My journey as a writer…
An early bird in the nest
My journey as a writer started when I was too young to understand what writing was. It was the year 1999; I was in 7th grade, and I started feeling like writing the daily diaries. It seemed quite interesting at that time to write down everything that I used to do during the day, like waking up in the morning, going to school, spending time with friends, doing homework, playing with my cousins, and enjoying growing up in a very large family (ours was extended to 40 people living in the same house). My mother never had to worry about where her kids were because our uncle was always there to take care of all the kids at home. He was a teacher, and after coming back home from school, we used to be with him only. He was like one man’s army for us. One uncle and 16 kids.
Butterflies leaving the cocoon:
This daily writing of my whole day experience continued till I passed my 10th class, and after that, it turned into an occasional write-up. My schedule was busy, and I didn’t get enough time to write down every single thing as I used to do before. However, whenever I got time, I used to pen down most of the things that happened in between. I forgot to mention that this was the golden period of my life. I was happy; there were no responsibilities, no worries, no hard decisions to make, and most importantly, everyone was good at home. Dad was doing well with his business, and Mom was good too. And then happiness in my life started to stumble. I couldn’t get good marks in my 12th-grade class, and because of this, I had to go through a lot. It was mentally disturbing because I was good at studying, and this all affected my future badly. I wanted to move to another state to pursue higher education, but I had to get admission in the same city. Then I did a BCA (bachelor in Computer Application), and after that, I did an MCA (master’s in Computer Application). With these two degrees, it was enough to get a good job, but God had planned something else for me. Remember, man proposes, and God disposes. This turned out to be true for me.
Dreams that turned into a dream itself:
It was the year 2012 when I finished my MCA, and the final results came up in September. I was happy without knowing how my life was going to change. I already had a job offer from a good startup in Chandigarh and my joining was in January 2013. So, I came home in October 2012 as one of my cousins were getting married the next month. We were all celebrating the occasion, buying clothes and jewelry, and sending invitations. In the meantime, my father was not feeling well. He had gained a lot of weight suddenly, and his fever was not subsiding. The very next day of the wedding, we went to the doctor to see why this was happening, and he suggested some common tests for infection, which came out as normal. So, I thought maybe it was all due to exertion. It was December 11th, 2012, and I went back to Chandigarh to relocate to a new place that was near my office. On December 13, my mother called me, and her voice was shaking. I knew something was wrong. My dad had coughed up blood, and it was oozing out continuously from both his mouth and nose. My dad took my mother’s scarf, pinned it up in his mouth, took the keys, started the car and drove himself to the hospital.
His condition was not well; the nose was plugged, and the mouth was covered to stop the blood from coming out. My mom was alone there and then she called others in the family and told them about it. It came as a shock for me, as after a very long time, things were going fine in my life, and now this was all happening. I couldn’t understand what was happening. It was 7 p.m., and when my mom called me, I was outside a temple, not knowing what to do
next. I went back to my PG, took my wallet and a small bag, and went to the bus stand to board a bus to Jammu. As it was already late, the buses were full, and I had to go to the local bus stand to get the roadway bus. It was around 3:30 am when I reached the Jammu bus stand and started walking towards the hospital. It was around 4 km from the bus stand, and every single minute I was thinking about the condition of my dad.
Someone just ripped off the Band-Aid:
Finally, after walking continuously for an hour, I reached the hospital and saw my dad lying on the hospital bed with my mom and my uncle sitting beside his bed. His face was swollen, and and his clothes had a lot of blood on them, and he was not talking. I had tears rolling down my eyes, but my uncle stopped me and said it was not the time to cry but to hold them back.
them as my strength, and pray for his recovery. While we were busy with what was happening in front of our eyes, there was a lot more going on inside my dad’s body. Till now, doctors have diagnosed hemorrhage due to high blood pressure. We thought the same, and when the doctors were about to discharge him, one senior doctor advised an ultrasound, which was to be done empty stomach. She said there may be some other reasons for this bleeding. The next day, we did an ultrasound, and the radiologist said that around 30% of my dad’s liver was damaged, which caused the bleeding. He diagnosed the condition as liver cirrhosis. We couldn’t understand it, but it was something that turned our lives upside down. This was just the start, and life continued to surprise us at every single moment. It all started with just one single medical word,, which was hard to understand at the very first moment.
The sun sets to rise again.
So, with this fact started my journey of being a content writer officially. After taking our dad to another city for treatment and with all the possibilities of getting responsibilities at an early start, I took this job because it was something I knew I could do when I was struggling with multiple things at a time. I did not even try for a job in my field because I thought that this too would pass and I would get back on track. It was getting tougher day by day, and there was no ray of hope. So, I continued to be a content writer, worked hard at my job, and also started taking tuition classes. Even though my father never took any financial help from anyone, I still had to manage things for myself. It used to feel very hard to wake up every morning with the thought in mind that my dad was not well. But there was nothing we could have done to make it feel better. The time was hard, and someone had just ripped the band-aid. But now here I am, after 10 long years, married, have a family, a son, and live in a remote village in Bihar.
Take a walk through the barn.
As I mentioned before, life turned upside down, and I ended up here, or we can say I landed here. Till now, it was a hell of a journey, but with family and my son, things seem easy to handle. Now, my father is doing a bit fine; with all the medications and yearly checkups, he has been holding up well. But sometimes, I think about those days and feel maybe I could have handled things in a better way and tried for jobs in my sector, but at the same moment, I wonder how life would have been if I had not been able to express my emotions through my words. For a writer, he must take a moment to note down what is in her heart and mind. This not only makes it easy to understand but also gives you the strength to manage the situation well. So, I feel blessed that I had this voice in my heart to continue with what I loved the most, i.e., to write and write and write until you have all your thoughts penned down and nothing in your mind that makes you overthink.
And now I believe it’s all destiny!!!!!!
Email address: poojarkoul@gmail.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pooja-koul-261b4b67/