I could not get admission in my choice of course. Is the world over for me?

"I want to be a Doctor!" that was what my 12-year-old self replied to an all-time old question "what do you want to be when you grow up?" My dream of becoming a doctor was inspired by the fact that my parents wanted to see me a doctor and later it was fueled by majority of my classmates aspiring to be a doctor.

I grew up imagining myself in white gown and with the stethoscope as a trophy around my neck. My parents always wanted to see the title "Dr." with my name. The empathetic self in me made my parents promise to me to buy a village when I grow up, so I can build a state-of-the-art hospital to treat people free of charge. I even started to read my father"s pharmacy books, to get a head start on my ambitious career plan.

Nonetheless, reality has a way of changing the course of both our plans and our life"s path. The big day came; I appeared for the admission test in the country"s most sought after medical college. After the test, I was confident that I will get the admission and my dream of becoming a doctor will come true in few years. The confidence or you can say the arrogance did not let me see that I needed a backup plan for my future, and this became evident with the declaration of the result. Unfortunately (or fortunately), I did not get the admission, I was devastated beyond words…my family was upset. I locked myself in my room and cried for whole ten hours. The world fell apart for me and I could not compose myself. Despite the fact that my parents" dream was shattered, they supported me and encouraged. After a lot of counselling and encouragement from my family, I continued my studies with Bachelors and later with Masters Degree. I realized that I was always really intrigued with the workings of the human body in particular and creation of ALLAH in general. Therefore, I opted for doctorate degree in life sciences. It became my new ambition, I became passionate about my doctorate and more so for the knowledge I gained with it. I realized that research is what I always wanted to do, though I never realized it. So entering into a research field was not planned and but I had it somewhere deep inside me.

I could not get admission in my choice of course. Is the world over for me? No, it started with the detour ALLAH planned for me in the form of my Ph.D. The field of research is where you get to explore yourself, to discover the universe around you, and to delve into the nature. It conditions you, educate you, develop your mind, and make you passionate about your work. I am really glad that it turned out this way and not my way!

So, the right answer should be "I want to be what I am [will be] passionate about."