Why did I become a Veterinarian?

Let me start from the beginning. I was born on 1989 March 13th. As I know I am the first baby born alive to my mother and father. My mother was a teacher then and she is still working as a teacher. My father was a bus conductor and now he is retired. From my childhood as I was the first baby in the family and also the first baby in my maternal family, I was in the spotlight from day one. Every tiniest thing mattered to everyone. How I eat, how I drink, how I poop, how I pee, etc. Then after 2 years, my sister was born in 1991. My brother was born in 1994. My younger sister was born in 2000. Eventually, I was away from the spotlight, I thought.

I was doing my school work fairly. I was one of the top students in the school. I had good marks for every examination, so everyone thought that I could be a doctor as I have a pretty good look along with good educational skills. I loved to dance, act and write. But back in the day, those skills could not earn bread. Every parent wanted their children to become doctors, engineers, lawyers, teachers, University professors, Accountants, and so on. My mother and father were no different from the rest. As they held a higher status in the community they wanted badly me to become a doctor.

Eventually, the thought of becoming a doctor was implanted in me but not in a good way. I saw the benefits of becoming a doctor. Most importantly becoming a physician earn a lot of respect from society. People listen to doctors and it's easy to convince an idea. People rarely say no to doctors, mostly ladies. And as always doctors earn more money than any other profession. “So why the hell you do not want to become a doctor?” I asked myself every day to motivate myself.

Days passed. I was however did not stop writing and performing on the stage during my school days. But when the time came to study for University entrance exams, I had to jump into the race to get good grades. I studied for two years. My first attempt did not allow me to get into the medical faculty. Studying for getting into the best medical faculty is not a simple task. When I study I rarely spoke with my family. When I travel by bus I close my eyes to avoid seeing beautiful girls who distract my feelings. I didn't wear attractive clothes, I never had a hairstyle I like. Simply, I stopped being spotted. I was broke and I don't know how I survived.

My parents, siblings, relatives, and friends asked me and begged me to try again to get into a medical faculty. It was like burning me alive. I never wanted to cramp those boring stuff again and again. My brain would stop working. Every day going through the same boring notes and writing lengthy answers to get the examiner's attention was no fun for me.

One day I went to the kitchen and told my mom, “I don't want to become a doctor. These studies are killing me. Do you need your son or not? , I will skip one year and change my stream into maths, then I try to become some sort of engineer. I can't do this anymore.” She was silent. But dad however heard this conversation and burst out scolding me.

“Why on earth do you want to quit? are you mad? What would happen to you and us if you stop studying? What would our neighbors say? Don't you know about your mother's relatives, can't you imagine what awful shit they would throw at us? How are we gonna face the rest of the world?”...he is nonstop

“ Dad, my life is at the stake here, not anyone else's. I'm quitting because I don't want to do this anymore. I don't like to study this hard. I'm just wasting my time. Don't you get it?. Let me do what I want.” I cried. But unless you are not educated enough, your parents will not listen to you. It took me a few more years to realize that theory.

Within two days, my relations knew what I was going through. How?. My dear dad had spoken to a few of my relations and asked for advice for me. Those relations had spread the word to others who were always looking for a chance to let me down. I was in the middle and pressure groups were around. There was no hope for me. I had No one to look up to. I was irritated, frustrated, and broke. I had no choice other than to sit for the examination again. Most of the time I was in my room. I didn't go out to play, weddings, funerals, or even to the living room when someone came. I isolated myself from the rest of the world for one year. No one came to talk to me, even my mother. My brother and sisters were afraid of me. I wish I never had that past.

I was relieved when I finished the examination. Yet I have a few months to get the results. I wanted to go out for a job. Earn a living. So, I joined a hotel as an accounting trainee, where they gave me accommodation and food and I could save my salary. It was a tourist hotel and I liked being there. In the morning I worked in the accounts department, and in the evening I worked in the bar section. I met tourists and got tips and free liquor.

Time went by and most of the hotel staff were so nice and I picked a few nicer girls to hang around a lot. We had breakfast and lunch together almost every day. At this point, I was convinced that I need to work in this industry. People say nice things about me and I treated people nicely. Everyone loved me and no one had any complaints about me. So it was decided, that I'm doing higher studies in hospitality management and I build my path.

But, it is said that you can not change your destiny. ( which I did not know at that time, was a lie) I heard the news that I had been selected for a University. The University was the most beautiful university on the island. Many of my friends were always wanted to go there. Evergreen nature, cool climate, eye-catching sceneries, colorful flowers, and beautiful people from all around the country filled the university. People who studied there always told us that there is no other place on earth like that University. They also said that there is no one to look after us and we had every freedom we needed.

I went home on the first leave I had after I got the letter from uni. I was so excited and wanted to know further about the letter I got. It said, “ congratulations, you are selected for the course of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science. Please submit your documents on or before......”. It's strange. I never heard of that course before. No one ever had spoken about it. So I did my research and learned about it.

Finally, I am becoming a doctor, but I'm treating sick animals. I will not have to check human patients, especially my relatives. I will not have to work long night shifts or listen to the difficulties of people, pains, and aches. Instead, I can treat animals where I never have to listen to a complaint or bad review. So I accepted the letter from the University and packed my bags for the adventure ahead. But once I realized the responsibility of being a vet, it was too late to turn my back on the profession.