4th Floor's Diwali Dinner.

*serving time..come and get your food,people:)*

*omg,winter is here..it's all snowy!!*

1st November'09@1326

I'm so the TIRED! but I just can't seem to get myself under the blanket yesterday.Every single muscle is fatigued after the long hours and cumulative effect of cooking each saturday ever since 17th october.Sevvanthee still teases me "You said,'why diwali only for 1 day?'" whenever I tell her "can i have a quiet weekend this week?"..I'm not this cooking material type and that's actual cause of all these.However,for my friends and fellow groupmates,I find a sense of satisfaction to invite them over for our indian dinner on our 4th floor each year.

Yesterday Morning woke up around 8am,and we started preparing our dishes.Since we had to cook for about 80 of our friends,the 5 of us,:Me,Sevvanthee,Maalini,Kiran and Jonas actually sped up the whole cooking process and by 2pm we were done with : Veg Kurma,Chicken masak merah,yellow-spiced rice(eh,such combo exist?),mix veg and drinks.I had to boil numerous times hot water,filter them then store them in big containers so we can make our best misture of sweet drink from the cordial which we had purchased from magnit.Everyone was like.."wht's this drink called?" Jonas and I winked and said "it's a good blend of everything..it's our secret"..(ha-ha)..

It just feels like we started our first year here and soon there'll be our last diwali dinner here.I know I will be missing all these funs once I graduate.Dad will say :"enjoy every single moments now,these are the moments which are very precious,best and important moments"..when did I ever go against daddy's words right?So I enjoyed it though at the beginning of the day and on friday I was lil bit down.Why?I will get back to that later.Now let me done with my final diwali dinner story for the year.

Jonas made the situation in kitchen very lively.Though only 2 boys helping me,sevvanthee and maalini,there weren't any glitches...Jonas being the youngest among us,was looking out the window,admiring the puppies which were out in the cold,snowy weather when he gets tired of stirring the veg kurma.With his non-fluent tamil,he made all of us broke into laughters whenever he makes an attempt to talk in tamil.

Kiran as usual the one who runs here and there to get things done.He definitely cooks better than I do,can estimate well for how many people it will be adequate and etc.After all ,serving in temple does come handy at times,I believe.What tickled the rest of us was when he tried to mix the full-filled container ,(ha-ha) the way he shook the container..too bad I didn;t take a snap of him doing so...

Here comes the experts in cooking(no I'm not included in that category)..sevvanthee and maalini.Colour of the dishes definitely changed..for example,Kurma colour became more like red-spiced up colour because of the excessive tomato paste,then the chicken apparently was okay but it was damn tasty..the mix veg + bolied dhal became like Dhal..aihhhss,nevertheless everyone seemed to enjoy and complementing happily that they had a great time and really loved the foods.Now,I'm really adamant that we especially me here have a hidden talent for cooking,just that I cared less in trying and making a decent multiple means everyday for myself:p

Somehow,I felt very less people turned out for our dinner since few were not feeling well,away to Ashan and attended the halloween party in another hostel.For those who didn;t attend our dinner yesterdat,all I can say is "YOU GUYS JUST MISSED A BON APPETITE OF INDIAN FOODS.."

I know Indian foods are all about the spices and being hot.Abdalla,Jeff,Jia Lynn were fanning their tongues..ermm,I have a low threshold for spicy food as I don;t consume much also,but i think yesterday was less spicy than any other Indian foods that we had cooked previously..but still you can see my buddies gulping down juice impatiently..get used to it guys,Indian food,what you guys expect?..

Anyways,it's my pleasure to have all of you here with me,thank you for your attendances.

xoxoxoxo.

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4th Rotation: Psychiatry..(not a good start!)

29th October'09@2055

I had a real fudged up day today!It could never get any worse that this.I always anticipate my new rotations with high expectations only to realise few mentors are simply not cut off for that!I just hate that.I was all buckled up for today's new rotation but I only had to endure all the bad lucks...

First of all,I love my groupmates but when it comes to punctuality,they never live up to my expectations.I'm this person who value time punctuality anytime,anywhere.Guess the years of being prefect back in school trained me into a real good one when it concerns with time.I still can tolerate if you are late 10minutes but not any longer than that.So,2 of my Kenyan groupmates,came out late from their rooms.We headed towards the bus stop,flagged down bus no.43.We didn;t wait for the other 2 JPAs and a Mara because there was no sms-es saying "guys,please wait for us tomorrow" when I remembered yesterday we did tell them that we will be going to psychiatry hospital together.As we wanted to jump another bus,37 which uses another less jammed road,we got down at the next stop.The bus was just behind us but as we got nearer,the door's shut automatically..okay this another scene which you can see frequently while boarding the bus here-I;m kind of used to this because undeniably,Russians let say quarter of them have this dominant gene called 'stupidity' encoded in their sex chromosomes..so now you know,it's passed from generation to generation and there;s nothing much can be done on that fact.

Oh did i tellyou that?To make things worse,today it snowed and pouring at the same time!I would have preferred a cold weather in Malaysia but here it just gets too extreme you know though at times I simply love it.But,the pre-winter weather came too soon this year,hey it's not even November and now you will be seeing this fluctuating temperature everyday which can make loads more sick and unwell students...*sigh*..so when the bus door was closed on our faces,we had to wait for another bus which uses the same route,No.85.Luckily,that bus came earlier.We didn't want to board No.1 as it goes through the city which will take more longer and the traffic which wasn;t budging an inch,we decided to get to Covetskaya Sq.

Less traffic as we had expected,jumped into No.41 but just to note,the door was shut before we could get in but the good samaritan(the bus driver),let us in..Oh,I was so thankful!!!Then in 20 minutes time(at 9am) we reached the Sovetskaya Sq.Once my feet touched down the ground,I was hurrying followed by Jeff,Abdalla,Zakiah and Sara trying to keep up with my pace.I have been to that hospital for my psychology lecture once in 2nd year.I knew the way but wasn;t sure which building.I knew Groups D and F had reached earlier..that's not good..As we entered the main gate,we saw Wani,Shahrul and Fil were just ahead of us few meters."Right then,we're not late",I told myself.After climbing up the stairs to 5th floor,to my relief,I saw everyone infact just reached and were cladding their white coats!!! Choosing the other route unlike the others indeed made us reach the hospital on time like any of them despite being the latest to board the bus.

So you know it's psychiatry hospital.I should have taken a picture of the so called classroom where our lecture was held.Wait,was it even called a lecture when all we did was copying down the 'copy paste' lecture material from the net on our books?I was like sitting about 2 meters away from the lap top containing the lecture materials since the front seats were occupied.The lecturer/a psychiatric obviously not the lecturer material type,no I don;t want to put a bad comment here on him.Thank God,I won't be getting him for my tutorials though I know I will be getting the most strictest one tomorrow,a lady.My group is always blessed with all the big shots and the best ones ever since our 1st year..so I'm okay with it.Okay,let me tell you why I really got pissed with him..he wasn't delievering lecture in the very first place just because he was busy!He came in,read out at super speed,being so inconsiderate of us who were trying to copy down the lectures.I won;t be complaining if it I could see the lap top screen but with the many heads peeking over infront of me,I just gave up at one point and I was at my worst temper!

Today's lecture was the worst one ever,even chemistry lecture by the Russian Professor in 1st year was loads more better and ineresting.Where's the sense,Dr I mean please don't tell us you don;t have a projector to screen you lecture materials for us!As I was trying to cope with it,2 assistants(maybe?),hopefully they are not psychiatrics came into the room to check on us when the lecturer was away..and they made things even worse my just chit-chatting while us trying to hear abdalla who was reading the lecture material.At one point,his voice just drowned with them raising voice,IGNORING US COMPLETELY! I really felt like telling them on their face "SHUT UP and GET OUT".Though we were making faces and indirectly saying 'shut up,stupid,go out' seems it didn't reach to their cochlears..arrggggggggghhhhhh!!!!By that time,I was already at the peak of my temper.

The lecturer entered again,tried to speed up his lectures and I snapped my pen on my notebook and just folded my arms.I came back home and rewrote the 15 minutes lecture which I left unattended.Once he left,we resumed back our copying lecrure when abdalla and sevvanthee took charge by reading them out loud.We did go an extra mile by saving all the lecture materials in Filzah's pendrive!

Thirdly,NEVER consume any water if you will be having classes in the psychiatry hospital.Every single doors to the department are closed tightly,you can never get into them easily even when you are in a desperate situation to go to the ladies.I truly understand,the mentally unwell patients are dangerous at large but atleast they should have been ladies/gents nearby right?How can you actually control your involuntary act?What if your urinary bladder just explodes?Shoot!!!!Damned!God save us for the next 7 days when we are in that hospital!

See,how doomed my day was today?So what's next for tomorrow?..duh..hopefully,we won't be chased around the hospital by some psychics!

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Internal Medicine: DONE.

28th October'09@2020

Here I am,after a 3 hours of nap(yeah,i know it's pretty long but my internal rotation is over today!)..all rejunevated,sipping a glass of apple juice and munching my diwali cookies for dinner.;)

Internal medicine this semester was split into two periods-one right after my infectious paediatrics,for 8 days and will be continuing again in december for another 5 days,just before my last cycle for the sem,haematology..and we don;t know who will be taking us because Dr.Ksenia said it wouldn;t be her.Actually i prefer for a change different Dr. each semester.I have been under Dr.Ksenia,Dr.Yulia,Dr.'Nicole Kidman,Dr.Pavlovna..so actually I'm eyeing and really really hoping for Dr.Tatyana for my next semester.Really wish can be under her for the next 5 days for Endocrinology topic.Besides her,I won;t mind if I get Dr.Andrevna or maybe Dr.Panova?Let's cross my fingers for the best..after all it all depends on you no matter how excellent the mentors are.

But,this internal medicine was kind of relaxing for me!Okay I know you must be thinking I'm crazy here for even saying that..well it was seriously because the only topic which I learned in detail would be pulmonary embolism..the rest of the topics were repetition,but with Dr.Ksenia she won;t make life easier but at the same time you will feel a pinch of stress during Q&A session.Just like today,she managed to kinda'screw all of us' on our last day of tutorial class with her.

She returned our case report with comment "I'm not satisfied"..duh! As for me I think,we could've done better if we had written the whole complete case report rather than just writing about arterial hypertension when the patient ACTUALLY got admitted to the hospital due to hyperglycemic attack.So the chief complaints would be?Like I had said,sometimes long and complex process can make the job loads more simpler.Just like my previous patient,he had Diabetes Mellitus Type II(which was the reason for his admittance to the hospital),Arterial Hypertension(type?) and Chronic gastritis.So I had to only write on Arterial Hypertension!Moreover,according to the patient both his arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus were discovered at the same time,6 years ago.Now,tell me which one lead to another?But one thing,it wasn;t secondary arterial hypertension according to her.*my turn off mood*.

Apart for the case reports issue,normally she would ask us back on the previous materials,and will give points based on how we had answered.Today,I prepared for Cor Pulmonale(right sided heart failure) and Myocarditis(inflammation of the heart's myocardium).She turned the table and here we go,Syahrul,Filzah,Jeff and I were asked on Chronic Bronchitis which was our today's class' topic..ermm,managed somehow but wasn;t excellent.This woman,unpredictable-la...

In spite of all that,we even made a very short case report in an hour time on patient's with chronic bronchitis.My patient,58 years old,a policeman by profession with moderate severity(concluded that after my clarking).He is a chronic smoker for the past 40 year with about 15 cigarettes/day.I'm sure he has complication of Cor Pulmonale but he said the doctor in charge didn;t mention anything about it and I,Abdalla and Zakiah were wondering whether we should omit the complications..moreover we couldn;t be 100% sure because there wasn;t Chest X-ray in his case report.But I did check his ECG and I'm pretty sure I saw few abnormalities,deep S-wave in V1-V6,sinus bradycardia,but there was no right axis deviation indicating right heart involvement.In addition to that,pulmonary function test wan't performed on him on his current admission.I suppose it was done way too earlier when he had his first attack 20 years ago.He too has Arterial Hypertension.

After collecting all the informations needed,the last 1 hour of our tutorial class was discussed on our last patients for the sem,all together 3 patients.Atleast,that part of class went smoothly and finally she gave us her smile,we said 'thank you' and left her,greatfully indeed!

So for now,I'm done with internal..and tomorrow at 8.15am,I will be off for my new rotation,Psychiatry.I'm looking forward for the cycle because I desperately need to know more about people,atleast selected ones which are making my life less cheerful now.Hopefully,towards the end of the rotation,I will be able to read people's minds BETTER than ever.

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Diwali Open House'09

25th October'09 @ 1245

I woke up at 1pm today after a long day yeasterday for having had to make pots and pots of dhal with my other crew members: sevvanthee,maalini,and juniors:adrian,gopi and rashveer, for our annual diwali open house which was held in 1st hostel hall at 7pm...I really would've preferred a very quiet weekend especially a serene saturday rather than waking up early and start cooking for 500 Malaysian students.Nevertheless,I'm not alone in this early morning ordeal,other 49 Malaysian Indian students and Raj from India too participated and the outcome was: butter rice,mix vegetable,dhal,kesari(indian sweet),chicken(i don't know what type of chicken ,gotta ask the boys who were in charge),lemonade made by the juniors and finally sliced watermelon which were served at 9pm.Everyone enjoyed the open house just like the previous years,till numerous of them tapau-ed the food..I was happy for the day though by 10pm,i was frop dead tired!!!

Sevvanthee became the master of ceremony and her partner was a junior,Kervindran.Though only 3 performances was held,I enjoyed the bhangra dance which was done by my coursemates and seniors..the moment they joined the girls who were rocking the stage,everyone was thrown into the bhangra beat and started clapping and shouting hysterically..(ha-ha)..only on these days you will see the dark sides of the Medic students,including us here..because even I shouted their names :"aiyalu" when sevvathee came up the stage and "kiran" when he started dancing the bhangra..I had a good time yesterday!!

After the long queing by the students to get the food,finally I,sevvanthee,maalini and Kiran took our foods and sat down to have our dinner.Then the others,ran up the stage and started dancing wherelse I finishhed my food and left the hall to my room.

So ended my 2nd last diwali in Nizhny Novgorod..

by the way on this note: every other girls even the chinese wore sarees except for I,sevvanthee and a junior(oppsss..okay,look out for our appearance next year in saree!)

Since the day light saving starts today,I actually woke up at 12 pm to be exact,which means I'm 5 hours behind Malaysian time.Okay got to resume back to my work: russian raskaz,cardiomyopathy for tomorrow's internal medicine and russian homework..okay then,let me sign off for now:)

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p/s: be emotionless

23rd October'09

There's nothing extraordinary happening with my current life.Started off the week with Internal medicine rotation,based on 12th floor in 13th hospital at aftozavod.Dr.Kersenia Grigorevna is our practical and tutorial classes mentor.Since we had her in our 7th semester,she knows us but as for us,we feel like we are looking at the new Kersenia since she is more serious and less'smiley' this semester..perhaps with the 'examinor' title awarded to her,she chose to be less friendly to her students?I wouldn't know but she is one of our favourites when it comes to internal medicine.:)

Just 2 days ago,my roomie,sevvanthee agot all emo-ed..don;t ask me why but I'm sure xiang bin is one of the factors which made her do all the whining..(ha-ha).Okay let me get this clear.Out of sudden,Maalini told me "hey,xiang bin is planning to have girls day out,you want to join?"..sorry maal,i remember that I just smirked and walked off..Then obviously maalini told sevvanthee about it and she got all hype-ed and started with "comela let's go.,.."..I :"why suddenly xiang bin wants to have girls day out?" sevvanthee "cos she feels for the past 4 years,she didn't do anything except for being a bookworm!!!"..(ha-ha)..okay quit laughing nita,you belong in her group too..very true,i'm not denying that.After all,Ipoh kakis definitely think alike what..*great minds think alike*

I used to express my regretness(or was it?) for always being stuck in my room,being a bookworm/nerdy girl..where;s my life?Not that it's just plain simple without any colours but very truly,when i look back for the past 23 years and 11months,all i see is my books and I.Life is all about books?Definitely not,i object that too....there's definitely MORE to life and i'm sure you get it when I say it should be well balanced with small and big things to make it more cherishable.I did wish for a wonderful university life,really,you espcially when you are holding something very beautiful in life very close to your heart despite the million miles of barrier. At the same time I knew I won't be having the time of my life since I chose MEDIC.I knew my life wouldn;t be the same once i'm into this field..I just knew it ..so when the time passed by,I concluded that MEDIC STUDENTS HAVE NO LIFE (with exception of a few who still are enjoying with parties etc even when the exams are just around the corner!)And now with another 1 1/2 year left before we graduate,I'm sure each and everyone will rewind our past years in medic line,the things that we had done,the things we had missed and definitely the consequences of it..one by one will be affected pretty much soon just like how I am.

I do wish for a different day when my morning starts...just like any other teenagers(ha-ha am I still considered as a teen?..perhaps the word youth would be better,i think) but all the routine is so stereotypical--classes,lectures,face book(not fb) till midnight and then sleep.Everyday is a new beginning and as for me,the only thing i wish every morning is for the day to be better than yesterday and let me carry out my duty with Your blessings.

I think it's too late for me to complain on 'LIFE AS A MEDIC STUDENT'.Maybe I do miss doing things that I have never done or maybe I'm not?Maybe everything needs to be tried out atleast for once..maybe..would I regret for the things I have never done even when I so wanted to do it?Guess,I'm already regretting for the things I have missed because at times I think being all the sincere doesn't get you anywhere when one fails to see the real you.

But then again,besides being my only option cum dream to be a physician,I'm truly convinced that destiny and fate played a greater role in determining my future.What more to come?I shall look out and accept everything that comes my way.Whatever that's scheduled unto me will happen when the time comes..so let it be.

p/s: be emotionless.

I Found You Here!!

21st October'09@1840

Who would have guessed in my 5th year of Medic studies I'll discover my favourite Lord Krishna;s temple in our very own Nizhny Novgorod?

Who would have thought,after my constant blabbering about Shree Krishna,would make sevvanthee,too get going to Hare Krishna's temple?

Who would have thought that I would be making new Russian friends in Hare Krishna temple?

everything is just fated and destinied to be the way it is.All I would like to say,nothing happens without Your permission.Thank You.

Since I told dad and mum that I'd be mailing them in detail on my latest exciting days to Hare Krishna's temple,here you go on what I had written in my mail to show them I'm always their lil' daughter with values instilled in me since small:

hi ma and daddy.How are you all?Im doing really fine here..internal medicine classes are going fine.I know i promised to daddy that i will be mailing about the krishna temple which we discovered and will be going every week on sundays(if possible).Last saturday was my first visit there..it was great really ma daddy.I just feel like being in malaysia's temple.The Russians are Shree Krishna's devotess.It's located in a double story house with a separate hall which will be used during festivals/important occasions.I think daddy knows about ISCKON and this one is another branch of it.We all got suprised when we knew the Russians managing the place got hitched to indian origins and and their names are so indian like---maharani,gopal,seva,lakshmi...even my name doesnt sound to typical of an indian..haha...so they asked us to come again on monday and i went again with my friends for a festival called Govardhan,i think mum knws about it when Krishna will lift up the mountain to protect the village.The chantings,singing and dancing are all in sanskrits except when they convey msg which will be in russian.Other than that,i truly feel safe being there with the group of Russians.They are very different from the people whom i see on the streets everyday..not arrogant,ever ready to give a smile and treated us very well since we are the only ones with different skin colour..suddenly me and my frens became celebrities (ha-ha)..the prasadham was served right abt 9pm and i was really too full,it was delicious and tasty.The russians were clad in sillakattu,with pony tails(for hare krishna male devotees) and the ladies were in lenga,sarees,nethi chudi,bangles (just like the cowherds/gopis)..even I was only in my kurta..looks like they are more of an indian/hindhus than me..(ha-ha)..the truestees asked us to come again on thursday because there will be enlightment day but i think i will be going on sundays(from 3 till 7pm) where they will be conducting bhajans,chants,spiritual talks..other days are pretty hard for me sinc it's quite a distance from hostel..ma,i uploaded the pix in my facebook,you can have a look at them ma and daddy so when are you joining facebook?I tried sending you few pix but cannot be delievered to your mail daddy..take care i love you both and I'm glad I found my favourite lord here>

with lots of love,

nita.

I will surely to update more after my next visit to see my Lord.:)

171009:Diwali Subhakanchalu:)

17th October'09@2300

Morning got up at 6am,grabbed my new greenish kurta and hit the shower.The only thing that I lacked was a good oil bath:(Then,I was and still am in Diwali spirit,switched on my favourite tracks on my playlist consisting my Hero Krishna's songs and holy chants.I begun to clean up and get my cute little altar all ready for my special prayers today.I trimmed down a bouquet of chrysanthemum which I bought yesterday down the Surikova Street from an old lady who appeared so thankful when I bought her flowers:)In the mean time,I let the rice boiled with milk on the stove(yeah,was trying to make ponggal),and sevvanthee too helped by keeping an eye on it when I was back into the room,preparing the altar.

At 9am,I was all done and I did my prayers.Deepavali is my very much anticipated day.As for me,Deepavali is all about the brightness and eye glaring illuminious lights(diyas) which have the penetrability ability into ones mind and soul ,to become a better human in life,just how The Sacred Gita and Vedic sculptures dictate.

Because the connection sucked to a greater height today,I could only talk to mum dad and ragu via skype,I miss webcaming with them today.Glad all is going fine there:)Then,I assembled all my love(my cookies sent by mum via parcel)on a plate,went around to share my Diwali delicacies with my floormates.

Helped sevvanthee to fry the puris then at about 11am,nana,pearly,zaid,jia lynn,emmy,xiang bin,hafiz,maalini ,sevvanthee and I gathered in Kiran's room to 'buka' our breakfast.It was really fun spending time with my buddies today.Something different from what we usually do previous years.

Returned to my room at 3pm,there was a knock on the door and it was suvin came with his greetings on diwali.Later, sevvanthee told me "hey,karan and suvin will be going to this Krishna's temple which is before the bridge"Wanna go?"..Me: "ermm,are you sure we can go with them?where is it?" Sevvanthee :"it's their first time too to go there,the juniors also will be following"..after much thoughts,I was all set go,guess Krishna wants me to visit him,yeah:)

Reached there,and it's located in a house.I have heard of ISKCON worldwide branches and this one in Russia is another one of it!! I was really thrilled when I entered the door and to my great suprise,an old lady in her early 50s and a young lady were managing the place.They are Russians with Hindhu names: Laksmi,Maharani.We were ushered to the second floor where Krishna and Radha stood there ever elegantly.The lady in her 50s started singing and chatting Hare Krishna manthra and explained on The Bhagavad Gita in russian language.At certain points,we were lost..she knew more than what we,the HINDHUS know about our Hindhuism.Now,isn;t that simply astonishing?We were served with 'prasadham' by the woman.I bought a cd on Lord Krishna-14 tracks sang by the famous artistes for an example:Sting.As we were ready to go,we were reminded consistently to join them on Monday at 6pm for Govardhan's festival which is one of the biggest festivals celebrated.We yanked opened the door,and here you go Acharya Seva came inside.Now,he's not an old priest but a Russian guy in his err..less than 30s?Clad in his denim,jeans and jacket,he has a tiny pony tail,clean shaved face and head,Hare Krishna beads around his neck,I was struck with awe once again!

I know most of ISCKON's devotees are from the US and EU but RUSSIANS?they too?Wow,that's really cool espcially Acharya Seva asked us "Who is Krsna?" and continued "He is THE ONLY ONE,THE ORIGIN OF EVERYTHING"..Krishna,you're the heartbeat of our souls.

Acharya got immersed into Hare Krishna manthra,happily chanting away whilst playing the musical instrument.We sang and clapped our hands.It was really something today for me after so long,being able to visit A KRISNA's Temple here in our very own Nizhny Novgorod.I bowed infront Krishna and Radha,prayed,snapped a photo of Them and made up my mind to visit the temple more often,actually I was thinking of going back on Monday and joining with the rest for the Govardhan's festival.Will decide by tomorrow since monday I will be having my russian class.

Upon reaching to 410,sevvanthee and I had our dinner,chit-chatted and here I am now,all satisfied on how blissfuly my deepavali'09 went by/will be ending in 20 minutes time.I enjoyed it very much.My routine rituals on Diwali,having had blessings from Lord Krishna,mum and dad,received sms-es and greetings on diwali--all of you certainly made my Diwali more meaningful.Thank you.

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