the right chord with the sleepy non-conductive nerve cells of my brain. I think I was lost deep in thoughts of my school crush when one of the most sophisticated, well spoken, polished and good-looking teacher walked in the classroom. Since that day me and a few colleagues who have a keen interest in beauty, have sat in the front row.

Back in the hostel, it was war and utter chaos. Being in a new place, especially the hostel of a medical college , everyone wants to do
their own thing, apart from the common string that binds us all – the academic struggle , and they are either overenthusiastic, thinking of running away or being simply lost. Being the overenthusiastic one, I
started taking interest in academics, intercollegiate events and ‘other’ extracurricular activities. My keen interest resulted in a personal invitation to the Anatomy department, one of the many firsts. Every medical student, whether in Delhi or in any remote area which might not even exist on the map, is aware about the annual intercollegiate fest of AIIMS called PULSE, which is held in the month of September. Officially it is the biggest medical fest of South East Asia and unofficially a chance for people to come from all over the country to get stoned , washed and in the process rejuvenate those ‘grey cells’. 5th September was the closing day of the fest, and Shankar Ehsaan Loy were performing live. I, taking it as an opportunity for all of us to go to a live show, requested the warden to grant permission which he did but did not stop there.By next morning the entire Anatomy department knew of the non-issue, and a simple idea from us became an administrative problem which we had no solution. So at the end , me and my fellow partners in crime were invited to the anatomy department for a personal lecture on discipline and college rules. To sum it up, if the faculty wants to have their way, they usually do by giving hilarious reasons and even follow it up to make it sound logical.

In between all this commotion , the warden Lt Col Gyan was busy promoting the ‘buddy’ system to improve inter student relationship.
The buddy system is a commonly applied concept across the army where 2 people are paired up and told to stand for each other , no matter what. We were expected to do the same. With army instructors and 36 guinea pigs(The male students) to screw around with, such great ideas are bound to get implemented. Personally, it was one of the very few novel ideas which could have been a trend setter.

The girls from our batch were a completely different species, they actually seemed to have just landed from venus. they could be
classified into a common group with identical(not even similar) characteristics:

A. Near distance of all girls was 10 cm’s (this is purely evidence based as their books were so close to their face, the difference was
quiet slight)
B. All were pampered school girls.
C. Too nerdy , even for the medical profession.

I felt like an Allied soldier, landing at Normandy who survived boot camp and knew the task at hand, but when in actual combat, after
contacting hostiles in the area, he is blank and his only motive is survival initially, and no boot camp training comes handy, what comes to mind are his own basic instincts and wit.