Thursday, April 4, 2013

"D for Dissection" - "Dreadful" and the "D-day" :)

Today am going to do a post which some of you may not like ! A brief conversation with an intermediate friend (Plus 1+ plus 2 after schooling or 11th ,12th as CBSE(Central Board of Secondary Education) folks may like to call it) gave a  sudden urge to write this post. She posted a pic from intermediate and you know how easy it is to fall deep in to the valley of nostalgia by just a nudge from a friend you know from long! So coming back to the post. I am a Bio student. I did intermediate in Vijayawada(A.P.). My group is Bi.P.C. (Biology Physics Chemistry). Yep I jumped in joy when I had to quit maths but maths did not quit me in later years! All was jolly good as I enjoy Biology. I never "study" it. It just comes to me like that peace which evades a person after a successful nirvana. Biology was that to me.

I shifted gears and changed career but I still can say what Ficus Benghalensis (Banyan tree) is, what does it mean by nuptial flight in case of an ant, termite or a cockroach (OK! we all remember such interesting facts where ever we read ;) ). I actually witnessed a flying cockroach early in the morning and was shocked to know that Biology is something which actually happens! It is the natural science. A god made subject and not created by us. Macaca Radiata is one scientific name I found interesting . It in lay man terms is a monkey. We even created email ids which go like macaca123 , macaca love etc. Every thing about Biology amuses me. Why are leaves green ? How you get the delicious vanilla from its tendrils and how flourishing the business of  selling vanilla is. Those days it was 500/- per kg. The fact that flowers bloom actually due to love surprised me. I mean flower is the actual reproductive structure which helps the pollen grains (similar to sperms) and eggs to meet! Yep. No kidding here. The mechanism is same even in plants. Few differ and generate spores instead of the actual fertilization. Flowers further give rise to fruits and seeds. Anyway before I dive in to a botany / zoology lecture I want to tell you about a dreadful day when my love for Biology scared me to death !

In Intermediate 2nd year we have practicals in which we were supposed to do dissection. I froze when the word "dissection" came out of my Zoology lecturer. I was trying to find ways to escape but hell there was no running away from it. We even had a final exam and hence I had to attend the practicals for practice. We were all jubilant when we were asked to purchase dissection boxes, records and charts! Anything new is good till we actually use it !
We had a similar tool box using which we murdered them :(
Prim and proper I entered the lab in the backyard of the college . To my dismay there was a tank full of chloroform in which few frogs were floating and trying to escape. Few were screeching, croaking or moaning . Few were already unconscious. As I write this I am getting goosies. I was sure they can't jump out of it and jog but I wanted to do the same. That moment I could have given any thing to just escape from that barbarous place!

I was almost pushed in to the lab by few friends where on the cutting board (as if we will cut some veggies and Chicken on it to make a delicious dish :( :( ) earth worms were ready. Not to cut and eat but to dissect and see whats inside. "Why the hell should we see the insides of it :( We already saw in the text book no". I spoke to myself. I turned a pale shade of red as I was actually tensed but the earth worm was finally murdered by me. I  pinned it on the board and sliced it in to two , One longitudinal cut from top to bottom was enough. By God's grace nothing oozed out. It was just mud as earth worm is a simple creature. As we move up the pyramid of life gets complex with complicated creatures and their extravagant food habits ! The more you eat the more trash you can expect inside you and more painful your death will be. Earthworm just embraced the death and it was all mud which came out of it!
Now came the frog's turn. I was almost breathless when frogs were put on our boards. I felt like puking. The whole room had the stench of some fish+sea . I rarely eat fish and the desire totally died that day. Being an amphibian, frog possesses some characteristics of water animals, hence the smell! Luckily I got a male frog. One way to differentiate them by external features is by checking fingers. Male frog's thumbs are thickly padded compared to females. Female frogs are pain as you get heaps of golden brown eggs inside ! You need to separate them to see the organs. Mine was a thin one thankfully. How obesity can make things worse even in such situations *sighhh* ! It was slim but cutting it was painful as it was conscious. I was actually blood red in shade now as I thought of a possibility of frog attacking me. I have very bad frog memories which I will say in some other post. I actually thought some thing like in the below pic may happen !
How it starts 


I really wanted to run for my life!

















It was moving when I pinned it and I tried cutting the skin layer like in the above pic all the while resisting my urge to puke. I was panicky as it moved little more. I immediately nailed all its legs and felt very guilty about it. Once I removed the fat I could see the organs. The lab instructor asked me to cut jugular vein. I was shivering. Jugular vein connects the head and heart if I still remember . It helps in carrying deoxygenated blood to heart. I finally had cut that blue vein after which blood oozed out and even the frog moaned a bit. I realized I had killed it. We then studied several systems - reproductive , digestive , nervous and many more.I shudder even today when I remember that murder ! Its not a joke when I say cockroach dissection scared me more :)
The frog's heart continued beating even after it died and mine was racing. I walked away and stood behind every one as I really couldn't see what all was happening. After a thorough study(god knows what I studied.  I was just counting the seconds) we threw the parts in a plastic disposal bag , cleaned the boards and instruments and walked out. I did not have my lunch that  day and did not have noodles for some days as its intestines resembled them :( It may not be tough to people who cook and eat frogs but to me it was a dreadful experience and call me sensitive but I almost cried that day !

Biology still remains my most favorite subject in spite of all this . Only thing is I will never approach a frog even if it is wearing a crown and even if some one claims it will turn to Ryan Gosling :D 

Happy "D" Day to you all :) I leave you with a frog joke below :D Meet you all soon



This is my 4th post for  "A to Z blogging Challenge 2013" !
Thanks for this amazing challenge where I am knowing me more :)
PS: I don't own the images. All are googled.

36 comments:

  1. Gosh Afshan, you are very brave. :-D

    And thanks for sharing those botany titbits.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @yasmeen : hehe
      Ya I too thot I ws brave. Just think abt docs who dissect humans ;O
      thats the reason i gave a second thot to MBBS :D

      Delete
    2. @journaloframbles: Botany is the study of plants, not animals. It's zoology tidbits. :-)

      Delete
  2. One of the reasons I dropped Biology. Maths was my favourite subject (thankfully no "murders" there). Thanks for sharing your dreadful D day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. U r lucky u loved maths ;)
      thanks for the comment. Biology is still my deep love !

      Delete
  3. Sperms are not found in flowers, Afshan. Its THE POLLEN GRAIN that fertilizes the EGG CELL. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Anjula : Thanks for dropping by. I too know they r pollen grains :P
      I did bipc and biotechnology for 4 years
      Itna to yaad hai
      I "purposely" used sperms. Pollen grain is as good as a sperm of a mammal functionality wise . Any way thanks for comment . keep reading

      Delete
  4. Oh my God this was too descriptive :P And thankfully you don't have the pictures of the frog being dissected ;-) This was one reason I had to make friends with Maths because I knew I cannot do it.

    P.S.
    I know a few friends who puked while dissecting creatures :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hahhaa
      I thought to upload then felt Reham karna acha hai readers pe

      YA yar I almost puked that day. Skipped lunch and was very disturbed !

      Delete
    2. What ???!! You have pictures too ?? Thank god you did not put them up. :-P

      Delete
  5. ur posts really recreates the dread u hv for dissections! But maybe its the love u hv for sub tht made u stick thru it...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh! I loved dissections! We started doing them from class 9 and continued till final year of graduation. So right from frogs, cockroaches, earthworms, some fishes, molluscs, rats... we have done quite a lot!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Meena : Its the love that made me do such horrifying task

      @Shilpa : OMG !! U R one hell of a dissector if the word exists :)
      U sure must hav been comfy cutting them :)

      Delete
  7. Ugh dissection. It scared me off Biology for life :)

    Damyanti @Daily(w)rite
    Co-host, A to Z Challenge 2013

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

    ReplyDelete
  8. This dissection thing is really very.... umm i don't know how to express it but then you have written the post in such a way that the read became enjoyable.

    When i was in class 11th, the dissection f rats/frogs in school got banned. But the boys of my class caught a rat at home and brought it to school for dissection purpose. Due to suffocation, the poor rat died even before it was pinned to the board. then at last our Bio teacher went ahead dissecting the dead rat. :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. they caught a rat at home..>Geezzzzzz the boyzzz :-(

      AM glad u cud atleast enjoy it !!
      BE happy u didnt cut the rat
      Thanks for dropping by Preetilata

      Delete
  9. This brought back a lot of memories of school days! The boys in our class would take the frogs out much before dissection and the chloroform would wear off - so they'd start jumping! Chaos ensued........

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hahhahaha LOL!

      I had the same fear that FROG may jump on me. Their mucous and water eeeks
      I Got rashes once
      That experience in some other post :D

      Delete
  10. Being a biology student I always had one thought in mind. Whether these lecturers will have us cut a human body and this thought was revived when I read your frog story.. I have had similar experience with the frog in my 12th..

    Well keep up the good work of blogging my fellow A to Zer..

    ReplyDelete
  11. woww !Me a commerce student ! Give me a balance sheet any day ! Am too weak hearted for DI-SSECTION

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Precarious : Glad to see ur comment !!
      U r a brave survivor too. Hand shake. Will drop by ur blog.
      Thank U

      @sridevi : :) Hahhaha ...... I was scared of balances and risked my life ;)

      Delete
  12. I found it difficult to read your posts because my eyes kept going back to that pinned frog ! eww eww eww !! I was never the one for Biology and dissection !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ayyyyo !!
      sorry u cudnt read it fully :-/
      Ya dissection was one thing which made me shfit career I suppose :)
      THanks ruchira

      Delete
  13. Biology was always a pain! Our teacher showed us a cow's lungs and how they function by taking some kind of small pipe and bowing it up! My mind had stopped functioning for a while. :|
    Nice post btw! :)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow, how I wish I had taken Biology. Sounds scary and thrilling. May father tells me how he made friends with girls first time in Biology class, he dissected a frog and lo, she became his friend :P

    >How obesity can make things worse even in such situations
    LOL :D
    Anyhow, loved reading this. Though your formerly scary plight is now describe hilariously

    ReplyDelete
  15. Heard stories like these from my friends who studied science. Glad I am an arts student.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Krittika : Oh my God . Cows' lungs ! and blowing in them...... I can sure imagine your condition :(
      HAts off to medicos who even dissect human bodies.


      @Nandana: hehe YA it for sure was thrilling too but the experience haunted for days.haha GOOD WAY For boys to make friends among girls. It ofcourse is a heroic act na. Good thing ur dad did :)

      Thanks for dropping by


      @JANU : U r lucky :) thanks for the comment

      Delete
  16. I am sorry. I cannot say with honesty that I read your whole post. I haven't. Sigh,I opted to take humanities stream in college exactly for this reason. *making good my escape form your page for today*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :) hehhehe
      Like I told Frog may give a friendly handshake ;)!!
      Thanks Shail for thinking to comment

      Delete
  17. I majored in Zoology, Botany and Chemistry, Afshan. I still have my dissection box - exactly like the one in the photo. :D I'll never forget dissecting a rat whose uterus was full of fetuses. Gave me nightmares for days afterwards. (This was in BSc third year). And the jokes - absolutely gross.

    :-) I enjoyed reading this post!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Vidya : Glad U enjoyed !!
      Ya I too have my dissection box but a grey one it was which made it more gloomy :(
      MY GOD RATS uterus .. VIdya i can imagine it :(
      ya and jokes which followed specially cut by boys on which they cud only laugh !:P

      Delete
  18. ha! Now you made me nostalgic, even though I am very happy to have left all those dissections and experiments behind!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I am a Zoology graduate :) have been there, done that. Miss those lab days now, though hated torturing the frogs then. A few boys in my class also used to enjoy making the frogs jump around, like the boys in Corinne's class :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. @Roshni : These days am dwelling in Nostalgia so all these posts. Glad u read and liked

    @Suleka : :) Ek fellow bio stu ko hi samjhme aata hai ye sab !
    ya boys had some weird pleasure in torturing them :(

    ReplyDelete
  21. You did frogs? I did rats. And I was good at drawing so I made the diagrams for the whole class too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Eeeeekkkss...I still remember how we 'Maths grp student' used to mock the Bio grp about the dissection and heard that one girls fainted and another threw up while dissection of white mouse took place :)

    ReplyDelete

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