The Blog – The perils, panacea and prognosis

 

The Blog – The perils, panacea and prognosis

Nihal D Amarasekera

 “We are all now connected by the Internet, like neurons in a giant brain”.  Stephen Hawking

The internet is one of the finest inventions of the 20^th century. It has the ability to connect with every home in every continent. With such great power and potential there is a need for security and safeguards too. The United Nations say: “The Internet should be governed on the principles of human liberty, equality and fraternity,” wisdom derived from the national motto of France.

Ours is a unique batch of medical students for its academic brilliance, tribal unity and bohemian lifestyle. After those glorious years in the Faculty, we needed a vehicle to keep us together and we found an ideal place on the internet. The blog has been riding the ether for just a decade with great success. It has always been a place to meet and greet and exchange views without fear or favour. As it is said ‘facts are sacred but comment is free’ and that has been our mantra. The only taboo is politics. The blog has remained a close community and a social gathering online. This has become our ‘Pub with no beer’. 

The Blog is a forum of friendship and it brings to the surface the loyalty and the camaraderie that existed all through the days in the faculty. The chats that go on as comments, sometimes endlessly, reminds me of the animated discussion we had walking the long corridors of the GHC with the stethoscope around our necks, joyfully swinging our knee hammers. All are welcome to join us and I’m certain it will give you that intuitive experience of "déjà Vu". 

Once a year in the in the month of May we celebrate the lives of those who joined our batch in 1962 and have now departed this world. The Poems, songs and articles that appear on the Blog are specially written for the occasion and are a poignant reminder of the friends we have lost and the many good times we have enjoyed. 

Lucky Abey did the initial groundwork and started the blog way back in time. Maintaining the blog is great fun but I’m sure it has its moments. This can be an onerous task and a stressful one too. Both Lucky and Mahendra have given their precious time to keep it alive. There is no advertisement revenue and there is no money to be made. They give us their time free. We thank them for their support and their friendly management style and admire their commitment to the cause. 

The blog is a Godsend in this time of Covid when Reunions are relegated to a distant dream. For me personally, the blog has been wonderful to communicate my thoughts. It has been a tremendous help to keep in touch with friends. The comments are by their very nature a forum for a chat and much of that goes on when friendships are reconnected, memories are recalled and views are expressed. 

The Blog has been laid out for easy access and it is well managed for our batch friends to contribute and comment. The Blog Managers can take the horse to water but they can’t make it drink. It is a sad fact that the regulars who contribute to the blog are few. Their numbers can be counted on the fingers of two hands. There are the ‘silent guests’ who fly in and out of the blog without leaving a trace. The ‘silent majority’ never visit the blog.  This is their personal choice which we respect.  Whenever there has been an effort to drum up support for the blog there are many who promise fervently but those promises fall by the wayside only to be lost in the rough and tumble of life. It is most heartening to hear people say “Blog is a nice idea” or “do keep it going” but it needs your active support. The ancient Biblical proverb “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” says it all.  We all realise and eminently aware life does get complicated at times. The profession, health and family must take precedence. Then the blog can be the last thing on our minds. We do understand your inability or reluctance to join. We send you our best wishes. If there are any batch-mates who wish the blog to continue and are free to join I would urge you please to contribute or at least make comments. Show us your presence in the blog and that you care. 

Like most digital tools and devices the Blog has its inherent problems. The inability to use Safari to make comments on an iPad is a great drawback. But this is not an insurmountable problem. Lack of technical skills should not be a hindrance in the 21^st Century. For those who have technical problems accessing or using the Blog help is at hand. Mahendra is a fine teacher, a friend and confidant to all. He will guide you through the various stages and sort out any specific issues. One can also send any comments to Mahendra by email which he will publish on your behalf. 

With the passage of time, the numbers of regulars have dwindled. We all miss the late and great Razaque Ahamat. With all his pranks and foibles he entertained us on the blog with his special brand of cheeky impish humour. He lived in Scotland. I remember once, perhaps I overstepped the mark and asked him why he lives so close to the North Pole and if he uses a snowmobile to get around. When I phoned him to apologise I was so pleased he had taken it as a joke and we were able to have a laugh together just like in our youth. Even now as I peruse the blog I see him in my mind's eye wagging his finger and sporting that mischievous smile. 

There are times when the contributions to the blog receive very little response. This is understandably disheartening to the authors who have toiled for days or weeks to perfect their pieces. It is true some of you may not like what you read but it has been done with the best of intentions by our very own. The contributions and comments are drying up and there is now a sense of foreboding.  Are we witnessing the last gasps of a dying Blog? I am pleased Mahendra has done a survey, I hasten to add Not a witch-hunt, to decide on a way forward for the blog. Now, the people have spoken. Long live personal choice. It seems like we will let nature take its dignified course!! 

Those in our batch who do not visit the Blog will not be reading this. I do wish the rest will pass on the message to join us and to be in touch in these our final laps of our journey. We have the amazing ability to reach the blog from the comfort of our own homes with a few clicks of the rodent. 

The Blog is a repository of batch memorabilia. If anyone wishes go down memory lane I would urge you to read the prose and the poetry in the blog from its very beginning. It is indeed a tremendous collection worthy of preserving for posterity. The whole blog is an archive of the history of our batch from the rag at Registration right up to the endless turmoil of the Finals and everything else in between. The colourful descriptions of the Men’s Common Room and it’s raucous parties, the elegant dances at King George’s Hall and the unforgettable final year trip are memories to behold. There are also stories of the busy internships and how life panned out for us in the wider world. There are fine tributes to our departed colleagues and also to our professors and clinical tutors. This indeed is a part of the history of the Faculty of Medicine in Colombo and I wonder if they care to get a copy for their archives. 

We all hope the blog will survive the long silences and the ravages of time. So far the blog has served us well. The onus is on each and every one of us to decide. Nothing is forever. There will come a time when the person managing the website will have no other choice but to pull the plug on the blog and end it all. What comes to mind is that famous quote from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar when Marcus Brutus drove the knife into Caesar “Et tu Brute”