A Lesson And A Crime

I remember the day I first set my foot on the campus. It was a warm sunny morning. After three hours of travelling from my home, I finally reached the place I hoped would bring me the most memorable moments yet. Everyone says college is the most fun part of your life, as you grow older it's more monotonous. Four years have passed since that day and it took me lockdown and consultation to finally get my life in order.

My family had no doctors before me so the first few days of my medical college I had no idea what to expect. However, that is a lie. After years I still have no clue what to expect tomorrow. There seems to be no end to surprises.

In the Anatomy dissection class, we were divided into 10groups of 15each and were given a table with a cadaver in it and chairs to sit around. Lalitha, Anwar and Shreya were sobbing quietly, yes the formalin makes you cry. Those three were starting to use a scalpel and cut across the chest of the cadaver hence their eyes were watering. A few seconds ago they were called and given instructions for two minutes. They came back and started working on the cadaver without as much a blink.

I guessed the conversation with madam went like this, "Use the scalpel, read the book, start with the chest, go." 

Lalitha was bending slightly, trying to talk as quietly as possible with Jithin who was one of the sitting students.

"Does the book say how much deeper I should cut?" Lalitha asked more composed than anyone could be with watery eyes, scalpel on the hands wearing gloves and itching nose. Jithin turned the page front, then back, then two pages front and back and finally spoke the magic words," it says to cut it till it can be retracted "

Anwar and Shreya on the other end of the table were struggling their way through the right chest speaking in hushed tones to students sitting with their books.

At the end of the first week pectoralis major muscle, the muscle of the chest was seen and then cut. Madam gracefully cut out lymph nodes and asked every one of us to feel it, wearing gloves of course. I felt it for namesake and gave it back as soon as I got it. I looked around and saw everyone else feeling it sincerely and talking about it.

Feeling a little odd one out I believed it would be better the next day. It only got worse.

Looking back I realise something important it took me years to learn. It was not about the lymph node. It was never about that. That day was the starting of a new chapter and my whole approach to it was wrong.

There's a saying if you are in a place where they eat snakes, eat the biggest part. That's what Lalitha did.

She was told to cut a cadaver on the first day of college and she did, without hesitation. Others found their way within the week.

That's what you do when you get a job. You get it done the best way you can unless you are suffering from issues mentally and you just can't take it anymore. Then you get help and then get it done. Or you change your job and get it done.

What not to do is stay away from being afraid, which is exactly what I did. Looking back now, I realise I was afraid of what could happen if I did it wrong. At that time it seemed like a big deal that I made a mistake. Now I realise it didn't matter if I did it the wrong way. If I could do everything the right way I wouldn't be here as a student. I was here to learn, and learning is from mistakes.

Over the years I have learnt to be less hard on myself, for things I did and for things I didn't do.

Medical colleges are one of the last places on earth where ragging is disappearing at a slower rate. This is one thing which should disappear from earth and if there is a parellel universe from there too.

Of all the justification one can say for ragging starting with the commonly used one, "I got ragged so I have every right to rag".

Of all the hundreds of things wrong with that sentence, the most compelling one is how any person can think it's within their right to insult or humiliate another person. 

What you do to others is a glaring reflection of your own personal character. If you ragg someone it is definitely you being a weak person waiting for a chance to a completely horrible human being.

Many have lost their lives to ragging. Many have been devastated for years of their life due to ragging. There is no such thing as little ragging or for a joke ragging.

Every ragging is a crime and it is serious. That's why there are strict actions against it.

Whenever you are,no matter how common wrong things are, have the courage to do the right thing. Then you can walk with your head high.