It Doesn’t End There

It just seem like yesterday I was boarding my plane from LCCT, along with many other fresh faces, toward our destination. Lots had happen across the past one year; 10 months and 3 weeks to be exact. I have learnt a lot, experience many things, and grew in many aspects. Memories of many events and incidents often flash back during this holiday; some grateful, some regretful. Being away from home indeed has opened my eyes to the World; many things you will have to judge for yourself, defend for yourself. Yeah, I made lots of friends, and yeah, I tried to stick my nose into every single opportunity that comes along the way. BDS year 1 wasn’t easy, and I’m still amazed at how I got through. Definitely God have showered me with tones of blessing. In times of distress, my dear sisters in Christ gave me much support. My lecturers are all so encouraging. “You’re not alone, We are here for you” have always been their logo since day 1. They continue to push us and make us achieve what we thought to be impossible. Dedication is what I see in the lecturers of MMMC. Non-stopped class test and block examination kept me in constant nerd mode. Some friends often pulled me out from my room and reminded me to have fun too. I have here put together photos of my year one journey, just for memories sake.

All I could say, I had a wonderful time and I want to make Year 2 to be even more joyous and meaningful. Let’s do our best BDS batch 2, make ourselves proud, make our family and friends proud, and make our patient proud.

JAGUN 5: Settling In 2

I was reminded about drinking water in one of the comments. And laundry too. Well I will try my best to guide you in getting drinking water, places to send your laundry and setting up your sim cards.

 

DRINKING WATER

Okay, now. There are 3 ways to get your clean drinking water. The tap water is a big NO NO.

Way 1: Buy those 1 liter of bottles from any groceries shop

You can do this on your first few days but on the long run, really not advisable. It will be expansive. One liter will cost Rs 15, about RM 1.

Way 2: Drink from the dispenser machine provided in hostels

All hostels will have one or two water dispenser machine. This is the cheapest way. All you need is a big bottle for your refill. However, I don’t recommend this on the first few weeks you are there. Your body got to get “accustom” to the water there. Probably you can opt for it after rounds drinking of 1 liter bottles.

Way 3: Order Bisteri Water

This is what most of us do. On your first order you will need to pay a deposit for your dispenser, which is Rs 400 each and Rs 75 for 20 liters water. They will deliver it to your door step. Every time you refill, you will have to pay Rs 75. If say you are not around, they will leave the water outside your room, but I advise you to be in your room because you would want the guy to fix it up for you. So here is the phone no. : 9845072709 

LAUNDRY

Alright, moving on to laundry. I shall separate the guys and ladies one. You can ignore this if you plan to wash your own laundry.

For the ladies

It really depends where you’re staying. Say if you’re in Old Chandrasekhar, New Chandrasekhar or New AC Ladies hostels, there are aunties that will come by in the evening to collect clothes from you. They charge 5 rupees for each piece. If you fear that there might be laundry mix-up, worry not. They will tag your shirts with your room no., and so far I didn’t experience it. It would take 1 to 2 days before you get your laundry back.

If you are in Sonia, Indira, New International or Sharada hostel, you can send it personally to the laundry shop next to Sonia hostel. It just at the corner of the Aka Shop. You can ask directions from the aunties in the Aka Shop. They charge by loads. One load cost Rs 100. The positive thing about this is that you can get back your laundry on the same day you send.

There are also other services for Sharada and New International hostels but I advise not to go for those I didn’t mention here. Reason being, they are famous for laundry mix-up, smelly odour smell left on your shirts, they write your room no. on your clothes (with black permanent marker pen) and they come only when they like which results in you getting your clothes like after one week.

For the guys

I’m not really sure but I tried asking my friend about the service available and I only got 2 answers.

The guys’ hostels are really near each other. Is not like the girl’s one where is scatter everywhere. Apparently the one in the infamous Nehru hostel is the best option. You have to personally send it there. They count by loads too. One load about Rs 100-150.

Another one is called the room service. He said that they will come to your room to collect your laundry. They charge by per month. It cost Rs 500 per month, but he said you have to be careful with this service because they might come collecting from you after only 3 weeks. Anyway, it’s much more expansive as compare to the Nehru one.

There is one more service at Amatyasan but I’m not sure how it goes. 

PHONE SIM CARD

I’m not sure what the arrangement for the orientation this time is. Last year, the seniors where there, welcoming us when we first arrive. Yes, we meet them even before get to we meet our mentor. They were the one that brought us to our respective hostel and were the ones that got us our phone sim card. Since none of us will be there, I wonder will the mentor do our work. Anyway, I shall give you directions if they don’t get it for you. Now, there are few companies to choose from. Airtel, Aircell, Vodafone and Data-DoCoMo. I recommend Airtel, reason being there will be less prank calls.  One thing you should know is that prank calls from the telecommunications company is a norm here. Vodafone has really frequent and annoying prank calls and silly quiz messages. Airtel’s line is also quite stable and it won’t jump into other people lines. Although they say Vodafone has slightly cheaper rates, but really it’s not much of a difference. Since my seniors got us the Vodafone sim cards, most of us are using Vodafone. I’m one of the weird ones that opt for another line. The companies set up service center in the town so just go to the one you prefer, fill in the form, pay up and wait for your activation.

Hope this can prepare you for your upcoming journey. Anything else you want to know, just leave a comment here. I will try my best to help you. Stay strong peeps~!

Myths and Facts

Just trying to bust some myths here. :p

Do you know how to speak Tamil or Hindi already? Got learn a few words?

Nope. For you information, Manipal is locate in the state of Karnataka and the locals here speaks Kannada, not Tamil or Hindi. And no, I didn’t learn any words because most of the time they converse with us in English automatically. What more we are going to do our clinical years in Malaysia, I don’t see a point to learn it up.

So you have curry everyday?

Nope. The Indians serve biryani rice and masala instead. Curry is rare, and if found, it taste not curry-ish.

So you have roti canai everyday?

No, no, no! People here hardly eat that. Its call Prata, it’s available here but the locals usually opt for tosai or puree or capati instead. Yes, there is a whole lot of capati but not roti canai.

Are students being allowed to buy exam papers before the exam at the Manipal Campus in India? (Got this from low yat)

No. No such thing happens here. Everything is done really clean. The examination system is conducted truly fair and square. The university has a separate unit to handle all the examination papers and questions. Even our own lecturers are not allowed to know the questions before hand. On the bright side, the questions are not really that tough. If you really know your stuff well, it won’t be hard to pass.  

Is it true that the MMMC Dental Programme is not recognized by India’s Dental Council?

Yes. The reason being we are not going to do our clinical years in India. We will be exposed to Malaysian patients instead of Indian patients. We will be trained by Malaysian doctors. It makes sense for the India’s Dental Council to not approve the degree because we are just learning the theory part of things there.

Is it true that the MMMC Dental Programme is not recognized by our own Malaysia Dental Council?

Yes. The course is relatively new, and the first batch is still into their 3^rd year. It will take another 3 more years to obtain that recognition. The pioneer batch will have to sit for a test carried out later in their 5^th year, to check whether the students are up to the standards. Only then will they award the recognition.

JAGUN 4: BOOKS anyone?

THIS SERVES AS A GUIDE TO GET YOUR FIRST YEAR BDS BOOKS.

How could medical students live without books; I know some live off notes, but notes comes from the books so it’s still the same. Hey, it’s tertiary education already! No more spoon feeding, you got to extract everything out from the books. The most common phrase after every lecture would be “Go back and read your textbooks. What I taught on the slides is just to make you understand.” And so more than three quarter of your time will be dating them, that is if you want to pass. Let me introduce you to the first year books. Take note of the author name I mention, you would have to yell their names in the bookstore later. (*) for special note

Anatomy

Charasia (pronounced Chau-Ra-Sia) vol.3 and general handbook

Inderbir Singh (pronounced In-Der-Bir Sing) embryology

*You might need Chaurasia vol 1 later in 4^th block. You can purchase it then.*

Physiology

Venkatesh (pronounced Ven-Ka-Tesh)

*I don’t know about you, but I hardly touch the textbooks for physio. The notes from lectures are more than enough. Maybe you want to consider not buying this book. You can just photocopy (Xerox is the term use for photocopy/Photostat in India.) the pages you need in the library. There is one more book call Lippincott’s used by the medical students. It gives a very detail explanation. Some chapters are good to refer to it. Just so you know.*

Biochemistry

Satyanarayana (pronounced Sat-Ya-Na-Ra-Ya-Na)

*Try pronouncing the name over and over again, a real tongue twister. Careful to buy the correct one because there are two versions for biochem. The other version is for medical student. Remember green cover and you won’t go wrong.*

Oral Biology

Orban (pronounced Or-Ban) dental histology

Ten Cate dental histology

Wheelers dental anatomy

*All three is a must. Yes, you will have to read a lot for this subject. Not easy people~*

Dental Materials & Prosthodontics

*I recommend not to buy first. Firstly because you won’t be opening the book for more than 5 times in year one. Secondly, do let the seniors to get ours as we will be needing it much much more than you. These two are non-exam going subjects and if needed, you can refer it at the library.*

That's all about your books. :D 

A Treat to the Seniors

We had a low-profile, unofficial farewell for our seniors. It was held at the Rotary Club Hall; somewhere before our block 4 exams. The theme was pajamas party. Some of us were in charged in decorations, some of us in food, some in games and class reps in almost everything. Our seniors were very sporting and dressed according to the theme. It was a very nice get together time and ya, the event was a success. Picture time!

Lecturer versus Student Showdown

I think it was a week or a few days before our poster presentation that we had the competition. I remembered all of us took the opportunity to take a break from all the project work and studies. We were actually invited to the event by Dr. Ullas himself. I think the idea came from him. It was BDS Batch 1 and Batch 2 teamed up against lecturers. Some of the lecturers showed up and they were VERY sporting; young at heart I guess. Other batches have outdoor games while BDS were schedule for an indoor competition.  The games were planned by the class reps and it was held in the clinical skills lab.

We all have a good share of fun and laughter. It was certainly an unforgettable experience.

In a Mess

I have so much things to blog about, endless draft are piling up in My Documents, all the half written post. Just don’t know where to begin with. Hmm, let’s see. Okay! Will share this while I rearrange my thoughts to start.

I wrote this last September, I think a week before I flew. I kept opening it to reconfirm, kinda like a keep-sake list. Haha, oh well~

Departure 19 Sep

i.                     Time of flight: 3.10 pm (be there at 12.30 pm)

ii.                   Enquire at Airport Information Counter for the location of counter for MMMC students. Report to College Officer to collect Boarding Pass.

iii.                  Collect ribbon from College Officer.

iv.                 Check in big bag

v.                   Hands carry not more than 5 kg.

vi.                 Flight takes about 3.5 hours.

Bangalore-Mangalore

i.                     5.30am at hotel lobby. Will be given air ticket.

ii.                   Collect boarding pass from College Officer once in airport.

iii.                  Flight takes 1 hour.

Mangalore-Manipal

i.                     Proceed to exit and get to the Manipal bus.

Manipal-Hostel

i.                     Lunch will be served followed by briefing by Chief Warden.

ii.                   Required to register for your hostel room.

iii.                  Mark the hostel, block and room no. on your luggage.

iv.                 Transportation will be provided to hostel.