The Voice of the dead

 

Medical science is mostly associated with saving lives and serving mankind. Doctors are compared to ‘Gods’ when they successfully save a patient, or to the heartless mythological demons when they fail to do so. But when med students walk into the department of Forensic medicine and Toxicology (FMT) for the first time they realize, there’s more to the medical profession than just this. Being a doctor is also about helping to find out who caused a premature end of a life, about helping rape victims seek justice for themselves, about knowing the best methods for a successful suicide if the need ever arises. Finally, and most importantly, it is about learning medical ethics and several sections of the Indian Penal Code by heart so that they can save their backs and that of their colleagues if they are ever accused of medical negligence.

The forensic medicine department, which is attached to the mortuary and department of anatomy in most medical colleges is definitely a place that gives sinister vibes. It is a place which always demands a mask, even without COVID, unless one is completely desensitized to the gut-wrenching stench over there. The large number of dead bodies coming in and out with occasional mutilated, beheaded, or rotten ones, the cold mortuary, the damp corridors with old, flickering tube lights- everything sets the mood for a spine-chilling horror movie. It happens many a times that while walking down the corridor, or while entering the class one has a sudden eye contact with a dead person, only to realize that his head is not attached to his body after all!

Photo courtesy: Souvik Dutta

One learns many things in FMT- starting from reporting rape cases, and injuries to identifying snakes and poisons. One learns to answer questions like “What are the different ways to kill or injure a person using this bamboo stick?”  One learns to identify the age of wounds, the signs of death, or the age and sex of a person from their bones. But after seeing so many weapons one wonders, “Which is the weapon which can hurt the most?” The answer which comes out remains the same with or without learning FMT: WORDS. Weapons kill only once while words can kill a thousand times.

                                           Photo courtesy: Mehetab Alam Molla

Autopsy is a very important part of FMT and watching an autopsy for the first time is an experience to remember throughout life. Even for people who are accustomed to seeing surgeries on live people, an autopsy seems to be a merciless procedure. While for live people we take care not to injure the vital organs and not to cause much bleeding, the dead seem to be no more than animal carcasses to the autopsy surgeons. They drive chisel into the bones and use their hammers to break open the skull or other bones of the dead body. In one swift movement they pull out the internal organs and cut them open to check for abnormalities.

 As one might infer, autopsy is not a procedure for the weak hearted. The question that might arise is, ’Isn’t it inhuman to cut open a departed person like that?’ The answer to this question lies within the walls of a courtroom where the evidences from autopsy bring justice to the dead or within the walls of the medical college classrooms where the evidences from this procedure helps to uncover the pathology of diseases.

There are many moments when FMT induces fear of grosses us out- it might be while holding a fetal skull for the first time or while doing classes on paraphilias. But it is a beautiful subject. It gives voice to the departed, which uncovers the truths our dear ones wanted to tell us before dying but could not, which saves the victim and punishes the accused and warns us against the evils of human kind. It is the subject that makes us stand face to face with the truth, and as the saying goes: “Telling the truth is a beautiful act even if the truth itself is ugly.”

                                                 Photo courtesy- Shuvojyoti Rakshit

 

 

 

 

The Friendship Experiment

 

The movies we watch, books we read and the stories that we hear from seniors and family cause us to have a golden image of college life. We dream of a life without the restrictions that bind us during school days, a life full of exhilarating adventures, when we want to try a bit of everything, experience everything and enjoy life to the fullest. But these adventures are never complete without our partners in crime- our friends. Thus, ever since the first day of college we start our battle of making new friends, of trying to fit-in.

It is easy to make friends at school. I remember, when I was in class 7, I asked my seatmate, “Can you please lend me your scale (ruler)?” And she said “Yes.” That was the beginning of a nine years long friendship which continues. But college friendships are tricky. They involve new adults with sensitive hearts who cannot express themselves eloquently thus creating complex situations for themselves and others.

It is a long and difficult journey to fit in for most people. As days pass and college life newly molds our personalities, we often find that the friends we once made do not remain friends anymore. So, the question that arises many times is, “Are these friendships worth so much time and effort, since we will probably not see these people much after college?” Unfortunately, there is no right answer to this question. While college friendships are difficult, most of us find at least some friends who are worth all our time and effort. The times that we spend with these people become memories. And as is the case of any other experiment, this one also involves several trials and errors till you find the people you can vibe with, the most. Are you willing to take the risk of making all these errors to find the right people? The answer depends on you.

While conducting this experiment we end up finding new cultures, developing new habits, and following new trends. People start enjoying some of these new activities- some fall in love with nicotine and become smokers while others fall in love with Japanese culture and become anime fans. All in order to “fit in.” But do we really fit in, ever? I once heard a beautiful dialogue in a movie: “Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were made to stand out?”

So, to all the medicos and non-medicos trying to fit in at college, it’s okay if you are a noob about current affairs or do not follow the latest fashion trends and your current social circle finds you uncool. It’s okay if at times you feel you are lonely and everyone but you are doing great in their lives, because this feeling will pass (if they persist for a long time though you can consider visiting a psychiatrist). Remember that even the girl who is seemingly the most popular and sought-after at college goes to bed crying night after night while being under the impression that her bookworm room mate is probably not noticing. Everyone is fighting their own battles and most people do not have friends to share their troubles with.

So, if you are among the lucky lot who has lovely friends you can vibe with, treasure them. And if you belong to the majority of the population, that is, confused, lonely college-goers then maybe you have not found your people yet. Wait for it, and you will surely find them. Till then, as Dory said, “Just keep swimming.”

Photo courtesy: Unknown

CONFLUENCE

 

A very important issue faced by the students of government medical colleges located in cities is the lack of privacy in the campus. No matter where one goes one is bound to meet friends, seniors, teachers, menial workers and most importantly patients and their families. It feels weird to discuss your personal matters with so many people around to overhear, especially for certain pairs of ‘friends’ who need lots of personal space.

The hostelites also have to face other problems like extreme heat in the summer where the slow-moving ceiling fans provide little relief or having an extremely popular room mate whose friends come up to gossip every evening rendering the room unfit to study in. Some people also crave the space to have group study sessions with their batchmates which is difficult to find in the hostel or common room, while some others just want a proper internet connection for their online activities which is again not available in most places in the campus.

There is only one place in the entire campus which provides the ideal solution to all these problems- THE CENTRAL LIBRARY.

 Welcome to this wonderful, fully air-conditioned place with large reading rooms which allows one to escape the heat as well as study in peace without having to listen to their room mates’ constant chatter. Want to have a group study session with your day scholar buddies? Then Central Library is your go-to place. Want to enjoy a cricket match, or a movie or some online tutorial videos on your iPad? Even then, this is just the place for you. Want to spend a sweet couple of hours with your very special friend every day? Well, then also go to the library without a thought. Want to take a refreshing nap after a long day? No place is better than the library with its quiet, cool environment and big, fat, sleep-inducing medical books.

All kinds of medicos are seen in this place- the serious studious ones who do not look up from their books, the mobile addicts who do not look up from their phones, the gossip mongers who sit down and spread all the hot gossips of the college among themselves, the jobless ones who just sit and stare at others and out of the window and the lovers who go for library dates.

As the summer temperatures achieve new records every year it becomes more and more difficult to find seats in the library during summer months. Some of us thus go to the library early in the morning every day and keep our bags and stuff on some of the seats thus marking our territory. This is done as a precaution in case seats are not available once we come back from the classes and wards. It is also a challenge to find the ambient temperature locations in the library. Though centrally air-conditioned, the cooling is not uniform everywhere, some locations are extremely hot while some harbor Antarctic temperatures. On the other hand, not all mobile networks offer proper signal everywhere in the library. In short it requires several days of trial and error to find the correct location for yourself, in terms of temperature and network connection. And if one morning you find that location occupied, then you have no option but to sulk all morning and secretly curse the intruders!

Some people maybe of the opinion that despite all its benefits the library is a distracting place with its awe-inspiring sunset scenes outside the window and some diabetes-inducing romantic scenes within its four walls, but such opinions vary from person to person. For the regulars, the library is a beloved place where they love to spend most of our day cocooned away from the heat, the worries and the troubles of the rest of the college. It’s a place which offers one the chance to be with their beloved……subjects or people.