Misery is bitter. But triumph over misery is just as sweet. My first reaction on seeing the place where I am condemned (OK fine...destined) was that of extreme shock, disgustion and disappointment. And my first day at the ghastly place did nothing to tide over my fears. A 10 x 9 (feet) room with two rusted naked iron cots, a cupboard that steadfastly refuses to close, a clear inch of dust and an apparent breeding ground for all members of the Phyla Annelida and Arthropoda....could it get worse? Oh yes, it could. A single toilet to be 'shared' between 60 digestively harassed (by first morsels of hostel food which by the way is fairly good) - a toilet predominated by faeces (supposedly human) and some repugnant insects (that managed to tighten several rectums). Bathrooms were comparatively less worse....in fact they may even be classified as passable. This was MISERY and I swear it was bitter.
The next day was almost the same but our tempers were learning to fly, our tolerance was waning and our environmental flexibility was at its zenith. With some hard work and fraternal inspiration we made our rooms habitable. Relentless knocks at the doors of the Sanitary Inspector also secured a brief span of cleanliness at the toilets/bathrooms.
I feel its unnecessary to detail our adaptive and preventive mechanisms against what we were put up with (It doesn't after all make for pleasant talk, does it?) Now after a week, classes are sinking into torpor and our hostel conditions are sliding back again. But our fight will continue.
Duniya mein hum aaye hain to jeena hi padega,
Yeh jeevan hai agar zeher to peena hi padega.
CAUTION : Most parts of this article may be blundered over-reactions from me. In that case, an apology should be due in the coming weeks...
APOLOGY - dated 19/8/2007
Its been almost three weeks since my induction into the medical professional course at Rajkot and amongst the many things I have realized since then is this :
Hostel is not home. But, hostel isn't hell either. And this is what I hope is an adequately constituted apology for all those demeaning words (or should I put it down as an emotional extravagance?) that I have uttered above. Believe me - I am not kidding when I say that I have developed a queer form of attachment with my hostel (which by the way is named Sir Lakhajiraj Boys Hostel) - an attachment that has room for loyalty, disgust, frustration, ambition an all other feelings that might cause lesser mortals to explode. Maybe it has helped that I am now conveniently oblivious to the presence of all arthropods and annelids creeping ominously around us. How can the eyes see what the mind simply refuses to see?
Man obviously is the most flexible of all of God's dear creations and can adapt best to the situations thrust upon him. All I know is that my room is sufficient for the bare survival of two individuals on the threshold of independence. Its not the proverbial country cottage but then country cottages were never known to produce good doctors. Sometimes you have to allow yourself to be driven by hope - however faint it might appear to be. After all, not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. So, bring it all on....I am battle-ready.