Medico-Genesis

My fingers tapped on the ledge of my car window, a nervous tick. I looked down, perched on my lap was my pristine white bag with the following words engraved “WARNING, STAY ALIVE AND MIND YOUR OWN SAFETY ", I double guessed myself whether such a welcoming bag should accompany me to my first day of med-school, but the bag was quite in sync with how I felt. I shrugged and proceeded to look to my right, a gray building ominously stood, towering over the small houses adjacent to it. Was the color well suited to the campus life inside? My instincts chimed in, agreeing.

The seemingly short gray gate was our only entrance, the person in front of me stood at a good height of roughly 6 feet and he ducked his head as he entered. I don’t know why but me standing at a massive height of 5 foot 2 followed suit. A narrow path led from gate 3 inside, and I saw a swarm of hurried individuals, huddling along for their biometrics (an act I would soon replicate if not more vigorously in the days to come). The cold February wind tore through the bones like a dagger. I walked into the auditorium, which seemed desolate, I was early.

The poster in the auditorium read “Ziauddin Welcomes batch of 2019” I didn’t realize we were getting our degrees in a day instead of 5 years, such errors I would later realize would extend to our question papers as well. There was no one else from my A level college who would also join Ziauddin, thankfully I knew one other person from my MCAT classes who would be there. Clad, in a black Nike shirt, a black hijab she sat with a content look on her face, pleased with the place she finally managed to secure for herself. As the ice-breaking sessions rolled around several people were sitting beside me and I took the opportunity to speak with a few. Both of them were cordial as we made small talk and held a spark in their eyes.

There were several important skills which we were taught on our very first day, some of which would include (in order of priority of course):

1. How to connect to a Wi-Fi

2. How to operate our portal after and IF we managed to successfully connect to the Wi-Fi

3. Competencies of a Ziauddin graduate

As we approached mid-day there, we were escorted outside the doors of the auditorium to be met by very daunting individuals clad in all black. Was it to intimidate us? Was it a way for them to recognize each other, I gulped, I knew exactly how the day would unfold; Our batch will get ragged, I will get ragged. It’s a rite of passage I suppose, there is no getting around it, and truth be told I was kind of excited for it, something to break the monotony of my life.

Thus, it happened. I was approached by two girls who very enthusiastically told me to loosen up for some harmless fun, I shrugged, I didn’t really mind it, so they asked me to sing a song…… I was both relieved and a bit disappointed, relieved because it wasn’t half as embarrassing as it was in my head and disappointed because it wasn’t something half as exciting as I had imagined it to be. Did I speak too soon? Yes. Would I regret it? Also, yes.

Luckily, a particular senior of mine wasn’t done, not yet. She delegated a task which involved her pointing to a guy clad in a red T-Shirt. At first, thought was a joke, “nice one, HAHA” I thought to myself. She wasn’t joking and I wasn’t backing down from something as harmless as ragging. So, I did it, the task I performed so graciously was recorded, the video sent to my seniors, one of whom was appalled I did it in the first place.

There is only one other person in my batch who remembers this task to date, and to that person, I would politely ask to keep it to themselves (pls izzat ka sawal hai).

As the ice-breaking session proceeded after this fiasco, we were asked two questions, the answers to which I, even at the end of my second year, do not know. To some, the answers may seem very obvious, essential even. I knew I didn’t know then, and I think I’m halfway there at answering them.

They were the following:

1. Why do you want to become a doctor?

2. How many of you WANTED to come to Ziauddin?

Now, for the moment of truth, we would be given a campus tour. Since I had only ever been to Ziauddin once before I never really understood the massiveness of its extent. We were first shown the quaint and quiet basement, with a scent lingering which I would later associate with it. We were then led up the stairs, about 120 steps of stairs in total (count them if you’d like), to the 6th floor and down. After the leg workout, which I didn’t know I needed, our group was taken outside the main building. At my 12-o'clock and 9-o'clock, there was a wall, a dead-end so I naturally assumed the rest of the campus would be to the right.

The only thing to the right was a parking area and a building for the dentistry OPD. Yeh tou shuru hotey hi khatam hogaya. Yes, that was our entire campus. I zoned out for a while, imagining spending 3 arduously long years on this campus.

Looking back at it, I don’t think it matters anymore. A campus is only as good as the people who make it, remember kids, it’s the people who make a house a home. I would spend countless hours on the benches outside, chatting, catching up, and enjoying the vibe of the people around me.

The random guitar sessions by (our batchmates), singing along to some iconic old Bollywood songs, the mart’s cardamom chai, and some random Bluetooth speaker with whichever-bop-they-decide-to-play, all painted the gray walls with more color, everyone’s personality had color, to compensate for the gray. Med school life consists of going to the library for 12 hours straight for some and cramming every single module in 4 days for others. It would be sitting alone in the lecture hall or solely chilling on the benches downstairs. It is this very contrast that I came to accept.

The only advice is I’d give myself and to you is, one step at a time, (except for step 1, that’s first).

In the words of Hannah Montana “Life’s what you make it, so let’s make it rock”.