Prelims freaky Sunday

“You may start writing”, the examiner announced.

And the race for the entry into the civil service STAGE 1 kick started.  Whisper of papers flipping forward and backward was the only sound inside the tensed four walls of the room with graduates carefully shading the OMR sheet onto their respective choices, some well analyzed and some with mere luck.

Mine wasn’t any exception. Time was passing by as if being followed by a giant snake. My hands and fingers experienced an unexpected tremor of shake and I could hardly get the shading right without turning it into an apple or a mango at the beginning. I had the shading practiced at home several times because I pictured myself troubled while shading during the examination. Despite the practice, it did trouble me but I could gather myself back to normal gradually.

The two and half hour PE was an obscure moment which passed by like a dream, hardly being able to remember the questions nor the answers marked. With the type of questions given in the problem solving section and with the given amount of time, it is indeed a test of one’s aptitude ;to be able to solve as quickly as possible. Whether one has done it good or bad, one could hardly tell what would be the outcome. There is no such thing as half mark, nor marks for few of steps before the answer. It is solely and whole of “1 mark” if  the answer is right and “zero” if wrong and absolutely “zero” if not marked at all. People correcting would do a mistake, he may be bias, he may be compassionate, he may be rude but a machine carries non of that character. OMR will treat everyone TIT for TAT, right for right and wrong for wrong. And let me tell you, my heart is pounding like a balloon with water filled inside while I am writing this because, I am getting back the picture of the questions that I didn’t know, the moment I panicked and the blind shading that I did murmuring the god’s name because, the examiner would give no mercy of extra time.

After the sweat drenching two and half hour examination, the examinees flowed out of the classes like ants and formed groups to share one’s tragedy at the most and for some, it seemed a “ok” thing  and for few it was good. Then, almost all 3000 unemployed graduates including the in-service candidates were seen swirling around the main traffic of the Thimphu capital. I am sure, MOLHR could have completed half of their unemployment rate survey there itself without having to go door to door.

The 150 minutes inside the room is perhaps the most crucial moment of any Bhutanese graduate’s life. It is the visa for some to finally make their dreams of getting a government job true, thereby bringing proud smiles on the faces of their parents and loved ones and for some, would be just to hold on an independence status so that they would get a beautiful girl in the hand of marriage..(:D).

Almost two weeks for the results to be declared and for fourteen days, the BCSE 2015 candidates would have to give a forced sleep every night and be in dilemma till the miscible thoughts of water and milk is completely separated. I have my fingers completely crossed and HOPE is the only hope for me as for many others.  

A Glimpse Towards My Future Profession.

Almost 2 months into the atmosphere of Drukyul . Pleasurable moments of chill air hugging all over my heat rusted skin in the evening and ice cold kisses in the morning and warmth of the winter sun, hussssshhhh!, something I longed for and yeah! I am chewing it to the fullest.

Well, all over excuses again of not having access to the internet to blog but this time I was a bit busy than the usual vacation. I sure did miss you dearest bloggy but I sure did keep in touch with the post of my fellow bloggers through my phone.

I applied in as an intern in the National Referral Hospital here in Thimphu and yes! Thimphu tshoten menkhang  is all about being busy. I entered into my so to be future world since two months back like a man with scarf wound around my eyes with least practical knowledge and with a will to get some light of hope with the work flow. Laboratory section in particular is one of busiest with samples dropping in in bulk without a stop, the section further being divided into hematology, biochemistry, histopathology, microbiology and blood bank. It is through it with which most of the diagnosis of diseases are made and confirmed clinically.

With supportive and frank staffs all around, I could find some transparency through the scarf with which I could slightly make out what was what and how things worked out. Despite that, there were few which made us feel bad about our lack of capabilities in some field  without the slightest idea of the kind of environment with  which we struggled hard to scribble things from nowhere and trying to pour in knowledge from the can which had actually never had experience of carrying its burden.  We don’t blame our self for not knowing much for we tried to push our self hard, we don’t blame our professors nor our college, it is rather contentful in blaming our fate for having to face such challenges with not even a smallest knot to catch hold on for the support back then. With a hope to gain those missed hand of support, we made our mind to be an intern of our motherland environment. Never did we have the slightest pride of being a degree holder nor did we ever  disrespect anyone but we surely did get our self mistaken by assuming everyone to be frank. We shall take this positively and try to the be the flower which blooms little bit later in a more fascinating way than those who bloom all together in one go.

Well , sorry part was only a paragraph, rest  of the story were all filled with fun and a moment of remembrance. Blind folded scarf fell  down and down with time and my eyes could now see a little more further. Observing the work flow and understanding the system was what we aimed for one month of our stay for we had limited time. I  am just so fascinated by how organized our hospital is. The Quality Control Scheme is well regulated and all the staffs are strictly observant about it. Serious laboratory working mentality and strict procedure follow up was something that we were not exposed to back in our college. We are so much glad to have had some hand in hand  and eye in eye experience in it.  If it was in our hand, i would be more delighted to continue our internship of 6 months here since the environment is far better here but as per our college curriculum, we have to perform in our college itself. So I am left with half of the scarf un-fallen which I would expect myself to learn slowly in the future with encouraging staff and supportive working environment . 

Fresh Laboratory competitors.

Profession by chance.

Never did i ever mention about my course in my blog. Had i? It hasn't been, until today now. May be only the name to the right side of my page under profile description.

Let me first give a brief introduction of what type of white apron i'm wearing, followed by how i landed in it, not by choice of course, it was purely by chance. Medical Laboratory Technology, a degree of three and half year course. It was two years, 10 months and 4 days back, on 25th of february, 2011, that my fate got sealed with the world of laboratory, to be joining the community of bacterias, microorganisms and be friend with the body fluids that are controlling our daily activities. In 2011, in undergraduate scholarship merit ranking, i was assigned the rank of 70th( very proud), of course i was proud, among 6000 students who appeared for BHSEC in 2010, i got be  there at least. Actually, i excluded the the students who took both maths and biology..:P..i wonder where i will reach then. 

Fate or the fruit of hard work, i don't know, but luckily i was the last one to be selected under the biology field. The seats were all marked red and biology doors were closed after me. Just before 5 minutes of entering inside the selection chamber, i had, by chance, had this profession in my mind as  last chance to get scholarship, which the name also, i came to know only 20 minutes before that. I had it. Everything was done and my career was finally decided. 

During pre-primary school, wherever teacher asked what i wanted to be when i grow up, i would always picture the man with spectacles, wearing white coat with head phone(stethoscope: didn't know the name then)  hanging around his neck. My ambition didn't change till class 12 though i addressed it differently then. Instead of Doctor, it was MBBS. But you see, we really never know what would happen. After the examination, i knew i didn't write satisfactorily, but few hopes to expect the unexpected was there. Still then, result had its own way to surprise me. I didn't know whether i was happy or sad when i got my result. I was just glad i would land somewhere anyhow. But again, hopes lit up when i saw the seat of professional course having around 198 and my rank was 70( both maths field and bio field). Competition all over. life is a race, agar bagho ge nahi, toh koi tumse agay nekal jayega mere dost!!! Every one agay and i was the most pichey....last one,...:D.

Inside one of the pages of my primary school note book.What is your ambition?

My dream to go for MBBS remained as dream only  But honestly speaking, now when i think properly, i feel God had it planned all and has given me something of  my capability only. Atleast, i'm in medical field. In my college, there are both Dental and MBBS students. Whenever i see them facing day and night, attached to thick medical anatomy and surgery books, i feel as of millions of catepillars are crawling inside my head. I know i cannot do that and was not meant to do also. Currently, in medical lab tech, i have got three subjects of microbiology, pathology and biochemistry and that too seems too much for me. I am very much glad, it's quite light..:D. 

It was by chance to be in this profession but a feel of acceptance has conquered my mind. With time, when i'm gaining knowledge of how we are surrounded by another world of invisible microorganisms which has great impact in our life, an enthusiasm of learning more grows. How the daily activities that we do correlates to our health. How the mystery of Immunity protects us from the virus of life. How we can outgrow the shield of protection from our body. As i flip the pages of my course, one by one, i see the answers and an appreciation and love towards my own profession grows bigger and bigger. I aspire to specialize in Microbiology and become a capable microbiologist in the future. 

Let me introduce you all to my laboratory family one by one.

This is my best friend. Charo Bacteria. Say hi!!!

This one is ata Virus. Has sucked someone's immunity meal and is totally lazy, like me...:D...

My neighbour aunty E.coli with her husband and kids.:)

They are my PSE gang(Parasite egg gang...)

AND.......

THE BOSS: Hepatitis Singh( Youngest,Tinest brother of Gabar singh..)

He was in Sholay too but because he was so tiny, he couldn't be seen.
hahaha...lol fellas...