I still remember the dreaded date of 12th May 2015 on which an earthquake hit parts of Nepal. The Richter Scale measured the intensity to be 7.3 and its effects could be felt in other countries like India, China, Bangladesh.
With the fall of Kashthamandap my anxieties rose as I happened to be in Delhi, my native place. I was inconsolable as I couldn’t ignore the possibility of my house being the next to be affected by an earthquake. With each passing minute I could feel the ground below me trembling. I was petrified.
It was then that my parents sat me down, trying to calm me down. They tried to explain how our house has been built by a well-known architect who gives extra care while creating the architecture and even the contractor assigned ensured the usage of only the best building material. Then they went on to explain me the process of construction of a building and I realized that cement is the building block of any building. Cement along with girder and few others are the foundations of any building and in case of optimum usage they help a building to be resistant to low intensity earthquakes.
Out of curiosity, I went on to research more about cement industry and found UltraTech to be the leading brand in India. UltraTech, The Engineer’s Choice is one advertisement I have been watching on television since a very long time but that day I realized its monopoly in the industry. I was astonished to find that it was being manufactured by the Aditya Birla Group, the same conglomerate who was producing my favourite brands of apparels like Van Heusen, Allen Solly.
Till today that incident is fresh in my mind and I want to thank Aditya Birla Group for helping me overcome my insecurities.
At the tender age of 4, I developed a fascination towards needles. Amidst of crying sessions that lasted for hours I used to wonder how something as small as a needle could hurt so much, it was right then that the ambition of my life was set: to be a doctor. Year after year my ambition started to root more as I understood the importance of doctors in one’s life. Maintaining a good academic record throughout I appeared for the Pre- Medical Test after my 12th standard.
But the destiny had something else in store for me. Right into the examination hall I started choking, I could not even ingest my own saliva. I was immediately rushed to emergency ward and had to stay there overnight. That was the day I was about to get a step closer to my dream of becoming a doctor and there I was lying in a hospital ward with cannulas in my wrist.
It was a year wasted. I had a hard time accepting that my friends who studied with me are already in a medical college and there I was, dejected, unsure of what to do next.
My brother, my pillar of strength helped me bring back my lost confidence and made me understand how one bad day shouldn’t define my life ahead.
I mustered all my strength and started preparing for the Pre-Medical Test again. With my preparation twice the last time and after a lot of meditation practices, me and my family were confident about my selection this year.
But again, life had something else to offer me this time. During my exams, my brother, my pillar of strength got hospitalized and I couldn’t focus on my exams. As a result, I could not get an MBBS seat in Delhi and due to ill health of my brother I couldn’t move out of Delhi.
By far that was the most difficult phase of my life. Not only did I lose my pillar of strength but I also thought that I lost my chance of becoming a doctor. 20th June 2012, I clearly remember, the day when ESIC Dental College released its shortlist and THERE! Right there! I had my name written in it.
Despite all the challenges, I was determined to achieve my ambition and so I did it. Dr. Nikhita Mittal it is now.
#ABGLP #ABGWOOME #XIMB