It took me one year after graduating from university to figure out where I was headed. Most universities rejected my applications, something I had now become accustomed to. But I would keep applying anyway. I traveled to India and spent time in impoverished areas, applying for medical school with the local kids. My family, being religious, organised for me to stay with Catholic Salesian priests in South India. I stayed for a few months in a boarding school run by priests that would travel to poorer villages and look for kids that couldn’t afford education on their own. And just for fun, I would tag along.

I also got to know some of the wealthier Indian kids that would attend a training course for the medical entry exam that I was preparing for. One kid I met was the son of an army veteran and was giving him all the tuition he needed to pass this exam. Another had parents who were successful in a textiles business and did the same thing for their children. In competing against 1 billion people so desperate to succeed in life, I realised I had a lot of competition on my hands. In India, either you’re wealthy and have tonnes of money to gift to medical schools, or you just have to be the most intelligent.

For those who haven’t traveled to the subcontinent, I would recommend you check it out. There exists a simplicity there that is confronting and reveals a different perspective on life. Among the vastly populated areas of poverty in India, there also exists a materialism of wealth which overshadows the land. Modern-styled buildings would contrast and tower over pockets of slum villages. A country rich in both extremes.

I met many that lived in these slums and huts. Kids would be pulled out of early high school and roll tobacco as a source of income for their families. This was common practice so that rent would be made affordable. I couldn’t believe it. The slums itself had a renting system. And families were struggling to even afford that. When you actually meet the people, you realise that they are the same as you. The only difference is that life dealt them a tough hand.

Being born into a situation like that can make it very difficult in figuring out the key to life. Or it could make it quite easy. As humans we often desire a better lifestyle, more money, and respect amongst peers. But when you have none of this, there isn’t much else to appreciate except your very existence. And this is what I saw. I saw simple people with big hearts. I saw more heart in the poor than I would in the wealthy. And to me that was beautiful. I then asked myself the question, “With so much love, why do they have so little?”

It was in witnessing this, I realised that I didn’t actually need much to be happy. Our happiness flows according to what we attach our emotions to in life. Our attachment to the material possessions or beliefs that we fear to lose, has a way of preventing us from getting what we truly desire. Being immersed in all this culture, I had no choice but to feel a simplicity within my own heart. I didn’t care anymore about the expectations of others, or what lifestyle a medical degree would bring. I just lived for the moment. I was grateful for whatever I had in my own life, and I just wanted to share that gratitude to the rest of the people there. As I went to the youth centres and spent time with the local kids, I made a promise to them. That one day I would be back, and inspire them the way that they inspired me. To aspire for a life where the love in their hearts would translate into a physical reality of love and happiness. That all dreams could be fulfilled, no matter what the circumstance. This is a promise that I intend to keep.

For a moment, I forgot why I was even there in the first place. My dream of being a doctor wasn’t an ambition I idealised anymore. It was just a passion that I held with no more expectation. And I raise these points because the Universe, or God, or Energy, or our Souls – whichever way you describe a greater power than our human selves, has a way of giving us what we want when we let go of the expectation attached to getting it. It’s like our minds become clearer through the fog, and we allow ourselves to hone in on what will be the best outcome for ourselves.

And just like that, I was offered an interview to a medical school in Hungary. All those years of hard work and persistence had come down to this. I was to personally meet them at the university, in Europe. With limited funds, and no guarantees, I had a big decision to make…