I AM NOT GONNA SAY GOOD BYE....

"Yeah and its over before you know it,

It all goes by so fast...

Yeah the bad nights takes forever,

And the good nights don't ever seem to last...."

It was Monday... the 13th day of Sep. 2004 when I joined this college as a first year MBBS student. I was almost one and half month late from most of my batch-mates who had already joined this institution in the month of August.

My happiness was soaring high... not only because I had accomplished the long cherished dream of wearing a white coat but also because the most fierce period of ragging was almost over by then...(truly speaking the later one had contributed more to my happiness) And today when I am just few days away from bidding adieu to my alma mater- Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital, Shimla,
its becoming harder by each passing day to realize that the time has come...! Never had I thought (even for once) that some day I will be repenting even those missed one and half months as well...

This place has been my home away from home ('away' is approximately equal to 1800 kilometers in my case!) and I guess it will always be! I find it hard to pen down my thoughts... the nostalgia of past 6 glorious years is still fresh down the memory lane... the whole period flashes by my eyes within seconds as if all of it happened just yesterday... The mere thought of it gives me ...cutis anserina (a medical jargon which in plain English means goose bumps)... the feeling is like... some big part of me is going to be left behind...






The horror-cum-comedy show of amphibian lab (where most of the performances were by the fairer sex)... the varied reactions on the faces of fellow-mates! The mixed feeling of pity-cum-disgust over the pathetic slimy creature who was going to sacrifice it's life just to make us better understand the physiology of muscle contraction or MoA of some drug... the horrified-frozen look on the faces of most of us while holding the amphibian (frog)... the typical facial expression of being in severe pain given especially by the girls at the time of pithing,  as if the pointed pithing needle was being thrashed through the foramen magnum of their's instead...

The feeling of being on the seventh heaven when we got through first prof despite our silly mistakes and blunders...The long sun bask in the backyard of the college like the poikilothermic creatures of Pleistocene era and the long chats which never seemed to end...The first encounter with the clinical case in the ward and the mixed feeling of pride and responsibility when some attendant, who had mistaken us to be a 'big' doctor, asked,"Dr. Saab, ye theek to ho jayenge na?"(Doctor will he get well soon?)"...

are the few memories which are going to linger to limbic system till death do it apart... :-)

From the unknown-unexplained feeling towards someone to ultimately knowing it for sure that she is the one, From the sweet feeling deep inside the heart when your eyes met for a second while u both were busy doing some practical across the table to frequent visits on the mall on those romantic evenings, From the skipped heart beat when the one, you were staring at, suddenly turned and caught you off guard to hurrying-up to finish up the romantic dinner, cursing the Warden of the Girl's hostel for not letting the girls inside hostel after 9 pm, From the ahem-ahem of your friends at the very first site of you both together to perfect-made-for-each-other-couple of the college...
(Trust me, even teachers know about you both!)...
...this college has metamorphosed us from arrogant little kids into a grown up, responsible persons... it has given us happiness beyond our imaginations...






From the Hide and Seek period of first prof. when I used to disappear from college campus the moment classes got over to my bindaas stroll in every corner of hospital adjusting steth. on shoulder with pride... from the pale face at the first glimpse of the cadaver & the initial fights for doing the dissection (which later nobody cared for...) to assisting surgeries on live patients...From the first near- fainting episode which I had at the sight of some minor surgical procedure in Obs. and Gyne. Minor OT to stitching category III wounds and closing abdomen after laparotomy and that too without a single twitch on my face... from the search of microscopic creatures in shit and when all H&E stained slides seemed alike and from the thought that crossed my mind for the first time- "Am I in deep-shit?" to be a Proud Doctor... from the wayward first history in ward to diagnosing and managing the critically ill patients in the Emergency department I owe it all to my Teachers and this Institute....!!!

Undoubtedly, it was the golden era of my life...and I am certainly gonna miss it for rest of my life... but I have lived it fully, experienced every bit of it. Took care of myself and my friends! Had lots of fun, gone crazy and weird at times... learned from my mistakes.... and IGMC and people here have helped me in it... I am thankful to my alma mater (Lt. 'Nourishing Mother') from the core of my heart not because I am a Doctor today but because it has made me a kind, compassionate and gentle human being...

To my juniors, I would like to covey my best of luck for their future and just one message by quoting few lines of famous American Guitarist and singer- Tom Petty:

"You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You'll never remember class time, but you'll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due on Wednesday. Spend Money you don't have. Drink till sunrise. The work never ends, but college does...."

At the same time, I request you all not to hurt others as some one very truly said:
"People forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel..."

वो यारों की महफ़िल वो मुस्कुराते पल 

दिल से जुदा नहीं है अपना बीता कल...

आज गुजरती है जिंदगी लम्हों को जुटाने में 

कल वक़्त गुजर जायेगा कागज़ कमाने में...




With these words I'll stop now.

But, as the title of the blog goes, I am not going to say Good Bye to you friends because;

"You and I will meet again,

When we're least expecting it,

One day in some far off place,

I will recognize your face,

I won't say goodbye my friend,

For you and I will meet again..."   -  Tom Petty

Dr. Virat Kuntalam

Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital

Shimla, Himachal.

(+91) 9318645565
(+91) 9013315446

dr.viraat@gmail.com
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