I tried preparing for NEET. Honestly, I gave it everything I had. Long hours, late nights, coaching, anxiety, hope. But I couldn’t clear it.
It broke me for a while.
I didn’t even know how to face my parents. I felt like I failed not just myself but them too.
But my dad didn’t get upset. He didn’t ask me why or how. He just said, it’s okay, I know you tried your best. What matters is what you want to do now.
We started looking at options. It was confusing. I was scared. None of us really knew what the right step was. But he stood by me and supported my decision to move to Russia and study medicine there.
This was the photo I sent him the first time I wore a stethoscope. I still remember how my hands were shaking when I clicked it. I was nervous but I felt proud for the first time in a long time.
He replied,
“Now it looks real. You’ve always been my doctor. This just makes it official.”
I teared up reading that.
Sometimes the path isn’t what you imagined. But that doesn’t mean you stop walking. This is just a different way of reaching the same dream.
And I’m still on it. Still becoming.