3,928 days later...I am M.D.

September 27, 1999.

My first day in medical college.
My first theory class ( a scary disciplinarian Biochemistry teacher ). My first anatomy dissection hall body ( headless, but less scary than the biochemistry teacher. )

My first friend ( Hari, still my closest. ) My first taste of what medical life was gonna be like.
It would be the start of 5 years of hard work, fun and camaraderie - relationships and memories that would last a lifetime.

December 10, 2005.
Last day of internship. Finally became a doctor. No idea what to do next. : Work for awhile and actually earn some money or study for entrance exams and try to get a postgraduate degree. I would end up doing the latter. There would be hardships galore in this period, but then life was never meant to be a bed of roses.

March 8, 2007.
My first day as a post graduate resident. The start of alternate day duties. The endless Caesarian sections ( signalling a new life ) and intracranial bleeds ( that were the prelude to the end of a life. ) that would initially haunt me but later become part and parcel of my daily routine.
The wide range of opportunities - from 750 gram newborns to 120 kg women, from 24 hour old neonates to 95 year old men, moments of laughter and frustration - that would all form my learning curve over 3 years.

June 29, 2010.
The call comes today from R , my co-Pg as I enter the house.
It's a call I've been waiting for with both anticipation and fear.
It is a call informing us of what all these years of hard work have been for.
The results are out. The wait is over.
We have all cleared.
We are finally Anaesthesiologists.

It's been 3,928 days in the making. And our journey has just begun.