I was walking to the bus stop. A father with his daughter was waiting there. As the bus came, we both climbed in. I was traveling in the public transport after a long while and this time it was because I was going to pick up my car after service.

Happy to be on a bumpy ride with the rashness typical of private buses, as I was heading towards my destination, the father and the daughter was getting up to get out. I had not noticed the folder in the girl’s hand before. As she was about to get out, I saw the form through the transparent folder – a hall ticket with her photo attested. Then I realized it was the day of the All India undergraduate entrance exam for medicine.

From the ticket, I looked at her face. She looked distraught, tired, chin down, eyes tired and sleepy, her steps labored. A long day indeed, one familiar to many of us. It brought me back to the times when people like me were doing the very same thing. The turmoil that ensues. I think competing with the system and the rat race burns us out more than actually the subject.

The story is likely to be similar in all other professions but each time we reach a cross road, we have to decide.

Opinion career crossroads decisions exams medicine