Notes

Butterfly in the wind

“I love Barbie,” I say. “They are fun to play with and they relieve you from the stressors of everyday life”. “Wow!” my friends say. “You really have a positive outlook for everything. Maybe we can try to do the ‘kid’ stuff and see how it feels”. After getting to know me people nickname me the butterfly who finds happiness everywhere. I express my cheerfulness through my laughter and joy. From birth I have a funny little attitude towards life. Everyday, I make my parents laugh with jokes since after a lot of hard work a smile on their face is all I need to make my day. I am happy to be unique in my own way as opposed to simply fitting into society’s jigsaw.

My carefree life was challenged when I was in 9th grade. Why I say challenged is because I view this difficulty as a room to bloom. I was like “A butterfly in the wind” whose happiness was tested in a harsh, windy place. I started off with a private tutor, who progressively became harsh, insistent and irritable. This stress and anxiety caused a nervous breakdown, and I suffered from high fever. My parents, realizing this situation, immediately removed me from the tutoring sessions and took me to a doctor. It took 6 months of counseling and antidepressants to overcome the fear of studies. This situation totally changed my perception about teachers and tutors. A fear haunts me when starting with an instructor or teacher for the first time. Eventually I overcame this fear by watching my favorite cartoons. This event also made me curious about inner workings of the brain and human psychology.

Just two months before we immigrated to the USA my grandmother, who suffered from diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, died due to pancreatic cancer. My grandmother’s death opened a new chapter in my life. When she was alive, she used to guide me through all my biology and chemistry books. She would explain to me those things like stories. She had no dearth of stories from her time as the education officer at Birla Industrial and Technological Museum in Calcutta, India. Those stories were the foundations of my interest in the Life Sciences. She was like a friend and yet the diseases stripped her of her humanity. After her death I thought a helping hand was all my grandmother needed. She would have been fine. It is hard for me to see the same thing happen to other people. This situation inspired me to study molecular biology to understand incurable diseases. I desire to contribute to our scientific understanding and help save millions of lives.

From all the situations I learned that no matter how harsh a person/event might be, we can always find a way to overcome that challenge with a positive attitude. We just have to be true to ourselves and not care what others think. We must view a challenge not as a terrible thing but as an adventure of growth. Whenever a person is in a bad mood we must try to cheer him/her up by making them think of happy thoughts or watching some of their favorite shows.