Impact Of A Pivot

September 28, 2025

An average child’s greatest obstacle is unawareness. I have never been outstanding at anything. As a child, expecting to find passion in anything was pointless. I was surviving high school from one test to the next - unaware of what I liked or what I wanted to do in life. That’s when a pivot changed my life forever.

While a decision is an obvious choice, a pivot hides itself in the cornucopia of life. It is a choice that remains dormant, unless someone steps in to recognize the need to change course. In the seventh grade, we were first introduced to the subject of Computer Science (CS). It was no more than just another subject I needed to pass.

One warm humid evening, Baba came home to an abysmal CS test result. I was clearly struggling but for some reason, he was convinced that my poor result was a symptom of improper guidance rather than the more common reaction - my insufficient dedication and seriousness. Instead, Baba took a deeper look at things. He decided to teach himself Java and explain it to me, step by step, one day at a time - from haphazard class notes to college level readings.

Baba was known to be a gifted teacher, as his cousins fondly recall to this day. It was never only the method that set him apart though - it was also his outlook. In a society where being an engineer was not only expected but was the be-all-and-end-all, this was the single most radical permission I ever got from my parents: the permission to explore my interests. It took me through the meandering path through English majors, Law school, CS degree from an unknown college ultimately to a masters program abroad.

Tenacious people spend their lives searching for the one thing they are meant to do. I was just lucky. A bad test result and an observant parent, that’s all it took for me. Instead of punishment, he told me to find my passion. Instead of disciplining me, he gave me direction.

One day a few months later, I realized I was no longer struggling. It felt almost natural. It became the reason to wake up in the morning. The horizon expanded, opportunities became abundant. The deeper I went, the more I wanted. That ember he kindled raged into a life-long bonfire.

I naively thought it was always my own calling. In reality, my calling was a faint murmur deafened amidst life’s cacophony, unnoticed by myself even. The gift of a great parent is not to fix what is broken, but to reveal what is possible. The extraordinary impact of a pivot, the lifesaver of an average child.

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