Best 3 years of my life....!!! Chapter 3: Out of the shell

Chapter 3: Out of the shell 

For those who were anticipating something dramatic to have happened as my hints were a bit dramatic at the end of my previous chapter, that significant change that I was talking about was my shifting from the male side of Unit 1 to the female side. A more friendly and relaxed work atmosphere suddenly became more tensed and more professional. But the more significant part was that it gave me the opportunity to bond with the guys who later went on to become my close friends with whose company I have spent most time with over the next three years. 

Also it was during this time that I slowly started coming out of my shell. Actually I was in a phase where i became a chatter box to the extent of annoying people around me during the time of my entrance exam preparations. That was of-course a result of my starving to chitchat with people during the three years that I spent in Anna Nagar, Chennai preparing for civil service examinations. During those days only speech output on a day would be something like  "One plate Idly" , "oru mealsu", "chinthamani oru ticketu", "12th main road oru ticketu" and "oru set chapathi"..!!! That is it...!!! 

So when I shifted to Ashok Nagar to a flat with my UG mates to start my entrance exam preparations all those pent up yearning for chatter began to emanate. So by the time I started off in NIMHANS the chatter system of my brain was already overworked and hence the break of one and half months were good for it to get recharged to unleash with its full fury when the chance arose. That happened during that time. 

Mahavir, Shiv, myself and Kapil during our Skandhgiri trek

It all started off with we four, myself, Mahavir, Kapil and Shivkumar going for dinners after out days work. Over the next five months or so we must have eaten out almost 98% of the time for our dinner. Those were the days when only Kapil had a bike with him 24 hours. Shiv would have his on and off whenever his brother let him. Me and Mahavir were not even in the planning stage to get one. So getting a bike or arranging a mean of transport was a big challenge everyday but still we used to go to either Jayanagar and Koramangala almost everyday.Many times we used to walk our way to Jayanagar and Koramangala having memorable chats all the times. But later when we all had our own bikes, the number of outing were very very minimal with everyone getting busy with their work.

Having Unit1 as the first posting is always a wonderful opportunity to bond well, get initiated into psychiatry at a mellow pace and at the same time to have a seamless orientation to psychiatry and clinical work. So I was lucky in that aspect. Every OPDs will be invariably followed by lunch at Adigas or Upahara Darshini or A2B. The SRs would be extremely friendly outside the work space while maintaining the professional decorum within the confines of the clinics.

Unit 1 team at Guganthara

 

The one day bonding trip to Guganthara, our quartet's mid-night trekking at Skandhagiri, Unit dinner at Banjara (which is the first and last time I can remember almost everyone who was working in the unit attended), all those eventful case conferences and unit seminars where unmindful of what others might think blurting out answers ( may be ignorance was bliss during that time) were some of the wonderful memories that stayed back all through the next three years resulting in everyone yearning for one more Unit 1 posting in the future. 

The whole Unit 1 team at Banjara for our Unit Dinner

 

During this point in time I got another idea which is to increase the interaction within our batch. Until that point our batch was more like collection of groups that belonged to various units rather than a batch as a whole. So I send out an e-mail:

" Hai all,

Its been more than 100days since we became "WE" . I doubt how many of us know one another more than what we knew 100 days back. So my suggestion is why can't we have a forum for our batch for us to share things like what we used to call as "GB meeting "(which i think sounds more formal )  in our UG days.

We can have a similar forum , an informal meeting of our batch mates where we can discuss various issues like ordering for text books in bulk or opthalmoscope or regarding some batch activities like an outing or a dinner or voicing one another's concerns on various issues....

How many of you are game for it.If yes lets decide about the venue & time for our forum & also frequency of such meets...

Also please suggest better ideas if you have one.If you feel such meets are not needed or not warranted or waste of time , please do express that also..

regards,Sabari " . 

The responses were: 

S.Mahavir Agarwal

to me

nice job man.. we should have a forum like this.. do go ahead

 

hemendra singh
to me

nice suggestion.... lets put a common name for our batch ..so we can stuck together as a batch unitet in mind nd sprit through out of roller coaster ride of three years! we stand to our slogan...FOREVER ONE ,SECOND TO NONE..

 

kapil jhamnani  to me hey shabri... i m always there to support u for batch forum...   G@yAtRi  to me hey its a good idea... kudos 4 coming up wid it n takin the initiative...'
dr preethi  to me hi shabari,,    thank u for the mail,,,and congratulations for coming up with such a wonderful idea like batch forum;-) any help in organising anything for the batch let me know anytime.        takecare.

Lets see what was the response to the call and all about the "Batch Forum" in the next chapter. 

 

Best 3 years of my life....!!! Chapter 2: An outsider (Part 2)

Chapter 2: An outsider (Part 2)

The first month and half in NIMHANS were the most lonely and boring time of my stay here. As I said in the previous chapter, most of the friendships have already taken roots with people mostly moving around with those posted in their own unit. Also I was a bit recluse at that time.

With co-residents (who later became good friends) of my first posting Sridevi and Sisira

During the working hours Sissira, Sridevi and Vinay, my co-JR's and my SR Rishikesh sir made me feel comfortable. They were helping me out in my routine work, giving me "logistics consultancy" and were the first source of bonding that I developed in my first month here. I still remember our unit's first lunch to Krishi. Only thing I remember doing was trying to taste as much as possible as it was a buffet. Hardly spoke anything with anyone except for enquiring about the food stuff that I haven't seen before or tasted before. May be that was the last lunch/dinner when my mouth confined itself to its gastronomic functions ! 

I remember the day when I bumped into Mahavir and Kapil in Lakkasandra where I went to buy some articles for use in my room. When I was accompanying them on the way back to hostel from Lakkasandra to staff hostel I was beside them passively listening to what they were spattering in Hindi albiet without any iota of what was it all about. From couple of words that I could comprehend like "non-veg" , "hotel", "chicken", " cheap/expensive" I assumed that they were discussing about the outside eating options around our campus (which served us well in the subsequently in the next 6 months..!). 

After couple of weeks finally I decided to venture out of the campus on a Sunday. Without laptop, friends, work to do, patients to see, Sunday was so boring that I thought why can't go for  a movie. Only theater I knew at that point of time was Poornima in double road since I remember passing by it when it was playing "Vinnai Thandi Varuvaya" on my way to the center for NIMHANS entrance exam. So I took a bus to the theater but to my dismay that time they were not playing any Tamil movie which is a very rare instance, may be for a week or so in a year that may happen only when they don't have any  Tamil movie to play.

Since I have already done my homework with the help of "Deccan Chronicle" and "Times of India", I took an auto to Ajantha Theater not knowing which area it was situated fully at the mercy of the auto driver. Auto guy as one would expect charged me double after taking me to Ulsoor in as much roundabout route he could possibly take which I was not knowing at that time. May be the fact that he was communicating with me in good Tamil made me believe that in him. 

Ajantha Theater, my first movie watching experience in Bangalore (sadly it is no more..:()

Returning was a big challenge. Only route I knew was Majestic to NIMHANS. But I was in Ulsoor and didn't know how to get back to Majestic. As anyone who is in a place where they don't have much knowledge of the local language, he/she would feel apprehensive to enquire anything with the local people. Hence I was hesitant in asking people for direction as by that time my knowledge of Kannada was almost nil. The funny part was I was in the area which is a majority Tamil speaking area and later I got to know that it would be difficult only for other language people not Tamils there. 

So I still remember I kept walking hoping to find a bus with Majestic / NIMHANS / Lakkasandra on it's board. I walked passed Chinnaswamy stadium, Indian express, MG road, Cunningham road and finally I reached Vidhan Chowda hoping that I may get a bus to Majestic from there. To make matters worse as I was waiting for bus in Vidhan Chowda it started to rain and there was no shelter. Finally I got a bus to Majestic and from there to NIMHANS. That was an adventurous first day out in Bangalore on my own. 

Within the batch I knew very less people those days and hardly spoken with one or two outside my unit. In those numerous modules I would hope like many others to be placed in the groups which had one or the other female colleague of our batch so that I can introduce my self and start interacting with them. But as luck would have it, invariably I would get myself placed in the all male groups every single time with whom I would have already interacted with.There was hardly any batch activity. 

The lonely outsider part of my time in NIMHANS soon began to change after a significant event that took place after a month of my stay. The change which I initially didn't like that much but without which I wonder whether I would have enjoyed the rest of my stay there as  much I did. For believers in Chaos theory the gentle flutter of a butterfly's wings has just started....!!!   

                                                           

                                                                                                                                  ...... To be continued

Best 3 years of my life....!!! Chapter 1: An outsider (Part 1)

Chapter 1: An outsider (Part 1)

My first contact with NIMHANS was the academic section which was a pleasant surprise, especially coming a day after dealing with the most hostile academic section one can ever imagine at Madras Medical College (MMC)(would need a separate write up if I start explaining how spiteful the people  there are). The staff in the academic section are the most friendliest I have ever imagined and expected. The warmth,  amiableness, approachability and facilitatory nature of the staff was just the initial trailer of the main picture that followed panning out over a period of next three years. 

After the initial admission procedure got over I was directed to go and meet the Head of the department,who during that time was Dr Sekhar P Seshadri, who was in-charge HOD, as Dr SKC has gone on vocation. I went to meet him in the CAP OPD, where to my pleasant surprise I was greeted in Tamil, the language which is the mother tongue of both of us. Friendliness and simplicity of the man struck me immediately. As if the friendly banter between the junior most fellow joining the institute at that time and the HOD is not surreal enough, he took me in person walking with me across the OPD hall to the unit 1 OPD, and introduced me to Dr Shivaram who was in charge of allotting the units. I was almost in a dream-like state unable to fathom whether it was all real or a pleasant dream.  I don't think anyone would have experienced such a humble HOD anywhere in India, especially in the medical set-up. I can challenge anyone any amount as wager for the same. 

My first snap at NIMHANS  (Courtesy: Sisira )

Once I joined the unit 1, Chief of the Unit, Dr BNG, wished me good luck and was chatting with me in such a casual manner which was all alien to me, having experienced strict bureaucratic attitudes from even the junior most assistant professors in a state government medical college all through my UG days. As I was fighting with the deadline to cancel my PG seat I got admitted through the All India PG within the next 5 days to avoid paying penalty of Rs two lakhs and when I reported the same to Dr Shivaram and Dr BNG, they asked me to immediately take leave for two days, go and sort it out and come. That day when I was returning back to Chennai, only thing that was going through my mind was how lucky I was to get into this place. I was even ready to pay Rs two lakhs if things din't happen as I expected. 

I still remember my first day in the OPD, where Dr Naren who was more like a consultant than a SR, asked Mahavir to guide me through the routine. He did it with his usual flair like he subsequently did in the next  two years with our junior batches only this time I felt like a junior listening to a senior. Though the feeling of being an outsider never left me because I was joining twenty days late by which time the introduction of the batch was over and friendships already taking root among those posted in various units. To my eyes colleagues who were working in Unit 1 at that time were looking intimidating to me, (when I think about it now, I can only LOL..:D) may be because of the preconceived notions that I had about people who might have got selected in such a competitive All-India exam as that of NIMHANS.

 Though at one end I was happy to step into such an esteemed and friendly Institute, on the other end I was a bit apprehensive of how would I be able to match up with the nineteen other brightest minds from all over the country who have chosen Psychiatry as their career. It took me almost two months to get used to the place professionally as well as personally before I could feel a sense of belonging. The struggles, discoveries, new friendships and how from being an outsider to the one who became the coordinator of the batch activities, needs to be told.            
                                                                                                 ...... To be continued 

Best 3 years of my life....!!!

Preface:

It must be September  2009. After my tryst with civil service examination and "3 Idiot" Madhavan like confrontation with my dad ( actually I was a passive onlooker when my mom and sister confronted my dad) I began my PG preparations in June 2009. As anyone in Chennai who prepare for PG entrance would know, my abode too was Dr.MGR Medical University library. As always ever so slowly my preparations where going on in snail pace.

In September my friends with whom I was staying and preparing stared to apply for entrance exam for an Institute which I was not that familiar with ( I knew there is an institute called NIMHANS but didn't even knew what was its expansion..!!) NIMHANS. Initially I was not interested for I was too lazy to travel to various places for writing exams then. (Later I went as far as Chandigarh to write exams which altogether another story) But when all in your group is applying you get a tad anxious as to why can't you too apply. Thus reluctantly I applied for it after one our study group member and close friend Gajadeepan told that his friend by name Shankara Subbu cleared it easily by just reading the last 10 years all-India psychiatry questions alone in addition to the regular preparation, I started having a fantasy why can't too do the same. Thus I too applied for it.

Starting with AIIMS exams in November, almost one exam every fortnight followed. NIMHANS finally arrived in the last week of February, by which exhaustion has set in. Okay, one more week to go, let me put in a decent effort at reading all the last 10 years all-India pyschiatry questions, my mind would say. I enjoyed my niece's first birthday celebration too during that week. But by then I was sure that I would get a rank in all-India or TNPG exams and since my aspiration at that point was only a non-clinical seat, mind was lazy to put in that extra effort.

   Reluctantly started travelling to Bangalore. During the travel all I did was munch each and every thing that was sold in the train while my friends with whom I was travelling where are engrossed in the last minute preparation. Especially when they were discussing about the various clusters of personality I paid scant attention which bit me in my back the next day. (There was indeed a question on the cluster of personality which I answered wrongly while rest of them did it correctly)  I went back without even bothering to come and look at what is NIMHANS and how did it look like.

I felt the question paper was easy as I finished it in around an hour and fifteen minutes but when we came out and were discussing questions I felt it would be impossible to be the lucky 20 to get into this institute. So I went to the library as usual back in Chennai the next day (by this time going to library has become a habit) with an idea of lets continue preparation for the May AIIMS & PGI. I din't even bother to check the results that day. It was my friend Venkataramanan who saw the results and called me by around 12 noon and said I have been called for counselling the next day. 

Immediately I rushed to my sister's house and opened the NIMHANS page and saw it for myself. Immediately booked tickets in all the trains that were leaving that afternoon, with none being a confirmed ticket. Had to rush back to the library to get all my certificates photostatted and to get it attested. Only the 5pm Shatabdhi express ticket confirmed and while I was travelling towards the central station I realised that I have somehow forgotten to get one more certificate attested. As soon as I landed at central I rushed to MMC casualty nearby and requested the CMO on duty for attestation which he gladly obliged. 

My parents concurrently where travelling from Salem to Bangalore and we met at the Bangalore city railway station. Next day the auto driver dropped us near the OPD (wonder what was he thinking listening to us discussing about admission to NIMHANS....:P ) When we inquired with the people there where is admission is being done they directed us to the screening OPD. There we realized what they really understood by admission. A neurology resident passed by ( I presuming since he was wearing an apron ) who directed us to the campus across the road. 

Initially we tried to enter the locked Neurobiology research center where another person ( I think Ritika Bhutani ) who was also lost. Finally we stumbled across a security guard who guided us to the academic section. When the counselling started slowly it began to sink in that I don't have a chance getting a seat as all the seats have been taken up and I was 3rd on the waiting list. Euphoria slowly evaporated and I returned back dejected. 

During the all-India counselling I met the person who has taken the seat before me, and also the person who was wait-listed above me. The former told he has decided to continue in NIMHANS while the second one told he is also interested in the seat if the former let it go. So even the glimmer of hope I was having vanished.  But I was in regular contact with Punith (who was the only person whom I met and spoke in the NIMHANS counselling ). 

Meanwhile I got MD psychiatry seat in Institute of Mental Health, Chennai through all-India PG entrance exam. Slowly I was forgetting NIMHANS and getting used to IMH. In the third week of May I got a call from Punith saying that the first person and second person have left the seat and the person who was ranked just above me has not joined yet and the time period of a week given to him is about to lapse. The emotional state I was in when i heard this from Punith is difficult to describe. Without wasting much time I called up the academic section and inquired whether I can come and join. They asked me to come immediately.

Immediately I took leave for couple of days, went back and forth between IMH and MMC to get my original documents and left Chennai as fast as I could. Next day I joined NIMHANS, 20th may, 2010, the day which is as significant as my birthday, for it was a new beginning, a journey through the next 3 years which were the best years of my life...!!!

                                                                                                       ...... To be continued