Dissection experience

Though i have many other wonderful topics to update, i prefer to put up this particular one. If there is something that has contributed to my inhumane character, i would say that this experience is surely one of those.

Finally the day had arrived. I was standing outside the zoology lab wit a few other friends who were busy discussing about their new dissection box. Karle was narrating the recent updates on a TV show 'kahin to hoga' to a few enthusiastic listeners which included smiley and sweety. Though KTH was my favorite show (i used to love Ekta Kapoor shows then, mainly this one cause it featured the most hottest guy on the Indian TV , Rajeev Khandelwal, Whose popularity went down when he quit the show), I was not paying any attention to the whole discussion.

I could feel the heat in the air and the smell of formalin was making me dizzy. I was cursing myself. "Why!!!! Why the hell did i choose Zoology over Botony" i told Dipsy. I knew that she was thinking on similar lines, not because I could see the nauseous look on her face, but because i knew that the idea of chopping a rat seemed far ruthless. Dipsy hailed from a brahmin family. but unlike me, she remained a pure veggie. So I also pitied her for what she was about to go through in the next few hours.

I have been friends with Smiley for a long time and I was sure she could handle this experiment with an ease. So my only concern was Dipsy.

Our Zoology lecturer was a handsome young bachelor and most of the girls from our class had a secret crush on him. Ya i know he is smart and handsome, but 'GALS!! He s our lecturer. We are not supposed to hit on him'. My friend Karle, had taken the pleasure to name him Zooby.

I could see all my friends in the White Lab coat. Some were flaunting their coats around like they were damn doctors. 'Grow up people!! the close you can get to a doctor is on your visit to a hospital or if you earn a phd, and thats a looooong way to go'.

So with a smirk on my face i rummaged my lab coat pockets for the chocolate that i had saved for the right time. I always believe that chocolate is an effective remedy for anxiety. So i keep one with me every time. Eat one before every exam. My friends knew that, and so they didn't bother to ask me a piece of the chocolate that i was about to have. I never share chocolates. When i buy one, i see to it that i buy an extra, so that i don't feel a need to share my bar of chocolate with anyone.

After a few bites, i could feel the adrenalin being pumped into my brain. Wow I love chocolates so much. Zooby walked out of the lab and asked us to enter. I had to hasten and gulp the last bite of the chocolate.

I walked towards a table next to the window. Dipsy occupied the seat next to me. The lab was newly built and it looked beautiful. There were pictures of many famous zoologists. Charles darwin, James Albert, Frederic Moore....etc.... I could hear a classmate of mine saying " If it weren't for these ******** life would have been much simpler." His words made no sense at all, but still i turned back and smiled at him and replied "very true".

The lab assistant entered the main lab and placed a piece of wooden plank on the table in front of everyone. Then he placed a Swiss albino mouse (not rat, people mistaken it for rat ) on every single plank.

I turned around to get a glimpse of smiley's face. She looked terrified. We were made to witness a mouse being brutally dissected by Zooby. As we walked back to our seats i secretly wished for some mishap to happen so that our classes get suspended. But nothing happen. I sat there staring at the mouse that laid dead before me. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it. Poor mouse. If it were not for me, it would have been alive today. Somewhere living a happy life. Or i would have kept it as a pet. Tears were rolling down my face. Well, something that i tried to but couldn't control.

I could see the box of mice on the table next to mine. It was for the next batch of students. Only if I could sneak in at night to help them escape. Well!!!! these were the thoughts disturbing me at that very moment.

"I would have allowed you to just take your time, but unfortunately we don't have enough on our hand. So I think you should start the procedure" I heard Zooby say. I could see the concerned look on his face. There were few other students too who were finding it hard to start the procedure.

I took my forceps and scissors and made the incision. I was careful enough not to touch the mouse with my bare hands. I had a cut on my hand. But to my surprise, almost all my classmates were using their hands to touch the organs of the mouse. 'Do they even read the safety manual???' i thought. Oh come on .... you are not supposed to touch the experimental specimen wit the bare hands.

Deep was doing the experiment just like me, only using the forceps and the scissors. My friend Babu who was hitting on Dipsy, showed us his concern by playing pranks using his specimen. But instead of entertaining us, his tricks seemed to make us more nauseous.

We had to display the head, thoracic and abdominal organ of the rat. After i pinned the last display lable, Zooby announced," The dissection is not yet over, you are supposed to display the Urogenital system of the mouse too". I turned around to see the look on Dipsy's face. She was staring blankly at the kidneys of the mouse which she had chopped off just a while back. She was angry that she had to do the whole procedure again on a new mouse.

After about an hour, we finished the experiment and walked out of the lab towards our hostel mess. It was a relief to walk out of the lab and breathe fresh air. We were very hungry but we couldn't eat for the next 2 days. Every single time we tried to eat something, a displeasing image of the disected mouse flashed before our eyes. I thought that was the worst lab experience. But I was wrong. Soon we had to dissect cockroaches, prawns, leeches, and Drosophila larva. That was just the beginning to 3 years of misery.