I have to acknowledge the fact that I've never really fully appreciated the priviliges in my life.

Born in a country where a million people sleep hungry every day, yet another million are rich enough to afford facials worth rupees one lakh every week, I go to bed every night with the knowledge that my family comes somewhere in the middle.

But despite the stereotype about the so-called 'normal middle class families', my parents are very modern.

They never stop me from wearing anything (unless it is something completely ridiculous), they didn't force me into anything when I had to make the decision about my stream, and they support me when I do so many MUNs even when they know that it comes nowhere near my chosen career.

I remember when I was thirteen and our school had organised a first ever overnight trip to Ranthambore for us. All my friends were thinking of tactics to convince their parents to allow them to go. I, on the other hand, was sure that my parents would agree to it in a second.

And sure enough, when I handed my father the form, he simply asked me to fetch the checkbook.

But my parents, especially my father, were very particular about one aspect of their daughter's life, boys.

Now they didn't have any problem with me having friends who were boys (I mean just have two girlfriends). But they were absolutely intolerant against boys who can cross the platonic 'just friends' barrier.

Wow, that is a dangerous word__intolerance.

And since we are on this topic, let me say that Kian can definitely cross that barrier.

So naturally, when papa asked him that question, the entire colour drained from my face.

I was scared that he would indulge in the whole 'no boyfirends before you are settled in life' speech in front of my latest realistic crush; (in explanation of the use of the word 'realistic', a girl can't hope that Loki would ever pay attention to her so she has to categorise the list of guys she fancies)

So before he could assume the worst, I jumped into the conversation.

"Yes we ran into each other in the elevator this morning and exchanged some pleasantries." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wanted to facepalm.

'Elevator? Pleasantries? Can you be more formal? Seriously Ash what year is it 1750?'

My subconscious was having a field day with this, and sadly I agreed with her. Though the good thing was that papa had relaxed a little. But when I turned towards our guests, I immediately regretted it.

Kian looked amused and the other guy, who I was assuming was his brother, didn't even had the decency to wipe the stupid grin off his face.

"Yes uncle that was exactly what happened. In fact our meeting was so brief that she left before I could compliment her name, it's cute. Who named her?"

"I did," my father grinned. Thank God I had inherited my resistance against flattery from ma.

"Why are you both standing outside? Come on in." He ushered both of them in the drawing room. That was when I registered something and as usual blurted out without thinking.

"Where are the rest fifty percent members of your family?"

'Really Ash, either you are so formal that it's almost creepy or you are downright rude.' My subconscious sneered.

"I mean why your parents are not here?"

'This is going from bad to worse' she was shaking her head.

"I mean...where...you know what never mind." Great now I was stuttering like an idiot.

To my surprise, both the brothers simply chuckled and Kian's brother answered.

"Yeah aunty about that, actually they just returned from work and have to change and freshen up. So they sent us first since we were already late."

"And also thank you for having us over," Kian added, "I never imagined myself saying this but I am sick of eating pizza everyday."

"It was my pleasure dear. And please don't apologise, we understand how tiring it can be to settle into a new house and then immediately go to work the next day," ma said with her special, extra sweet smile which was reserved for guests.

For the next fifteen minutes my parents chatted with the boys. I zoned until I heard my name being mentioned.

"Ashiana attends Aravali Public School, the Noida branch. What about you Kian? I know Kanishk would be off to college in a month," ma said.

"I don't know yet," Kian replied.

"I am waiting for my class tenth result first and then accordingly I would apply to all schools. I've heard that the science faculty of APS is good though, so if my grades are good enough, that would be my school of choice," he finished, looking at me.

"Well that's great!" my mother exclaimed. Though I couldn't understand what was so amazing about his plan. It sounded quite risky to me. And so I joined the conversation.

"But that means you'll have to join from July. Since the final result won't be out till late may."

"I know."

"So you would just willingly waste two months like that?"

"Of course not! I won't just sit at home, I've applied for two summer internships. Hopefully they would reply within this week and I can join from next monday," he said in a defensive tone.

Now that increased my curiosity. Had he, by any chance, applied to 'Young Debaters' ?

"Where have you applied?"

"'Rising Entrepreneurs and 'Writers Hub' why do you ask?"

"Oh no reason, there's this summer competition being organised by Young Debaters. You should join if you are interested in public speaking." Plus I'm in the organising committee. I silently added.

"Thanks for telling me but I think I'll pass. I'm quite done with debating to be honest, its too aggressive for me."

"Oh okay," I replied, feeling a bit deflated. But I was soon distracted by the sound of the doorbell, ringing for the third time this evening.

Ma answered the door and rushed to welcome literally the most awaited guests of the evening.

After everyone had greeted each other, we all down to finally enjoy a dinner worthy enough for a nawab of Lucknow . The adults were talking about the economic situation of our nation, while we teens were discussing the probable career options for every stream.

Seventeen career counsellings had made me an expert on that subject.

An hour and a half later, everyone said goodbye while the guests departed and we all retired to our rooms.

I was lying awake five minutes later, thinking about all the embarrasing things I said tonight. All the while dreading the moment tomorrow when I would have to recount every single detail in front of Radhika, since I had made the stupid decision of telling her about the dinner (and Kian).

Though I couldn't help but smile at one good aspect of the evening.

At least I managed to not spill anything on my dress.

{[]}

"What is the difference between plasmodium and Plasmodium?"

I remember the time when the task of learning the whole English and Hindi alphabet was considered the most difficult thing in the world by me. So when I realised that I was able to recall the difference between the two supposedly similar sounding terms, a feeling of satisfaction spread inside me.

It was a pity that Naira was not feeling the same thing.

"I don't know. One of those probably stand for the malarial parasite. The other might be the name of another microbe." Naira said, with much more confidence than I would have in a similar situation. Unfortunately, our biology teacher was not so impressed.

"Tell me Ms. Naira Sharma, what do you want to become when you pass out from this school? Assuming that you would be able to manage that feat," she asked in a flat voice.

I am guessing that it was rhetorical question, since ninety percent biology (without maths) students had the same dream. Naira replied anyway.

"A doctor."

Bingo.

"So that must mean your parents are ready to pay twenty lakh rupees as your admission fee in a private medical institute, as you certainly would not be able to get into a government college."

"Umm...no, I was hoping to get a good rank in NEET, good enough to get admission in Delhi itself."

"Well then let's hope for your sake that the rest of the youngsters appearing for the enterance are more stupid than you."

If the poor girl was affected by our teacher's words, she did not let it show. Slowly sinking back into her seat, she started scribbling right away.

I would've felt bad for her if not for the fact thay glee was slowly spreading inside me, upon realising that some of my competition might, just might be stupid. Our teacher, however, said otherwise.

"The percentage of last year's overall science topper from our school was ninety seven point four. He had scored a perfect hundred in biology and psychology, ninety six in physics, ninety eight in chemistry and ninety five in english. Can anyone guess what his rank in NEET was?"

There was pin drop silence in the lab.

"Around seventy nine thousand."

Nobody said anything, or rather nobody had anything left to say. Every single person was thinking about the consequences and the infinite 'what if's' that can possibly come true if they are unable to crack the medical entrance exam.

All thoughts of my competition being stupid went out of the window after hearing that shocking announcement. Even though no one voiced their thoughts, it was pretty clear what they all were thinking.

'If he couldn't get in, what are the odds that I would?'

"It is a good thing you all have woken up from your fantasy, and have acknowledged the amount of work you would put in before you could even come close to your dream. Now, Pathak, can you tell me the difference between plasmodium and Plasmodium?"

"Yes ma'am, both the terms stand for the members of kingdom protis-"

"I asked you the difference not the similarity."

"Yes ma'am, the first plasmodium stands for the aggregation of slime moulds while the term Plasmodium in italics is the name of the malarial parasite which is a protozoan."

"Good, coming back to fungi imperfecti-"

The rest of the lesson went on with us listening to ma'am drone on endlessly about the different types of fungus. The whole time I was thinking about the number of hours of study I would have to increase in order to get into a decent government medical college.

{[]}

Three hours later I still hadn't recovered from the events of bio class. Walking across the football field, which sported overgrown grass, my head was reeling from the endless possibilities regarding my career that are more likely to come true than not.

I was secure with the knowledge that I had a 'plan B' all figured out. But my main concern was, would I be satisfied with a job which would always be nothing but a second option?

I can vividly recall the time when I first realised I wanted to be a doctor. I was seven and slowly recovering from a month long dengue fever.

Having spent more than a week in the hospital, I was bored out of my mind, not to mention the fact the amount of dizziness and weakness I was feeling.

My parents were another story, ma kept blaming herself and papa was growing more and more agitated with each passing day. All because my platelets were not increasing, but they were not decreasing as well.

The person responsible for me was Dr. Neelam Kaushik. She used to walk in everyday with a smile on her face to check my vitals, even when the nurse had already gone through with the whole process.

When I was discharged, completely out of danger, she asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and my exact words were 'like you'. Ma later translated that as a doctor, which I found accurate.

Albeit the ambition was once a child's dream, it slowly intensified and became much more than that. As I grew up and started learning more about the profession, the realisation dawned upon me that I had started linking my dream of being a doctor to patriotism.

More than the wish of wearing a white coat, there was a desire to do something good for my nation, which despite being free from any external power since the past seventy years, still had a long way to go.

This was the idea which pushed me into selecting a combination of subjects with biology and psychology, because even though patching people up was not the only way to serve my country, it was ideal for me, I decided.

But the announcement from a few hours ago had instilled a new sense of insecurity inside me. Doubts had begun to creep in my head and I had started questioning my ability to work hard enough to reach my goal.

With this depressing thought, I started walking back towards my class, narrowly avoiding being hit in the head by a tennis ball, and ignoring the shouts of the eleven year old brats playing cricket with it.

As I was climbing the staircase, dreading the moment when I would have to explain my absence during break to Aditya, a display board caught my eye. It seemed to be newly decorated in the honour of our late former president.

It was filled with his pictures and had a poster of his autobiography. My eyes scanned the charts and landed on one quote, a simple sentence written in big bold letters above a life size portrait of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

I had used those words so many times in so many essays but it was as if I was reading them for the first time ever and actually retaining their meaning. They were enough to fill me up with a new sense of determination.

With that I started walking, repeating the words in my head again and again like a mantra.

'Excellence is a continuous process and not an accident...'

{[]}
Ranthambore- a wildlife sanctuary located in the state of Rajasthan, India (it is soo freaking beautiful)

NEET- National Entrance cum Eligibility Test (the enterance exam for medicine)

1 lakh=one hundred thousand
10 lakh=one million

Hello awesome people!!

Wow two updates in one day! Well it is half a holi gift and half an apology gift, since I would not be updating for another week or so.

And you know what? I am on SUCH a sugar rush, soo many sweets in a single day!!

Anywho, this chapter's aim was to give you an insight of Ash's personality. I hope I was successful.

Either way, if you liked this chapter then please,

VOTE

COMMENT

SHARE

FOLLOW

Have a nice day!!

Ads :)