An enthusiastic and vivacious looking young woman entered my office, accompanied by an older woman who seemed to be her mother.
"I wanted to meet you" the younger of the two said. "I have joined DGO today."
"Congratulations" I said. "You mean you have come to us as a postgraduate student?"
"Yes. I have heard so much about you! I want to work with you" she said. Someone must have trained her to say this, I thought.
"That is nice" I said. "But we have a fixed set of rules for placement of postgraduate students. You will work in my unit if you top the list."
"But I want to work with you" she said. "That would be nice."
"We do not bend rules. If I do that, we will have my friends, civic officials and politicians asking for placements for students" I explained patiently.
"But it would be nice for her if she works with you" the mother said. They must think I was retarded, as I seemed not to get such a simple point.
"See, I want to act in a movie with Amitabh Bacchan, the famous actor. But they won't let me. I just don't have the talent required. It is similar here. She gets placement based on her merit, not what she would like to have." They seemed to get the point. I thought I had been a bit impatient with them. So I asked, "from where have you come?"
"Delhi" said the younger one.
"Why would you come here?" I asked. "You haveAIIMS, Safdarjang...! Such nice places. The resident doctor there gets higher salary than our Assistant Professor does. Besides, they have only 8 hours' duty every day."
"I could not get it there" she explained. "All seats get filled in the first 200 ranks."
"Ah!" I said. I had known about it and had just mentioned the reasons why. "You will have 24 hours duty here."
"24 hours per week?" she asked. I was amused.
"24 hours per day" I explained. She looked bewildered.
"You should have found out how tough residency is in this institute before opting for it" I said. "Talk to some residents here. You want to work in my unit. It will be even tougher, because my outpatient clinic is on Mondays and more patients come for treatment on Mondays. Residents want to leave because they cannot handle it." I was thinking of some residents, some would just disappear without notice for weeks at a time, some who would use all sorts of influence to get a placement with minimum of work, and some who would manipulate co-residents to do all the work, and some who would just pay the fine and leave the residency. I even knew one who would switch off the cell phone and go to sleep in some remote corner of some ward while others continued to slog.
"If you want 1 24 hours per week resident's job, change to some other specialty in the second round of placements" I advised. They looked at each other and nodded their heads. They left me wondering how people can have such fancy expectations from life. Or is life like that everywhere but in Mumbai?
"I wanted to meet you" the younger of the two said. "I have joined DGO today."
"Congratulations" I said. "You mean you have come to us as a postgraduate student?"
"Yes. I have heard so much about you! I want to work with you" she said. Someone must have trained her to say this, I thought.
"That is nice" I said. "But we have a fixed set of rules for placement of postgraduate students. You will work in my unit if you top the list."
"But I want to work with you" she said. "That would be nice."
"We do not bend rules. If I do that, we will have my friends, civic officials and politicians asking for placements for students" I explained patiently.
"But it would be nice for her if she works with you" the mother said. They must think I was retarded, as I seemed not to get such a simple point.
"See, I want to act in a movie with Amitabh Bacchan, the famous actor. But they won't let me. I just don't have the talent required. It is similar here. She gets placement based on her merit, not what she would like to have." They seemed to get the point. I thought I had been a bit impatient with them. So I asked, "from where have you come?"
"Delhi" said the younger one.
"Why would you come here?" I asked. "You haveAIIMS, Safdarjang...! Such nice places. The resident doctor there gets higher salary than our Assistant Professor does. Besides, they have only 8 hours' duty every day."
"I could not get it there" she explained. "All seats get filled in the first 200 ranks."
"Ah!" I said. I had known about it and had just mentioned the reasons why. "You will have 24 hours duty here."
"24 hours per week?" she asked. I was amused.
"24 hours per day" I explained. She looked bewildered.
"You should have found out how tough residency is in this institute before opting for it" I said. "Talk to some residents here. You want to work in my unit. It will be even tougher, because my outpatient clinic is on Mondays and more patients come for treatment on Mondays. Residents want to leave because they cannot handle it." I was thinking of some residents, some would just disappear without notice for weeks at a time, some who would use all sorts of influence to get a placement with minimum of work, and some who would manipulate co-residents to do all the work, and some who would just pay the fine and leave the residency. I even knew one who would switch off the cell phone and go to sleep in some remote corner of some ward while others continued to slog.
"If you want 1 24 hours per week resident's job, change to some other specialty in the second round of placements" I advised. They looked at each other and nodded their heads. They left me wondering how people can have such fancy expectations from life. Or is life like that everywhere but in Mumbai?
