Last day of surgery internship posting

Today is the last day of surgery... UNIT 1!! I am sitting in OT no. 7. Non existent to anyone, exactly how an intern is in OT. All the lecturers have gone so the residents are exploring and discussing their way through a bilateral inguinal hernia. They are not short of any surgical equipment so i am not summoned yet (Stupid mama work ) and am undisturbed to keep on writing this blog. Tomorrow is new year's eve and we're thinking of partying at Balbeer's. Something to look forward to. See you next time :)

Kanatal!

I dreamt of coming to kanatal and seeing snow. I got something very close to it. 'Pala' is frozen powder like ice. It was sprinkled all over the road, trees, small huts when we went trekking into a forest area. It was neatly coating all the dry leaves on the ground. When you pick it up it slides and falls of. To touch, it feels like the ice lining u had in those old refrigerators in the freezer compartment. It was magical because it was something i was seeing for the first time. Also we took a path off the road through a dense part of the forest and were following a trail which probably was the site for a waterfall. When we got to the top there was a clearing and you could hear multiple bushes moving and making noises. When i looked. Closely there were some wild hens on the back of a few bushes scattering away on the sound of our footsteps. But there was a point where all the bushes in the front about 20m away was making a sound. You never know whats behind. So we turned at right angles to it and trekked along the slope of the mountains. The fauna was very differet to what we have in maharastra. There were big tall perfectly cylindrical trees with minimal branches. Then there were these conical christmas tree looking giant trees. When we continued for half an hour more, we got onto a path we had climbed down from before and eventually got out of the forest. 

After that we had our breakfast buffet waiting in the resort restaurant which we stuffed in our stomach to the point where we could eat no more. Then we took a local bus (which costs rs20 as compared to the club's taxi service costing about rs1000) and went to Sarkunda Devi temple. It was a big trek from where we got off the bus to reach the temple. I had my favourite playlist playing while we climbed the hill to reach the temple. It was a nice peaceful temple with a cool breeze and temple bells on the way to its entrance which left a resounding echo when struck.

Next we went to Tehri dam which is apparently Asia's largest of its kind! What theyve done is theyve caught river Ganga way up on its course and looking at its expanse you can only imagine how much potential energy it had to produce electricity to many cities in India, Nepal and China as well. You can't go close to the dam wall as it is under military protection and as quoted by our driver that if it is broken by China or any other foe, will clean up nearby cities like Dehradun, Delhi etc! We did motor boating on the dam reservoir which is 80km long and some 5km wide. Racing through the calm water was making our hearts race too! By the time we came back the resort had set up nice games for customers to enjoy. Then next day we left early at 7am from Kanatal to Delhi which turned out to be a journey of 10hrs. On the way there was rishikesh and Haridwar. We got off in Haridwar and saw thousands of pilgrims taking a dip in the river Ganga beside these little temples on the bank of Ganga, each dedicated to a different God in Hindu mythology. Devotees from all over India come here to this holy place. Many people also come here after a member of the family has died. The ashes of the dead are let out in the rapid currents of the holy river as part of rituals. Beware of pundits who rip you off in the name of offering prayers and asking for money! We finally reached Delhi and had some time to spare before our train. We kept our luggage in the cloak room in the station and went to Palika bazar. It is an underground shopping complex. I wanted to buy a leather jacket for cheap. But the shops there are owned by hot headed, rude, gangster like people where you dont feel like shopping. The material is also cheap and you have to have a good bargaining skill. When you come out of the complex you are in Cannaught place which is a high end shopping street. It is beautiful and full of lights where you see the rich shopping. At last we came back to the station where we boarded the Amritsar express which would take us to Manmad station in Maharashtra by the following night. So here I am on the top bunk in the train, 5 hrs to my destination from where we have to board another train (without a booked ticket) to Aurangabad. Tomorrow is Christmas and I cannot think of a more magical countdown to Christmas that we just had!

Pic: me reading on my Kindle all wrapped up while our train is preparing to exit Madhya Pradesh

Epic Intership Trip

I am currently in Dhanaulti which is a village near Mussourie, Uttarakhand. It is very cold here. I saw 'pala' (as described by the driver) which is like white powder spread across the roads. This means i saw something that resembles snow for the first time in my life. At age 23. We ( me, elton, devassy and gupta) are hoping it will snow in kanatal (our destination). By the way we are in the middle of THE trip we were dreaming of throughout mbbs. We are done with mussourie which was good, cold, had a dip in kempty falls which had icy water. And one day was dedicated to white water rafting. Now when I heard about rafting, in India everything is commercialised and no one really gives you the opportunity to actually experience an adventure sport (unless u can spend a lot over it. We are still students and have no salary of our own). So our experiences are limited. But rishikesh rafting is famous all over India. I had to check out what all this buzz was about. They have an office where you pay them (only Rs 300 per person), change into shorts. Then they take you along with a rafting boat on a jeep 18km from there. Then your phone, camera, wallet can be kept in a waterproof bag. Board the raft. The instructor properly teaches you commands. Then you enter a different world. On a raft in the calm waters of river Ganga with impressive rapids in between where you get the adrenaline rush. While youre going forward and you get ur head up you realise that you are in a really wide river with a colour betn green and blue and theres lush green fauna and conical trees an the banks that slope on either side. Sometimes you go through hills and that makes the river cutting in between and flowing through a valley. There is a scheduled stop in between where the raft stops on the shore buzzing ppl on other rafts for some maggi, tea and cigarettes. This is right in the middle of nowhere, where you cannot see life for miles on either side. Hot maggi after a cold rafting session makes your stomach dance. There is also a 'cliff jump' point where you can make amazing videos for ur social networking profile ;) And the best part is when you end it. It ends near Ram Jhula which means swing of Ram. It used to be a bridge made of ropes and planks which used to swing due to the wind but now is a suspension bridge. But what is amazing about it is that it is surrounded by some dozens of temples on either side of Ganga which have stairs coming down into the river. Our trip ended at about 5pm which is sunset time there in december. So we're sailing on a greenish blue river with a golden yellow sky above, with a pleasant breeze brushing your face . All this time all the little temples are slowly moving back one after the other with muffled clattering sounds of Ganga Arti which gives your eyes a juicy treat and takes you into a spiritual heaven. It is definitely a memory for life for me.

Anyway its getting colder and colder as we are reaching Kanatal, our next destination. Our resort is supposed to be on a peak which (fingers crossed) would be covered with snow. That would be another mesmerising story to tell. Will definitely share it after i'm done with it.

New to blogging

I am currently doing internship after completing mbbs. I just finished the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isacson. It's an amazing book! To read history being made is so inspiring and u are left with nothing but respect for the man. I learnt a lot from it and would recommend to all. Anyway it got me into the drive of reading more. And writing more. And this here i am. Writing. I am an introvert and I an the type of a person who, if given a choice between a socializing and travelling to a new place, would choose the latter. My hobbies are reading, playing football ( i support liverpool fc by the way) and ofcourse writing. And this is me, starting a blog, or rather, THE blog who knows ;)