I was waiting at the lobby for the lift as always when I heard the sound of scraping feet. I looked around to see who it was and saw Padma come dragging a shoe with a  flapping sole. That was quite something unusual for her as she was literally one who had wings on her feet even if her shoes weren’t Jimmy Choos or Nikes.

“Oh my God” I said instinctively, knowing how tough it must have been  for her to make the trek from the station to home with a broken shoe ; our building was too close for a taxi ride and inconvenient for  the bus,so even if one had to trudge uphill, it was often the better option though not something I’d recommend with a broken shoe.

For Padma, nothing was really impossible so I should have known better that this was just a trifling matter for her. Coming from an affluent South Bombay family, Padma was born not with a golden spoon, blessed as she was with talents that were more than she could use. It would seem that at her christening the fairy godmothers were in no hurry to leave and gave her everything in plenty – good looks, a good brain, a good voice, a musical ear, a talent for sport, and an eye for aesthetics. She was also endowed with a good nature, a loving disposition and a great sense of humour. So if you had to describe her, it would just be and this and this and this and this with not a but anywhere on the horizon!

But Padma seemed no different really from the other girls in the neighbourhood – money perhaps has a way of glossing over all one’s faults and like all the rest went to school every day, went to the Club in the evenings and was groomed to eventually marry well and live the life their mothers lived – a life of easy living. So when Padma told her parents that she wanted to become a doctor, her parents were aghast! They were expecting her to follow her sister to Harvard or her brother to Cornell. Medicine? That was simply unheard of.

“Darling, with your talents you could easily become anything you wanted – an artist, a writer, a musician, a banker, a badminton champion? Why become a doctor? And why would you like to study here when you can easily go to America? Or to Vienna or to Paris?Why would you want to study Medicine in Navi Mumbai of all places?”

“Oh come on Ma”, she’d chided her, “You’re the only bimbo on this planet who’d encourage her daughter to be a disco dancer rather than travel beyond Worli. Besides, I want to live here so I’d rather study here”.

Thus saying, she continued with her quest to pursue medicine. Not once did she grumble about her daily trek to Navi Mumbai, changing three trains each way. Not once did she regret her decision to exchange Ivy League for ordinariness.  Her school friends were amazed at the seamless transition from South Bombay chic to middle class reality. She was an anomaly at college where her classmates found her diction too proper and her attitude too uppity while her school friends thought her stories about college too amusing and entertaining. She didn’t mind that she had to buy Bata’s Jelly Bellys while her sister had to buy Ughs.  Frankly, she didn’t care what people thought about her and continued with her passion for blood and pus.

“Oh, this is nothing aunty,” she told me looking at my shocked expression and continued telling me the story of how her shoe broke just as she stepped out of the train and she was lucky it didn’t fall off altogether!

Most girls who achieve things have to deal with adversity. They have to face opposition. They have to climb up facing backwards with their hands tied and eyes bound. But there are very few people like Padma  who despite having it all, choose to make a life of their choosing ,embracing their passion and making their and into something more.

I salute all those women who have it all and more, yet find it within them to motivate themselves to explore and exploit their talents and find their true meaning in life.

“This post is a part of #UseYourAnd activity at BlogAdda in association with Gillette Venus“.

I am also linking this to Write Tribe Pro Blogger Challenge.