Some things exist, which indeed are difficult to express in the form of words. But when you start speaking about it, eventually you will feel that you have spoken a lot but still you are very much sure that the person with whom you are speaking with have not understood that in the same way you have. If you just try to imagine about such circumstances, I am very much sure that each one of us have at least one such event which even you cannot explain to yourself. Well, such things as some people might be thinking do exist. These things however needed to be finely and delicately observed. Some unknown writer once have said, ‘try to observe this world, use all your sense organs to do so, use your thinking to elicit them and yes obviously use your brain to understand them so that then in the world each moment will be important and you will be important to yourself.’ Guys literally, these things are very important in the world and most importantly in your life. Just observe and learn, imitate and learn, try and learn but just don’t stop learning. Well you might be wondering what ‘hope’ as the title signifies. It signifies a story of such learning and adapting, adapting and understanding, understanding and applying, and believing in yourself. It’s the story of success.
Well, I am a medical student studying in the medical school in Sewagram. Presently in pre-final year of the medical education. Endowed with very good friends the time was passing by and we were getting older with everyday having new sets of medical adventures in the college. One fine day, the daily schedule for the daily activities was over and I was sitting quietly in my room searching for what to read. Suddenly it was a call from my friend Srushti that one of our friend from another medical school was inviting us all for event of Otorhinolaryngology Quiz which was going to be held in a nearby town called Nagpur. I was very excited to hear that because it was rather going to be a fun trip than the event itself. I congratulated all my friends who invited me and was very astonished to hear that their group is preparing very hard to win this very event. I gave them a good luck and told them to keep up the spirit and also with the promise that we will be there to cheer for you at the event. Well, Srushti and I were very excited regarding the news about the quiz and we discussed regarding their hard work and the benefits that they would have after participating for such an event. After all this talk, I was rather thinking who all might be representing our medical school in this event. In some corner of my mind I too have a very great in that quiz because for the present year ENT was one of my favourite subject. This incident was exactly one month before the event of quiz.
Days passed on and we were just living our daily routine. It was exactly 10 days before the quiz that there was an announcement in our medical school regarding screening for the team that would represent our medical school in the event of ENT quiz. After hearing the news, I was thinking of not going to the quiz. The reason was regarding studies. At the time of screening I was having my ophthalmology postings for which I have already made a great plan to study and the plan was obviously going to fail if at all I got selected for the quiz. So, with the intention of not going to the quiz I have decided to appear for the screening. My friend Srushti was of same opine. She had another reason for not going to the quiz and thus both of us half-heartedly but with great enthusiasm finally appeared for the screening for the quiz. Guys, you won’t even imagine, that day was the biggest day of our life with totally unknown for what we were going to do and what we were going to achieve. The day on which we appeared for the screening was a busy one. Both of us were supposed to have some work in Wardha exactly after the screening. So after the question paper was in our hands, I was very much delighted to see only 30 questions. While solving the screening, the mind was thinking and obviously wondering that how am I able to solve most questions correctly for which my mind concluded that don’t worry man! You are not going to get selected for the reason that most questions were easy and there will be a tough competition for the sake that only few questions will be the deciding factor for the results. So I quickly solved all the questions and handed over the answer sheet to the examiner who were nothing but our Ravi sir. Guys, when I was handing over the paper there was a quick moment of a second when I wondered that there are only 30 questions and what all these other students are doing with the paper. With this thought I left the room being the second one to do so because the first was obviously Srushti.
Then there was this ophthalmology lecture when the results for the selected candidates was disclosed that too on Whatsapp and I was in a condition that I cannot check the messages. Then I heard someone calling me with the voice that I quickly recognised to be the voice of Sahitya congratulating me that You, Srushti and Anju are selected as a team for the quiz with herself being the extra candidate which can replace any one of us if the conditions demand. Quickly after the lecture I checked my whatsapp to see our names in the selection list. After doing this I quickly called Srushti and told her about the same as well congratulated her for the selection, the reason being that she was in Nagpur. Myself, Sahitya and Anju gathered after the lecture and decided to go to the department for further guidelines. Reaching the department, we told Dr.Deepika Garg ma’am (Professor, ENT department) that we are the selected and one of us is in Nagpur and will return and meet you. Ma’am told us about how to read and how the things there goes. She allotted us with Dr. Ravi Ganeshkar sir who was responsible for having our preparations done in a way they were supposed to be. You know guys that very moment when we were having Ravi sir with us was one of the golden moments which we all consider for whatever happens next. That was the moment when the days for work, days for sacrifice and obviously days of learning much more than studies started. After the meet with Deepika ma’am we all followed Ravi sir to the Library where he issued us some books which were necessary for the preparation. While issuing the books he just asked a question regarding who will be preparing the ear, the nose and the throat. It was a very quick moment when I just thoughtlessly raised my hand for the question that sir asked regarding who will be preparing the ear. After ear it was the turn of nose which was selected by Anju and the remaining was throat which was supposed to be done by Srushti as she was not able to select due to her mere absence.
Dr. Ravi Ganeshkar sir, foreign graduate from Russia, a treasured senior one can ever have. He was a very straight forward person. Guys, seeing the other world where things go differently do make a difference in how that person is. This obviously depends on the person itself and then on the type of exposure he had. On each and every day of our preparation sir used to tell us some of his observations on how things differ, how differently people are as compared how people here are, what the real meaning of friendship is, how much trustful one can be, how to believe in yourself and many such things. All these words used to motivate us and even after a tedious day we used to read and then sleep. We actually used to sit in a seminar room in front of the ward of ENT department and used to prepare for the quiz there. On the very first day, as described earlier, we divided our topics into three as Ear, Nose and throat which was to be done by myself, Anju and Srushti respectively. On the same day we made a plan for the quiz and that how we are going to complete the whole syllabus in these 8 days we have. Actually the things were so contrasting that no one from us were knowing about how the pattern of the quiz is as also how to prepare because it was simply the first time for both of us. We spoke with our seniors from 2012 batch who went last year for the quiz and there we got some idea for how to prepare for the quiz. We came to know that we need to focus on theory mainly in a way that we are able to answer anything from that whole book, then we need to focus on visuals in a way that any pic will be provided which we need to identify, also we need to focus on history of the subject such that we must identify scientist from his photograph or from his work, as also we need to focus on anatomy, physiology and most importantly the recent advances. So now we were having the goal and we started working. Actually it was a prime situation that whatever we do now we must do it perfectly, whatever we do we can’t afford mistakes in it and obviously time was to be managed perfectly above all. All of us were knowing this and hence many of the times it made us do more than what our sir used to tell us. Sir was of the opinion that doing just the MCQ will be enough for the preparation of the quiz as he was knowing nothing about the quiz. So it was decision of all three of us that we decided to go through theory perfectly. So the thing was like we need to solve 400 MCQ’s a day with us struggling to have time to go through theory. Well, all this going perfectly fine and apart from all this we used to have those wonderful teaching and motivational statements of our mentor which used to make our day. One more thing during the preparation I would like to highlight is regarding the unique way of explaining things in the way of their practical approach to the variety of concepts by our Ravi sir. He used to explain things in such a way that we ought to remember as well as understand them throughout the life.
Our preparations used to start in the evening or afternoon hours mostly and it most of the times used to start from ear then subsequently nose and lastly throat. Whenever a topic regarding any of the three subheads was getting discussed, the person who was preparing that topic used to be responsible for any questions that sir asked on that topic. The most funny things which my other two teammates used to complain is that the discussion regarding ear was supposedly to be the conversation between myself and sir and both of them used to end up looking each other with a big question mark as everything has just bounced over the head.
Everyday schedule was like waking up in the morning, reading theory an hour before postings then getting ready and the going for the postings. After coming back we used to freshen up and have our lunch, gathering the energy, then we used to start solving the MCQ’s till the time scheduled for preparations with sir. When the time to have discussion with Ravi sir used to arrive, each one of us used to be like I didn’t solve the expected number of MCQ sir told us. Discussion used to start with ear which was my topic and it always took 2 to 2.5 hours then the discussion used to get turned over to nose for 1 to 1.5 hours and at last to throat for just 30 to 45 minutes. I still remember Srushti’s expression on the very first day of our preparation where she sat with blank face as nothing was discussed related to throat and she end up looking at both of us that throat is not of much importance and we used to tell her that all three are equally important. Guys, Srushti was also one of the important person who held us all together, motivated us and encouraged us till the last moment.
Each and every day of our preparation was like an adventure. The very next day we had college and our PG coaching together which accounts for almost more than 12 to 14 hrs of our time. But here was the twist that we decided to miss it and end up our day watching Rustom movie and that too decided momentarily making us almost half hour late for the movie. While watching the movie there was this fear of getting accidently encountered with ravi sir in the same movie theatre at the same time. I even imagined his expressions saying us that, this is your quiz preparation! But with all this fear we were still very enthusiastic to watch the movie completely. This is how our day ended. One more contrasting moment was when we came to know that we are having our PG coaching for the next consecutive 6 days along with our college and quiz preparation. But according to me, I considered myself a human rather than superman decided to prepare for quiz and bunking college as well as the coaching. We all 3 were bhatians (name of the PG coaching) and together, we decided to bunk Bhatia.
There was this legendary Sunday then and we studied the whole theory as much as we can with the promise to Ravi sir that we will have our discussion today doing double timing and on that day we end discussing throat. At the end of the session we decided to cover the theory that each one of us was allotted, within three days. The trust between each other which is the most crucial thing for any team was surely lacking for the reason we ourselves were not confident enough for the topics we were preparing.
In the next consecutive days we followed the same schedule with constancy and regularity and finally ended up completing the theory part. Deepika ma’am was also a great support. She emailed us the material for quiz which was supposed to be the platform on which our preparation must be based. Ravi sir used to ask us to get printed every next day and it used to be like each day we went to him without having anything printed. We went to wardha for three consecutive days to get it print but each time we went, the shop was closed either due to the national holiday or say Sunday. Seeing that we then used to buy maggi and enjoy our national holiday and Sunday eating it as our mess and ICH were closed for the occasion. Though it was our national holiday, we decided to meet and have discussion for preparing ourselves for the worst. We decided to watch video on mastoidectomy and for the same sake watched surgery done by Dr. VS Rao sir who once was an external in our college for M.D. exams. I tried to understand it and discussed each and every aspect with sir trying to clear my doubts. Later at the end of the day I got a call from Srushti, she told me that she and Anju just understood the drilling part of the surgery else was just beyond their understanding.
On Tuesday, attending college reading for quiz then going for discussion was our schedule and on that day we saw the pics of various scientist related with history of ENT on the website which included of pics both of their younger days and older days on same slide and each one of us trying various tricks to remember them. Related to scientist none of us were that interested but it was Ravi sir who made it interesting making funny tricks to remember them. After 3 consecutive days of not getting those material print we finally got the print on 4th day that is on Wednesday when only 4 days were left for the quiz. We then showed those printouts to sir and it was fascinating to see his expression because none of the MCQ were marked. We didn’t solve any MCQ from that material but it was expected from us to do it. But we then told sir that we were following Sakshi Arora MCQ book. Funny thing about this MCQ book is that the lady author who herself is a gynaecologist and had written ENT MCQ book. That seriously sound something weird and funny. I found it funny because that day was literally stressful and so rather than frustrating out I decided to laugh on these weird things that earlier led to screw up my mind. Again I used my psychological trick to keep myself calm and cool. On Wednesday finally we end up reading theory of our particular topics.
On Thursday we were accompanied by Dr. Sushil sir who was a Final year postgraduate who had just finished his exams. So he acknowledged us with many minute details which we skipped. Then the legendary Friday arrived, which we call as a third minor day because it was on this day that we are bombarded with lectures from all the three subjects of our third minor. On this very day after our postings in respective departments we decided to gather in ENT department decided to bunk the lectures. We were taught bones related to ENT on that day with its each and every peculiar details. On that day we were accompanied by our ENT professor Dr. Deepika Ma’am. She sat with us the whole day. For the very first time we saw Ravi sir getting nervous and conscious due to Deepika ma’am’s presence. The person who was always there with us, encouraging us through all ups and downs was nervous. But as he started teaching us bones, he overcame it. Later Deepika ma’am asked us questions as per the Quiz rounds like a Mock of an actual quiz. The questions which she asked were based on the presentation which she had of various quizzes which were held in our college itself and one from another college. It was like a trial which she gave us and that made us feel that we know and we can remember something from what all we have read and that very things engraved us with a little bit confidence for the quiz we were going to appear. We sat from 1:00 pm till 5:00pm in department and then with a small break for evening breakfast we then continued our discussion with our mentor Dr. Ravi sir. We tried to cover the topics left over and ended our day.
The next day arrived. The day just before our quiz. It was 3rd Saturday of the month. And as scheduled it was our field visit in our own village Selukate which was declared to be the last visit and it was thus proclaimed that we cannot afford to miss it at any cost. So we went at 7:00 am in the morning, met our allotted families, interacted with them and with case discussion the visit concluded and thus returned by 11:00 am. As we reached our hostel we rushed towards ENT department with a request to keep the seminar room open for us for we can sit there and do our preparation. We met deepika ma’am requested her but as there was no one available to take the responsibility of the keys we were told to study in ENT examination room near ward. We also had an issue of our photos to be sent to IGGMC, Nagpur who was conducting the quiz. We were already tired, sweaty and Deepika ma’am was in such hurry that she was even ready to click our photos there itself with our sweaty and tired faces. But we then told ma’am that we had already sent it to Ravi sir. She then called him and asked him to send her the photos urgently. As it was the weekend day, our Sir went home to meet his family which he used to do once a month just for a day. He sent our photos to ma’am and we then rushed from there directly to our hostel to have lunch and return as quickly as possible as time was less and we were to revise the matter we had read.
It was me and Srushti who decided to come in college and study while Anju was comfortable reading alone and we all were cool with that decision. It was the high time and we could not afford to waste a single minute. We had our lunch and returned as soon as possible to the college. First of all we searched for the ENT examination room. We found it but there was no table or chair in that room as it was an examination room so we end up taking keys from surgery and started reading in surgery seminar room. We sat from 1:00 pm till 5:00 pm continuously then had a quick breakfast break for 15 minutes and again started reading. We were later accompanied by Anju at 7:00 pm as decided since it was the night before quiz and we had much more stuff to discuss. So while waiting for sir to come we revised the scientist from the PowerPoint presentation and noted all of them on a paper so that we are able to revise them at the last moment. Later we saw bull’s atlas for visuals. The time we were doing our visuals, Ravi sir arrived as he was coming from Nagpur driving both the ways alone. Actually he went home to keep his Duster at home and to get his bullet back to Sewagram but it was a matter of last minute when whole plan changed. He was ordered by the department to take all the participants in his car to the quiz destination IMA Nagpur, since they didn’t get any vehicle from our own college though we were representing them.
As sir arrived we stopped our discussion and he informed us about the matter as well the change of plan. Earlier we were supposed to be taken to the quiz destination by Dr. Sushil sir but at last moment it was our Guide who was destined to be with us for the whole journey. As usual sir encouraged us. I still remember those words he spoke like “Never lie to yourself”, “Explore the path you decided to choose”, and the most important which I still remember was “I believe in you. You should believe in yourself”. He is a kind of person I would have ever met in Sewagram. He was not our senior but our mentor our guide who made us to believe in ourselves and have trust in each other as we were representing a team. Throughout my life I saw very few people who loved their work and he was one of them. Those 7 to 8 days which we had with him was surely a great time, a time that was slowly turning into memories which I would definitely like to cherish whole of my life.
So, on Saturday night sir instructed us to have dinner what we like to eat, to have complete sleep and of course get up early in the morning wearing our favourite dresses which we think to be lucky and gather around 7.00 am in the morning where we will have our breakfast and leave for the destination sharp by 7:30am. We followed his instructions but also had our own plans to revise a little bit, but failed to do so after such a long tiring day. And it will definitely sound funny that while reading ENT I myself become an ENT patient as a fly landed in my nose. So I rushed to trauma centre for checkup. I went there but there was no one to check except the interns. So I called up senior sir from ENT department who made me wait there for 45 minutes. I wasted almost 1 hour there and end up examining my nose for the fly but till then I guess I had already swallowed that fly. So then I went to my room studied for next half an hour, had dinner and decided to sleep with the thought that we will see tomorrow what to revise and what not to. I was just preparing my mind and explaining myself to be calm and confident that whatever I had read it is enough for now and it’s totally necessary to take rest for tomorrow.
So we all had our beauty sleep. Woke up early, got ready, had breakfast and decided to work as sir had told us. Guys, you won’t believe, that very journey from Sewagram to Nagpur was splendid. We didn’t even think of the quiz the whole journey. We were discussing regarding our hobbies, movies, songs and what not. We were actually getting prepared unknowingly for the fact that we are going to just play the quiz and not to win it. The simple reason was we have been preparing since last 8 to 10 days as compared to others who might have been preparing from a month or so. Though I and sir were talking about random things, Srushti and Anju sitting back were revising and also used to forward me little pages so that I should be in touch with various rapid fire round questions. We reached IMA hall by 9:00 am sharp. Reaching there we could feel the atmosphere of tension within all other participants and amongst which we were laughing, joking, cheering up as well as revising. After reaching there we met our friends who were representing their college, had a little chit chat and we were even teasing each other that your team will be first and ours will be the second as also wished them best luck and entered the hall.
We enrolled our names with our college name to the organisers. They made all the participants to sit in front. We assumed our place to sit and were waiting for the further announcements. While we were waiting, it was Srushti who was saying that guys lets revise the scientist. She switched on her internet and started loading the slides of scientist. She made us to go through the scientists just 10 minutes before the start of the quiz. While we were busy revising, the inauguration of quiz started and we were sitting quiet as our heartbeats were raising. Then a student from each team was asked to be on stage and pick up a cheat of alphabet which was going to decide the position which each group going to assume on the dice. So I went up on stage picked up the cheat and we were denoted as group D. Then all three of us assumed our seats where there was this D letter was mentioned. Each team was introduced along with their photos and welcomed. But again a funny thing happened that on Srushti’s photo Anju’s name was written and vice versa. Thank god I was the only boy in our team and had my photo with correct name on it. The quiz master introduced himself and then told us about the rules for the quiz. First round was of basic sciences started from team A. Then next turn was of team B not D but still due to our misunderstanding and the quiz masters eye contact with us made us to believe that the question was for our team and we end up answering it. And so we made our first mistake but the decision remains with the quizmaster and judges. They first decided to give us negative points that too in first round. But considered our first mistake and forgived us for that. So from that point onwards we decided to be alert and remembered our Sir’s words that on the day of quiz the winner will be one who will make less mistakes but not the one who will answer the most.
So we gathered our courage and played our turn and gave correct answer. Next round was of scientist round. Actually it was boon for us that we revised scientist just 10 minutes before the quiz. Our scientist was Sir Prosper Menieres which was answered by me but I firstly asked Srushti about Meniere’s full name and then we answered that question correctly gaining the lead. Next round was of rhinology which Anju answered correctly again gaining us 20 marks with total 50 marks. Fourth round was of otology with 2 questions each of 10 marks. I answered correctly for the first question and second question was passed to every team since no team was able to answer it. I also answered one passed question. So with total of 65 marks for my team. Then 5th round was of Srushti related to throat which made us gain 15 marks in that round. Then was the visual round. And when our turn came it was like Srushti and Anju both were murmuring in my ears and I told them to be quiet and answered that question directly which turned out to be correct. And the second question related to it was also correctly answered. So total of 100 marks. It was the most crucial round. Next was recent advances round. When our turn came, we tried to answer logically correlating to the picture shown. But was wrong, so at the end of this round we actually had a tie with Akola team which was last year’s winner. The last round was the rapid fire round which we all liked the most because we end up answering 8 questions correctly with 1 passed question and Akola team could only answer 4 questions correctly. So making a clear cut win by 40 marks over the runner-up team.
At last we could see our sir standing behind and the only man clapping till the end when everyone stopped. We could see the pride on faces of our beloved sir. The moment when all the rounds were over, all the participants were made to sit in the audience. All the participants were waiting for the results but still we 3 were as usual confused and stunted that did we just win the quiz or not since everyone else were congratulating us. After the vote of thanks the runner ups were declared and with no doubt the winner team too which were we three. We went on stage, took our respective certificates and the trophy too with a big smile, a surprising expression still trying to believe that did we just win the quiz. It was because MGIMS hadn’t ever won any quiz in Nagpur. So it was a great mark on history.
After the prize distribution was over, we all were invited for the working lunch. When we were about to leave the hall, I can still remember expressions on the face our guides. They were just so happy as if their only dream of life was to win the quiz and they were the one who believed in us and thought us to be much more than just books. Though his words were sometime philosophical but yet we didn’t find it boring instead those used to be too much motivational. I believe we can’t find a person as a guide like him ever. He didn’t even wish us best luck for the quiz just to indicate that he will always be there with us whether we win or lose. So it was not only important for us to win but also surprising to see that our hard work paid us with this sweet success. Then we moved towards the lunch area still everyone on the way congratulating us. We called our department and they were talking like their happiness didn’t have any limit. They all were happy. We also informed our parents and they too were very happy.
We had our lunch and while eating we met the judge who spoke like yes MGIMS is improving a lot nowadays. In a mid-time no quiz was won by MGIMS. So it was a proud moment for us that we won. Our sir were so happy that he told us to make plan to roam in Nagpur to shop and to enjoy. We enjoyed a lot the whole day finally ending with a treat that was watching suicide squad in empress mall. Had lots of chit chat whatever we wished to say and share our feeling everything. While returning it was so surprising that sir gave us his lovely DUSTER to drive. First it was Srushti to drive from pavnar till railway crossing then I took over the driver seat till our hostel and everyone there were also congratulating us and we just made our day with a lots of memories and most importantly our sir without whom all this would not have been possible. Seriously we are grateful to have you sir in our MGIMS. And we ended our day eating in ICH along with the strophy.
Well, in the end I would like to say just a sentence dedicated to our Sir,
я верю в тебя. Вы должны верить в себя . мы сделали сэр ... мы сделали это вместе
