Anuradha Venkat
Change is the nature of life but challenge is the future of life. So, challenge the changes – Amitabh Bachchan.
This quote truly encapsulates the essence of my journey into physical therapy. I attribute my choice to take up physiotherapy to my aunt, a physiotherapist, who inspired me and played a pivotal role in molding my career. For as long as I can remember I’ve known that I wanted to pursue science and it has always been my passion, Physical therapy in particular fascinated me immensely. Dedicating my life to improving the lives of others was appealing to me.
Having completed my schooling in Lagos a beautiful city in the country of Nigeria, moving to India to do my Bachelors in Physical Therapy was a completely new experience altogether. These included feelings of anxiety, as well as a desire to explore new cultures, people and looking forward to exciting experiences. I got enrolled at KJ Somaiya and still recall my first interview with the then principal Dr. Veena Krishnaanand. She had asked me a simple question, “Are you sure you want to take physical therapy?” Perhaps at that time I might have been only 90% sure about my choice of field, but today I am 100% certain. My journey in KJ Somaiya has been a mixture of experiences from discovering my strengths to working upon my weaknesses, making new friends, learning new languages, exploring the city, and wading through the pressure of examinations thanks to the support of the academic and non-academic faculty. Exposure to patients and clinics since the first year was the best aspect of the course design as it helped me develop different soft skills.
Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts- Winston Churchill
It seemed appropriate to support my next leap career wise with a post professional Doctor of Physical Therapy degree as it would provide a unique context for exploring the limits of my education. The process of applying to a university abroad took a lot of efforts and patience with the documentation work, the SOPs, student loans, visa application and the interview process. However, with continuous support from my family and perseverance, I got admission in Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.
The skills acquired over the four and a half years of my bachelor’s degree and outpatient work experience during my internship helped ease my transition into the education system of the United States. The physical therapy practice ethical guidelines are different in US and a lot of emphasis is given to documentation, evidence-based practice, the insurance process, utilization of time management skills and being an expert at differential diagnosis. Living in US involved independent thinking and self-development – studies, assignment submissions, deadlines, managing finances, cooking, working part time jobs to sustain monthly expenses, studying for Licensure exam and finally adjusting to extreme weather conditions. Amidst all this, last year, we were faced by the challenges, fear and uncertainty that COVID – 19 caused. The experience of living alone during lockdown period without immediate family support was unlike any I’ve had so far.
I believe every student that wants to pursue further education abroad should go for it and not be held back with ethnocentrism, it’s a great way to expand your horizons, and gain a much better appreciation for what the world has to offer. In India, we are used to being in a well-structured cocoon that our teachers, parents, and the community build around us. Stepping out of the comfort zone to explore the world outside may seem scary but eventually helps broaden our thinking and polish our personalities. My advice to every aspiring Physical Therapist who wish to continue their education in India or any part of the world is in line with Roy T Bennet’s quote – Don’t be pushed by the fears in your mind, be led by the dreams in your heart.
Best Wishes
Mriga Bhatia
I am excited to be given an opportunity to share my experience as an alumnus of K.J. Somaiya college as it has played a pivotal role in my career as a Physiotherapist.
I always wanted to get into a Medical profession due to my keen interest in Human anatomy and Physiology which led to my research of Physiotherapy. I was immediately drawn to this profession due to the wide scope of practice it offers and felt that K.J. Somaiya college would be the right fit for me due to its reputation of being one of the best Physiotherapy Colleges in Mumbai.
As a practicing Physiotherapist for 5 years, I have realized that the level of education that I received here, helped set a strong foundation to develop my future proficiencies. The clinical training that I received from our teachers helped me develop confidence to begin my career. I developed keen interest in neuro and pediatrics, credit to exposure to the diverse patient population.
While I believe that my education in India helped me be at par with Physiotherapists from around the world; I also think that the Education system in the United States was essential to introduce me to the constantly evolving research and progress in the field. Evidence based practice is given a huge emphasis here whether it is in terms of diagnosis or treatment. I was taught how to co-relate and apply concepts that I studied to real life clients and received better results.
Most of my career I have worked in the United states in varied settings such as skilled nursing facility, acute rehab, outpatient rehab and believe that the opportunities to grow here are endless. I have been able to expand my skill set in treating patients with neurological conditions and also developed a passion for Vestibular Rehabilitation here which is an upcoming field worldwide and has tremendous potential for growth in the field of Physiotherapy.
All in all, I believe that my education in India and United States has helped me become a well-rounded Physiotherapist with good theoretical and clinical skills. There is infinite scope for growth in whichever direction one chooses to go.
Mriga Bhatia, PT, MS
Vestibular Certified
LSVT Big certified
Rajisha Shah
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. You have to trust that they will somehow connect in your future.”- Steve Jobs.
As a true manifestation of the above quote, I believe that both my academic and professional background helped me realize my competencies and direct me towards pursuing private- practise in the healthcare industry. Pursuing my undergraduate degree in Bachelor of Physiotherapy (BPT) equipped me with sound clinical expertise in the field of physical therapy from one of the most reputed hospitals/colleges in India- KJ Somaiya. My interactions with physiotherapy faculty at the college, other healthcare professionals, their viewpoints and career trajectory motivated me to have a self-practice down the line.
Volunteering for charitable organizations was a part of the course and they, too, helped me get an idea of the backend work that goes on in the public health department. I loved being a part of this revered institution. It truly helped me develop my passion of quality healthcare and being able to serve the society.
Physiotherapy, being a dynamic field has a huge scope, which is not only limited to clinical setting but also academics and managerial roles in the healthcare industry. I hope for the future batches to make the most of all the resources bestowed upon by our Alma Mater and realise their professional goals. With the advancement in science and technological innovations there is a need for efficient healthcare professionals. I am fully confident that our institution fosters such leaders which will create global impact.
Dr. Rajisha Shah (PT) Batch of 2015.
Tejashree Limaye
Hello, I am Tejashree Limaye. I am a licensed physiotherapist in the USA. I have a Masters degree in musculoskeletal physiotherapy. I completed my Bachelor’s and Masters from Somaiya.
I always knew I wanted a career in a medical field. When I was in 12th standard, my grandmother underwent total knee replacement. I saw her receiving physiotherapy post surgery. I was astonished to see her progressing and getting back to her daily life so quickly. That was when I decided to be a physiotherapist. During my Bachelor’s I learned the fundamentals of physiotherapy which are still useful today. I think clinical postings played a key role in developing my professional skills and made me a better clinician. During my masters I learned the advanced knowledge in the field. I started harnessing evidence based practice in my clinicals and that made a huge difference in patient outcomes. I also explored teaching, and absolutely loved it. I truly evolved in the three years of masters to become a better physiotherapist. I am forever grateful to my teachers for bringing out the best in me. Completing my masters definitely needed more focus, discipline than ever before.
I was blessed with some of the wonderful friends in my UG. There were many moments of total madness that we still laugh at. My UG posting partners are still very close to me. We continue to share ups and downs of life even after so many years. I was fortunate to be a part of a fantastic batch when I was doing my masters. We enjoyed everything together, potlucks, night outs, group trips and of course Antarang!
I moved to the USA and gave a License exam which only around 35% of the foreign trained physiotherapists pass in their first attempt. My journey in Somaiya had made me well equipped to pass the exam in my first attempt. Ever since then I have been working as a physical therapist in an outpatient orthopedic physical therapy clinic. I love helping people to get back to their daily activities without the pain.
Looking back at my journey so far, I think my college days were some of the best days of my life. That is the beauty of college life, it has a lot of wonderful moments in it and you can’t help but miss it years later!
Sahil Sachdev
We all shall agree that :
‘MEDICINE ADDS DAYS TO LIFE but PHYSIOTHERAPY ADDS LIFE TO THOSE DAYS.’
I was introduced to the miracles of Physiotherapy at 13 when I was Captaining my side playing for the Giles Shield and 2 of my team-mates suffered sprain and spasm. The Physiotherapist treated them and brought them back in action within 3 days for Semi-finals. The incident had an everlasting impact of curiosity on me. The aches and injuries during various tournaments that I played, increased my interaction with the Physiotherapists. I guess my mind had accepted the noble profession of Physiotherapy much before ,I actually took the decision.
Mind was set to pursue Physiotherapy and soon , here I was at my Second home- K.J.Somaiya College of Physiotherapy on 30th October 2015. The discipline at college and attention from each and every teacher made us more and more learned and confident with every passing year. Our dear and respected professors would not just teach us but develop curiosity within us to dig our knowledge deeper. Our college was not just molding us into efficient and capable future Physiotherapist alone. In fact they were shaping us for our overall development, balancing our academics with extra- curricular activities.I along with my posting partners were nick named as the Golden Trio in college. I personally participated and won in Dance shows, Fashion shows, Outdoor sport tournaments (Football and Cricket), debates and loads of competitions apart from the annual college event ANTARANG and Somaiya Premier League etc .which are just a few events from the list to name. Maintaining good grades and excellent extra curricular records helped me in being nominated for and winning the Annual most prestiguous – Shri K.J.Somaiya Award for Outstanding Boy Student Health Sciences, at Somaiya Vidyavihar Awards-2018.. Earlier I had won The Emerging Player Award- 2017, as Cricketer. I could participate in many extra- curricular activities along with my studies because of the permission granted by our ever smiling Principal ma’am. I also got the opportunity to organize the grand successful – first ever Girl’s Tournament of cricket-HOWZATT as a part of college fest -ANTARANG in the capacity of Sports Secretary-2018/19. I have coached our girls team for GSPL and they too won laurels for 3 consecutive years. I am grateful to each and everyone from teaching and non-teaching staff for grooming me into the confident person I am today. I can say from the bottom of my heart that, all the students coming to KJSCOP are blessed for the knowledge they receive here.
It was during my project , when I realized the importance of research in our profession and understood how far advanced the western countries are. It was a tough decision to opt between Masters here or there. But the quest to learn beyond books , made me take a call to study abroad. So here I am currently pursuing my Masters in Physiotherapy Degree at Manchester Metropolitan University. Due to current Pandemic , circumstances are a bit challenging, but, I guess that’s the beauty of life -To walk the unwalked path and leave the footmarks for others to walk. The evidence based teaching and depth in the field of research has widened my horizons and we are learning the recent advances in our field, which is far more superior here. It is my dream to make contribution in our field and share with others the novel to the best of my capability ad capacity. As they say , ‘ Charity Begins at Home’. Eagerly waiting to share my knowledge, experiences and learnings with all you Somaiyites.
Aditya Rajput
- What was your inspiration to take physiotherapy as a course?
Physiotherapy is one of the most noble professions in existence. Yet, one of the least recognized ones. In keeping with this ignorance, most kids growing up aren’t aware of the expansive opportunities this field of work provides, or even what it is. In India, students experience tremendous pressure preparing for and getting into the medical or engineering fields during their HSC, and it is all but a rat race. I was a part of it too. But unlike most, I was always a research-oriented mind, and I was definite that I wanted to pursue Life Sciences, not medicine. Pressure and expectations from the family were still there nonetheless, and witnessing a physiotherapist help restore function in my 2-years-old cousin’s arm function after 2 repeated forearm fractures in the first 2 years of his life, had raised my knowledge, curiosity and respect for physical rehabilitation. I knew physiotherapy was only a blooming field and held tremendous scope for research and was beyond happy to secure an admission in the K. J. Somaiya College of Physiotherapy. We are healthcare professionals, with healing skills in our very hands. We, as physiotherapists, are lucky to not need an ‘employment’ with a set-up or any sort of investment, to make a living, which can’t be said of most other professions, in health-care or otherwise.
- How was your experience in Somaiya college?
Growing up, our educational institutes and courses play a paramount role in the people we become and in shaping our lives. Especially in an undergraduate professional course, you not only train to earn a livelihood, but also to live a life. K. J. Somaiya College of Physiotherapy did all of that for me, and more. Up until entering this place, I was one of the most reserved, under-confident individuals one’d come across. Coming to a new place, with no one you know around can get intimidating. On the up side, you can seize the opportunity as a clean slate, and choose to re-write yourself entirely. I got a chance to tell my life’s story as one in the past, no more my present, and to live a new tale. Graduate college is indeed a new (and long and hectic and stressful) and delightful part of our lives. Guidance and support from teachers like Isha ma’am, Mayur sir and Priti Agni ma’am made this experience one to cherish. I played many roles as a student, was the class representative in my 3rd year, contributed to the students’ council and the magazine committee for several years, organizing, executing and participating in Antarang and other college events from scratch till wrap, all of which transformed me as a person. In fact, I was a part of the team that named this very magazine “Glint” for the very first time, in 2015. Learning kinesiology and kinesiotherapy well, makes you a good physiotherapist, but to become a good healthcare worker, you need to care for others, and that is the quality KJSCOPT kindled inside me. This is the place I truly grew up at. Of course, there were also all these beautiful people, my batch, all on their own personal journeys, and we were companions in this rich forge we were fragments of. Along with us, the place grew as well. Our batch of 2014-15 was the first intern batch in the present college building. We saw it get built, and the one of our UG days level. We were lucky to be trained under not one great principal, but two. The UG days and especially at a college like KJSCOPT are the golden times in one’s life, not only professionally but in every other way.
3) What is the difference in study pattern in India and foreign countries and how did u cope with difficulties over there?
I moved to the UK, to Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) for my higher studies in 2020, in the middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic, and I am to finish my post-graduation by the end of 2021. Even though most of the teaching hitherto has been online, I am already done with 2 modules of my course. And that’s where the biggest difference between Indian education and that in the UK comes in. Unlike the semester exam system followed in India, here there are individual modules (homologous to subjects) that you have to attend lectures for, and undergo assessments for, by the end of those. These assessments include written examinations, practical demonstrations, poster presentations, PowerPoint presentations or written research paper submissions. Unlike the teaching-learning culture in India, the UK has more of a cumulative discussion setting, where we are to come prepared with pre-session learning activities, which we discuss during the lectures. We are then introduced to new concepts in the lectures, and have within-lecture individual and group activities which ensure learning for everyone. All of these being pros as well as cons, in comparison to the Indian education system. In order to carry out this type of learning, the load of self-study increases a lot, which can cause a lot of stress to students, and even though the teachers prefer to be called by their first names, and keep it as casual (or non-formal) as possible, the (almost personal) connection that we have with our teachers in India does not happen.
Yet another stark difference is that, against the copious amounts of hands-on experience that we get whilst learning in India, in the UK we barely have any ‘patient’ exposure at all. The reason for that is, the universities do not offer any clinical postings for most modules of post-graduate course, although they do for the under-graduate students. In order to be eligible for taking modules which do, one needs to have a specified number of years of experience in the relevant field (MSK/Neuro/Cario-respi) and an HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) registration.
Whence one travels to a foreign country as a student, they might experience difficulties at various stages in the process. It is important to remain in contact with the university via E-mails right from the time of application for admission and getting the offer letter and CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies) certificate. The student accommodations in the UK are well equipped with all the utility services, but much more expensive than a private accommodation, and not necessarily closer to the uni than. Since I have company of two close friends who were my classmates in the UG, I have chosen to go with a private accommodation, which is cheaper, at a very comfortable distance from the university halls, and much more spacious than the uni accommodations. We did have to take efforts, setting domestic utility accounts like water supply, electricity and internet, ourselves, and these public services in the UK are not as swift as in India, typically taking up to several weeks for the billing accounts to set up, but the services were not interrupted for that period whatsoever. There were no difficulties experienced by us with regards to the studies as such.
In accordance with the Graduate Route of Immigration, upon finishing a graduate or higher degree in the UK in 2021 or later, you would be eligible to get a PSW (Post Study Work) Visa, of a period depending upon the duration of your certificate course. But in order to practise as a physiotherapist you need an HCPC registration; and (FYI) that can be obtained after completing the UG internship in India, before going to the UK or even having a student’s visa. The details of it can be found on the British council website. The covid-19 pandemic did greatly influence the immigration and abroad study experience for our batch, but did not affect the academics much. It is great to know what you want by the end of your internship, but absolutely fine to not. I did not know where I wanted to be, so I took a break and worked at Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai Central, for a year and a half, into the pandemic, before weighing my options and deciding to move to the UK. All of us alumni are always there to help you. And here’s something the budding physiotherapist in me always needed to hear – Trust yourself.
Janhavi Shah
Dr. Janhavi Shah
Somaiya has been a second home for almost 8 years of my life. I always wanted to have a career in medical field but never knew that I would become a physiotherapist and it turned out to be the best decision of my life and very proud to have done my bachelors and Masters from Somaiya.
The professors have been source of inspiration and motivation. Working under their guidance and leadership gave great experience in life to become successful in career. It feels grateful and privileged to have them as my mentors. While writing this, it takes me down the memory lane. Somaiya has given me the best of friends for life, having seen the college grow from its interiors to its faculty to academic expansions it’s been a journey of a lifetime. The teachers have always motivated us to excel in each field, from hands-on experience, academic performance, research to extra-curricular activities and creativity.
Physiotherapy profession has grown and expanded over all these years. It is a very promising and rewarding profession as paramedical science has larger role and responsibility in hospital care. All major top order hospitals have good physiotherapy unit and good jobs to offer also many private clinics promote advanced techniques and new technologies for assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients. They too have good jobs to offer, and it’s a good learning experience to work in such clinics. I have started my own clinic, Dr. Janhavi’s PhysioHeal, based in Kandivali (west).
Shruti Pandya
Hi! I am Dr Shruti Pandya – A Physiotherapist by profession and a humanist by heart.
Ever since I was in school, I dreamed of taking up a profession that could make me an important part of the human healthcare system and medical science – something that could relieve people of their ailments without having the need to pop pills or opting for surgeries. Physiotherapy seemed like THE BEST OPTION that could bring my passion to reality. After the entrance exams and college allocation, I was beyond happy to take admission to K.J. Somaiya College of Physiotherapy for my bachelor’s degree, I owe this institute for the strong foundation in Physiotherapy that I possess today!
K J Somaiya College of Physiotherapy, in so many ways, shaped me not only into a professional and confident Physiotherapist but a good human. This college gave me immense opportunities that allowed me to grow in all directions without any inhibitions. Be it sports, presentations, leadership, curriculum, dance, fashion show – every experience was full of learning and wholesomeness. The professors were more than just teachers, they were guides, mentors and best friends. My heart still feels very warm whenever I connect to them. Their distinctive combination of kindness and discipline helped me sail through the tough times in those 4.5 years with tons of perspective. Today, no matter where I go and what I do, when people ask me where did I begin my journey of becoming who I am today and where do I possess this amazing foundational knowledge from, my heart hops with excitement as I say – Its from the place that I grew up from nothing to a knowledgeable Physiotherapist, a place extremely dear to my heart – K J Somaiya College of Physiotherapy it is 😊
Glint 2021 