Been a while since my last post(not that any of you would have been reading it regularly anyway!!). Like I said i'm studying to get into a residency and it's high time to get back into the groove,because the noose is tightening day by day as I type these words.

The profession of medicine is historically a very noble one,and one that is respected,and one of the toughest to get into and to maintain as one's career.

I would disagree with the notion that it remains a noble profession. The reasons are that most practitioners get into it to get rich fast,and to earn so much of money that they don't know how to dispose of it and,eventually,to be the target of an IT department raid!!

The old idea if getting in to serve,to heal,to help,is very very outdated. Like an old computer programme,it's time is over.

It is still respected,but as people become more and more educated as with the spread of the internet,doctors are now seen as a product. And ever since the COPRA Act came into effect,the service of doctors to the public is considered a product,and,as with all products,if the customer is dissatisfied,they can claim compensation.

This is most unwelcome. After throwing away what is arguably the best decade of anyone's life i.e the time between when they're 20-30 years old,in studying and working in hospitals,with a limited social circle,since all their other friends have moved on from the student phase(which is prolonged for us),all they can feel is "Aaah,now I can start living my life."

Now,the Government wants compulsory rural service for another year from students doing their MBBS,which is asinine. Sheer idiocy. Granted,rural areas are underserved,and there is a 3 month block posting in Community and Rural Health(incidentally the longest posting during internship). If more time is to be served in the rural areas,it is to be done durin internship only. Another year is just nor required.Period.

What my friends and I have observed and felt all this time is that the Government consider Medicos to be sheer robots who will gladly and automatically do as the master says, with an "Ours not to reason why,ours but to do and die" kind of attitude about us. We are also human,we have lives,we would like to earn when we're 24 like the rest of the world,instead of 28 or 30 or whenever else we start. And to order us to stall our lives for another year does not help our situation at all.

And don't get me started on the Quota debate!! They say that they are implementing it in order to "Not divide the country further", whereas in reality it is doing just that.This will only segregate our country further,into warrinf factions like the days of old. Haven't we progressed beyond that?

If there are to be reservations, it should be for meritorious students who are economically poor,not for a class of society who have 2 cars in their garage and who have homes and tv's and air-conditioners.It should include those who are historically of the "Upper Castes" as well as the lower ones. It should be for the boy or girl who wakes up at 4 in the morning since his house has no electricity to study,and who walks 4 km to school daily,and who gets a good score,given his/her circumstances. They are the truly deserving. Not people who post blogs in their spare time,and DEFINATELY not people who have reaped the benefits of being a previliged community and who are greedy for more and more. Not to speak of the Government that wants to increase the number of people who vote for it regardless of the consequences it will hold for future generations to come. They might win the votes of their targeted group,but they've lost the confidence of the rest of the country in doing so.

Now,for some book reviews.(I declare myself to know squat about writing at the outset)

"About a Boy" by Nick Hornby is one of the finest novels I have read in a while. Like "High Fidelity" before it, he very successfully shows adults as how they truly are,with a lot of issues still remaining from childhood,and who haven't quite grown up yet,and who are getting there by their own unique journey. Also the mind of a 12 year old boy is very accurately portrayed,as is the realization that some kids have to grow up sooner than others,due to some unforseen circumstance that proves to be the catalyst. It also shows how depression can be such a lonely experience,where getting up each day is a struggle in itself,and how being depressed can cause one to act in manner that they wouldn't normally do. A fine read.