This article was printed in Kemcol 2010, the official annual magazine of King Edward Medical University.
According to one senior: “1st year ROCKS…! You guys make me wish I was a part of your class!”
Yes, we are unique and very lively but our year began much like that of every 1st year. You guessed it right. Ragging! Boys were seen begging from girls; some were made bakras and sold to seniors for a meager amount; others got the rakhi tied on their arms and yes, of course, the ever famous climbing up on the roof of anatomy department followed by “KE mere baap ka hai, sab log nikal jao yahan se…!” chant and singing the song “Main uddi uddi jawan hawa day naal.”
As the 150th Sports week celebrations arrived, a group was always seen huddled in any nook or corner of KE vociferously arguing about the class theme which was finally decided to be ‘Pirates and Princesses’. The pirates wore the specially designed pirate hats and carried the artificial swords. The princesses were beautifully clad in gowns and frocks and made their entry amidst the loud cheering of boys and girls alike. Then there were sword fights, treasure hunts and of course photo shoots! Seniors were seen flocking to our stall to take pictures with our pirates and princesses! 1st year had made itself known…and with a bang!
A similar response was witnessed after the 1st year play, “Komplein kab phootain gi?” The hosts couldn’t help commending the fine acting of the young cast and the entire crowd encouraged them by hooting and screaming their lungs out!
It was also a day of revelations when we discovered the nimble athletes of our class. Among the boys, Haris Bilal, Abdul Rafay and Waqas Tariq won medals. Whereas among the girls, Suneeba, Sundas, Fatima tuz Zahra and I performed the same feat. Though these wins were not without the prayers of the rest of the class which actually performed an ijtamai dua for our success. Next up was the colour day in which we stood out by our purple dressing and decoration. Ma’am Zahra especially lauded us for our clever choice. More so, because we had hailed her advice by not wearing the dull black!
After the end of sports week, our class celebrated some days of its own. First up was the anti-valentine’s day by the boys. They all wore shalwar kameez and white topis and chanted slogans the entire day both in and outside the class rooms. It was definitely a sight to watch and enjoy. Another day was the funny theme cum mismatch day by the boys. Vests on top of shirts, shorts on trousers, ties on kameez, funny hats…and what not! The girls, however, believed in commemorating days of national significance like the 23rd March by wearing the Pakistani flag colors and tying green arm bands. Even Sir Shahid appreciated our patriotism! Lastly we celebrated the black day by donning black to depict our feelings of suffocation and boredom in the early months of MBBS.
And this brings us to our own class function! All credit goes to our CR, Taimur Haider who made this seemingly impossible task possible! However another first awaited us here! The arrival of the head of Basic Medical Sciences to such an event for the first time ever! As he had graced us with such an honor therefore we gave him standing ovations countless times so that he’d have a soft corner for us during the Profs. After the initial surprise, the dust settled down and the function proceeded normally. The highlights were the not-so-melodious singing of Haris longus, Sohail Waraich’s/Arafat Farooqi’s interview with the 5 most popular students of our class, the scam video of the boys made by the girls and of course the titles given to girls by boys and vice versa.
In the meantime, we experienced the ‘customary firsts’ attributed to the first year of MBBS:
The first time we saw a cadaver while hovering behind each other and then grew courageous enough to start dissection; the first time we touched a frog with bare hands and then smacked the daylights out of it; the first anatomy substage and our fear of the unknown; the first failure that gave rise to shock and denial on our part; the first time we were called ‘doctor saab’ and we ignored the voice thinking that someone else was being addressed, the first trip to al-Karim which was far from the last and the list goes on and on. All these firsts have left deep and far-lasting impacts on our minds and souls and have become an integral part of who we are: the cream of the nation, the best of the best, the Kemcolian batch 09-14!
On the other hand, there were some eccentricities which can only be linked to our batch; the fact that we were the first class to have anatomy, physiology and biochemistry modules at the start of every month! All our hue and cry at this atrocity fell on deaf ears and we were forced to appear for 18 modules along with 8 anatomy substages and 2 stages! (These facts and figures are valid till before the summer vacations) Then the elections and re-elections of CR and GR first under the supervision of Sir Zubair, then Ma’am Atiya. Both times, the girls voted for a day-scholar – Saira Afzal – to become the GR and so another Kemcolian tradition was broken (You see, because GR is usually a hostelite)
Now, we move on to the busiest session of KEMU, when all the societies become alive with vigour. While Ayesha Sikandar made her mark in the world of oratory, Zara Naveed broke into the literary scenario by winning all writing competitions. The 1st year dramatic society which is self-proclaimed as “komplein” also made its presence known by shooting 3 videos for the KAPS video competition. However the biggest success story of the year was the Bake Sale donation campaign held by SPWS. 1st year gave new meaning to this event by celebrating Ma’am Attiya’s birthday amid beautifully decorated lemonade and Gola stalls on cartwheels. Under the supervision of Humaira Sarfraz and Ammar Afzal, 1st year raised more than 80 grand and won the class trophy as well! Furthermore, some brilliant students from 1st year also participated in the National Science Olympiad held in LUMS aka Psi Fi ’10. They won laurels for KE by getting 3rd position in Diagnosis Dilemma and being the top 5 finalists in Tour de mind. The latter was a compulsory round for all the 200 or so teams from all over Pakistan. The competition was tough but we didn’t give up. Because we believe in Alta pete: Aim high!
Magic with Action 