Doctor Vs Travel Blogger – My story of how I manage to Vlog while running a full time clinic.

Most of you reading this are either still studying or are in jobs that are not fulfilling enough. In this blog I will be sharing with you guys my past, of how I became a doctor, and in the process found my passion for travel. My present, where I run a full-time clinic and manage to vlog at the same time. My future plans on what I hope to do one day if life gives me a second chance. 

Past

My Story Starts in 10th standard when I was in school. Everything up until then was very good. School was a lot of fun as I was in boarding school. Some of the best years of my life were spent there, and I will always cherish that for the rest of my life. I was just above average at studies and also excelled in sports, where I reached state and national levels in Tennis, Table Tennis and Swimming.  And just for fun, I had also started playing football, where I truly fell in love with the beautiful game.  1999 was the year when Manchester United won the treble, Giggs, Scholes, Beckham, Sheringham and Solksjaer were my childhood heroes. 

 

During 10th Standard, we were asked to choose the subjects that we liked and wanted to study in the future. Basically it was time to decide whether you wanted to be a Doctor, Engineer or a Businessman.  In retrospect when you think about it, at that age  I was not even sure about my favorite video game, how did the education system ask us to decide what we wanted to be in the future ? This is where I think the Indian education system is flawed, so many children are forced to decide their paths so early in their lives before they have realized their true calling.  It’s not even that we can change paths midway, the system makes it impossible to change paths once you have started walking on it.  

As I was very poor at mathematics, my parents are also doctors and had no background of business in the family, the only obvious choice for me was to take biology in 11th and 12th standard.   

Like most biology students, I ended up studying medicine and 8.5 years later I was officially, Dr. Shashvat Joshi M.D.  I studied in Mumbai and during that period, I made some really good friends. These 8.5 years were very grueling with 24 hours of hospital shifts, deliveries, ICU monitoring and so much more. But that was not the highlight of my college years.   

During 4th year of my under graduation, I had a chance to do a Mumbai – Ladakh motor cycle road trip.  This I am talking about 8 years back when Ladakh was not very popular, not yet commercialized and just pure and raw nature.  I had my own personal motorcycle and it was trip that completely changed my outlook towards life. I was a completely different person after that epiphanic road trip.   I realized that I was blindly running after something that the society and world demanded out of me and making me believe that it would be  a source of happiness. But when I was amidst  the mountains, I had never been happier and had  found my true calling.

By then I was already into the 4th year of my medical school and too late to change career paths or do anything about it. So after that road trip whenever I found time to embark upon a journey i would not miss it.  Since then I have been on a road trip to Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh, North Eastern states of India and even Bhutan on my motorbike.  Somewhere between this craziness I managed to squeeze in a once in a lifetime trek to Mount Everest base camp.  And witnessing the sun rising from behind mount Everest has to be the highlight of my life so far.

During a regular week, I go to the clinic 6 days a week and during the weekends, I record and edit all my videos.  Also in my free time, I research and learn on video making and editing techniques. I am always looking to  improve my skills with the camera.  Also during the weekends I love watching football. Most weekends I spend getting angry and shouting at my favorite football club Manchester United. They have been in such an abysmal form off late. Lets hope things change with the new manager.   Apart from that, I love riding my bike. I have a Benelli TNT 300 since 5 years now and i absolutely love it.

This blog and and the YouTube channel I only started like a few months back, and honestly I am over whelmed with the kind of response it is getting. I have to thank each and everyone of you for this. I wanted to do this some time but honestly i got the courage from the wife’s nephew, who started his YouTube channel. He is only like 8 years old and I was really inspired from him.   All this is really new for me and I am learning it once step at a time.