There's nothing that leaves you quite as vulnerable as undergoing open surgery, or more particularly organ extraction. Lying there, with your life in the hands of someone else and every last barrier stripped away, literally; as your insides are turned out. So when a patient - no, a person - is in such a vulnerable state, it puts everyone around them in a position of power; and responsibility. It's a huge responsibility.

Witnessing a kidney removal at the age of 14, was what one may consider a turning point in my young life. A eureka moment, if you will. When Yashoda Hospitals promised a young group of 10th graders the opportunity to get acquainted with medicine, they meant for it to get up front and personal. And that was how 10 fourteen olds ended up in an operation theatre as a woman underwent kidney removal.

 Now let me tell you, surgery is not for the weak of heart. Many of my friends cowered near the door, and one even had to be removed from the OT. But as for me, well I was spellbound. My fascination was even called morbid, and yet that's what it was. The fact that this teeming mass of flesh , sinews and organs, is what make up a life, fascinated me.

And that is perhaps the reason I walked out of the OT with a clarity that would soon mold into a goal, an aim, and a direction.  A clarity that one day, I'd be worthy of taking responsibility for people's lives. One day, someone would trust me the way that woman did, with their life, and I'd rise to the occasion.