The Grand Entry

Last year,this time, my world changed forever.

2 tiny persons entered our lives.How it happened is not a simple story.They were impatient to see this world, or at least Zoya was and poor Zeba had no choice...Here's a quick recap.

My due date was November beginning.We hoped to go till October at least.Well God had other plans.On 31st August I started getting contractions which wouldn't go away whole day.Decided to get admitted though the last diagnosis was just uterine irritability.The scan revealed that the blood flow to one baby was decreased and that I had to take more medicines and rest to prolong the pregnancy for one more month.And so started long intravenous drips, oxygen inhalation, daily labour room visits for tests etc.All was fine again and we started relaxing in spite of the daily protocol.

My in-laws came to visit me on September 3rd and we spent the  time relaxing and talking.About an hour after they left,I felt as if my water started breaking.All chaos broke out.I was shifted to the labour room for confirmation.Even the doctor on duty was doubtful though I was confident of the diagnosis.My mother and husband returned to the hospital room and spent the night praying that it was a false alarm.They were unaware that I had lost a lot of water after they left.

Next day morning I informed them what happened.We then waited for the senior doctor to come.She did a scan and reported that almost all the water around one baby was lost.She discussed with the chief and decided to go ahead with emergency caesarean section.

On September 4th,2012, exactly 2 months before their due date, they arrived. By 11.45 my first baby girl was born and at 11.46 my second.I saw a glimpse of them both and heard their cries before they were whisked off to their pediatrician.

My husband was there with their pediatrician throughout the initial examination.My grandfather was called to sound the azaan  in their ears after being warned not to go too near.After that,off they went to the neonatal intensive care unit for preterm care.

I saw them through photographs taken by my husband till I recovered enough to visit them in the ICU by September 6th.My heart almost stopped on seeing how tiny they were.My husband kept reassuring me and the rest of the family that they were healthy otherwise and that they would be like term newborns within a couple of months.

My girls, the little fighters, slowly advanced under the wonderful care they received in the ICU.I would go to them twice a day and hold them and talk to them.My husband would do the same every weekend.The rest of the family still had to satisfy themselves with photographs.

After about a month,we got them to our room,one at a time.On their 40th day, with Allah's blessings, we went home.

The family called FRIENDS

My friend of 6 long years,my roommate,my confidante,my helpline, Lakshmi Das is leaving Kerala and going to her home in Hyderabad today.Being settled in a different state is difficult as I know she won't be around as often as I'd like.This gives me nostalgic memories of the precious moments spent in college and the friends I made there.


College has given me 4 of my best friends.My 4 gal pals-Lakshmi Das(whom we call Das) ,Kripa, Surya and Veena.Each of them are unique in their own way and very close to my heart.Each of them have taught me something in life.Let me tell you a little about them.

DAS is like the big sister of the group.She is tall and sporty and has an air of confidence around her.Like Kripa says she can never sit idle,always on the move.Kripa often teases her saying that is why she never gained weight in her years in college.Another amazing thing about her is that she is ready to give a shot at anything new,be it singing,dancing,various sports,organisation of events,being the class leader,anything.Whenever you were upset or angry she was always there to calm you down,give you valuable advice or correct you.A very patient listener and a loyal friend.Though she seems so tough on the outside and has given several false impressions on the way I must say this girl is all soft inside.She came with me to do internship in a government hospital in Ernakulam and that one year has helped us bond better.

KRIPA was my other roommate.She is the one who taught me to have faith in myself and everything good.God fearing and stable in times of stress I admired the faith she had.She is a total family person.She was so well organised and tidy and I was always trying to somehow absorb that quality from her.This roommate liked to sit in the same spot for hours and hardly move.Being chubby she often used to quote "I'm in shape,round is a shape" and I love that line.She knew all the funny dialogues from movies and would giggle for hours after watching something hilarious.She's blessed with a lovely sense of rhythm and voice and has been one of the most appreciated bathroom singers of our batch.

SURYA is the baby of the group.She is definitely the cutest.Very innocent and good natured,she finds it extremely difficult to say no.This however has led to situations where people have taken advantage of her.Fun loving and with a sense of adventure,she was always ready to go for a movie bunking psychiatry classes on friday afternoons.She taught me the importance of humility and not to be selfish.Bursting with energy this tiny friend of mine was always full of enthusiasm.Being a big romantic I remember the many times she would go ask for movie posters from theaters and always came back successful.

VEENA is the topper among studies.Though she hardly seems to spend much time on studying she was the one with the maximum certificates for topping subjects at the end of our studies.Being conventional she was not ready to deter from the usual path she has been taking for years and was the least experimental no matter how much we tried.Even though tiny this girl was very strong physically it didn't take much to make her shed tears.She is another jack of all trades and has tried sports and arts and been good at them.She taught me to be thorough in everything you do and thus reap rewards.

So u see each of us are as different as can be but still able to get along really well.We have been able to learn something or the other from each other over the years and thus you will be able to find streaks of each other in every one of us.Maybe we complement each other.Over the years we have evolved from careless youngsters to mature young women.They have been my strength in times of weakness and to whom I could tell anything and not worry about you judging me.They will all be cherished.I am really glad destiny brought us all together.

Me,the DOCTOR

Did I always want to be a doctor??Did I become a doctor because my parents are doctors??Did my parents force me to be a doctor??These are just a few of the many questions I've been asked for a long long time.

I remember when I was a little kid in primary school my school bus driver used to tell the teachers in the bus "She's a little doctor" just because my parents were.From the time I have memories I remember hating it.Why did I hate it?Mainly because people just assumed I would be one from the very start.Well can you blame them now? ;)

I was always good in maths and physics in school.More of the subjects where you didn't have to mug up but just apply the things you understood.I would only study biology whenever an exam was approaching because it was not challenging enough.I was the kind who would get full in the various problems in the paper whereas lose for the derivations and stuff in which people usually score because they just have to learn it by heart. Or I would do my own derivations in the paper (which was not always the best way to do it).Thus I thought,I'd better be an engineer especially an architect and also do interior decorating as I always found that interesting.But fate had other plans.

When we had to choose our subject options in the 11th grade my parents left the choice to me and naturally they felt that I would take maths and computer science and leave out biology.However when my best pal Anjali and I decided to browse through the 11th grade textbooks,I found the computer science book highly uncomfortable.I could not study that.Then I took up my senior Anu's biology book and thats when I realised that I would indeed like to pursue that.Then in the 12th grade when Biology started teaching about the human body I almost let go of maths (which I thought of as my first love) totally.It finally started registering in my mind that bio would not be mugging up if found interesting and you understood it.

I guess that and the fact that my parents have always been people I admired silently and also that I referred to a working place as a clinic more often than an office really helped me make my final choice.That's when I realised that the childhood visits to my parents clinic were wonderful and I always felt comfortable there.

So folks here I am,a doctor now.I finished my internship a month ago so yes now I am a full fledged doctor.When the patients come back to you after they are better and thank you for helping them,or when some patient insists that you yourself do a certain procedure for them,or when they search for you to show their lab investigations etc it is a wonderful feeling which just makes me glad to be in my chosen field.

I hope and believe I will never have an opportunity to regret my decisions.I pray that God makes me a good doctor and gives me the strength and courage to be one.

P.S. All you people who used to call me 'Lil Doc' well looks like your predictions came true.

Where do i Belong??

Born in India.Lived in UAE in my growing years.Came back to India to pursue higher studies.This is a very common situation in our part of the world.And yes it definitely has its advantages and of course with it the disadvantages.Let me explain.

When I was doing my schooling in UAE I have come across many situations which made me feel like an outsider.Being only a permanent resident and not the citizen of the country one grew up in  is kind of awkward because no matter how long you have lived there and done the same things as the natives you are not the country's own.The Arabs there will definitely look at you as lower beings.So when I came to India I thought that even though I'll miss the highlights of my life in UAE, atleast I will actually belong to the place.However things were not as simple as it seemed.

Once I reached Indian soil I was not simply an Indian or a Keralite as I hoped I would be.No, I was labeled as an NRI,the girl who never lived in India and does not know what it is like to live in India.And let me inform you that it is not always a good thing to be put into that category.The percentage of people who believe that NRIs are not to be considered as one among themselves are plenty.In their eyes we talk different,sometimes we dress different,may have different interests etc.The attitude disturbed me for a long time.It didn't matter so much when I just used to visit India during the holiday season.Believe me living here is much different from simple visiting.

The dilemma-I didn't belong to UAE where I spent 18 yrs of my short life and I was not accepted in my own country.So where did I belong?Was I caught between two worlds?Where do I fit in??Was I always to be an outsider wherever I go??The thought was initimidating.

However  over the years things have worked out much better than I thought.Though it took considerable effort and time to make my own kinsmen forget that I am an NRI and just consider me as a Keralite alone,atleast I was accepted.Or so I feel most of the time.The feeling is inexpressible.I belonged!So I guess all's well that ends well.Isn't it?