MY FIRST DAY IN MEDICAL COLLEGE
My First Day In Medical College
Dr. Gangadhar Sahoo.
After finishing my schooling in my village, a remote and inaccessible village of Keonjhar district of Odisha. I got admission in BJB College Bhubaneswar for higher study. Coming from a village to the capital city, staying for the first time in hostel, mixing with smart students passed from English medium schools and reading in big lecture theaters where there was tough competition to get a seat in the front rows, was really a herculean task to adjust for a typical village shy boy. Suffering from acute homesickness and depression I started to develop an inferiority complex, which took months together to recover. Gradually I could tide over all the adverse situations and proved my worth. Physics was my choicest subject. After the result was out I immediately took admission into Physics Honors Course in Ravenshawa College, Cuttack. I was very happy because a few of my good friends from BJB College also took admission in the same stream there. There was a month gap before starting the course. In the mean time the medical college selection result was out. At that time in 1970, selection was done on mark basis. There were three medical colleges SCB MedicalCollegeCuttack, MKCG MedicalCollege Berhampur and VSS MedicalCollegeBurla . I was selected for SCB Medical College, Cuttack. After getting selected in Medical College I was in a dilemma what to do, which one to leave. My father, an inspector of schools and my uncle, a doctor motivated me to opt for medical science and leave physics. They proved there point putting forth their views before me, how the medical profession is noble and the doctor is the true incarnation of God on this earth. At last that happened. I took admission in SCB Medical College Cuttack against my will and quit my most favorite subject, the physics forever.
The classes were beginning at 7am at that time. It was month of July. The 1st class of 1970 batch was Biochemistry. All 150 freshers had gathered on the corridor of Biochemistry lecture theatre (LT) by 6.30 am. There were hardly 25 girls and rest were boys. The door was opened just quarter to 7. The students rushed into the class as the overflowing water rushes though a narrow crack of an embankment. It was a breath holding exercise for everyone irrespective of the gender. However all got accommodated. The peon reached the door of the LT with the attendance register before 5 minutes and was waiting for the teacher to come. Exactly at 7am sprinted into the room a tall and stout figure, fare complexed , clean shaved, big rolling eyes with a pair of thick glasses, smartly dressed with a full dazzling white coat hanging down to the ankles. " Sit down my dear students. I am Prof. N.C. Panda, HOD of Biochemistry. Congratulations students for opting this prestigious profession and welcome to this premier institute. I am here to take your introductory class in Biochemistry", said in a stylish fashion as if a seasoned foreigner is addressing. His pronunciation was too difficult to understand. This much I understood that he was the HOD of Biochemistry. Then he introduced all the teaching and non teaching staff of his department one by one to all of us.
He started his class describing his own experience as a visiting professor to UK. Then he introduced the subject BIOCHEMISTRY as the most demanding subject in medical science. I still remember the definition of life taught by him.
According to him," Life is nothing but a chain of biochemical reactions in the system. Slightest break in the chain can result in a disease, deformity or death." By this he successfully justified his statement that without knowing Biochemistry well, one cannot deal with life and death and so the medical science.
I had given option for accommodation in the hostel. But the list was not out. Therefore I stayed temporarily with one of my friends staying in a hostel in Ravenshawa College which was around 3 km away from the medical college. I had a bad sprain on my right ankle. So I got ready with my Hawaii slippers. I took a rickshaw to reach on time. For breakfast we had to depend on the college canteen. My village mate just one year senior to me, Mr. Prasanna Nahak was staying in the main hostel. He arranged for my membership in his mess managed by the cook Kasi. So messing problem both lunch and dinner was solved. Prasanna bhai advised me a few things which I should follow in the mess and hostel. I must wish the seniors wherever I meet them for the first time. In the mess or canteen I must allow the seniors to take their share first doesn't matter whether I have any urgency or not. I must leave my seat for them even if I had occupied earlier. Those were the minimum etiquette I had to follow.
After the Biochemistry class was over the first batch had to go to the Anatomy Department, which was around 1/4th km away from Biochemistry Department. I limped to the Anatomy Department with much difficulty. We were seated in the Anatomy LT. At about 10am Prof. Basu entered into the LT with his team of teaching and non teaching staff. He congratulated us with a caution, “It’s a profession where the entry is difficult, the maintenance is difficult and the exit is difficult. So discipline, perseverance and hard work are required to be successful in this profession." As regards his department he told that, " This is unique in the sense that it is the only subject where THE DEAD TEACHES THE LIVINGS.” He introduced all his staff to the students and then asked us to move to the dissection hall. The allotment of the table was displayed in the office. Per table ten students were allotted according to the roll numbers. The 10 students were divided into 5 groups to dissect five parts (head & neck, thorax, abdomen, upper limb and lower limb). In our group we were 9+1(nine boys and one girl). That one was the center of attention and attraction not only for our group but also for all the teachers. Since I was her partner I was in the advantageous position.
The Anatomy dissection hall, a blind can find its way because of its typical pungent formalin smell . I had heard few tragic stories from my friends whether facts or fictions, which frightened me a lot . Some students had been fainting, collapsing and quitting. Ghost of the cadavers were chasing some in their dreams. Before entering into the hall I prayed Lord Jagannath to help me to overcome all the psychological barriers and fulfill the dream of my parents and well wishers. On that historic day when a cadaver became our Guru the first demonstration class was taken by Dr. Ramachandra Sahoo, an orthopedician appointed as demonstrator. He started to create fear complex by describing how to mug up thousands of difficult words, how to remember hundreds of muscles with their origin, insertion, nerve supply, blood supply, functions and applied Anatomy. Example of muscle was the tip of the iceberg.
Dissection class was three hours from 10am to 1pm . After half an hour of lecture Dr. Sahoo asked each student to read the introduction chapter of the dissection manual for one hour and get the doubts cleared. Then he demonstrated each instrument's name, parts and uses. After that he described the method of dissection to each of the 5 groups. Ours was the upper limb and we proceeded with the dissection of palm. My partner was reading the manual and I was dissecting. We divided in that way. Next day we exchanged our role. At one pm I went for lunch after thoroughly cleaning my instruments and hands. But my hands were smelling . When I entered into the dining hall all who were taking their lunch stared at me and shouted, “Are you coming from Anatomy dissection hall? Wait outside till we finish. Next time you change your dress, use perfume and enter into the dining hall. " After everybody vacated the hall, the cook Kasi consoled me that after a few days everything will be OK. Nothing to be worried. But I could smell the foul smell of the Anatomy dissection hall from my body and especially from my hands. I couldn't eat. Kasi gave me a spoon so that somehow I could manage that day. But the foul smell and the shouting of seniors from the dining hall followed me wherever I went. I was disheartened and thinking of quitting. I was repenting why I left Physics and joined medical college. It was intolerable on my part to come to the Anatomy dissection hall again. Next moment repercussion of quitting was fighting inside me, “What will you do? What others will tell? What will your parents feel? Never quit. See, how your friends are tolerating. Have patience. Everything will be OK. Be positive. So on and so forth.A quitter can never be a winner ." The last period of the day was over. Those devil thoughts in mind aggravated my pain of the sprained ankle. I thought of taking a rickshaw. But my purse was almost empty. I searched and searched found a few coins. But it wouldn't be sufficient to cover 3 kms. I called a rickshaw and handed over the coins available with me to the rickshaw puller and asked him to carry me to a distance as per the value of the coins. He counted the coins and smiled. Perhaps he understood the pathetic condition of a future doctor . But thankfully he obliged. He left me at the college square , one kilometer away from my destination . I got down from the rickshaw but my ankle was so painful that I couldn't stand properly and about to fall . The rickshaw puller supported me and requested me to sit on the rickshaw. He could feel my pain and of my purse . He sympathetically told to drop me at my destination without charging a pie . During this journey he told me, " Babu ! You are pain staking , courageous and honest. You will be a very good doctor. Work hard , be sympathetic and empathetic to your patients. God will bless you. If by chance we meet in future, I will ask for my dues. "
Till today those golden words of the rickshaw puller are echoing in my ears but I could not get a chance to repay his debt .
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