My Experiments with Study Holidays

Disclaimer: The Author does not promote the following activities in the study holidays. This might backfire on exam results. Hence strictly do not try this at home or hostel! 

Being a faculty in a college has its own perks. You can actually reflect on all your crazy endeavors of your glorious past as a student and make an elaborate post about it, just at time, as your students prepare themselves for their exams, and you try to inculcate a sense of optimism into their’s.

The following are true events of my life during various levels of  pre-exam preparation.

I was a class 10th student in 2002. CBSE board exams had arrived. “The first major test of our lives”, “If you do well in class Xth and XIIth, your future is secure” - that was the way, they had propagated to us. The lies kept on mounting and we were brimming with empty promises. 

Studies came naturally to me. I didn't have to put an effort. Maybe it was in my gene. But I never felt peace until I had the sense of completion of my portions. And then I would sleep in bliss. 

But then, I had a weakness. I was addicted to video games. My addiction didn't have the sense to realize what study holidays were meant for! I ended up playing games everyday before the exams in the afternoon, immediately as I returned home from the exams. This happened for 30 minutes at least after an endless saga of scoldings and advises from my dad. 

In 2004, I appeared for XIIth in state board. The transition from CBSE to state board had already taken a toll on me, for I had to mug up, which was definitely not my cup of tea. “This was everything; My future would be decided upon the marks I score in this year”; But then there was an another important thing going on in my life. I had to know what happened to Frodo and Aragorn and Gandalf !! The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King had been just released and I successfully pestered my uncle to courier me the DVD just in time before the final exams. My dad collected the courier and kept it safe in his safe, so that I could watch it after my exams. But then I couldn't be convinced even by brutal threats. I also remember vaguely watching a Indo-pak cricket match,fully,  just a day before the biology exam. 

Of all the craziest thing I had done, this, about to be told, would top the list, I believe. So I had entered the medical college. Everything was new. New place, new language, new friends, new climate; It went on. I had cleared the first year, luckily. In 2007, IInd year subjects were upon me after the gracious honey moon period. Everyone of us were cramming with Pathology, microbiology and pharmacology text books. We were so stressed. So we six of us, thought of a stress buster. We planned an emergency 2 day trip on our bikes to the kemmangundi hills (300 km ride), right in the middle of our study holidays! And the whole batch was looking at us like WTF! Are you guys crazy? Yes, we were, indeed!  

Then in 2010, during my pre-pg mayhem (the most stressful period of preparation for a medico) I almost stopped reading for a week just before the All India PG entrance exams. I took time to relax and re-watch all the classical English movies of my collections in my hard disk. My roommate was visibly confused by my behavior. I would eat, watch movies and sleep. This went on for almost a week. 

Also there are numerous crazy things, which cannot be enumerated here, owing to lack of time, space and my poor memory. But the point I would like to reiterate here is that, I think I flowed with my feelings. If I felt like watching a movie, I would. If I felt like playing games, I would. If I felt like going on a trip, I would.(In this case, I had some equally crazy companions!) But then deep inside, I always knew, what I had to do! or How to do! That usually helped me in achieving things. You might be asking, "what did I achieve? "

Well, in class Xth, thanks to the 20 minutes of video games that cleared my mind, I had to be the school second topper.

In class XIIth, I scored a centum in Biology,(because I could write the exams peacefully, after knowing the climax of the LOTR) which made it easier for my admission to a medical college.

I cleared the stressful MBBS without any break.Courtesy: The stress breaker tours and trips that engaged me fully throughout the five and half years. 

And ended up with MS general surgery in a prestigious Govt medical college because that one crazy week of marathon movies helped me stay sane, seriously.

And now I stand as an assistant professor in General Surgery in a Govt medical college, reflecting back on my crazy and silly experiments with my study holidays.

"The heart knows what to do and you gotta trust it, completely!"

P.S. There's nothing wrong in feeling proud of your achievements.