I stood on the stage with eyes wide open and sweat beads trickling down my face. The tie I was wearing felt like it was choking me, and I could drop any minute. I took a rain check on that speech, turned around and swiftly exited that stage. When my father understood what had happened, he addressed the situation with a rather composed demeanor. He explained to me how stage fright works and what are some ways in which it can be worked upon. No doubt it was an embarrassing day but as it ended, I gained some confidence.
I woke up the following day to find some lesser known faces in my living room. Dad had invited some guests over and he asked me to tell them about the story I had read the other day. Despite my obvious apprehension, I did as I was told. I stammered while going at it. Throughout the year, I was given various books and asked to present their summary at home. Dad even spoke to my teacher requesting her to give me verbal assignments after school and later pushed me to participate in debates. We even started talking in English at home.
A year later, I heard my name being announced on that very stage followed by a roaring applause. I had started overcoming flop sweat. I had won. Years down the line, I pride myself on making Senior BI Consultant having given countless presentations and addressing hundreds of people.
How Aditya Birla Group changed my life
People need to get their heads wrapped around the fact that doctors are not gods. They swear an oath that requires them to dedicate their life to the service of their patients, but they cannot alter the regular functioning of the human body. My father has almost completed 25 years working as a Laparoscopic Surgeon and he has performed some 10,000 surgeries till date. He almost turned down operating upon a patient 5 years ago because her condition was very critical and her chances at life were almost none.
Upon constant persuasion by her family, he went ahead with the surgery and unfortunately, despite endless attempts, she flatlined. The family went berserk and stormed inside the hospital. They started to shout and hurl stones at the hospital staff and threatened to assault my father. Dad came home and narrated the incident to us post which he called a friend who was a high ranked police official for advice. Uncle took the matter in his hands but asked us to leave our house for a few days. Days later, we got news that the family attacked our house.
Sitting in the cramped lobby of the shattered sublet one morning, we received a call to inform us of my grandfather’s demise. Everyone was shattered. But life moves on. The compensation against his Birla Sunlife Insurance helped us move to a new apartment and the rest for dad to reestablish his practice and his reputation. And once again, we could see the sun.