The String Theory

Sometimes in the shower, I think about the universe.

I think about it when I am close to sleep or when I am on my way to some place where there are unlikable people. From all of the ‘Einstein’ thinking, I have derived this theory. I call it The String Theory. I had been meaning to pen this “theory” down for quite some time. It follows:

That, people are attached to the universe by strings. Strings have the unique ability to vibrate when they are held taut and are plucked roughly anywhere in the middle (or not necessarily in the middle, just basically anywhere).

Now that I am assuming that we have strings attached, we also produce vibrations when something plucks them. By that something I mean is a life event, or a simple moment or something as simple as a gesture. Now that we know our strings have vibrations; is that where the term, the idea of ‘vibes’ comes from? Words like, ‘I get negative vibes from that person’, or ‘he or she emits positive vibes’, or ‘our frequencies match/don’t match’ and anyone who has some idea about vibrations knows that frequency is a word that usually is associated with studies related to vibrations.

I also think that our strings are not just connected to the universe, but are also attached to each and every person there is on the planet. And that these strings are more strongly connected to the people who are closer to you, like your loved ones.

So if there is anything that you want in life, pluck your strings with your positive thoughts, happy music, spontaneous dancing, meditation and shit, creating positive vibrations and surrounding yourself with these, and then sailing on in that stormy sea of life like the vociferous, sassy sailor you are!

I know, easier said than done but… try?

Now I'll just come outta my bathroom.

Fried Neurones

I WANT TO PAINT!


I live in a college (yes, live. Half of my life is supposed to be lived in that dreary, enclosure called college owing to the exhausting long hours that are compulsory to be attended by us medstuds) that is affiliated with a ubiquitous university of the city. Which means that our college does not have a mind of its own and that its the university that controls all its actions and the college is just supposed to comply to its wishes and get on with it. Any word from the university is like writing on the rock.

On this fateful day today, I intend to unload the brunt of my frustrations over the fact that why on earth can't this "university" get it's s*** together?(!!!!!!) I know, I know, I know, I shouldn't be judging and the sorts because its probably enmeshed and all tangled in a gooey, slimy, grimy mess of its own which most probably resulted because the people holding the administrative offices there got involved in a s***load of sticky trouble. But WHY???? You are a university for God's sake! Delaying exam dates, keeping students in a limbo, getting them worked up and crazy over when the exact date of their annual exams will be announced has earned you people the height of irresponsibility tantamount to the height of the Burj Al-Khalifa! 

In case you (addressed to the university) didn't realise, this is an ordeal for us students. It makes us hate you and curse you a thousand times over in our heads. Students after guessing at the dates ultimately give up the guessing game, saying: "Hello, this is the university. Anything can be expected from it. Don't even bother wasting time on it."

My point is, this is a challenging profession; challenging, in that it challenges you at practically all levels: it challenges you on your perseverance, discipline, hard work, intelligence, manners, EQ, IQ, time management, efficiency, emotions, patience, et al. In a nutshell, it challenges your life. Studying and waiting for final exams whose dates have not been specified sends us students in an emotional turmoil. We are constantly in a state of persistent stress and anxiety. Even when we are out enjoying a dinner with our families, et cetra, there is ALWAYS this nagging, compulsion that the exam date could be either very near or far at the end of the present month. This state of uncertainty is excruciating and painful for us to function. There are bags under the dull eyes, our faces are drawn, irritability dominates our character. One day that goes without studying plunges us in an ocean of self-loathing and feelings of inadequacy and guilt. And we all know that two of the worst, most deleterious feelings that humans can experince are guilt and regret.

I have come to realise that this is something the administration/examination department lends a 'care to hoots' attitude, when in fact it is the peace of a student's mind that is needed in order for him or her to study well and become a better doctor, one who is pleasant in mannerisms and quick to treat. Do you really think that keeping students in such a state of apprehension will yield successful doctors for the people of our country? 

No. All you will ever get is a long line of disgruntled, obese, rattled doctors. Already, the studies of this profession is challengeing enough, do you really think it is fair to medical studnents to keep them in a constant state of ambiguity as regards to their dates of FINAL exams, and suddenly unleashing a date upon them and expecting them to turn out with the best results? Preposterous! 

 

('^Something like this would be happening in the near future: clueless doctors who had no time to relax after their exams and were suspended in a continuous state of either waiting for their exams' dates to be announced or for their results to be revealed. Fried neurones is what they have in their brains now. Their thinking processes all but compromised in the long run.")

As you saw earlier, my post begins with a rather unexpected excalamation. In case you forgot, it is us medical students who happen to be human too, who want to break away from the monotony of rigorous studying for some time, who like to unwind themselves through creative outlets (in my case, its painting.) 

Just remember, it is the healthy mind that paves way for success. And in case of the doctors-in-making, it is you who will at some point in life be coming and demanding the services of a doctor and it just so happens that oftentimes, it is the doctor that is the only thing standing between you and your grave.

The Teacher

"I will give them the teacher I never had." -Brad Cohen 

My mum once asked me if I had a teacher that I liked best in college. I said that there weren't any good teachers in my college.

"How can that be?" 

"They easily get irritated if someone's given a wrong answer; they'd prefer getting sarcastic over explaining the topic more clearly. They know that all the topics that they are teaching must make a student able to form links between other topics since they are all connected yet they wouldn't seem inclined to explain things properly."

Disconcerted, my mum asked me: "Okay, how many good teachers do you have at college?

I said that the question should be, are there any good teachers in my college?

My mother could only let out a surprised laugh. I just gave half a sad smile. 

In my mind though, I told myself to stop being whiny and man up. 

But...

The truth was, every single day, when I'd wake up and I'd think about college, all my energy would drain there and then.

I was never happy waking up for college. Never. Since this is a profession that demands a lot of your focus and learning and a whole lot of motivation, it is especially important to keep your spirits boosted and youself motivated at all times, to keep oneself less stressed out and happier and positive. 

If the doctor will look drawn, the patient's response is mirrorred and at once the exchange becomes strained. And let me tell you, that even the illness, which is a negative entity, somehow detects , rather absorbs the negativity in the atmosphere and only serves to become more pronounced! 

You will see an instant change in behaviour of the patient when you greet him/her with a refreshing wave of positive energy, one automatically becomes more relaxed, and is more willing to give a detailed heart to heart description of the illness. The bonus is that the patient will always prefer you over other brilliant but grumpy doctors to treat them.

I say this because I have talked to patients. Whenever, I'd be in a grumpy mood, I'd get the exact same response from the patient - tired, gaunt, unwilling. 

I love studying medicine. It has not only given me so much awareness but has also opened up other crevices of my mind, it has made me maturer in my thoughts, and I think it has actually increased my cognitive abilities. However, these are the things that I am able to think and feel only when I am studying on my own which is mostly on my weekends, meaning that my mind is less cloudy and more willing to study. It is impossible to reflect like that in the weekdays, because I am so stressed out in those days that I feel like my thinking has all but paralysed. 

This insulting attitude of the teachers drove me to ask some students how they felt about such teachers. As soon as we had lapsed into a heart to heart conversation, these students told me that they'd rather bunk class than attend them because they are so terrified of such teachers. 

Alas! As a byproduct, not only their performance at their subjects undulated, their attendance also suffered greatly at the end of the year.

The outcome of the behaviour of these teachers was like this: whenever an actually good visiting teacher came to teach at our college, and he/she'd try to interact and ask a question, all he/she would get would be silence.

Silence. Dead silence.

Silence, because most of the students would be sitting there afraid, thinking around these lines that: 'the answers that I have in mind are probably wrong and that I shouldn't say it aloud for fear of getting lynched with cutting words from the teacher or that I shouldn't say the answer aloud for fear that everybody will laugh at me and the teacher will encourage them.'

Those teachers who can't figure out, that whenever they'd ask a question, all they'd get from the students would be a chorus of answers all at once; and when they'd be told to just raise the hand and tell the answer, hardly any hand would go up.

HELLO! Don't you get it? All those students are AFRAID. SCARED. Afraid that they'd be made fun of either by the teacher or by the students or both. May be 'fun' is a little too strong a word. But I am pretty sure I have put the point through.

There are good students and then there are bad students. There are strategies out there to deal with the trouble-makers. Hello teachers, this is the 21st century, you have all the access to the internet so that you can go searching for teaching strategies, you have workshops available to help you become a teacher that is able to put that difficult concept into the students' minds in the best possible way.

It helps to keep one thing in mind, never degrade a student no matter how troublesome he/she is, because he/she will only get nastier, may be not in attitude but in his/her way of thinking of you; and you cannot get him/her to behave by failing him/her as your way of getting back at that student for being nasty. All you will ever get is lots and lots of curse from that student. As a result of your belittling attitude, that student may show signs of improvement, but he/she will never think of you in a good light. That student will never want to talk to you and never even greet you as you pass by him/her in the college corridors.

PS This is coming from someone who is both a teacher, and a student.