Lets Recycle...!!

The shock-waves of failure in 1st two encounters of the year have settled now and after amply consoling and motivating myself with words like "Take few step back to leap further.."etc. I was finally back on track with my studies!

But somehow yesterday, I was not able to concentrate on my studies... so to utilise the time, I finally decided to make my messy room bit tidy... Just like every other bachelor's room where the largest chunk of 'mess' comes from the thrown away clothes, missing pairs of dirty socks & of course the boxers and 'chaddies', and dirty plates & coffee-mugs beneath the bed...in fact the only thing which can be found exactly at it's usual place is deodrants and perfumes...! ;-) And Mine too was no exception

NDM 1: New Delhi Metallo-Beta-Lactamase-1

NDM 1 or New Delhi Metallo-beta-Lactamase 1, is a Plasmid mediated gene which confers high degree of antibiotic resistance in bacteria which carries this gene, particularly against Penicillin group, Cephalosporins, Fluoroquinolones and Cabapeneme Group of antibiotics! And thus is a potential threat to the entire health care delivery system!

A parting Note from a Friend....

My dear friends,

            “How time flies by!” We had only heard about it so far... but, a few months back when we left each other after almost 6 years of love and togetherness we actually came to realize the true meaning of the phrase...

Are we still EVOLVING??

I think YES! We are still evolving!!

But then it's NOT in the purest Darwinian form- The Survival of the Fittest!

WE are indeed transferring our genes of better qualities and efficiency to the future generations but, as opposed to what would have been the Natural Selection in true sense, not losing the genes for weaknesses or traits usually are detrimental for our survival!

Living up to the Expectations....

Living Up to the Expectation… The story of My life...

Before I went to boarding school in Nainital in class sixth… ours was a joint family and for providing best possible education, my parents and I used to live in a small town called Forbesganj in Bihar... and so did my 8 cousins! The city was named after the Britisher Alexander John Forbes, a Military adventurer who later on established many indigo-farms in the nearby areas! 

What alienated me from my Buddy?

I thought of writing this particular post about a year ago when I went to my village soon after my MBBS final prof. exams! But as the result was out... I got busy with the paper works initially and later with hectic, busy and tiring but learning Rotatory Internship Program at IGMC, Shimla and this thought of writing blog was lost somewhere in my brain... And today while waiting to get myself registered @ MCI I fortuitously remembered it while thinking about my friends back there at IGMC and the future ahead...

So, here it is...  

I once had a very good friend...

It's a New Day...

7:45am: My alarm, as usual was ringing incessantly and I, like every other day, as my daily chore, hit the snooze button and rapidly passed from stage II of my sleep (to which the alarm has brought me into!) to stage IV… The clock, as a loyal servant, ignoring my battering, again resumed its duty of bringing me back from stage IV of my sleep to alert state with prominent beta wave emitting form my brain in another 15 min… but got the same treatment from me again…

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,

जी ले खुलके इस पल को...

एक दिन जिंदगी ऐसे मुकाम पर पहुँच जायेगी..

यारी-दोस्ती सिर्फ gtalk तक रह जाएगी..

हर cup coffee की, याद canteen की दिलाएगी ...

और हँसते-हँसते फिर आँखें नम हो जाएँगी...

Office के chamber मे Labs नज़र आएँगी...

पर चाह कर भी proxy नहीं लग पायेगी...

पैसा तो होगा, मगर TREATs की वो वजह खो जाएगी शायद...

जी ले खुलके इस पल को मेरे दोस्त...
क्यूँ कि ज़िन्दगी  इन  लम्हों  को  फिर  से  नहीं  दोहराएगी....!


विराट 

Why I enjoy my Internship?

Why I Enjoy My Internship?

For the last few days I have been quite busy. In the previous week I had to take AIIMS PGMEEE at New Delhi. Soon after my return, I had 4 back to back emergency duties! Well, that all is over now, and I have now been resetting my biological clock back to normal (from nocturnal to diurnal!), meaning thereby I had ample of free time in last couple of days! So, while I was whiling away in last few days, I went through my 10 months’ journey so far, its highs and lows, as an Intern- and without any doubt I can tell I have enjoyed it! That’s why blog is titled “Why I enjoy My Internship?”

My Profession!

In west, by west I usually mean US, they say "Pursuing a career in Medicine, you have to give it your Life-time!" And I used to wonder,"is it so?"

I am standing at the end of, what is often labeled as the 'Golden-Period' of life, my six year long College life! Within less than two months from now I will be gone from here and I am not sure if I will ever have the opportunity again to come back here at my proud alma mater- Indira Gandhi Medical College, Shimla which has made me whatever I'm today!

It has given me a lot but still I feel so inadequate in my abilities that it's sometime difficult to imagine that in a few months' time I'll be shouldering great responsibilities like saving people's lives!! Now I realize that it's not just the saying "...it takes your life-time..."

The Indian System...

No matter how advanced or modern we become, no matter how inadvertently we may follow the west... but there is something in Indian family value system, in our culture... which always remains alive in one form or the other... no matter what the circumstances are...

Just today I witnessed one such example while enjoying my tea in the Hospital canteen. I was sitting on the far left corner of the canteen and diagonally opposite to me towards my left hand side, near the 'aqua guard' one of the Registrar from Dept. of Psychiatry was sitting with 4-5 relatives from his native place. Guessing from their age they appeared to be his mother/aunt and uncles...The Registrar in question had a really bad cold, sore throat and was persistently coughing which was a typical "Brassy-harrasy" type cough...

The Essence of Medical Profession!

What does it mean to be in this profession?

       The year I got selected, some 275 thousand students appeared for the exam and approximately 2,500 got what they aspired for! Less than 1% of total!! 

              That by default makes us the ‘chosen few’ for the job. This also means that we have been chosen as individuals who can be trusted upon with other people’s lives. This is definitely a great honour and thus we can be proud of our achievements so far. But we should also remember that this privilege also brings with it immense responsibilities- to patients, to society and above all to humanity. 
Let me elaborate what I mean by it:

         Before entering the World of Medicine whatever we did, we were doing it with ‘us’ at the centre. We watched movies, cricket matches, listened to music, roamed on mall, played games, read books, novels, slept, worked-out, partied etc all because we felt like it and it was fun doing all. Our all interactions with this world were solely about ourselves.

           But now things have changed. Everything that shapes us now will somehow be affecting our patients in future. So the way we treat our life is no longer just about us. Whatever we do, we think, we add to our clinical skills will affect the people we treat. We miss one lecture or practical or a procedure and we might be jeopardising someone’s life later on! May be I am exaggerating too much but still it implies that from now on at every crossroad that we come across in life, we have the responsibility to make the positive and right choice for ourselves so that we can be the best physician/ surgeon for our patients!

              Entering this medical field has ushered us into the world of understanding human body and the limit to which it can be pushed... which we do realize during 30 hour long night duties when we try hard to remain a ‘human’ but on a really long night shift, we tend become more like a “programmed bio-mechanical individual” working automatically based on algorithms, following the protocols and guidelines rather than a calm sensible doctor with the ‘human-touch’ which the patient expects us to be...!! 

            So, it’s easy to get trapped in this world of medicine... but yet along with all these chaos, we do meet interesting colleagues, mentors and friends... who make this interesting journey of ours little more exciting and fun... So, Let's not forget to ENJOY! After all, beside a doctor, we are all human beings with certain needs and so are our patients! :-)

Virat Kuntalam
IGMC, Shimla

I Love You!

They’re all saying it these days… in schools & colleges, in Parks and restaurants, at workplaces and in bedrooms, over the phone and through emails. They first say it as a declaration, then as an assurance. Even people who normally don’t converse in English, when it comes to express their primary emotion, prefer ‘I love you’ to its vernacular equivalent. Just as the way it happens in movies: The Hero or the Heroine will flirt in the regional language, but the flirtation usually culminates with the mouthing of the inevitable- ‘I Love you.’

Choices is Ours...

We all know it; in fact we have been reading this since our childhood, ‘When not interfered, everything nature does is done with perfection!’ We have learnt it in our school textbooks and we all do agree with it... but when I see those little angles on 4thfloor of Emergency building of IGMC ( that is our Prdiatrics ward) suffering from diseases which have got no cure and which are going to make the life of these little angles miserable one, I ponder where has the natural order of things gone? Where is the so called nature’s perfectness?

आज का प्रण...

आज फिर तुने प्रण किया है -
" झूठ नहीं बोलूँगा, मन से पढूंगा
माँ-पिता के सपनोंको साकार करूँगा
जग मैं अपना नाम करूँगा "
लेकिन,
ज़रा ठहरो तो -
उस प्रण का क्या जो पिछले इतवार किया था ?
और न जाने ऐसे ही कितनी बार किया था !
"अरे हाँ उस प्रण पर सोमवार को अमल किया था न !"
पर आज तो बुधवार है ना !

आज-कल तो किस्सा ही यही है-
रात मैं प्रण, प्रातः विस्मरण !
"कल से करूँगा !"
'कल'- जो कभी आया नहीं और न आएगा
अतः प्रण कभी पूरा होगा नहीं !

वैसे आज क्या कर रहे हो ?
"बुधवार के प्रण पर अमल करने का
प्रण कर रहा हूँ !?"

डॉ विराट
इंदिरा गाँधी आयुर्विज्ञान संसथान
शिमला, हिमाचल

Be The Best in whatever You are !!

" If you can't be the pine on top of the hill,
Be a scrub in the valley
But, be the best little scrub by the side of the hill
Be a bush if u can't be a tree
If you can't be a bush
Be a bit of Grass... some highway happier make
If u can't be a Muskie* then just be a bass**

But the liveliest bass in the lake...
We can't all be captains
We have got to be crew...
There is something for all of us here
There is big work to do
And there is lesser to do
And the task we must do is near
If u can't be a highway
Then just be a trail
If u can't be the Sun
just be a star...
It isn't by size you win or fail.
Be the best what ever You are..."

By- Douglas Maller

*Huge fresh water fish of N. America
**a small fresh water fish of N. America

The Love Letter....

Sweetheart,
Words don't come easily when it comes to express my feelings for you.
In fact words will always prove to be insufficient to let you know what I actually feel about you...

I will just say- " I Love You !"

I know these are just the same three words!

बादल

बनते- बिगड़ते बादल
नई कल्पनाओं को उपजाते बादल
संदेश देते हैं -
" परिवर्तन ही जीवन है,
बदलाव ही प्रकृति है।
ठहराव-स्थायित्व तो बाधा है
मृत्यु है, जड़ता है। "

अभी जो काले बादल छाए हैं
बस समय के 'जाये' हैं।

Lonely Journey....

" I come to this world all alone
And will go from this world all alone..
Leaving all my beloved ones in tears !
During this Journey, which u call-Life,
I make friends, New relations and
create memories, to make
My as well as your 'Journey'
a pleasant one !
but....
When 'the destination' arrives-
I don't look back
or hesitate to leave...
for this is the Ultimate truth!

I may not be with you today,
but my memories will always be...!
So, My friend!
Don't  miss me, don't shed a tear...
For you have responsibilities to shoulder"

Dr. Viraat kuntalam
I.G.M.C.
Shimla, H.P.

(Written on death of my best friend's cousin in 2005)