My lookup story #lookup

My lookup story #lookup

When defeat stares you in the face,

#lookup and fight it.

When things don’t go as per plan,

#lookup and keep going.

When you feel the tears coming,

#lookup and keep the brave smile on.

When things are impossible,

#lookup, for giving in is the easy way.

It was the second semester of my engineering. Just two weeks before the semester was about to end fever, cold and rashes gripped my normal healthy self. A few days with the illness and I wasn't able to even walk. Staying in a hostel, far away from home my aunt rushed me to her place till my parents arrived. Diagnosis confirmed the dreaded dengue fever and I was admitted into hospital with my parents maintaining a constant vigil. My classmates informed my professors and everyone expressed their pity that I would not be able to sit for the exams that semester. That meant a backlog for all the exams I wouldn't be able to appear for plus new exams the next semester. It was an impossible feat to clear two semesters in one shot. Dejected and morose I wondered how I would cope with the additional burden. Lying in bed, what could I really do? Where would I muster the energy to study from when I couldn't even stand?

My life that year seemed doomed with no hope in sight. When my father learnt of my miseries he simply brushed them away.  “You will not skip your exams. You are going to write and clear those papers no matter what.” he said. How could I study in a hospital bed, let alone concentrate with the constant noise of visitors and all the activity in and around the hospital? My father would not give up no matter how many excuses I made. All my books were picked up from my hostel room and brought beside my bedside. The hospital bed was raised to a sixty degree angle which allowed me to sit and go through my books. When I was too tired to hold them my father would take over. Holding the books he would painstakingly explain page after page to me giving me random tests to check my comprehension. Even though his master’s degree was in electronics and telecommunications from IIT Delhi and I was doing my bachelors in computer sciences not even the unfamiliar subjects deterred him. He chalked out a daily study plan for me for all the days I spent in hospital.

In the evenings when I was feeling better after a few weeks he helped me walk around the hospital compound slowly to help me regain my strength. While the other patients admitted for their various ailments watched TV, played board games and talked about everything under the sun, my nose was ground in my books. Soon a month of my preparatory leave had passed and I was discharged from the hospital. It was time for me to return to college. Everyone was surprised to see me back for the exams as I walked up the banisters with great effort. My friends and teachers again pitied me and wondered why I was making the effort when it was clear I would not clear the exams. I wasn't bothered anymore about what they thought. Dad had trained me to focus on the outcome I wanted, a positive outcome. If I could study through illness I could surely clear all my papers.

It wasn't a surprise to me when on the day the results were announced, my head of the department came and patted my back. I had managed to clear every subject except a backlog in one of the practical examinations. I was over the moon. My father’s optimism and vision for the future had turned true.

This is my favorite story of optimism, about never giving up and always looking up no matter what the circumstances are. So #lookup and be optimistic and keep smiling in the face of any adversity.

Don’t forget to look up the new housing at https://housing.com/lookup.