Prelude to Dreams (2) – by Dr. Dinesh Verma (from his upcoming book – From Dreams to Genes)

Continued from Prelude to Dreams…..2

That hot summer day of 1968 changed the course of my life and I devoted the next 5 years of my life to studying very hard, burning the midnight oil, and not taking part in any extracurricular activities, or sports except my private passion for art, to get admission into a Medical School. There was also an added complication. The Medical school had to be in Delhi as my father could not afford to pay for a hostel from day one. All Delhi schools were top-notch with very stiff competition.

It was a very tough but rewarding journey. Despite doing very well in all my exams in high school, I was not allowed to take the higher secondary examination and stay in the eleventh class for another year. The reason? An archaic rule in the Central Board of Secondary Education about the minimum age to sit the school exit exam!! I was, on average, eighteen months younger than my fellow students in the class. So, I had to wait another year to take the Higher Secondary exam with the students one year behind me. As it turned out it was a blessing in disguise. In 1968, just before I took up biology with other Science subjects Physics, Chemistry and maths, Delhi’s new Government formed by the right-wing Nationalist party Jan Sangh, decided that all the books would now be in Hindi and children in Government schools would have to study even science subjects in Hindi. It was such a short-sighted decision. Students who studied all Hindi medium science books in the Premedical year had to then take an entrance exam in English as the higher-level books were only in English and the medium for medical studies was also English. They failed miserably. Since I had the good fortune of having one extra year waiting to be old enough to take the exam, I decided to study all three years’ curriculum again in English. I honed my skills in spoken English, having spoken a full sentence in English at the age of fourteen in my Physics exam!! It worked. I got through all the hoops and won a Merit Scholarship to study at one of the top medical schools in India. It sounded like my father’s dream was finally becoming a reality.

But no. The Ministry of Education & Minister of Health had differing views about my getting admission into medical school at my tender age! I was still six months younger than the requirements of the Health Ministry even though the Education Ministry had allowed me to take all the entrance exams which I had passed! My father was furious when I told him about this. He could not believe that a bright student was being stopped again in his tracks despite the academic accomplishments that he had demonstrated. He decided to confront the Health Minister. He waited for days outside the Minister’s office as he could not make an official appointment to see him. One day, after waiting for three hours, he saw the man, wearing a “Nehru” cap and dhoti kurta, leave his office. My father ran after him and shouted “Why are you destroying a bright student’s life?” As the Minister’s staff were trying to push my father away, the Minister turned around and indicated to let my father come and speak to him. My father explained what was happening to me because of my age and showed him my school and pre-medical results. Minister hesitated for a while but then took a pen out of his jacket and signed the application approving my admission into Maulana Azad Medical College. My father returned home triumphantly holding the signed approval and waving it in sheer delight. My mother was in tears. Their son will become a medical doctor.

The experience begins here. I have never resented my father for not letting me pursue my dream of being an architect because Medicine has taken me to places, I never thought I could go to or live in. It has given me luxuries that were beyond my wildest dreams, and tremendous respect among my peers, family and friends that very few aspire to and fewer still achieve. I am eternally grateful to my father. Having said that, the medical journey has been nothing less than a roller coaster ride, to use an often-misused metaphor. This book compiles my joys & sorrows of practising the Western system of medicine. My ecstatic forays into the world of technological advances and my bitter disappointments with the money-driven, selfish world of Big Pharma and medical device industries in the US & UK. My consistent, repeated observations on the power of mind over our body, defied the traditional scientific principles that we were taught in medical school. I have enumerated several documented instances from the scientific literature that I extensively studied on the subject of self-healing. My stumbling upon the techniques to enhance the power of belief to heal the human body form an integral part of this book. I have told very personal, true stories of my patients, friends and close relatives who triumphed over devastating illnesses using the amazing power of Self Cure. During my journey, I have tried to feel the pain and suffering of those who could not fight the battles so that I can learn and make my readers shift their Consciousness to realise a paradigm shift in our understanding of the human body and enhance our own self-healing powers.