Friday, September 5, 2008

The Best-est Teacher In The World!

(I’m writing this while I’m sitting in the car, on my way back home.. So got an excuse for doing this instead of studying. :))

This post is for my absolute favourite teacher in the world- My Dad!

Umm..not citing his name as the best teacher for general things you learn from parents like how to live, love & care (Yes! He’s taught all that too!) but for literally being the best teacher through the years.

My Dad’s been teaching me since I-can’t-even-remember-when. Every year as my syllabus changed, he had to (read: was forced to) read it too, coz being the lazy bum that I am, I used to do just one casual reading & consider it done (..& obviously I didn’t remember any of it an hour later!). He used to sit with me before every test & exam, & do it with me.

There’s this one incident that I remember vividly. (Shruti, you might’ve even heard this one from me before). I had my Sanskrit half-yearly exam the next day & midway through noon I was busy playing with my cousins who had come over. When my dad came back home from work, he asked about what my scenario with the preparation was, I was quick to reply with a “Papa, wo to ho gaya..”.Then when he decided to quiz me with some questions; within 5 minutes I had tears running down my face & a blank look with no answers. He then took me up to the terrace & instead of scolding, sat down with me & got me started with balak ke shabd roop (ermm..its the basic grammar in Sanskrit. I had not bothered to learn ANYTHING!). This was quite some work for him too, coz he knows zilch in Sanskrit! I can still picture us sitting there-me on a ragged old dari & him, in front of me with the book, sitting on an old piece of bedding, & both of us reciting “Balakah, Baalakau, Baalaka”!
But then, by the end of the day, I had done enough to last me that exam (& quite a few exams in the coming years too!)
....That’s the kind of teacher my Dad is. :-)

And now, that I’m in his field, I get to know more & more about his knowledge n teaching skills each day. Believe it or not, questions that he says are important have a habit of turning up on the exam the next day.
There’s this other incident that is my favourite. (You might’ve heard about this one too, Shruti)
It was right before my AIIMS pre-med entrance exam. We were standing outside the centre & I was busy doing some last moment cramming. Out of nowhere, he told me that Thalidomide, was a drug that had re-entered the market recently as it had found new use in Multiple Myeloma.
**What was a drug that had re-entered the market recently as it had found use in what!!**Seeing the blank look on my face, he said, “Just remember that the drug caused Phocomelia i.e. seal like limbs,in the fetus… So it was withdrawn from the market earlier. & is now used for MM”. Now being the stubborn ass I am, do you even think I bothered with all these new names!
But then, there I was in the Exam hall & Ha! It was right there, “Thalidomide in utero causes:..” My heart skipped a beat! I knew this! I tried to recollect, but it wouldn’t come to me…(You see, I hadn’t made any effort to learn it!) Couldn’t make out what the answer was. But in the excitement, that I at least knew the name of the drug, I marked an answer (which turned out to be wrong!!)

And then in my First year Per-Univs, one night before the Anat exam, I was studying at Ritu’s place. As I talked to Pa, he said that they had a full question on ‘Arches of the foot’ in their Pre-Univs. So that was an important topic, I ought to study it too.
I didn’t. Ritu did.
Voila. The first question, carrying 10 marks was… [No prize for guessing what that was!]

He somehow has this knack of knowing what might be there in the next day’s paper! (Last year, he even got Bhavesh a 4 mark question in the Boards!! He’d just told him the thing before leaving for the exam centre!)

Okay, not only this, he’s also an amazing teacher otherwise. Never knew about his knowledge till I started with Medicine. Clinics with him are awesome. Ask him anything off-hand & he’ll explain it to you really well. (Once taught a topic in Gynae too.. :)). Even at classes, he’s one of the good teachers. Plus, he’s always there to clear my concepts of the tracts in the spinal cord and diabetes insipidus!

He loves teaching. Even if its dud students like yours truly.
In fact, he’s the one I hold responsible for me-making-it-through into Medical! He did more Zoology than me in my pre-med days. There are some things that he told me back then (like all about Adrenals on a trip back home from Jaipur), that have been helping me till this day!

Not many can boast of a combo of an amazing dad & an awesome teacher!
Am really really lucky to have him!! I’d be screwed otherwise! Bigtime!

18 comments:

  1. Heyyy.... dunno where to start! ..
    I loved this post so much that i wished u had gone on and on .. :-)

    and yes, i totally agree about uncle being The Teacher in ur life! i know many more

    instances personally of course .. but hey u know what .. I too want to convey to uncle my

    sincerest wishes on teachers' day, !

    You remember i had once come over to ur place, so that uncle could teach us the Eye (..

    mamta ma'am hadnt made much headway with the that! ) - actually, u had to learn both eye

    and ear, but i was lost just with Eye :D :D :P ... ;)

    And gawwd ... it was just awesome! no book could ever teach me 'eye' the way he explained

    it to us ! all those muscles no- each one, how they tugged n pulled to blink the eye .. i

    mean he sooo KNEW it all! .. and knew how to tell us all!! ...
    and then the eye ws like one fun thing to peep into, when i was literally disgusted with the

    diagram in the book, n it hd creeped me out to think that i didnt GET IT! :D

    and i rem u had even offered me to come over whenever he did all these concepts with u -

    which was err uncharacteristically sweet on ur part too :) ..


    And while we are at it, do convey my thanks to uncle for everything at the jaipur trip too..
    even in those two days (esp: since they were THE CRUCIAL days :) ) - he was a teacher thru

    n thru ... :)

    I loved this post. I was going to say you are lucky .. but more apt wud be : u are blessed :)

    Happy Teachers' Day ! ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. btw: i read ur post on 'the making of a doctor' .. abhi .. pata nahi kaise I had missed it earlier ..

    commented there now! ... :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi there arpita..
    you know i identify so much with this post of yours.. my dad is very similar to yours.. what does your dad specialize in? mine is an ophthalmologist. aren't we kids so proud of our parents? just makes me think i should be a good parent.. :)
    i am a third yr medical student studying in SDM college , dharwad, karnataka.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @ ron:
    thank u shruti for the looong comment. its almost like u've written a whole post for papa!! :)
    *see i couldn't keep off the net for long..after that chat with u!!*
    i know...i'm blessed!!! don't kno what i've done to deserve him as a dad & teacher *i can't think of even one incident in this life at least!*

    ReplyDelete
  5. @ an experiance...

    yeah!am really proud of my dad!! :) *& more on a personal note --am thankful for him... i could never in all my life manage to make it thru without him!!*

    am in final yr...at Dr.SN Medical College..
    my dad's in Internal Medicine...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Hi,

    That's a Japanese tradition of wishing for the first time !! Your post was good,it showed how much does a responsible and caring parents have an influence on their child. Really great to hear that.,.

    Parents can be the best Role Model a Child can get.,.

    Would like to hear your feedback about my blog too :)

    Keep Smiling !!

    Prashant
    *+

    ReplyDelete
  7. I dont ve words too express how gr8 uncle is. but would say i am 'blessed' too to ve a teacher like him. and really respect him in everything.... the way he teaches, the way he handles situations n ofcourse the way he handles arpita (lol!!!).

    ReplyDelete
  8. as always, great...

    my belated wishes for teachers' day to ur dad..........

    pranab

    ReplyDelete
  9. U're so lucky! i could tell u about my dad, that would be a post of its own.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Your blog will definitely be added to the Indian Med blogs directory, Arpita.

    It would be appreciated if you could sport one of the buttons available on the Indian med blogs site on your blog.

    Keep up the good work, Happy writing.

    Indian Medic

    ReplyDelete
  11. @ prashant, pranab, avina & soman...
    thanks for the comments!
    its like I'm finally getting some readers!! *yay*

    ReplyDelete
  12. hey there doc, the short time ive known ure dad may not be enuff to do justice. but i liked him a lot and im sure he is proud to ahve u as his daughter. i know my dad would kill for a daughter :D

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi, your posts are really good. Nice that u have put up something about a parent. They indeed are the best teachers and we become what they teach us.

    Poetry directory

    ReplyDelete
  14. you write really well.
    regards to mamaji.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thank you for talking about your dad! You're very blessed! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. @prexiousbl:
    thanks for reading :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. Where is the like button for this post !! I miss FB !! he he.. my mom did the same for my first year med exams.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Brilliant, brilliant post. I am in awe of your Dad!

    ReplyDelete

=)

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