The tagline – “A Quality Medical Research Conference organized by the undergraduates of the Armed Forces Medical College. And this year, yes, it’s bigger and better.” Truly folks, you have lived up this remark of making this year’s conference bigger and better to every cornerstone.
Before the trip: It was the dusk time of a Saturday, 16th august, after the 4 ‘o’ clock Radiology lecture marking the start of a weekend awaited by every tired soul. The endless gossip and bitching had just started in the group on our way back to the hostel when the topic about our shattered plans to AFMC took the limelight. Convincing ourselves once again and thinking about the upcoming PSM posting, we chucked that topic only to be re-ignited once again on realizing that Illuminati might be possible as the exam was scheduled on 13th itself.
Thanks to the little ‘tech-idiot boxes’ aka cell phones, and the warm hospitality of the organizing committee, within no time, the idea was confirmed and transformed into a trip. The whole PSM posting went on with less PSM and more of AFMC plans and not to speak of the end-posting on 13th, which completely was a euphoric rush to leave for Pune. 😀
Day 1: marked the beginning of Illuminati with hands-on different workshops which were ‘Medical Writing’, ‘Basic Life Support’, ‘Essential Obstetrics’ and ‘X-Ray Basics’. No doubt all of them would have been expendable. The cab halted in front of the ‘AFMC Cadets Boys hostel’ in the dark hours of 10pm on 13th leaving us stranded on the gates. My confused soul was then directed to the registration centre where the organizing members were on their heads over heels in attending the delegates arrived from all corners of the country and providing them accommodation. Even though they had to attend to a lot of delegates at the same time, their cordial reception to each one was respectable and to be honest, that’s what impressed me at the first sight. Even the long walk from the main block to my accommodation hostel was continually greeted by their congeniality.
Day 2: was the presentation day – various case and paper presentation slots were already updated on the android app. My paper presentation was well appreciated by the judges and instilled a tinge of happiness and relief in me. Also there were symposium and debate prelims and finals that was in itself an experience to cherish. The lunch was followed by the guest lectures by the eminent speakers like Dr. V M Katoch from ICMR, Dr. Harsha Gowda from IOB and Cardiologist Dr. Biswajit Kar from Texas. I am falling short of words to describe that noon-time. The day marked its end by the delicious Banquet Dinner and the DJ party, Socials that revitalized every medico’s psyche.
Day 3: It was a golden day because none other than the ‘Missile Man of India’- Dr, APJ Abdul Kalam was the chief guest. The well-organized and systematic process of all the arrangements before the arrival was remarkable. Even though I had already attended his function just a few months ago when he arrived at Mangalore, this time too, the feeling of meeting him was in no way less than the last time. To all the future ‘would-be-doctors’ present there, he instilled a mind-boggling question in our minds by those words, “What will I be remembered for?” and once again, proved the mettle of his dynamic and inspiring personality. Every spirit in the Dhanvantri auditorium heeded to his every action onstage as if their mere lives depended on it. Yes, he has that effect on youngsters even today. The tea-break time was then followed by research paper finals that were flabbergasting in one word. The lunch-time followed by the finals of debate and quiz went on smoothly with keen audience enjoying every moment of it. Ultimately, the final moments of the conference ended with the prize distribution and valedictory function leaving us with a delirious feeling of the amazing time that we all had.
After-conference: Coming back to our daily routine now, I still have that nostalgic feeling of roaming around in the awesome AFMC campus and chilling out with the new friends that I made there. Reading the first issue of their ‘Impulse’ magazine, I couldn’t resist myself from longing for its next issue. Illuminati-14, you are etched in my memory forever. In the end, all that is left is the euphoria and thrill of living my once dream. Overall, it was one hell of an educative and fun-filled event.
Kudos to the organizing committee and all AFMC-ites who made this conference a grand success. All the best guys for the upcoming years and keep making it bigger and better each year.
Send in your views, comments at [email protected] or [email protected].
Keep Blogging.
Be the first to comment