Nightmare of a deluded mind

Swimming with the tide 

I boasted about my skills 

Never once did I entertain a thought 

Who is the sailor & who is the trailer? 

Deluded by perception 

Always thinking I was an exception 

Life gives a check when you least expect

Self delusion is underestimated 

Humility is underrated 

If only facts mattered to a delusional mind

Could I have prevented this self-scarring

Contempt for advice is the norm 

When you're riding a storm

A winning mind never bothers to know a what, how, when, where & why

A defeated mind searches for what, how, when, where & why

Shattered dreams & a lost grind

Still thinking am I lost or it's just a nightmare of my deluded mind? 

WE DON'T MATTER, DO WE?

Mercilessly & ruthlessly, with a stroke of a pen, Maharashtra state government orphaned the general category medical students. General category is a misnomer. We can label it as 'unwanted' & 'uninvited' category. We were yet to come to terms with 50% reservations, however, painfully we had internalized that. And all of a sudden, 10% EWS quota & 16% SEBC quota is being shoved down our throats.
To give a perspective to the uninitiated readers, for admission to post-graduate medical courses in maharashtra only 24% seats remain available for open category students. For certain branches like dermatology, literally only 4 seats are available in the entire state of Maharashtra. The hardworking student, howsoever good he maybe is effectively being told not to pursue his dreams. While it may seem exaggeration to few people but as an open category medical student in maharashtra, the only analogy which seems fit is being a 'Jew' in 'Nazi Germany'. The politically influential community in maharashtra extracted its pound of flesh & left us at the mercy of money making ecosystem of private medical colleges.
I believe that doctors for very long have become soft targets. It suits the political class & its narrative to blame the doctor for their own administrative failures. Blaming doctors for lack of supply of medicines is much easier than actually ensuring their supplies in the hospital. It is very convenient to blame the doctor for lack of medical infrastructure than to create the required infrastructure.
Similarly, the fundamental question here is why do we need reservations at post-graduate levels? Reservations is a loaded question with many social, economic & political aspects to it. But common sense suggests that counter injustice cannot be an answer to historical injustice. And what has happened over the years is that reservation is being used as political tool. It's used by the political class like steroids to bail themselves in an upcoming election without thinking about its long-term ramifications.
I've very consistently held an opinion that general category has been politically stifled very effectively. We were more interested in knowing medical science & legitimately so. But I think society now wants us to know legal & electoral science as well. Time has come that we arm ourselves politically & legally so that we can practice our profession at peace & not let others preach what we must do. It's time that we begin to matter.

Dr. Bhaumik J. Kamdar