The Missile Man comes to CMC!!

Ok what I’m about to say is pretty cool. There was this huge (I mean it…)function at my college today... Now guess who the chief guest was…………Dr A P J Abdul Kalam!!!!

He launched the new project from Institute of palliative Medicine (in association with cmc students and the city police…cool huh).Titled SREE it stands for Support Rehabilitation Education Empowerment is a landmark achievement in palliative medicine (which means giving treatment directed at relief from pain for terminally ill patients..)It’s also the first such program that incorporates the participation of the police force, something the City Police Commissioner was very pleased to point out today. But the person who stole the show today was no doubt our beloved former pres! I mean he still runs about with the zeal of youth. No wonder people throng to see him…some people can just ooze off energy with their charisma. He even teased us during the interactive session…. ‘Are you all tired?’, ‘you are hungry?’

After the speeches we had an interactive session, which we had to unfortunately cut short due to the shortage of time. Students had pooled in 300+ questions (I think) of which only 11 were selected but only 4 could be presented! But Dr Abdul Kalam sir took care of those few questions with such ingenuity. The questions ranged across various topics: dreams, the space program etc etc. While answering he always asked about the students: asked them what their ambition in life was as a doctor (which he ingrained into us as erasing pain), which field they wished to specialize in (Preventive care!), what is your mission (you will find out the genetic cause for heightened cardiac problems in India)….and so on!

I should probably say the other ideals he introduced through his keynote address. He made us say aloud the following

• If God is with me, no one can be against me
•  I will work with integrity and succeed with integrity-He mentioned a case where a young doctor admitted to committing a mistake in surgery and damaging a patient’s artery. He went on to ask us how many of us would grow up to be able to claim our shortcomings and mistakes (a few hands came up at this point).
• A Medical Oath-this one was pretty long. I couldn’t take it down.

Another aspect of the event was the extensive security measures. We had to go through that big metal detector thing (I’m still not sure what its called J ),had to get frisked, had to leave our mobiles outside(those few tech-free hours were actually quite relieving… but I kind of felt like a goose stuck on an island-I’m not even sure what that means!) and had to have invitation passes and ID cards. I managed to get a volunteer pass only much later on! Thankfully the security people didn’t bother too much at the compering desk… (Yeah I was there to compere.. J..There were two of us. I’m sooo grateful to my friends for calling me!)) .But we had to write down name and details etc and only a selected group were allowed onstage. The saddest part was we couldn’t get his bday gift sanctioned by the security (yeah it was Dr Abdul Kalam’s birthday today).We gave a huge card instead.

Ah...next order of business: the media! There were hordes of these guys!Like I said..huge function!!

All in all, it was a momentous occasion for CMC. I’m just glad we were all there to witness it.

My vacation so far...

Being a medical student is not easy…well, that’s what I hear around me all the time anyway. I wouldn’t really know about it, I’ve just somehow finished my first MB exams. The phase I’m going through now is what most of my seniors have named “the last vacation your going to have in a long time”….So I decided I might write down about this momentous occasion!

When vacation started (for some of us that meant just after theory exams) there was an immediate flurry of excitement.
“Hey what r we going to do?”
“I’m gonna go home n sleep for the next 2 days”
“I’m going to hang out with friends”
“We’re planning an all-India tour”
“I’m going abroad!!”
“When r u inviting me to ur place??”
“When r u coming to my place”
“What about the juniors?”
………….
The list goes on….
Two days later, we all meet again to file some forms for the university. A glimpse of the situation then:
“I’m so bored!”
“Me too!”
“I just sleep n watch TV”
“Well…at least its guilt free this time…”
“I wonder when class starts...”
“I still haven’t seen the juniors”
“It’s just started…we’ll probably start having a blast soon…”
“You think..?”

So the last vacation for a long time didn’t start off to well. But we haven’t lost heart. I don’t think cmc 52 is that easy to defeat!
So ppl start planning out their vacation forcefully…
“You’d better invite me for Ramzan celebration…or else”
“Ok…forget the all-India tour…how about north India?”
“What do u mean too expensive??!!”
“Fine...we’ll settle for just a city!”

I think the starting point for the mayhem to start was Eid. Invitations were accepted,(or forced into accepting),waistlines were neglected…and major fun was had..
My personal experience was at my best friend’s house. She invited me and other friends over for lunch on Eid. After the totally superb food,gracious hospitality...we sit down to chat…but then one of my brilliant friends decides that we should go for a walk…I start a talk on the 7 Don’t after a meal, with walking immediately after a heavy meal being one of them.10 seconds later I’m walking across a national highway with 10 other pals…!

Walked along a busy highway, crossed 2 rail lines(I went pretty hyper at this point), asked directions to lots of people, watched those people arguing over the directions, walked across a fishery harbor(glad to note olfactory sensations were optimal…hee hee),and finally reached the beach…
But I have to admit, it was fun. We went to the beach…it was totally different from the scene at the calicut beach hotspots. I saw lines of seashells scattered about...I can’t even remember the last time I saw so many of them

The day was spent with friends and family…I can’t think of anything more pleasing…

Now, most people who have known me won’t believe half of what I’m going to write next. But its true…it really is!
My friends and I were simply aimlessly wasting time when we found out that our college adventure sports club has arranged a 2-day program. So we set off on something I was sure would me a total embarrassment for me. This brings me to my little secret…actually it’s more common knowledge by now: I’m athletically challenged. I’m not quite sure of this term’s usage but I mean to say that I’m totally bad at anything that involves physical exertion…..or let alone, anything that involves a ball! Now imagine someone like that at an adventure sports meet!
But the adrenoventure(that was the name of the prog) turned out to be fun…There was Parasailing, Russian ladder, jhummering, valley crossing etc….I am pleased to announce that I flew…as in I Para-sailed… Well I did get nicely from my parents when I got home, but it was worth it…!! hopefully i'll add photos of that later...

And of course...my most productive work during the holiday: My beloved blog..!
Glad to see more people joining….keep joining and commenting

So that’s my vacation so far… there r more plans in the bag...n I’m sure I’ve missed out one or two cool things that should have been written here...But I don’t want the rest of my holidays to get jinxed… ;)