Be nice! I cud be your doctor some day! :D

So, instead of making this a 'A journey ends; a journey begins' sort of a melodramatic post, just let me say, that five years, fifteen journals, hundreds of practicals and endless vivas later, I have passed my Final MBBS examination with gliding, if not flying, colours (alright, that was trying too hard, but today I'm allowed) and have earned the much-feted, much-coveted prefix of Doctor to go with my name.

My obsessive-about-etymology friend reminds me that the origin of the word doctor lies in the Latin 'Doktore' which is a rather generic term for a teacher. Our foremost purpose is to teach patients about their health and so on.

It does feel rather fantastic to earn the epithet, it actually wud've felt just as fantastic to earn any other graduate degree. However, this does feel like a milestone along a longer journey and as our professor cheerily reminded me on facebook today, "In medicine, what we learn the very first year is that the first degree isn't the last, and that there never comes a day when you shut all your books and put them away. We must remain eternal students."

Which is all very true in more than a Gandhian sense. We learn as if we live forever and live as if we have a whole storehouse of tomorrows.

Which brings me to the next bit. My seniors remind me of the dangers of postponing 'life' in order to make studying a priority. It is important to give time to one's own self and stop and do all those things that make one happy if one is to avoid a total burn-out.

How anyone ever manages to make the time is a mystery to me. But I suppose somebody will end up teaching me time management one of these days.

Now, it is post-graduation that everyone will obsess about and work themselves to exhaustion for. That's as good a goal as any, I guess. Let's see how well this year treats me.

Right now, I'm just soaking in the reflected glory of this unnaturally revered degree. And the fact that my school friends got me a T-shirt emblazoned with the words, "What's up, doc?" Atleast they were confident about my result, which is more than what I cud say about my state of nerves.

All's well that ends well, tho. And never have I been more grateful for the faith that these others have chosen to invest in me. I shall never forget it. And I shall require more along this rather long journey. Well, whaddya know? It is a 'A journey ends; a journey begins' kinda post after all. :D Wud never have guessed it starting off! But today I'm allowed. ;)

Stay

I am struck today by the full force of the realisation of how important communication really is. How vital it is to reach out to another human being across the ether, to open one's mind unto another's, to share a memory, a feeling, and to receive, in return, an equally heartfelt emotion, an equally poignant memory.

It is so easy to feel lost and lonely in the world. Sometimes, the urge to reach out and touch someone becomes almost irresistible. The comfort to be derived from contact is great.

I cannot have imagined a greater gift than that of language, be it one of words or gestures or smiles or caresses.

The incredible power of sharing an experience will never be underestimated by me again.

Reassurance, when given, if sought, is like an unshakable and adamant support. And tonight, for that much I am grateful.