In the silence of midnight
When most in the World slumber,
He strides with purpose
Saving both kings and paupers;
On the opposite wing
Relief floods an OT,
She just saved (an expectant) father from cancer
With a craniectomy that stretched for hours;
And while those in rounds sanitize their hands
ER surgeons scrub for marathons unplanned,
A flatlined ECG sparks a riot;
The victim? A young intern who battled COVID, the nation’s Goliath:
Facing all this takes a different level of grit, mettle, and calibre
Which most will never understand,
The journey the white capes take to be deemed worthy
Is something most will never comprehend;
Entire adolescence, you bore hopes and burdens
Of parents, family, and friends on your young shoulders,
Some never asked what YOU wanted
Fortunately, you wanted to be a doctor;
Through countless chilly nights, you studied
And fought through the bane of negative markings,
Through pages of Trueman, you perused
Only to realize NCERT should have been your thing;
And yet, amidst the chaos of boards and coaching,
Despite setbacks, judgments and infinite foreboding,
You trudged, you scribbled, and ultimately conquered!
Only to find out the uphill climb had only begun;
Most will never understand, what it takes—
To stand for hours during culture identification,
To identify nerves in a cadaver,
To classify cephalosporins,
Or how difficult it is to survive community medicine;
Still, you steeled forward — and remained unbroken
Making comrades and memories, which never can be forgotten;
Your conviction was tested time and time again
And some even tried to stain the profession;
You get notifications of lynchings every now and then,
Like the one in Assam, or those closer to home;
Then there are foxes too that mock your profession
Because they never could reach the grapes like you,
They spew poison and try futilely to belittle you
But deep down they know, they never can do what you do!
Because of a few like you,
Million get calls from "Mom" & "Dad",
you give others a new lease on life, and clear the road ahead;
So never mind the struggles you face,
Stride forward you heroes in white;
Hold those Stethoscopes with pride
And keep giving the world the joy of life.