My story begins at the age of nine. I am dressed in my traditional attire with my makeup and hair done, ready for my first ever performance of Bharatnatyam- an Indian classical dance. I still remember how nervous I was on that day. I could hear me breathe and feel my pulse. But as the program started, I found myself feeling so graceful yet powerful at the same time. When hundreds of people watch your every twist and turn, the whole moment becomes euphoric and it seems like it’s over as soon as it begins. From that day I started dreaming with my feet and the rest became history.
As a part of that dance group we started performing for different type of audiences including care centers and hospice houses. Once after our performance at a nursing home, an old lady came, shook our hand and thanked us for giving them such an amazing night. Later we found out that it was the first time in years that she had smiled. I was stunned by how such a simple thing like dance can spread so much love and positivity.
But what does it have to do with health care? Yet dancing was what brought me closure to the medicine. Though I wanted to bring joy and peace to people around me, I also wanted to prevent the underserved community from being forgotten in the first place. I knew I could do more and wanted to prevent them from actual suffering. I wanted to be a doctor. Hence, I started getting involved into various extracurricular activities and community services related to it. In fact, I still remember the conversations I had with all the patients at manatee memorial hospital where I volunteered during the summer before college.
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Though being a part of the dance team opened my idea towards my future career as a physician. There are many encounters and observations which shaped my whole motivation towards achieving that. One experience which I recall particularly is when I was shadowing a pediatrician over the winter break and had to encounter an emergency case. The parents of the child affected, trusted the doctor to use his knowledge and experience to decide what was best for his health. Though I was not a doctor, I still felt that feeling of heavy responsibility. No doubt it was hard to be in that position because nothing in classes or books prepare you for that kind of situation; it was also something which I couldn’t imagine giving up. At that moment I realized that being a doctor is not just a passion for science, but it is a passion for serving humanity. Though recognizing symptoms, making a diagnosis and prescribing medicines is an important part of being a health professional, being able to care for your patients and support them emotionally is also an equally important aspect.
Though we all are evolved from the same species, every one of us face the different problems, concerns, feelings and struggles. And hence, humans need physicians who cannot even understand them but also someone who can question the existing aspects of medicine as well as someone who can come up with innovative solutions for challenging problems. From that day I decided that without doubt this career is the best for me. I want to be that physician who will be able to integrate my knowledge and strengths to treat each of my patient and care for them deeply. Until then, I may be found spending my breaks in the patients’ room, observing in the corner and dreaming about the day when I’ll get to hold the drill.
