Which stream is it going to be for me, arts, commerce or science? This was the profound question I faced entering tenth grade in school. It occurred to me at that this choice was more of a fait accompli, knowing fully well that science would be the obvious choice as neither arts nor commerce could sustain my interest. Later on, I was compelled with a growing desire to study the biology of the various, fascinating species of the animal kingdom and also had this ambitious plan to study the behaviour of elephants. When I realized the practical limitations that it would involve, my interest quickly turned to the understanding of molecular pathogenesis of diseases of human interest like tuberculosis and cancer. In India tuberculosis is a major scourge of human mortality and I felt a certain moral responsibility towards understanding this ancient disease. It was heart wrenching to understand that one of the major factors that contributed to the prevalence of the disease was not just availability of medicines, but it was more of non-compliance of the patients. However, it is stunning to see the effectiveness of the national programmes at the grass roots level and how it has improved the quality of life for TB patients. Even though, my interest originated in conducting field research, I really enjoyed working in the lab and learning molecular biology and its applications in understanding mycobacterial pathogenesis. Presently, I am pursuing another area of interest in understanding the role of environmental carcinogens that cause cancer.
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