Looking Back: Choices

 

This is a story I've been wanting to get off my chest. I don’t trust my memory to remember it a few years from now.

 

I was moderately good at studies in school. Never top of the class, but I'd occasionally surprise my teachers. In Class 10, my answers to essay questions in biology and my detailed illustrations (I used to draw well) were noticed by Mrs. Ramana (AECS friends will remember).

 

For the two-year intermediate course after Class 10, one can opt for either Mathematics or Biology, to be an Engineer or a Doctor respectively. No other profession mattered.

 

I was summoned to a meeting one day by Mrs. Ramana and our vice principal then, Mr. Rajashekhar. They encouraged me to opt for Biology for the next two years of high school because they were convinced I'd do well in the medical field. Mrs. Ramana mentioned that my answers on exams drew from several sources and she thought with some effort, I could be a successful doctor like my cousin, whom she'd also taught.

 

For the person who signed my consent form, though, it was a different story. I was led to believe I was not up to the task for the monumental effort required to be a Doctor. Or to be anything. They were not wrong though; I wasn’t exactly "burning the midnight oil," so to speak.

 

The form was submitted with Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry checked.

 

Growing up, I wanted to be a lot of things… the goalposts changed all the time. But for a moment there, I did think I could be a Doctor. Recently, on the way to a hospital, the driver asked if I was a Doctor there, and I couldn’t help but murmur a wistful "If only…"

 

I see many of my friends now have kids going to school. Please, please ASK them what they want to be in life. And support them in their journey. Also, there are many more successful career paths out there!