In 2020, I joined the department of community medicine and public health at King George’s Medical University. It surely was an extraordinary year for the whole world and more so for me as I geared up to venture into my dream branch and make some excellent contributions to the upliftment of humanity. However, I forgot a wise sailor puts a solid anchor to tackle the force of the winds and waves and drags on quietly until the storm subsides. This department has given me the opportunity to design one for myself.
The founder, visionary, and first head of the department of preventive and social medicine, as it was known in 1958, has created a place of learning and excellence. It is a joy to have read his publications. In one of those, he began the write-up with important words:
He deemed it essential, it would seem, to know the man, before attempting to do him good.Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
These words are an insight into the mission and legacy of the department.
In 2 years and 6 months, I have undergone a mental metamorphosis without being consciously aware of it. When I reflect on these words, I realize the impact of all those small journeys within the bigger ones. The departmental setup, the ten adopted villages, and the close mentoring of my chief supervisor have given me a chance to explore the grassroots levels manifesting out of a textbook. The curriculum so designed and executed acted as a holistic chisel, carving out knowledge, skill, and empathy.
Proximity to village life through multiple outreach activities have opened my mind to what I theoretically wanted to work for. The expectation and the observation can run their own parallel courses and I have discovered, it is a beautiful dance of line charts and all possible associations. I also discovered my love for data and visuals and the joy of taking plunges into academic literature.
Overall, being a Georgian is a vibe, you can never truly understand its stretch in one glance. At times, I am still surprised by the wide scope of exploration. Each professor, being a humble warrior joyfully fighting the disease and infirmity in his unique way while the students blossom into manifestations of their wildest dreams.
The journey has humbled me and shaped me with the opportunities to meet role models, mentors, and companions radiating warmth and knowledge, and the word ‘guru’ unfolding its meaning petal by petal. I have been an observer and a participant, fathoming the technicalities of program implementations, finding meaning in the chaos, and rediscovering how the world works. It is within this multilayered atmosphere; I have found my ‘Ikigai’.