Wednesday, June 13, 2007

our 1st day at dissection...

i still remember the day vividly.....we were all gathered near the entrance waiting for our anatomy sir dr chawla.......still dont know his first name...he was a thin lanky fellow...with his dyed hair..which seem so unnatural n broken front teeth...but with a heart of gold...this is DR B V CHAWLA for u.....he spoken in broken sentences n repeated the same thing 4 to five times (v actually counted it once)...n asked did u get it over n over again.....(that wud be upto 20 times in one hour...)..ya ya that was our favourite pass time over the 1 yr he took our lecture


now coming back to 1st day of dissection....we were grouped out near the entrance..a bit afraid to go in..the stench of formalin made its way upto the door...so some of them went even further away from the door to escape the odour...we cud see bodies placed on dissection tables...the dissection room was a huge room with tables arranged at regular intervals...in one corner hung a skeleton...n there was a mummified body in another corner...we wud learn later it was to be used to study surface anatomy....

some of the bodies were jus upto the thorax...the legs were jus cut off..maybe some other students had already done dissection of legs...

there were huge windows on both the walls thankfully to bring in fresh air...

dr chawla arrived n v entered the hall with him....the vapours causing eyes to water n the stench causing burning within the nose as v breathed....we wondered how were v going to survive three hours thrice a week for one whole year...

as he stood by one table....giving us demonstration..he soon realised we were well behind him n so obviously cud not see anything..but no one took a step ahead to get closer to body...he exclaimed..my dear students dont be afraid of these bodies or dont think of them as something dirty or anything as such...they r your books..waiting to be explored...they r here for u to understand better the mysteries of body...the sooner u accept them...better knowledge you will gain....n will be helpful for u for ur future...at least for future exams he said with a smile laying stress on exams...

slowly we went near...our eyes n nose stinging...he explained to us the basics..how to cut with scalpel....peel off skin...cut off yellow layer of fat...yes yes..it is actually yellow..then he showed us artery n veins n told us how to differentiate..artery being thicker n pipe like n deeper within the body..while veins were thin n collapsed n superficial...

soon he assigned us to different tables....thats where sarah met julia...my self n saira were together...n sarah was on other table...when sarah told her abt us...she exclaimed..hey its like AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY...WOW THATS NICE

even today v think abt it n laugh

so we began wit dissection wearing gloves n all (sir didnt wear them...n in later dissection sessions we too wud not be wearing them) but the 1st day v jus cud not imagine touching body without gloves...the skin was tough...didnt expect it to be so hard....then came yellow fat...well our body was healthy...didnt have much fat to cut thru nor was it burned or something like the adjacent tables body...poor people got stuck wit a burnt body cud not study anything...they wud come to our table the whole time to see muscles...
n the body on other side...so fat..they got thru the fat at the end of 2 sessions...

when i 1st got feel of a nerve i was like wow...its so strong..cordlike..one cud not break it wit bare hands...tendons looked so nice shiny n all....they were actually pretty

well when the 3 hours ended....v were glad v were done for the day...

slowly v did get adjusted to smell...started dissecting without finding it mucky..we cud even eat tiffin sitting beside the cadaver.....but b4 all this a girl did faint as v had so often heard..but it was more from stench n the fact that she was empty stomach n standing for 2 hours rather than fear or any such thing...
one of the guys..tied friendship band to the mummyfied body...one of them cut the ear of the cadaver jus from wanting to do something rather than anything else...its a way to give way to fear building up within us initially.....our body's eyes were open n we wud not like him looking up into our faces..so we wud cut a piece of skin n put it on his eye like a patch...
one day i saw the peons piling the cadavers on top of each other on one trolley n taking them to the cold storage....felt really bad..thought these were human bodies after all n they shd be treated wit dignity...n not piled up one on other as if they were jus things....it was a great leveller...made me realise wat we can be brought down to...