I Decided to #lookup

Seeing your Mom slip away to the hands of death is not a pleasant moment to face is one’s life. I have been there, seeing her life being sucked out of her by cancer. I have written about it in detail before, when I felt I was ready. It was a disturbing moment when I poured my heart out and tears streamed down my face when I typed every single word. She has come out of it miraculously and I give all credits to Dad and then to God.

It all happened on that fateful night of 26th December 2004, a day after her birthday, the day when the dreadful Tsunami hit India. What seemed as a dry cough had suddenly turned to be a monstrous Cancer. She went through surgery only to find out that the cancer had spread to all her vital organs – lungs, heart and diaphragm. The doctors knew that there was nothing left to do and they had to close her back. She went through hideous sessions of radiations and chemotherapy for almost a year where she squealed in pain and horror every single time.

I was in Grade 12 and taking up my Model Exams. Needless to say, I was screwing up my Boards. From someone who was considered to be one of the toppers in school, I went down to the lowest possible grades. With a dream of becoming a Doctor, I had crash landed to an absolute Zero. A moment were I brought shame and sadness to the entire family. Though they all stood by me and encouraged me to look forward, I couldn’t lift my head out of shame.

I lived in a Military campus, and  I saw the quote engraved in a wall, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!!”. My father who was with me then, simply looked at me and the quote. That’s that moment when I decided to #lookup, to look beyond, to look forward.

I decided to leave home and take up engineering course far away, alone, in some other land. Today, I am proud to be what I am- with high grades in my Bachelors and went on for the same in my Masters in Engineering. I had four campus placements in hand in reputed MNC’s by the time I passed out of my college. And now, I have a brilliant career to which I’ve stepped in and still cling on to since three years.

Life throws tantrums always 🙂 It pulls you down at unexpected moments. But how well you rise back, that’s up to you. If I hadn’t decided to fight back, I know my course of life would have been different- painstakingly different. It’s how you handle adversity, not how it affects you. Never quit, never ever quit!

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