“She got 96 in Mathematics. She must take mathematics optional along with physics and chemistry”, Said Sharma sir. “No, I want to be a doctor. I will take biology”, I interrupted. My parents were very happy when I scored 90% in secondary exam and why they should not be; after all their daughter was very brilliant who had never gone to take any coaching classes and still managed to get such good marks in his exam. Actually they belonged to a small town where education was not given such importance but they were very proud to educate their elder daughter Shyama who recently cleared her B.Ed. entrance examination and was getting ready to join her new college. She was being sent to a girl’s hostel provided by the college. Everything was going very good. I scored good marks in XI too. My sister got engaged to Sandeep, a post graduate teacher. Soon her marriage was fixed to be held in February of the next year.
Everybody specially my mother was very happy. She had many dreams in her life but could not accomplish because of adverse circumstances. She had been married when she was only thirteen. At that time she could not even complete her 9th standard. She was very good in sports and gymnastic but society never favored her in her choices! My father, a simple nature gentle person, not much educated, forced to feed a family of fifteen when he was only seventeen year old. There was not so much scope of earning in that small town and he somehow, crossing all ups and downs of life, managed to lead our family to that condition where I and my three other siblings were getting regular education in government schools, having better food and sufficient facilities to live everyday life. Life was going very smooth along with lot of dreams that were being piled up one over another with time.
Those days of happiness were no longer remained for us. Creator had destroyed all our dreams. My father, a very naive person was betrayed by his best friend in some business matter. He lost all of his capital along with all means of livelihood. The day of my sister’s marriage was coming swiftly and in typical Indian society it’s very difficult for a lower middle class father to arrange a marriage ceremony of his daughter and also at the time when he had nothing more than an educated sincere girl. In our society daughter's wedding means pouring everything you have earned, or saved, it means breaking fixed deposits, selling assets and taking loans etc. The remaining assets were gone with her wedding.
It was the time when I was forced by the situations to leave my studies. I was supposed to remain at home helping my mother in her household work. There were only two options left for me either to do or to die. My dream was about to buried in mud but I did not accept defeat by the hands of destiny. At the age of seventeen I decided to leave the town with my younger sister and pursue my education further with only the capital of twenty five hundred rupees arranged by my mother with extreme difficulty. It was the last time when I asked for money to my mother. I along with my sister left the town and destined ourselves to an unknown future with a lot of dreams. We had time when we could not manage square meal a day but decided never to go back home without achieving something.
I started tutoring at a local coaching institute along with the college within few days. My first monthly salary was rupees 500. It was a big achievement for both of us. I tried hard to manage my college studies along with my part time job. I had to work fourteen hours or more a day. My sister used to take care of household work. She also started tutoring at home. Besides fulfilling our basic needs like rent of the room, stationery, grocery, uniform etc we decided to save some money too. After seven years of struggle, finally I became the head of a reputed coaching institute. Though I could not be a doctor but became able enough to fulfill basic needs of my family. My sister completed her doctorate in science and now working as assistant professor in a well recognized university. I could not give my helping hands to my parents in making my elder sister marry but became able enough to spend a little on the marriage of my younger sister. I still think that decision of moving away from my town was a boon or a bane! I was certainly a blessed child of my parents who dared to let me go to achieve my dreams. Now I am married and live in metropolitan city with my parent in laws, loving husband and a sweet daughter. Life is not so difficult until you make it difficult. It is true to say:
“Where there's a will there's a way.”
I have written this post for https://housing.com/
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