Becoming

posted in: Internship, Medical School | 0

Five and a half years!! That was my first exclamation after my initiation into the MBBS stream. The exclamation also brought with itself a sense of relief… That for “five and a half years” I don’t have to worry about where my life is going or which turn comes next… For “five and a half years” I can hop on a boat and flow with the stream.. Uncertainty factor zero…. I can be a spectator as the “five and a half years” change my life… And yes those “five and a half years” brought on everything that they promised, and a LOT LOT more..

 

Suddenly I find myself on the other side of those years…as an audience in a cinema hall watching a much awaited movie flash the “The End” scene… What happens now? How Did I reach the “What lies ahead” milestone AGAIN so soon? But the fact is that “soon” was in reality an eternal kaleidoscope shape-shifting at every step, creating a blizzard of memories that can blow away reality whenever we dive into them.. A kaleidoscope of faces, names, places, acts that etched themselves very firmly on the path of life…

 

From First year‘s sparkly-eyed “Freshers”, stumbling along, following seniors, getting homesick, having identity crises, accepting the Huge burden of books to be hammered into our heads,  sharing stories,  exchanging shy smiles and unwittingly welcoming a lot of “Forever Friends” into our lives, to Second year‘s initation into “Seniorhood”, wearing the white coat for the first time, first interactions with patients, knowing friends better, fighting, making up, giving very “meaningful” advice to juniors knowing nothing ourselves,  giving some “mutual” exams and going to movies afterwards, toPart 1 with its new “Forever Friends”, new permutations and combinations, new “grown up” experiences and having a blast to Final year‘s blast of studies and routines and frustrations to finally THE MAGICAL moment of passing final prof and adding the Dr. to our names (one of the best days of our lives)… Being a “Student, MBBS” is all this and much more…

 

And then comes the whirlwind year called Internship, where we jump in at the peak of our nervousness, knowing nothing, and come out as confident individuals equipped with atleast the basics… Internship has been one of the BEST years of my life.. On one hand I learnt how to handle responsibility and be a more complete and dependable person, on the other hand I enjoyed, for the first time, having MY OWN money without any responsibilities to fulfil… Internship  changed me as a person, made me “grow up”,  made me a better human being.. It gave me a bagful of magical memories with my friends that I will cherish forever and also the company of a lot of guides in the form of some amazing PGTs whose contribution I will never forget.. As of now we may still be beginners, but we are better beginners than what we were at the starting line…

 

The journey till now has been mind-numbing.. And I hope the coming journeys will be as amazing as this one has been… That’s the magic of becoming and being a doctor…that every moment can change your life…and someone else’s too.. It’s a terribly scary adrenaline rush, but a ‘high’ nevertheless…

 

Every kid has an “I will become a ….. when I grow up” line… What we don’t realise is that becoming never stops… My ambition was to become a “Doctor”.. Yes, in these Five and a half years I became a “Doctor” and learnt to balance an albatross of a stethoscope around my neck…What now? Now I have a zillion more things that I want to become, some of which I will, and some of which I won’t…

 

But THIS is the moment where my dream comes true and opens the door for a million other dreams and realities to come…

Gunja Sengupta, MBBS
R G Kar Medical College, Kolkata

 

Dr. Gunja Sengupta

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