Challenge at your turning point

Being from a typical Indian family with parents determined to make their kids either doctors or engineers, I opt to become an engineer. As I could not get in to any prestigious college in the first try, I went to a coaching centre to prepare for the next year’s Entrance exams. That was the year of tension, pressure, frustration, depression and a hell lot of competition. It was one month before the exam and I was studying day and night with the one and only one aim of scoring a top rank. I opened my eyes in the morning and tried to get up, but I was pinned down by an extreme pain from my hip region. I could not get up; I cried out of pain and lied on my bed. The same followed for the most part of my next one month. An instant pain would come and I wouldn’t be able to even sit. All I could wish for during that time was for a tranquilizer. I panicked that all my effort for last one year was going to be in vain. I stopped the preparatory classes and mock exams and went back to my home. I consulted a doctor and he suggested a treatment that would require 2 weeks of hospital stay and a complete bed rest for 1 month. My parents and I did not know what to do. If I go for the treatment, I won’t be able to write the exam as I shouldn’t be even standing continuously for more than 5 minutes, forget about the 3 hour long exams. If I don’t go for the treatment, I will have to suffer the killing pain that might come at any time of the day. We panicked.   Even a thought of not writing the exam scared me to the core. I decided to write my exams and take the risk of getting the pain. I was in my bed for most of the last month and finally the big day came and I wrote the exam. Soon after the exam, I got admitted to the hospital and took the prescribed treatment. This was my biggest challenge so far. I saw my dreams and plans shatter in a go. But I am proud that I was able to hold the pieces back together and I kept preparing from the bed itself. By the time my treatment and the following bed rest was over, my ranks were out and I got good ranks.