Biology and I Got a Divorce. It Was Mutual… Almost.
Biology and I Got a Divorce. It Was Mutual… Almost.
Just close your eyes… ask yourself? Had you really never wanted to become a doctor, at least in your dreams or in daydreams, or when you simply were talking with friends and your loved ones? Certainly, I, too, was one of them.
When I was merely five years old, it was hard for me to decipher the difference between life and death or even understand the difference between living a healthy life or a disease-induced life. But whenever I saw any news in the daily newspaper that dealt with accidents, diseases, or wars, I kept questioning my belief, faith in bewilderment. I just didn’t want to accept life as it was.
I was adamant. I was obstinate. I wanted to change the world or how the creatures evolved. I started questioning why birds flew and humans couldn’t. Why insects bit and why crocodiles walked like this, and how tortoises could stay inside water and land both.
Thus, the spark was there in me. I was curious. I wanted to help the world. I wanted to create a world where people could live a disease-free life forever. But then the reality struck!!@!
Biology & My School Days
I took admission at a nearby English medium ICSE school. The school was not convent, yet moderately good. I was privileged to have a team of good faculty members or group of science teachers. Our biology faculty was really good, and I studied at this school in both Class 7 and Class 8.
So, in a way, I was content. The only drawback of our biology class was how our biology sir and later biology ma’am — both of them — wanted to avoid classes and explaining details of ‘male anatomy’ and ‘female anatomy.’ Of course, I am telling you my story of 12–15 years back… there was no computer and free internet or even social media.
Whatever information you needed in those days, you had to consult newspapers, magazines, or read books. Whatsoever, most of the time, both my biology sir and biology ma’am… asked us to read those two “embarrassing chapters” at home. It was quite a funny gossip material among me and my friends.
Coming to examinations, I got good marks. I could not remember correctly, but mostly, during my school days, my biology exams fetched me around 70+ score in final exams in both times… whatever faded memory I could remember, it was quite satisfactory for me.
My Biology Scores Were Good
I never used to run after marks and exam scores. All that I dreamt of was making sure that I understood each point clearly. And I am happy that I did that successfully. Also, at every exam, I answered all questions… As far as I could remember, I had never left any answer unattempt in my biology exams in my school days.
After my Class 8 exam, I was seriously contemplating my future. I didn’t know whether I should do MBBS or pursue a non-tech or non-med line. I gave it a thought for quite a few months. Also, at the same time, I wasn’t financially well. There were many financial hardships that I was facing at that time, in fact, we were facing… I didn’t want to go into that. Nor did I want to make it any excuse.
Fast forward to Class 10. While randomly talking to my friends, I realised the immediate advancement in biology after Class 10 was you had to study PCB (Physics, Chemistry, & Biology) at Class 11 and Class 12. But that didn’t deter me from pursuing biology. I realised the course was very lengthy… again that didn’t scare me off…
Is 10+2 In PCB A Good Choice?
I realised I might have to invest a lot of money for pursuing any PCB course… It was a considerable thought as I already told you we were financially struggling those days.
Still, education loan was in my mind. That if I couldn’t gather the necessary money for PCB at Class 11 admission, then I might knock at the door of a bank for education loan… But again, it was not the only consideration! What changed my “love affairs with BIOLOGY” forever was something else.
One day, I got back to my science teacher and just asked what biology students did at Class 11 and Class 12. And pat came the reply…
“Every biology student has to study carefully the anatomy of the body. Otherwise, it would be very difficult for them to cope with reality.”
Sayonara Biology
I was naïve. So what? Yes, Biology was a tough subject, you had to study a lot. But what stunned me and shook me to the core was one single statement from my teacher.
“Well, in order to understand the body and how each of the organs functioned, you had to get into it. You had to go deep into it. So, before you understood the human body or chose your future specialisation at MBBS and forward studies, you needed to know that you had to cut FROG, LIZARD & CENTIPEDE before that.”
OMG… I had never thought something like that would be part of studying biology! And that was it — that one moment changed everything. From that very day, I gave up on my dream of pursuing Biology in 10+2.
Naturally, I never attempted NEET after that — and that’s the story of how I let go of a dream. If you found this relatable or insightful, feel free to upvote. Thanks for reading!
