It was a novel attempt by the students of Madurai Medical College and young doctors posted in the Paediatric ward of Government Rajaji Hospital this weekend. They left their stethoscopes and white coats behind and put on their dancing shoes to convey a social message.
Not just locals, but people from neighbouring districts as well throng Vishal Mall on Sunday evenings. The medicos couldn’t have chosen a better time to entertainingly educate a wide section of people on why mother’s milk is important for a child. The act took the crowd by surprise as all other businesses inside the mall suddenly came to a standstill. The fact that the youngsters were doctors made people pause and watch the 40-odd in the central atrium breaking into a jig.
Not everybody knew what was happening till the wails of a baby blared through the speaker and it was followed by a dialogue on the need to give mother’s milk to the child. As a remix of old Tamil hits featuring mother and child played along, first a small group of students broke into a semi-classical dance. Soon the beats, rhythm, and pace increased and the group of dancers were joined in by more and Bollywood songs took over for pure entertainment.
The idea for the flash mob came from the hospital’s paediatric department and it was conceptualised and choreographed by four dance masters — S Kumar, J Manobala, Muthu and Bala — from the city’s Youforia School. “We took it as a challenge because many of the participants were first time dancers,” says Kumar.
But all it took for the young medicos was just six hours of practice to let go of their inhibitions. A majority of them were third year MBBS students and they were cheered by their juniors, seniors and professors who specially came to join in the fun.
“It was a cool way of doing something good and creating a positive environment,” says Manobala. “While the performers found it liberating, the public found it motivating,” he adds.
