Espresso and med school

Its 530 a.m and I am awakened by the call for prayer in the mosque and bhajans by M.S.Subbulaxmi playing in the adjacent temple...add to this,the barking of the stray dogs fighting over the leftover meal I threw out the window yesterday.
Conceding defeat,I change into my bathroom robe and head for a shower.Only cold water today...the monsoons have rendered our solar water heater useless...No sun,no hot water...I mutter a small prayer and turn on the tap (the prayer was in case I die of the cold)...The icy water was enough to alleviate any residual drowsiness that i had.I dried myself up and went to the kitchen to prepare tea and breakfast...I had only recently mastered the art of making omelettes and bulls-eyes...

'The next time I go home I ought to ask mom to teach me to prepare a few of the basic Indian dishes as well as a few of my personal fav's...' is what runs through my mind as I light up the stove and drop a couple of eggs into the pan.."PLOP!"..add to this a few slices of bread that I had just purchased from Nilgiri's supermarket and my breakfast is complete(with a cup of badam-kesar milk of course).
The time by now is around 730 which means I have to rush out of my house into the streets of mangalore to catch the local bus no.51 which plies to my college which has been conveniently placed in the middle of nowhere...

Away from all the comforts of life,and irritated with the constant cacophony made by those inconsiderate people called roommates had made my life in the hostel pretty miserable....which resulted in the inevitable; me shifting out of the hostel into a nice quaint apartment in the heart of the city...;a two bedroom palace on the topmost floor of the building from where I could see the entire cityscape and the sun rise amidst the early morning mist...

A pretty unpleasant surprise greeted me as I went downstairs to catch the bus...Due to maintenance repairs the road was blocked till God knows when!!which meant that i was going to be late for the first hour which commences at 8am...I take out my cellphone,the life saver of all college going students....now without one of these devices,how'd one know where class would be or if class would be there at all?And for those who like to play traunt,it really comes in handy to ensure that they get their attendance daily...just an sms would suffice.

Now it was my turn...all i had to do was ensure that someone call my attendance and I'd get in to clinics at 9am.An sms to A,B,C and I set off in the direction of the bus stand;Now I kind of like walking but not when I'm late...A rickshaw would have been an option,if they weren't so busy raising the fares whenever they read that fuel rates were up and amazingly,their rates do not go down once the prices subside...I wonder at the economical immunity they enjoy;thanks to their ever-vigilant union which is ever ready to strike and cause a public inconvenience...for eveyone knows an auto can go to places and fit in spaces which defy the laws of physics and dimensions.

It is now 8.20 am and I am now at the bus stop.Its only a bus stop by name;only the swift and agile can get into the buses as they speed by,for as we all know,time is money, you know!

The 25 minute route to my college is not the ideal one; the city I reside in is filled with smells which can really hone the olfactory system to perfection that your nose could actually compete with dogs in sophistication.But there is a small stretch of this route which i admire; the bridge over the Netravathi river.Its almost a kilometer long and lies parallel to a similar bridge for the train,and if you are lucky,you get to witness spectacular sceneries which may inspire many writers,poets and artists as well as photographers as well as people like me,who dedicate a whole paragraph to describe it...

I rush through the hospital gate and look at my watch...8.50 am..That means I have 10 minutes till clinics..they will probably be taking attendance now.Oh well,at least I will be early for clinics...

Clinics were the place where supposedly one was supposed to attain and hone one's skills at conversing and examining patients as well as taking shots at diagnosing them.....But in reality,the only people following this theory were Charan and Sara..They wud rush to clinics the moment our prof left the lecture hall, while we people stop by the canteen for a cuppa coffee or a light snack...arriving at clinics by 9.30..

Now for those interested on the types of people we come across , here's the list:
The "All iz well guy" - He may have a tumor the size of a grapefruit but he says nothing is wrong with him
The private investigator - This guy's main aim is to know all your personal details and if he digs deep enough your social security numbers.
Ivan the terrible - This guy wont let you within 10 feet of him,trying to scare you off with some barbaric behaviour.
Sleeping beauty - This guy is active all day until you are by his bedside when he suddenly slips into a deep slumber,from which try as hard as you want, you won't succeed in waking him up.
The sadistic b***h a.k.a the Drama guy a.k.a the tele addict- This guy once was a wannabe actor...will alter his symptoms so that you get thoroughly screwed by your prof,so that he can have some live entertainment.
The story teller - This guy will tell you everything that you want and dont wanna know..including how costly the price of gold has become..

Clinics - a place for couples to meet,for texting,for booking reservations to some movie or for bunking to see a movie!Or just chat with friends while the 'dedicated' students take the case history.

Come 12 pm and its time for the last hour...By this time most people would be half asleep or reading the latest novels courtesy "Readers delight" (No I'm not getting any commission for mentioning them)...With 4 years of experience, I have mastered the art of sleeping with my eyes open...with the occasional nod giving the prof my "very interested" look.

At last its over and we,the tired students make our way out of the lecture halls taking care not to use our cellphones to avoid detection by Mr.Nandan, the campus officer,whos powers of stealth and detection have earned him a niche with the bigwigs of the college administration...The coast clear, we exit the campus, the hostelites taking their bus to their jail...and I head for the city, another day in my college life over, and another year left to go...