I have been a teacher from 1980, though the first three years were of my residency. I did serious teaching then, and it got more and more so as years passed. I never expected anything from my students, because I was getting what I wanted from the teaching - happiness. Some of the students wanted something more than my job demanded. They wanted testimonials so that they could go abroad. I gave those too, not even asking for their email addresses or phone numbers abroad. I know some teachers who go abroad and expect their old students do things to make their stay and commute there comfortable. I never had such desires. I even got old students who came back years later and asked for certificates about their work in our institute, so that they could get what they wanted abroad. I always helped.
When I started an online, indexed journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics from our institute, I thought it would be nice to get some of our old students now settled abroad to send their articles to this journal. I wrote to one student whom I had taught well, and had even given a signature on a log book years after postgraduation, just so that he could become a consultant in UK. He answered promptly, congratulated me on having a new job, and wished us the best. It was not a new job. It was voluntary, honorary work spending our own money to keep the journal alive. But I did not correct him. I just replied I was looking forward to getting articles for the journal, from him and his colleagues. There was no reply and no articles.
There was another one, who wrote to me from UK, asking for references for sling operations that we did (and still do) in India for uterine prolapse. I obliged without considering it an obligation. A few years later he sent me a link to a video of some operation he did in UK and asked for my opinion. I downloaded the huge file spending my own money, spent a few hours studying it, and gave him my opinion - about its good points and bad points. Then I asked him to write on that operation for our journal. There was no response. I reminded him again after a couple of months. He said he was too busy and stopped corresponding.
There are more examples of this. I wonder if these guys whom we taught once think of us as suckers. Or have they become like those Britishers who ruled our country for years, and thought we were people only to be exploited.
"What do you propose to do about it all?" my friend asked me when I told him this story.
"I don't know if I can force myself to do something" I said. "One option is to refuse to help these guys should they want something more from me in future. Another option is to refuse to help all newer guys thinking they might behave the same way as these older guys. But I will be very unhappy if I behaved like that. the third option is to help everyone, not thinking about how they may reciprocate."
"But you are unhappy because of what they have done to you" he said. "Can you take any more of that?"
"No" I said, "but I have to choose what makes me less unhappy."
When I started an online, indexed journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics from our institute, I thought it would be nice to get some of our old students now settled abroad to send their articles to this journal. I wrote to one student whom I had taught well, and had even given a signature on a log book years after postgraduation, just so that he could become a consultant in UK. He answered promptly, congratulated me on having a new job, and wished us the best. It was not a new job. It was voluntary, honorary work spending our own money to keep the journal alive. But I did not correct him. I just replied I was looking forward to getting articles for the journal, from him and his colleagues. There was no reply and no articles.
There was another one, who wrote to me from UK, asking for references for sling operations that we did (and still do) in India for uterine prolapse. I obliged without considering it an obligation. A few years later he sent me a link to a video of some operation he did in UK and asked for my opinion. I downloaded the huge file spending my own money, spent a few hours studying it, and gave him my opinion - about its good points and bad points. Then I asked him to write on that operation for our journal. There was no response. I reminded him again after a couple of months. He said he was too busy and stopped corresponding.
There are more examples of this. I wonder if these guys whom we taught once think of us as suckers. Or have they become like those Britishers who ruled our country for years, and thought we were people only to be exploited.
"What do you propose to do about it all?" my friend asked me when I told him this story.
"I don't know if I can force myself to do something" I said. "One option is to refuse to help these guys should they want something more from me in future. Another option is to refuse to help all newer guys thinking they might behave the same way as these older guys. But I will be very unhappy if I behaved like that. the third option is to help everyone, not thinking about how they may reciprocate."
"But you are unhappy because of what they have done to you" he said. "Can you take any more of that?"
"No" I said, "but I have to choose what makes me less unhappy."
