Of arms, legs and the body intervening…

Dissection hall.

Also known as DH. The most mysterious of all classes you ever attend in MBBS 1. It seems like tales of terror are especially written down in a tome and passed on from generation to generation; all with the sole purpose of scaring freshies. For example?

One of my friends from another reputed medical college told me that a 2^nd MBBS student posed as a cadaver( dead body – parentheses included because I’ve had to explain the meaning of this word to almost every non-medical student I’ve talked to), lying down on one of the dissection tables as the green-faced first years entered the hall. After they quietly assembled around the table, he suddenly jumped up, causing 3 people to faint and another to throw up.

Words cannot explain how much I was dreading DH. Even my parents, who I’m sure had no intention of frightening me, told me that atleast 2-3 people in each batch pass out merely at the sight of the cadaver. I remember praying frantically, “God, please don’t let it be me! Please don’t let it be me!”

Sage words pf wisdom from my mom … Spray scent on a handkerchief and carry it with you. It should combat the smell of the formalin once inside DH; just keep it plastered to your nose. Hmmm. Uh…. Yeah, see mom, I would, but handkerchiefs went out of style three centuries ago. Given the choice though, looking like a SARS patient seemed favourable to actually being a comatose one, so I grudgingly sprayed a napkin with Burberry and left home.

An hour before DH. Me and a couple of friends were on our way to the Food Court for lunch (Manipal’s version of a mess- although we have those too) when we bumped into Vasant. He looked at us with what I took to be an are-you-thick-in-the-head expression. “You guys actually going for lunch now?”

To which Tina retorted, “Obviously. Haven’t eaten since morning so I’m starving now.”

He grinned. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. This is our first DH class. Chances are the smell of formalin’s gonna be overwhelming. Best if you don’t have any food in you. That’ll make it harder for you to throw up.”

None of us could argue with the inherent wisdom in this statement, so we unhappily turned our backs on the hordes of people eating lunch and made our way to the dissection hall...