Three months in K.E

By Bushra Ishaq (Batch 2015-20)

Been a Kemcolian for three months. So how about a few random observations.

The lectures:

I just have a vague idea of what the first was like. Nothing really stuck in my mind (Hmmmmm. Nothing much has changed in three months now that I come to think of it). I was too busy obsessing over the revelation that my university had fancy schmancy projectors. Fully functional projectors too at that. In the ancient runes of K.E. Impressive.

 The overall craze.

 First two weeks we used to actually get them WASHED. And then we went through the ordeal of ironing them. No creases whatsoever. Nah! I am not making this stuff up.

No wonder we were easily spotted by seniors. It must have been pretty freaky seeing all those ‘new’ kids roaming around in overalls. ALL DAY LONG. It had quite a lot to do with our burning desire to show off our newly acquired status of med students. I mean why else would you feel the need to wear one in say Picaddly. Now: it is probably curled up in a ball somewhere.  It serves other purposes. Functions simultaneously as an umbrella, hand towel, as a carpet even when the grass is wet in anatomy lawn.

RAGGING:

First day. Scary as hell. Trying to be inconspicuous. Dodging seniors. Making utmost effort to blend in with the background. I am pretty sure there were kids on the first day who felt pride and enthusiasm (?) upon entering K.E. But all I could think of was having to hop around on one foot and offering salute to seniors. And becoming a human train. Or having to wear the overall inside out. Thankfully I didn’t go through it myself. Although I did get to witness a couple of them. I can imagine the  humor element in the situation. Because as a spectator it does seem like fun. As long as it isn’t you who’s undergoing public humiliation.

DISSECTION:

So we entered the dissection hall armed with gloves and masks and overalls. And dissection boxes and even dissectors. All ready to become surgeons. Enthusiastically giving our first incisions. Trying to distinguish the superficial fascia from deep one. Straining to appreciate muscles. Yeah, good ol’ times.

SUBSTAGES:

All around kids feverishly turning pages, Highlighting pages profusely. Revising notes. Bones strewn all around the place. Tibia under the pillow. Femur in dish basket. Disheveled appearance. Swollen eyes testimony of the all nighter we pulled (which we vehemently deny by the way).

Nothing much has changed as far as substages and stages are concerned….. Well, not yet anyway.

PRACTICALS:

Two hours of plain torture. Is it even possible to identify slides. Has anyone actually done that? Anyone? Like ever?

And the books:

B.D or K.L.M? Mushtaq or Lippincott? Or perhaps Harper?

And their sizes. They are huge. As in HUGE, huge. So you are supposed to finish it by profs. Surreal.

And then the tests. Where you pay for only studying anatomy the whole time.

And then you see the paper and you are like:

So roughing it out here for now. What with all the lectures and cramming sessions and substages. Hoping desperately for a respite. Fingers crossed.

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