From the scratch (Part 1)

“(½) I would say I sort of grew up in an academic environment. My grandfather, who was a high school teacher, had a strong influence on me. He had this humongous collection of books which he had read through and through, and whenever my brother and I asked him a question, he used to point us to the corresponding book and we would then read it together. The other influence came from my great-grandmother. She wasn’t educated formally however she was a treasure trove of folk and mythological tales. She had even started a school for girls in Bangalore back then. Growing up, therefore, I developed a knack for learning things.

The interest of doing research, however, only developed after I went for my Bachelor’s. We had an excellent Zoology department in my college which made me love the subject. We were given the freedom of going into the laboratories and doing whatever we felt like. Along with a couple of my friends, I did these small projects of growing earthworms by mixing and matching different kinds of components and seeing what helped them grow the best. Interestingly, only two of our professors had a PhD degree but it didn’t matter. The kind of education they provided us instilled my inclination towards research.

I did formal teaching for a year post my Master’s before enrolling myself into a PhD program. I was a total novice when I started out. On the first day of my…