The Tag Team

 26Oct
Return to ASCI after an extended holiday for Dusshehra, for the final phase of our course. ARMASCI extends a wishes for a very Happy Dusshera to all the Staff and students at ASCI. The day started of with the information that classes  would be on environment and Hospital management. For some inexplicable reason, today, most of us were late for class, I had of course to go for a dental check up - which was quite inevitable. When I entered the class there was an animated discussion on about improving the productivity of agriculture. Various theoretical methods were discussed. And the final conclusion was that the government apathy was the main culprit in the improvement of food productivity. Also discussed were the Tiger Population, global warming, water scarcity, deforestation and carbon footprint. Since I had missed the beginning of the class the name of our instructor was missed - for which I am deeply sorry. Suffice it to say that our interaction was fruitful and the Professor was an expert in his field . He dealt all our questions and queries with aplomb and ease of a man who knew his subject well. Our tea was greeted with the spectacle of the pigeons roosting on the solar panel. It underlined the fact that birds are adaptable and lack of trees made them use the solar panel as their nest.

Dr Balbir

People in ASCI are still recovering from the hangover of a long break. Lunch was good but the number of people in the dining hall was very less. We were more or less resigned to another extended class on Health Management after lunch. What we were not prepared for was an extended but interesting class on Health Administration. Dr Balbir's father served in the air force. This straightaway helped us establish a rapport with him. He is from Bhopal and has an insatiable appetite for acquiring knowledge with regard to his subject. So much so that he holds more than 24 Certificates and diplomas, both national and international. What is heartening is that he is also a firm believer in putting into practice his teachings and has been , at various stages associated with various State Governments and UNICEF etc.
But like all instructors who  come to our class, one could picture him take a deep breath before the entering. This is where the class differed from all other classes we have had till date. Alongwith Dr Balbir one other person entered the class. This bespectacled person was Col Zakir Hussain. At some point in time Col Hussain was the student of Dr Balbir and they had developed an enduring friendship.

Col Zakir Hussain

Later in life when we meet the rest of the Instructors in ASCI we hope that they will also remember us as friends. .... Col Hussain is from kerala . His father owns a hospital and one day when he is back in the family fold he hopes to put into practice what Dr Balbir has taught him. Col Hussain is a quiet an unassuming person and he was here with a purpose. That purpose was to summarise his learning of two years of health administration into a class of two sessions.
And then started the most unusual class that we had at ASCI to date. The class was almost like a tag team or a relay race. The class was started by Dr Balbir, taken up By Hussain, resumed by Dr Balbir and then by Hussain. It almost felt like we were transported back in time, listening to a Hockey Match Commentary on the Radio.... Some questions were answered by Dr Balbir and some by Hussain and soon they were completing each others' sentences. Views and counter views were expressed and finally the conclusion reached to by both the people educating us was the same. Practical experience and theoretical courses to be done by us for standing a better chance of getting a job in the hospital industry were told to us by both the instructors of the day. Naturally Dr Balbir expressed his thankfulness to Hussain by presenting a memento from ASCI to Col Hussain. The amount of information given to us left us breathless but was tremendous and very useful. We thank Hussain for having taken time to share his experiences with us. After that was tea and the familiar group photograph. All in all an unusual class with two instructors but with value added learning...

Presentation Of Memento

Group Photograph at Tea