Taking the Test
For quite some time, I was counting down to 17 June 2011. Months turned into weeks, and weeks in days. And all of a sudden, I found myself sitting in the waiting area of the Pearson Vue. I was about to take the test I have been preparing for more than half a year! I would remain calm, I had told myself the night before. I had prepared well, and there was no reason to panic. But then, I had also told myself that I would have a good night’s sleep before the test. That didn’t happen. Likewise, my heart was racing and my mouth dry. Soon enough I had my picture taken, fingerprints scanned and was sitting in front of a computer that said, Click next to start. Oh! I wondered, there isn’t going to be a – your time starts now. I could start the test...
Why?
Were we not always told by our science teacher, to always ask why? To always question. Why does water bubble when you heat it? Why does a earth revolve around the sun. Why does the apple fall to the ground? Why is the sum of the two angles of a triangle equal to the external angle of the third angle? Our math teacher had hard time explaining that corollary! We were honed to ask the question. No matter how obvious the answer was. What we were not told is when to stop. When you question why did the apple fall, you get gravity. There is a reason why we asked that question. There is a sane answer to it. But when you start applying this scientific inquisitiveness to life, things start to twist. Why is this happening to me, you may ask? Isn’t it obvious? There...
Under the Knife
I, for a long time now, have a perforated ear drum in one of my ears. I usually ignored the problems I had due to it. A little hearing loss was okay for me. But the other day I went to the doctor, and he performed a test on me. He patched up my perforation with betadine soaked cotton patch. And voila! Everything we extremely loud! I have quite some hearing loss and now that I had seen what I was missing, I wanted to be… normal! Soon enough, I was scheduled for surgery! I also happened to have a deviated nasal septum, which complicates the repair of the ear drum. So now I had two surgeries lined up. One for the nose and the other for the ear. The nose was to come under the knife first. They were going to cut and lift my nose up, break a few bones...
24
The number of candles on my cake have increased yet again! And there is no stopping them. This year there were 24 of them. 24!! Can you believe it? All of a sudden I am supposed to do the things that real grownups do. I am supposed to be responsible. I can no longer say, who cares! It’s just too immature. But the fun I had on that day was unprecedented! I had reached home at 11 in the night from my rural centre. It was more than 5 hours in the Lal Dabba. After dinner, I was forced to take a bath. Who takes a bath at 11.30 in the night? I could smell something cooking. What could it be? At 12, Surprise!!! Everyone was there, my neighbours, my friends… And on the walls were posters, handmade by my fiancée, making a couple of really good points. On my...
Jab We Met
It was the end of last year that I had received a phone call. I was asked if it was fine by me to take things to the next level. That do I want to formalize my 6 year old romance? Do I? Did I really want to take that giant leap? Back then, I wasn’t sure. I don’t know why, but it seemed to be a big deal for me. And good for me, I did! The day was Jan 28, 2010. And what a day it had been. The fact that I was getting engaged had finally sunk in a day before we were to leave for Kunkuri. Relatives had started to come. Packing was at it’s peak. And then finally, we left. We were received, welcomed and fed and fed and then fed some more. And then it was time. It was one of those rare times when you try to balance apprehension and excitement. Soon I...
Internship for Dummies
To become a doctor, you spend four and a half years of your tiny life in the medical school. When you start, you have that spark, the will to excel, you (and your parents) are on cloud 9. I have seen a junior ask a senior, with all the seriousness on his face, “Sir, Top karne ke liye kitna padhna padta hai?” And then the dream shatters. You have incoming missiles by the name of Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology. And as you succeed to dodge one lot, an even deadlier one is headed your way. And when you somehow manage to survive this brutal massacre, you enter into this new world where you are no longer supposed to remember complex names but learn the process to make the patient healthy. And this is different from anything that you have done before or seen...
Salt and Pepper
Its been more than 5 years. I had proposed that we be more than just friends and she accepted. What that naïve proposal started back then, is now growing into, what people call, an engagement. By the end of this month, I will be formally engaged to the girl I have been in love with for quite some time. I really excited and at the same time quite palpably apprehensive. But I know I will sail through. And it is going to be quite a journey! Share