Hey fellow ‘perfect’ people
I can’t believe it’s been just 4 days that I started with this blog and the kind of response I am getting from you al who know me or do not know me, it is pure bliss! Like a different kind of high, If I can put it that way. And let me tell you that this is probably one of the busiest months for me in my Master’s course as I have 3 different subjects/classes/modules that I am taking online from Hopkins School of Public Health along with my onsite Capstone/thesis work. So it’s basically juggling between a time difference of 10 n a half hour which gets too much at times. I had an online class @ 5 in the morning for which I could not sleep the whole night. But then writing is something which is am really enjoying as it comes right from my heart and not some book/lecture series. I love it! Hoping you guys are enjoying if not as much as I am but, at least a little.
So, today let’s see if I was happy with my decision of opting my father’s choice of career.
As you all must have read in the ‘about me’ segment that I was never the nerdy geeky sorts. So it was going to be a hell of a journey for me. There were about 60+students/soldiers (science was a battlefield!) in the science section. We all knew what we were getting ourselves into but now, there was no turning back. And some of us trusted our parents over this as well especially when they said, ‘’it is just a matter of these 2 years. Then once you enter high school (11th & 12th) it is going to be a piece of cake’’. Yeah right! I HATED CAKE FOR A VERY LONG TIME AFTER THAT. *grumpy face*. DISCLAIMER: I AM STILL WAITING ON THAT CAKE!
I remember my dad giving me the bribe of no mandatory attendance once you get into Medical. It’s all a game of self-study and coaching classes. Oh lord! Do not even start me on the al carte of coaching classes we had to choose the ‘best’ from. The aptitude tests I had to take to decide whether engineering/ medicine. Yes, at some point when I helped my father design our kitchen garden, he thought there was a scope I could even become a better Engineer If Medicine doesn’t work out. Such was my father and his confidence in me. The aptitude test said I was fit for both, designing roads and treating a human. Can u believe that? Do u really think it takes the same kind of aptitude to become a Doctor or an Engineer? I clearly do not think so but then, your opinion might differ.
So Medical it was. I struggled and sailed through school, high school and then finally got admission in MBBS, Dr. DY Patil Medical College, and University, Pune. That day was a ‘Dream Come True’ for my father so he threw a grand dinner party for family and friends, with the theme as “My Future Surgeon”. Ha! My post graduate degree was also decided. It was in the middle of the week and my father shared his excitement with all, who mattered and also who did not even know my name but were there to support. Support to clear out the wide spread of food, of course, *eyes rolling* which was laid out on our lawn. Did I tell you how fond I was off our house in Chandigarh? Sector 47C, where I spent 15 years of my life. Made great friends, for life. I have a diary full of memories of that place. *dreamy eyes*
So our house was the one at the corner of an intersection and came with a huge lawn. Greenery was also something my father was fond off. He loved gardening and maintained a very beautiful vegetable garden too. He adored it. We used to take long walks around that garden on Sunday evenings when he would tell me which new flowering plants/veggies he would plant next week and I would tag along. Loved walking with him. Loved his anecdotes on time and life (he used to write diaries too). There was one on time which I can never forget, I have it written on all my diaries, engraved in my soul. He said, ‘’Beta, time is like a creature running towards you. It has thick long hair in the front and is bald at the back. You know what that means?’’ I nod and give him a blank look. ‘’it means that while it’s (time) coming towards you, you have a bright opportunity to hold it and grab it till the time it passes by you, and there is nothing to grab it by’’. Then I was just another lecture series for me, but later in life, and even today I understand the depth of that statement. Though I have missed a lot of that thick mane, but all of it has not gone by yet.
During dinner, every grown-up came up to me and congratulated me, wished me good luck as I needed all of that for it wasn’t going to be an easy ride. We had no doctors in our family except, my father’s friends and business associates who were mostly cardiologist. Yes, Cardiology was to be my super specialization. And one of them came up to me, with a glass wrapped with a napkin (what’s the point? Everyone knows what is behind the napkin and in the glass *wink*. The breath always gives away. Ha!) and called out to me as ‘Doctor Sahiba’. Dad, who was nowhere near then, came forward and had the most amazingly beaming look on his face and a smile saying ‘Proud’ out loud. I had no words to say back to that scotch smelling man but I knew what I had to say to my father. ‘thank you’. Yes, I was thankful for him then for showing so much trust in me and I am thankful to him even today for giving me word class education and making me able enough to fend for myself.
Though we have had our share of ups and downs in the relationship, we argued a lot on almost everything but I am and, will always be grateful to him for nurturing me into the woman that I have become today. Hopefully, he is also proud of me. Hopefully.
So, Pune it was. New state, city, and culture. First time away from home. A new chapter in my life. Was I excited? Was I terrified of being alone? Was I more excited than terrified? Aah, well that’s another 10 diaries of my life, 5 years! Years which taught me A LOT about Love, Friendship, Trust, Hurt, Faith, Loneliness, Family, stealing shot glasses from H.R.C, having fun even with merely some change in my pocket, fun in traveling my local transport, getting my hair burnt <YES IT HAPPENED>, Mahabaleshwar, Goa adventures…and the list goes on and on! Oh! and of course, learned Medicine. *wink*
So stay tuned for my Maharashtrian adventures.
Pune was ‘perfect’.
Love
P.s.. I just got reminded of this R.M. Drake quote i read recently and is so perfect;
'you end up where you belong not where you think you belong. there's a big difference between that.'
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