"Sir, I want to see you for something important. When can I?"
"Sure thing" I said. "This Wednesday would be fine." He/she was my student, who had done MD some years ago. He/she had opted for running a coaching class for aspiring college students rather than practicing Obstetrics Gynecology. He/she was doing very well, probably much better than contemporaries who had gone into private practice. I wondered what he/she wanted from me.
He/she came on the Wednesday fixed for the meeting. Preliminaries over, he/she came to the point.
"Sir, I am expanding."
"That is nice."
"I want you to help me" he/she said.
"Huh?" I was surprised. "Your business is teaching college students. How can I help you?"
"The syllabus is changing. A lot of work has to be done... teaching sets, question and answer sets... I cannot do that alone."
"But you must have assistants" I said. I had an idea where the conversation was going, and wanted it to stop before it did.
"You could do a part of the work. The money will be good."
I was speechless.
"But I must tell you, I need the work done a certain way. Professor XXXXXXXXX had joined me to do this work. But he/she could not do it the way I wanted it. So I had to tell him/her to go."
I knew about this. This professor, a superspecialist in a surgical branch of medicine, had indeed taken up that work, possibly because the money was good. I had heard it had not worked out. Now I knew one side of the story.
"Thanks for the offer" I said. "But I am afraid I cannot do this. I don't need the money. I am making enough to eat four meals a day, commute to work and back, and buy the essentials for living. But even if I did not, I would not do this. I became an Obstetrician and Gynecologist because I loved that subject. I don't want do anything else in life. Best of luck."
He/she went away. I was hurt, not because I had been insulted, but because perhaps I had failed as his/her teacher in instilling in him/her the love for the subject that I had taught, and the values I believed I instilled in all of my students.I wondered where I had appeared inadequate so that he/she believed that I would prefer to do something else to make more money as he/she had done. Or was it the wealth he/she had amassed that gave him/her the idea that he/she could make that offer to me and I would accept it, and if I did not do well, he/she could ask me to go.
"Sure thing" I said. "This Wednesday would be fine." He/she was my student, who had done MD some years ago. He/she had opted for running a coaching class for aspiring college students rather than practicing Obstetrics Gynecology. He/she was doing very well, probably much better than contemporaries who had gone into private practice. I wondered what he/she wanted from me.
He/she came on the Wednesday fixed for the meeting. Preliminaries over, he/she came to the point.
"Sir, I am expanding."
"That is nice."
"I want you to help me" he/she said.
"Huh?" I was surprised. "Your business is teaching college students. How can I help you?"
"The syllabus is changing. A lot of work has to be done... teaching sets, question and answer sets... I cannot do that alone."
"But you must have assistants" I said. I had an idea where the conversation was going, and wanted it to stop before it did.
"You could do a part of the work. The money will be good."
I was speechless.
"But I must tell you, I need the work done a certain way. Professor XXXXXXXXX had joined me to do this work. But he/she could not do it the way I wanted it. So I had to tell him/her to go."
I knew about this. This professor, a superspecialist in a surgical branch of medicine, had indeed taken up that work, possibly because the money was good. I had heard it had not worked out. Now I knew one side of the story.
"Thanks for the offer" I said. "But I am afraid I cannot do this. I don't need the money. I am making enough to eat four meals a day, commute to work and back, and buy the essentials for living. But even if I did not, I would not do this. I became an Obstetrician and Gynecologist because I loved that subject. I don't want do anything else in life. Best of luck."
He/she went away. I was hurt, not because I had been insulted, but because perhaps I had failed as his/her teacher in instilling in him/her the love for the subject that I had taught, and the values I believed I instilled in all of my students.I wondered where I had appeared inadequate so that he/she believed that I would prefer to do something else to make more money as he/she had done. Or was it the wealth he/she had amassed that gave him/her the idea that he/she could make that offer to me and I would accept it, and if I did not do well, he/she could ask me to go.
