theindianmedicalundergrad

[theindianmedicalundergrad]

On the Significance of Rarity

The white coat is a uniform, it brings about uniformity in doctors. But, it also helps differentiate doctors from the general population.

It's not just doctors that wear a white coat either.

When a see the swath of white, of which I am a part, I can't help but feel underwhelmed.

This was to be special, people couldn't just put on a white coat and strut around like it meant nothing, or could they?

It doesn't matter that everyone looks smart when a whole room full of 150 students wear white coats. They all look equally smart, and thus not significant.

But in a hospital, where there are lakhs of patients, and at best, hundreds of doctors, white coats stand out.

Maybe someday I'll finally figure out that white coats, like the army fatigues, like firefighter uniforms and not unlike school uniforms, are just there to help people recognise who they're dealing with.

The White Coat. An entirely human creation that signifies someone who deals with one of the few things that humans have not created.

[theindianmedicalundergrad]

I feel like a Fraud.

That's my first thought upon seeing my reflection in the bespeckled mirror the first day of Medical College.

I wear a white coat, without taking the Oath. It's so long, it falls below my knees. I am swallowed by it. I look too young to be a doctor, which, of course I'm not. Only others will assume I am, and I don't think I deserve that respect yet. Someday, I want to deserve it. I want to work towards it, and I want to earn that respect.

But that thought contradicts with the fact that everyone deserves respect. Cognitive dissonance is not the way I want to begin this momentous day.

So I start over.

I look in the mirror. I see a young girl, wearing a white coat that reaches her knees. She'll grow into it. Not physically, that's unlikely.

But she will grow, and that growth will be well deserved.