Mystory@Richa Sharma: How I made the most of my college years

Mystory@Richa Sharma

To begin with, whatever I am today, I owe it to my parents and family. My mom is a teacher and my dad is a lecturer, they taught me that there are no short cuts to hard work. It is pure hard work that makes you achieve what you want. No one dies from hard work so utilise this opportunity of life to do your best. Me and my elder brother, Dr. Amit Basnotra were raised under strict discipline and good values. Our parents struggled hard to make us achieve our dreams with limited resources and accessibility of things being a challenge since we were in a small town. They believe that kids are the ultimate wealth of parents and if they are on the right track, it would make them feel proud.

I was a very weak, shy, timid and submissive child. I was poor in studies and health both, mostly passed exams by barely few marks. Nobody had any expectations or hopes from me. Even my teachers were as if allergic to teaching me because I was not sharp enough to understand. I was also physically very weak so that might be the root cause of all this intellectual disinterest. I had difficulty in sitting for long hours in examinations and would collapse eventually because of which most of my papers were left incomplete.

This trend continued. To make matters worse, my careless and casual attitude towards life- as if I was hardly interested in survival, was only complicating matters. I was as if fed up with life. I was really a weak girl, totally opposite to what I am today. I was following life as it came with no goals, hopes and aims and full of negativity. I tried twice to end my life when I was just in the 7th standard. I was not interested in living any more. I was fed up with my illness, of lagging behind, of all the successive failures of life. I was a school drop out in my primary classes. But you know, we all are born in the world for a reason and our destiny ultimately meets its fate and gets us on track if we are far from it. The same happened to me.

A turning point came in my life that awakened me and made me realise what I was supposed to do. I had a friend who I trusted blindly. But one fine day she made a wrong complaint to the school authorities against me and my mom. This was a shocker. My mom was known for her unbiased nature and her principles and yet had to face a great insult because of me. It made me realise that I must do something to make my parents feel proud of me. If your will is strong, you can move mountains but always remember and stick to your roots, values and principles and be clear in your thoughts and never hurt anyone or breach their trust. Blessings if given from the heart really matter so try to earn these blessings with your good deeds.

That episode of my life was enough to make me shift my outlook and attitude- from a careless casual approach to life to a more focused and determined one. Though I was not intelligent enough nor was I lucky enough. Most of the times my hard work would be in vain. I gave 100% but would get a return of 1% so for that 100% result I need to put 10000% of efforts. I was feeble minded, would take hours to understand anything that my contemporaries understood in a fraction of a second but I had a strong will power and still have, and this keeps me going in the face of all adversities. I will not give up till the day I die. Even in silence, I might be preparing for another battle.

Good preparation is a must for any new thing in life. I was addicted to emotional Hindi cinema in my childhood years. I would go up to watching eight movies a day and was famous for that in my peer group. And it is from here, that I learnt that we humans should have the vision to select the pearls and discard the by-products and the garbage. I was deeply impacted by the Shah Rukh Khan starrer- ‘Om Shanti Om’. If I may quote from the film-
'Itni shiddat se maine tumhe paane ki koshish ki hai ki har zarre ne mujhe tumse milane ki koshish ki hai. Kehte hai agar kissi cheez ko dil se chaaho toh poori kainat tumhe usse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai. Kehte hai ki filmon ki tarah hamari zindagi mein bhi end tak sab theek hi ho jaata hai. Happys Endings. Aur agar theek naa ho toh woh 'The End' nahi. Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost.'

I believed in the same thing!
“When you want something, the universe conspires to help you achieve it.”

But provided your intentions are good. Any work with bad intentions, done with cleverness, achieved by befooling and cheating other, never fulfills anyone. All critics are actually our best teachers as they inspire us for a never ending fire to excel and do our best and that too, ethically.

Finally, I went on to become a doctor. I was a rank holder throughout my career, was even listed in PGI Chandigarh for post-graduation examination without any guidance and coaching. My only mantra was to do endless efforts and it was my mom and dad who ignited the fire, who acted as propellants for me. I think these magical lines are rare, but once you understand brings, it brings a sea change in you and I am a living example of this. I am highly indebted to God for all his blessings. My dad would say-“No one dies of hard work and no one has extra brains. It’s your own will and persistence and endurance which makes you stand out from the crowd”. The point is not only to have name, fame and money-the point is to earn all this but ethically with values and without hurting or making a fool of others.

To follow and to get followed is what one should aim for, like twitter!!
It became my motto to become a role model and inspire others.
No work is big or small. It’s our thinking which makes it big or small. Our life is meant to achieve dreams, not just dream them.

After MBBS, I studied hard to get a rank because I knew that I was not sharp enough and lucky enough to get results with minimal work. I believe one should know his or her weakness and try to work on it and make it a strength. For me my strength is the pen and my ability to write my views and thoughts. Even today, my purpose of writing this piece is not some award but to inspire those who are still resistant to change.

Success should never go to your head. Be grounded and have gratitude, always bear a good character. The life of a thief and a clever fellow is short, just like a Myocardial infarction (MI, heart attack)-it will vanish suddenly without you getting time and mind to realise what actually happened to you so be always thankful to those who worked behind the screens day and night and supported you in all thick and thin. Don’t be a thankless person, be God fearing then you will have a stable and respectful success in life.

Continuing my story, I worked and studied hard for my PG exams but suddenly I suffered memory loss, probably because I did not take adequate rest and had gotten oversaturated. I was as if blank two days prior to exams. I could not attempt even a single question in the exams. By God’s grace something unusual happened; that examination got cancelled due to some political issues and was conducted again. It was the first time in history that such a thing was happening but for me it was no less than a miracle.

This incident further added to my blind faith in God that if your deeds are good, God definitely saves you. I got selected in the next exams with a good rank. It is rightly quoted by someone-
“Miracles happen provided you have faith and courage to walk on that path!! “
My mom kept my morals high during all these tough times-I am really indebted to her for this.

A strong will power, parents and God’s blessings made me overcome the tough phases of life. I focused on my career again and decided to study further and was able to reach the level at which I am today. To get a rank at an all India level on merit for an ordinary person like me was no more than a miracle.

After my higher studies, I had to relocate and that was the beginning of another struggle. I started slowly, from being jobless to working as an assistant to employer over a period of 4 years. I suffered heavy financial losses at the hands of other people who were out to cheat me.

There is a wise saying by Bulley Shah-
“na kar bandeya meri meri, na teri na meri, chaar dina da mela, fair mitti di dehri”

I tried to be composed and recover from this setback. In the meantime, I met my husband, Pratul who gave me a new life. He encouraged me. Today, I am a happily married person with a good job and good in-laws having a loving husband who supports me in all good and bad times.

Nothing amounts to the end of the world, what you consider an end might be a new beginning, it may be the birth of a new personality in you. All happens for good. If you have will, skill and clear intentions then you will rise again.

About the Author

Dr. Richa Sharma from Jammu belongs to a middle class family and had a very struggling life. She believes that a person’s socioeconomic status or qualification does not matter if he/she has passion to do something in life. She firmly believes that the fire in us keeps one going in spite of all odds.