“Hard work and dedication lead to a successful life, and dedication and commitment to the desired outcome, a goal you just can’t shake, are what life is all about”. This statement is true in the case of Achembath Shyni, an ordinary girl from a village on the Malabar coast of Kerala, who turned out to be a successful PET-CT radiographer/sonographer, now based in the United Kingdom. She keeps her dreams alive and has faith and belief in herself. Hard work, determination, and perseverance opened new vistas of life and career for Shyni.

Born in Chalakkara village in Mahe district of Puducherry, which is surrounded by the Kerala state in India, Shyni was not an extraordinary girl. She is the eldest of the four children of (late Achembath Narayanan) who ran a small bakery in their village to earn a living. She passed matriculation in 1990 in third class. Though she finished the pre-university course in humanities at a public university college in Mahe, she did not pass. Like most of the village girls of badly off families, at the age of 18, in 1994, Shyni was “given in marriage” to Ramesh, a Keralite young man from a nearby village, who was then employed as an electrician in Saudi Arabia. And, like the majority of expatriates working in the Middle East countries, Ramesh was not in a position to take his wife to Saudi Arabia due to the conditions of his employment contract. A few days after marriage, Ramesh had to return to his workplace abroad, leaving Shyni at his home in Kerala.  Until 1998, Shyni remained a homemaker. During those years, Ramesh used to visit his family in India once a year. He used to spend a month-long annual holiday with his wife and other relatives at home. Two years after her marriage, Shyni gave birth to her first daughter. When their daughter turned two years, Shiny started exploring the possibility of finding a job in Saudi Arabia, where she could join her husband. She learned that doing a paramedical course would help her to find a job in the Gulf country. 

To start with, Shyni successfully completed her Plus 2 in an open school and a two-year X-ray technician diploma course offered by a medical institute in south Kerala. With a diploma in radiography Shyni started working as an assistant in the radiography department of a local hospital in Thalassery near her village. She continued that job for almost seven years gaining practical experience in radiology. By that time, she had given birth to her second daughter. Shyni flew to Saudi Arabia in 2007 to join as a radiographer in Al Jedaani Group of Hospitals in Jeddah. She had to leave two of her daughters with her parents to join the radiographer job in Saudi Arabia. However, by the time Shyni reached Jeddah, her husband had to switch his employer and moved to Taif, another province far away from Jeddah. However, they used to meet twice a month for a day or two each time, though actual family life was still far from reality, as they did not have any chance to live under the same roof in Jeddah or Taif. 

In Jeddah, Shyni used to live in the shared accommodation provided by the hospital. She shared her hostel room with a group of Keralite nurses. However, being ambitious and motivated, Shyni wished to change her room and share an apartment in the opposite building with Mafoosa, an Egyptian nurse working in the same hospital. What prompted Shyni to take such a decision was her inquisitiveness to learn the Arabic language, which is crucial for any paramedic working in a Saudi hospital. The hospital authorities accepted her request and the result was that she learned to communicate in Arabic in three to four months, thanks to her roommate Mafoosa, who is a native Arabic speaker. Shyni recollects that, in three months, she began to narrate in Arabic, the stories of popular Malayalam movies to Mafoosa. 

Shyni served Al Jedaani Group of Hospitals in Jeddah as a radiographer for three years. “The hospital was a university for me. It was my first overseas job. It gave me exposure to new cultures, new people, and new technologies related to my field. I got exposed to the latest CT scan, sonography, mammography, and fluoroscopy techniques”, Shyni said. In the meantime, her supervisor in the department, a Keralite, mentioned that a diploma qualification would soon become obsolete in the field of radiography as new as new medical imaging techniques are emerging and advanced courses are popping up across the world. The friends started exploring the possibility of upgrading their educational qualifications to prepare themselves for the future. Two years after joining Jeddah hospital, Shyni registered her name as a candidate for BSc in Radiology through lateral entry offered by Vinayaka Mission University in Bengaluru, India. In 2012, she completed the degree and came through with flying colours. 

However, a year before, Shyni had left her job in Saudi Arabia and joined Starcare Hospital in Muscat, Oman as the radiology department in charge, thanks to her diploma qualification and a decade of experience in India and Saudi Arabia. She played a key role in expanding the services of the department. In recognition of her meritorious service, in 2014 the hospital administration supported Shyni in securing a postgraduate diploma in medical sonography technology offered by a Canadian university. To gain hands-on experience in highly advanced ultrasound technologies, she flew all the way to Dhaka in Bangladesh from Muscat, taking short study vacations from the hospital at regular intervals. In 2015, she passed PG diploma in medical ultrasonography diagnostic with a first-class. 

Shyni’s quest for knowledge in the area of expertise and advancement of her qualifications did not stop there. Her organization suggested that if she had an MSc degree in radiation technology that would give her the authority to sign the diagnostic reports. From 2015 to 2017, Shyni completed her MSc in radiation technology from NIMS University, Jaipur that is one of the top medical and technological universities in India. She did not compromise for anything below a first class this time too! 

And where is Shyni now? In 2020, Shyni was hired as PET-CT mobile radiographer by Alliance Medial service Limited, an NHS contractor in the United Kingdom and the Europe. She is currently based in Southampton. In her organization, Shyni is the only Indian female radiographer working in PET-CT mobiles. The job provides her with ample opportunity to explore and gain experience from several NHS hospitals. The job involves the best work perks and benefits such as lucrative salary and overtime pay, accommodation in big hotels where ever she is working and free food voucher for off-site duty, free premium cars to commute, and so on! 

Shyni is a classic specimen for women who have overcome odds and challenged adversity. She personifies dream and dedication: dreams do not come true just because you dream them. It’s hard work that makes things happen. It’s hard work that creates change.

Disclaimer : The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of TAS and TAS does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.