Parents who need special mention

In the month of December I hosted a guest at home for a month.  She is my colleague’s younger sister.  Her visit to the US of A was to attend interviews for pursuing Masters in medicine from this land.  I am not aware of the technical details about the entire process but from what I have heard from my colleague is that she is trying for the past two to three years.  She had cleared 2 to 3 levels of written exams one of that spanning for 18 hours (9 hours per day with 30 minutes break) and now in the last stage of attending interviews with the colleges/hospitals.  This is her second year attending interviews. She is done with all interviews for this year and the results will be declared in another two months.  Before I proceed further I will take a moment to pray for the best to happen to her this year.

It is her choice to decide whether/where/how to do Masters but then what triggered me to write this post?  Her parents and the support they provide to her.  They are one of  those very few parents from India who support/encourage their girl child to go for higher studies at a foreign land that too in a field that is seldom known to them where they had to explore every single step.

They are not people from the high class with abundant money/assets flowing through generation, they are not pseudo owners of any politician’s asset,  they do not know anyone who can guide them through the path, they do not have a son who can support them (according to the so called Indian culture), they do not have any support system at USA, her father is the sole bread winner of the family but still they decided to shore up their daughter’s dream.  Imagine a father who have earned only in Indian rupees all his lifetime and spending it in dollars for his daughter’s higher education. It is costing an arm and a leg to them. The air fare, stay, food, sundry and travel expenses to different places to attend interviews. She will not get any financial aid or stipend unless she gets selected in a college. It is only her parents who support her both emotionally and monetarily.

I have seen majority of Indian parents who sell their assets if needed or save money for their son’s higher education or daughter’s marriage.  As the girl finishes her college and demands to pursue higher education most of the parents (at least south Indian AFAIK) response would be “we will first get you married  and then its between you and your husband. That means if your husband agrees you can go ahead with anything that you wish)”.  Among the parents who spend all the savings on the girl’s marriage my colleague’s parents who spend way beyond their limits for their daughter’s higher education are very rare to find.  Don’t they deserve special mention and a big round of applause?  May their hard work be paid off this year and let these special parents live a peaceful life.

 

Advertisement