August is not just any other month for me. It is a very special month, and in many ways, it is a part of who I am today.
Years ago, this was the month when I started my journey to become the doctor I am today. It all started with a simple exam. I didn’t think too much about it; I just gave it like any other exam and I cracked it. Then came counselling. I wanted to be in my hometown, Shimoga, which also had one of the best medical colleges and, even better, it was a government medical college. I would have happily stayed back, enjoyed every bit of my hometown and continued living the life I already knew. But my parents insisted that I go to Bangalore, especially since my brother was already doing his studies there. So, being the girl who listened to most things her parents told her, I applied and got a seat at Ramaiah.
I came to Bangalore, and I have to admit, I hated the sight of it right from the beginning. Everything felt unfamiliar, and I wasn’t particularly happy about leaving home. The one thing that made it easier was knowing that my brother was already there. We came to college for the registration, finished what we had to do and went back. Then came the actual day of starting college, and, I was super late. Everyone was already in the hall, and the commencement of the year had already started. And, as if being late wasn’t enough, I had no idea that I needed a lab coat. My brother ran around searching for one and, poor fellow, somehow found it for me. That is probably how I would describe him even today — if he knows I need something important, he will put his everything into getting it for me.
So there I was, finally in the hall with my lab coat, not really understanding what the hell was happening, sitting with my soon-to-be batchmates. I couldn’t even see where my parents and my brother were in that huge hall. Probably just a small sign from universe that time to embrace the new beginnings and people. Eventually, we took the famous Hippocratic Oath — the Indian medical version of it. After that, we went to the administration office to check on my hostel allotment. They told me I had been allotted a double-sharing room, just as we had requested.
Since no males were allowed inside the hostel, my mother and I went in. We kept walking and walking, not just horizontally but also vertically, until we reached the -2 floor. There was some kind of silence and a vibe I had probably never felt before. The warden took me all the way to the end of the corridor, to the last room they could find, opened the door and told me, “This is your room for the coming years.” For someone who had no idea what a hostel room was supposed to look like, this actually looked okay to me. Two beds, two cupboards, two tables, a bright white room and an attached bathroom. Seems great, right? Exactly what I felt too — until I opened the room window. It opened into an even lonelier corridor which seriously felt more like a storeroom or a dump yard than anything else, which I decided I’m never opening this window again specially at night.
I was hoping to see my roommate, so I told my parents that I would stay alone that night. I spent that whole day between the hostel and college. But when night came, that room creeped the hell out of me, and by the end of it I had decided that I was done. No more of this room. Somehow, my parents arranged for me to stay at a friend’s home close by for a week, and I managed that one week.
But the best part of that month was actually none of the above.
It was the people I met.
These were some of the most amazing people who came my way during that month, years ago, and many of them stayed in my life as much more than friends, some just a particular chapter, but all of them, in one way or another, left something behind and shaped the person I became.
We all know what we are, because of the family we grew up in. Our family gives us so much of our foundation, our values and our understanding of the world. But I also think something changes once we join college. The environment around us changes, and suddenly we are surrounded by people who have grown up differently, think differently and see life differently. We learn from them, sometimes knowingly and sometimes without even realising it. We make mistakes, we grow, we become more independent, and somewhere along the way, we start becoming a different version of ourselves. A very big part of that comes from the people we meet.
For me, Ramaiah was not just a place where I became a doctor. It was a place, where I found my first love, and where I learnt what it meant to live away from home. It was also where I slowly learnt how beautiful Bangalore actually is. It was where most of my stories began, where I developed my leadership skills, and where I experienced so many firsts in my life.
When I think about it now, I didn’t even want to come here. I wanted to stay in Shimoga. I didn’t like Bangalore.
But sometimes, life has a strange way of taking us somewhere we didn’t choose and giving us things we didn’t even know we needed.
When I look back at that girl who walked into Ramaiah with her last minute lab coat, not really knowing what was happening around her, I realise how much of my life started there. The doctor I became, the friendships I made, the people I loved, the independence I learnt, the experiences that shaped me, the leadership skills I developed and so many stories that are still a part of me today — so much of it began in that place, it all began this very month.
Ramaiah was not just where I became a doctor. It was one of the places that helped me become me.
And perhaps that is why August has remained so special to me.
It is the month when it all began –one beautiful August, years ago.