My first friend ( Hari, still my closest. ) My first taste of what medical life was gonna be like.
It would be the start of 5 years of hard work, fun and camaraderie - relationships and memories that would last a lifetime.

December 10, 2005.
Last day of internship. Finally became a doctor. No idea what to do next. : Work for awhile and actually earn some money or study for entrance exams and try to get a postgraduate degree. I would end up doing the latter. There would be hardships galore in this period, but then life was never meant to be a bed of roses.

March 8, 2007.
My first day as a post graduate resident. The start of alternate day duties. The endless Caesarian sections ( signalling a new life ) and intracranial bleeds ( that were the prelude to the end of a life. ) that would initially haunt me but later become part and parcel of my daily routine.
The wide range of opportunities - from 750 gram newborns to 120 kg women, from 24 hour old neonates to 95 year old men, moments of laughter and frustration - that would all form my learning curve over 3 years.

June 29, 2010.
The call comes today from R , my co-Pg as I enter the house.
It's a call I've been waiting for with both anticipation and fear.
It is a call informing us of what all these years of hard work have been for.
The results are out. The wait is over.
We have all cleared.
We are finally Anaesthesiologists.

It's been 3,928 days in the making. And our journey has just begun.

The front benchers had mastered the art of keeping their eyes open and like Lord Ganesha, writing down eveything that was spoken from our Vyasa. Having been banished to the front bench on earlier occasions, I had learnt my lesson and chose the 3rd last row .. the safest to doodle and daydream. And then there were the "real" last benchers. The ones who'd come, give attendence and go lie down in the last bench and sleep or even sleep on the floor behind the benches if the benches felt uncormfortable.

This was one such class. Young J, a favourite of our Vyasa had successfully slept through the class and woken up in time for leaving after the hour ended. As he was leaving, he ran into sir.
Vyasa : Ah, J. How are you ?
J : Very good, Sir.
Vyasa : Any doubts about today's class ?
J : No sir. I understood everything, Sir. Your presentation is easier than the textbooks.
Vyasa : These foreign authors, they don't know how to present the points, I say. While writing the textbook, they will sleep with their secretary, full blood supply down there, nothing to brain, then where is the time to write well, I ask you ?

J : Very correct, sir. I read only your notes, sir.
Vyasa : Good, good. You are a good boy, I say. Not like some of the rascals in your batch. They just come and sit there and they don't listen at all, I say. Here, I am spoon feeding them and they are shitting it out like donkeys in the roadside, I tell you.
J : Yes Sir. Some are like that, Sir.
Vyasa : What to do ? All are accidents of their parents, I say.
J : Yes Sir.
Vyasa : Only because good boys like you are there, this batch is surviving. Others are having squirrel brain, I tell you. Squirrel brain.
J : Yes Sir.
Vyasa : Anyway, J... tell me, which all portions do you want me to cover in your coming classes ? Only few topics are left, I think.
J : Ummm.. uh.. Sir, I think you should take cornea, Sir.. that has not been covered. ( J hit a guess, since he couldn't recall it in recent times )

Vyasa stared at him for a few seconds. And then launched into his famed lyrical poetry.
Vyasa : Eeeeh ! Bolle Magga. Sulle Magga. You son of a prostitute ! You son of a dirty dog, I say. You go away from me, I say. You are a useless fellow, I say. Cornea you are asking me to take. Your parents made a mistake making you, I tell you. They should have used condoms, I tell you. You are fit only to shit, I say. Hah !! You rascal, you go, I say.

J, of course, needed no second invitation and ran. He caught up with G, another co-batchmate and told him what had happened. G burst out laughing.
J : What's wrong with the cornea ? It's been awhile. See ( he opened up his note book filled with the first 5 minutes of the last few lectures ) Conjunctiva, Iris, Cataract.. he hasn't taken cornea recently.
G patted him sympathetically on the shoulder.

G : TODAY's class WAS the cornea.