Survival beckons

Eh… how to survive la… really need help la wey..


So this is how it goes: the silver spoon is removed… “You like the freedom? You like it?”


“Yes, a breath of fresh air, thank you, no more headache” like every naïve girl or boy we say, “bring it on… we need more clinicals, less classes and class notes.”


“ho ho ho… very enthusiastic clinical students.”


Then like every naïve boy and girl, we fall into their trap. They throw all of us little babies in the medical field, into the sea of knowledge. “Nah go swim… this is what you need to know… nah go study, go read.”


Just when we are about to enjoy our freedom, we come to realize the weight of responsibility - complicated books with facts hiding behind the nonsense, which we need to extract. We have to divide for ourselves the essential knowledge from the distinction decorations. Time management my dear Watson. All this before we even start learning the material.


“Ahem, sorry to interrupt dear measly low life medical student. How do you expect to examine a patient if you don’t know what to look for? How can you enquire like a good medical detective without studying? You have to correlate the signs and symptoms, silly or you’ll be just as good as the common man on the street. Even they would be better than you.”


“Errr… but… but… you can’t just leave us on our own!”
Then we hang on to the false hope that knowledge is not everything... but emotional intelligence will not solve our glaring problem either.


“Change your attitude, stupid. Here we aspect professionalism. Studies, service, whatever. Gone are the hanky panky days of your 1st & 2nd medical years in Manipal.”


Then they observed us from afar with empathic pretences “ho ho ho, how are you doing? Smashing I hope?” but subtly force-feeding us. “What? You still don’t know this? Useless fellow, this is basic knowledge” then with their bare hands they push again and again, our tired heads already struggling to breath, into the water, “ When are you going to swim? We haven’t got all day my dear.”


“Whoaaaa… what do we actually need to know?”


“Something about EVERYTHING… muahahhaha!”


It’s a miracle I haven’t drowned yet. But there is no doubt I need a stable system that works. I need to trouble myself more and adapt to the situation as quickly as possible.


Hmm maybe it’s not that bad after all. I’m not sure, but maybe, maybe they like our batch. Yeay I’m starting to float. If they can do it, I can right? Anyway I think it’s still too early to tell. What’s next?


“Ho ho ho… secret. You’ll find out soon enough”