Welcome to Diopters 1997-98
History and introduction to the the Class
About our book in 2003 …
DIOPTERS — DOCTORS IN FOCUS is finally out. It is the culmination of all our dreams, aspirations, disappointments, fascination, emotions, nostalgia, friends ... more than that, it is about us. This book fills the much needed gap of our lives in JSS MC where we have seen it all. It is a reminder of our transformation and transition from the naive sullen sulky teenager to a mature responsible adult. It is here that we became DOCTORS.
Everyday we make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet, there will be a stretch out before us - an ever-changing ever ascending, ever-improving path. In our quest for perfection, we need to walk this path on our own. Make sure that we get up every time we fall down. Maybe we might never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, should only add to the joy and glory of the climb. It has never been in our nature to start out by giving up.
Only thing we must remember is ... to stay focused. We have to be careful if we don't know where we're going, because we might not get there.
Now is the dawn of a new beginning for us. The harder we work, the more luck we seem to rave. We have seen and learnt so much about life, living and death here. But that is not an end in itself. Life continues to teach us and we progress to discover our own ignorance.
“Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It is the transition that is troublesome”
And we are here to make this transition an enjoyable one, an unforgettable one. At the same time, we believe that nobody is immortal and we accept death. And hence we have the hyphen after the DOB beneath the photographs. We all aim at achieving immortality through our work. Bringing out this book has not been a easy job. The roller coaster ride we have gone through and the prolonged labour, has been proof enough. A lot of brain and brawn have been spent on this to make it a reality. Inspite of our indefatigable efforts, data about a few of our friends has remained a lacuna. But then, can we forget all those who have been part of this phenomenal experience? Mistakes if any, are as always, unintentional kindly bear with them.
I would like to thank Raghava Nagaraj, Supritha Shetty. Gayathri, Chandra Nayan and Kaushik Bhunia without whom this book would be lying in the dumps as a bunch of unwanted case sheets. Thanks are due to all those who have supported us financially and for having faith in us. We thank Good Touch Offset Printers for making our experience a memorable one. And of course, all of you, but for whom DIOPTERS would have lacked the vision.
Bye and luck to all !!!
- Dr. Sushma Sundaresh
THE CLASS
It all began on that eventful day of November 3rd 1997. The doctors-to-be had finally arrived at the J.S.S. Medical college. Each one had brought with him a multitude of hopes desires and dreams of his own. It was here that they wanted to see them realized. Each of them was anew to the struggles and challenges of being an adult. Far from home and loved ones, they didn't know then, what it takes to be a 'tributary' that joined the great ocean of doctors. As strangers they had come; became the best of friends, to form 'We' - The Class!!
Our 1st year was the time we got acquainted with each other. We were led into the long awaited 'Horror' of the dissection hall and were seated in front of the corpse for an interminable hour. Some had fainted at the mere sight and some at the aroma. Cunnighams was told to be our 'Bible' for that year and we medicos were supposed to gut the 1st 19 pages of the book, which never seemed to get done. Physiology was the place where all of us had refuted the theory of Buddha. Frogs - We had ran after them, caught them, pithed them and hung their beating hearts on a string to get those beautiful graphs. Those who failed to do so could get them in 'black' - Dus ka ek!! Pithing the frogs was much easier than just pricking our fingers for that drop of blood, each drop seemed to be more precious than a pearl!! Biochemistry was a 'crystal image' - crystals of mannose. fructose, sucrose - so on and so forth were a treat to the eyes. Mass bunking was fun but equally bad was bringing our parents to meet 'TBB' - may his soul rest in peace!!
“It all began on that eventful day of November 3rd 1997”
THE CLASS at Somanathpur Temple — 2000
After acquiring the great skills of testing our blood and urine we had moved on to the sea of microorganisms. Internals in microbiology had taught us "Failures are the stepping stones to success", a success we did achieve in our subsequent efforts.
Pathology reminds one of apologies. Our rocket launching squad was at its best here and we landed in writing scores of apologies time and again. We the experimenting batch, had to experiment with a new HOD in Forensic Medicine and it turned out to be a disaster. Our beloved HOD taught us many a things other than Forensic Medicine ...!
Pharmacology was a place where we had picnics. Each one of us was the HOD and we decided on when to have our internals and what to take. For most of us the classes were a resting time, sleeping in 1st bench was not an offense here! when it came to taking attendance 25% of the class managed to give 100% attendance and what are those proxy wars? It was here that we weighed mixed and ground powders to prepare those holy potions.
'Prevention is better than cure' goes the proverbs and we learnt to prevent diseases by going on small trips each day - to KMF, water treatment plan, the PHC, Anganawadi and it was a time to better our skills in playing Anthakshari. Our trip to the Sewage plant turned out to be a WASTE.
Posting in ENT made our audibility go down by 10-20 decibels, the credit goes to our HOD - Ayamma and her ear bleeding voice. Poking instrument in to the patients' nos, ears and mouth were the skills we acquired here and we were gald to pass out soon. Missing the bus back to college had become a routine affair in the department of ophthalmology, where we had our biodatas reminisced every otherd ay by our professors. We shall always miss the great teacher in our Girija Madam.
Enjoyment being a full time occupation, we tried to satisfy ourselves with the class trips to Madikeri, Talakadu and Gopalaswamy Betta. We involved ourselves in al types of adventures - trekking, boating and swimming or even learning to swim in that one day as in Talakadu. Some of us never seemed to get tired of going on trips, every weekend one could find a few of us in Ooty, Kudremukha, Dharmasthala and countless other places and finally when the albums arrived, it passed hands like a piece of hot cake.
Resting time in Gopalaswamy Betta — 2001
In final year, many of us decided to get more serious with studies and that we did together, our mass copying spree did not seem to spare even the 'best' of our class. Hunting for what we called 'good-cases' had taken up most of our time and when we were not doing that we could always be found in the Bakery.
Finally our final year was coming to an end and we decided to make one more memory to cherish. TINNITUS was held at KAYNES on December 8th 2001. Dressed in our best attire, we were the ladies and gentlemen of the day, we celebrated 'The Class' we had become.
“... we decided to make one more memory to cherish ... TINNITUS”
Dil Chahta Hai - TINNITUS — 2001
Our class not only excelled in academics but we also left a mark in every field, be it culturals or sports. We made our presence felt at Jayciana, NIE and even JIPMER and we won enough laurels to prove our talents.
Today, as we have added that noble prefix to all our names we have indeed grown into responsible and mature individuals, but we will always cherish that little boy and girl hiding within each of us who is waiting to jump out at the slightest of provocation. So, before we leave each other to gather the flowers for the bouquet of our own lives, we plan to hold the TINNITUS once again! To remind us of the little kids we were, the friends we made here and to bind ourselves forever with this collection of great minds and hearts. We shall always remain THE CLASS !
- Dr. Supritha Shetty