The Question of Biology

"Mie...you really wanted to be a lecturer from the beginning?"

Nora suddenly asked me yesterday, when I was busy indulging in my Batu Kurau's donut. I just came back from a fieldtrip to help with Fakhrul's on-going Master's experiment.

"What?"

"You wanted to be a lecturer right? Do you really love biology?"

"Not only biology...I love all sort of subjects...chemistry, mathematics, physics, all of them...although biology now is my favourite. But I’m kind of suck in maths".

"Really? I thought you excelled in maths?"

"Not exactly...I could do with reading subjects, such as biology...but maths is no reading subject. You cannot read maths. That's why I cannot go further with maths as the core subject. Why do you ask?"

"Nothing really. I thought maybe I had made a mistake by doing biology. Biology is leading me nowhere...not much interest, no job. After graduating (Bsc), I wanted to leave biology altogether...but now I have to take up biology again (sigh)".

"It's ok...it's an interesting subject actually. I took up biology quite late...I was 26 by the time I learned about Kreb’s cycle and the such. I never looked back since...no remorse either".

It's a bit difficult to do something that defies our interest, such as what Nora was doing right now. 

But I think it was just a temporary lapse in her passion. Knowing Nora all this while, she is surely a very hardworking and passionate person.

Her dip of interest in her current research will definitely dissipated when her research kicks into full gear. Biology is about life. Learning about life is akin to learning to live life to the fullest, to experience life, to explain life. What's more interesting than that?

Fawwaz arrived moments later. He was full of energy for our scheduled ping pong match.

For all I know, at 6.00 p.m every Thursday, ping pong is a far more important subject than biology. 

No question about that.