My 2017:Achievements and failures

"Do you ever wonder if we make moments in life or moments in life make us?" I read this somewhere in the internet.The question intrigued me, how many moments there must have been that I made? Or vaguely speaking ,the moments that made me? How many moments of achievement and how many moments of failure must have been this year as we are almost to the climax of 2017.

To be very honest, I was a little down hearted at first as I could not think of any, neither achievements nor failures. Being a medical student,most of my time is consumed by books and studying and exams and hospital duties so was there anything more that I could call a success other than surviving medical school and passing tests? Thanks to the social medias ,we have developed the habit of taking pictures everywhere we go. So I went through them taken this year and without even realizing I felt contented and proud of everything I did. Every picture reminded me that my biggest achievement this year were my stories I had collected from different parts of Rural Nepal.

1.Where do you find your peace?
We live in the time where we take "the world is at my fingertips " too seriously or so says the gadgets we cant take our eyes off but when I reached to this certain village of rural Nepal, Terathum,I found myself in a different world. Forget the gadgets,forget the telephone and the TV's ,there was not even electricity. They were still in the era where they chopped woods to cook meal,grazed cattles all day and walked miles to buy their basic needs but what amazed me more, was people living there,how happy they looked and how positive they were towards life.I still remember the elderly couple, who sheltered me ,saying "You must be thinking life is very difficult here but when is life easy? You have problems of your own , we have our own but atleast we are at peace , are you?"

Guphapokhari,Terathum,Nepal

2.Time to lend a hand to life
This year , we were taken to a small village in eastern Nepal for a community health development program by our hospital where we had to evaluate the health status of the people living there and aware them about necessary factors regarding health . Listening to their issues as they put faith upon us and trying to solve their problems is the best part of coming into medical field.

2.First things First
They say you never forget your firsts, be it first love or be it your first patient. This year on the very first day on my clinical posting in surgical ward where, I met this patient, Mr RamBilas Mukhiya; he had developed some complications after surgery and he had no one by his side.He shared his griefs to me as I was taking his history , It touched my heart how he was dealing everything alone so everyday I used to go upto him to ask his condition and everyday he complained how he hated hospital smell and wants to go home. After 24 day when he was finally leaving, I went to see him and I could literally feel the phrase 'happiness knew no bound' in him. To see a person smile, recovering from pain is actually the most satisfying scenario I have ever witnessed. As he bid his goodbyes, he vowed to remain healthy and never be admitted to a hospital ever again. I do hope he gets this wish.

3.The Flood Saga
Heavy monsoon rainfall during August triggered severe flash flood in Nepal. The southern Terai plains were critically affected where several lives were taken , houses were damaged and villages were ruined.Rather than counting it as an achievement, I would term myself lucky enough to be able to participate in a flood relief camp organized by the doctors of my hospital and help a few victims to some extent. We distributed some food and clothes and set up a medical camp to solve their health issue and provided with medicines.
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4.A different kind of fairytale
I was in front seat ,looking at the sparkling rivers and moutains when i see a bunch of kids running behind the car screaming. A little scared, I asked my driver what was that all about? He casually replied "they are just happy to see a car,they dont see vehicles that often in villages" I was at loss of words how we live in the same world and yet nothing seems the same.This thing repeated over and over again as we travelled . Children were waving at us like we do to our best friends,they used to come near us and stare at our cameras,they had never seen one. I asked a staring kid "what do you want to become when you grow up? " He pointed at my camera and said "I wanna buy that".

5.Beauty of the untouched
"Paradise is not a place ,it is a feeling" Whoever said it is correct.Travelling to Rara Taal ,the biggest and deepest fresh water lake in Nepal was the most adventurous and difficult yet most amazing thing I've experienced this year.Situated inside Rara National Park it is often described as the blue jewel set in ring of snowy peaks. Words will be less to say ,how it felt to be lost gazing at the ,magnificient lake beneath the wild sky totally consumed by wanderlust. But why is this so much of an achievement? Well, the route to reach Rara is not an easy road and you have to face a lot of obstacles to and since it has not been so tourist friendly attraction ,it makes it more difficult .

Rara Taal,Mugu,Nepal

Landslide blocking the road

Road to Rara

My 2017 has been oddly satisfying ,however , I've also had some Failure moments.
1.As every kid trying to be a doctor would say, I ve not been able to devote as much in studies as I should and I've failed to stick to my time table.
2.I failed my 2017 resolution to keep my body fit when I gave up the physical exercise very early this year.

At last I would like to thank @anomadsoul for such an inspiring contest and giving a great opportunity to go back in time and see what you've done in a year and what you could not.