The story goes back to first year of my BSc degree in Biotechnology (2004) at G. H. Raisoni National College. There were about 100 odd students in the whole batch divided into two parts (i.e. Section A & B), based upon arguably unfair basis. The basis here was, the better the student's HSSC percentage, the more his chances of going into Section A and if its less than, the needle would start pointing towards Section B. I was in 'A section', which was officially regarded as the class of 'only academically good and intelligent' students. The atmosphere within the class was kind of easy initially as the students were trying to adjust to new conditions but as the regular battle of academic supremacy started, the competition went from bad to worse. I won't comment on others but, I was definitely looking forward to some "chin-music". Opportunities were hard to come by and what ever did manage to come, were seized by all four limbs! By opportunity, I mean chances which may bring you some "self-glory" and help you in leaving some serious impression on your lecturers and fellow-students. I was a part of small group of 'intellectually' bullish people who are often called 'geeks' in the west! Most of the times when we were in class, our best efforts would evaporate in a pursuit to answer as many questions asked by the lecturer as possible and sometimes go to an extent of asking the lecturer so many questions that they would go back in their cabin and weep! It sounds quiet unfortunate but thats the way it was!
In middle of this demon battle, came a small in-house scientific poster competition. It was just a small competition, meant to impart certain transferable skills of scientific poster presentation to the undergraduate students within our department. This was definitely one of those opportunities for which all of the 'geeks' and people looking to show their mantle to lecturers were eagerly waiting for. My small group of friends, namely Shinjini, Shuvro and Megha decided to form a group for making this poster and presenting it to the lecturers. Definitely there were no big prizes for the taking, but as mentioned previously there was lot more on stake than just stuff rapped in a glittering paper! This was a chance for the students to establish some reputation in the class and start dictating terms to others. I wouldn't regard this to be a mindset for Shinjini, Shuvro or Megha but I certainly endorsed those feelings. For me, it was all about putting some impression on the class and the lecturers, particularly my mentor, Dr. Syed O. Qureshi (He got a doctorate later, at that time he was still doing his PhD and teaching us cell biology). One thing that was good in the competition was, you were free to pick-pocket any topic of your choice for making a poster. I don't quiet remember the discussion that our group had regarding the poster's topic but what I definitely remember is that we were more inclined towards a topic that was flexible, comprehensive and related to our current curriculum.
After a very brief discussion, it was decided that we would make a poster elucidating various cellular and subcellular features of a typical procaryotic cell (No prizes for guessing that it was Escherichia coli!). The poster that was supposed to made for this competition was not the printed one that is often produced for international or national scientific symposiums but a rather crafty one. We decided to use our craft talent to produce a meaningful scientific story out of water colors, thermo-col, plastic, chart paper, glue and scissors! As an undergraduate in the city of Nagpur, if we were to embark upon a microbiology related stuff, needless to say our basic reference book was almost always, the 'classic' General Microbiology textbook authored by Professor C. B. Powar. I regarded that book as very comprehensive at that time but I only discovered later that how frustratingly out-dated it was! However, as an undergrad, I guess it almost always managed to help us through our basic tests and exams. During our work, the poster crafting was something that was done by all four of us while the poster narration or description part was shared in bulk between me and Shuvro. The plan was quiet simple, the poster was supposed to be presented in 4 parts but it kind of ended up as 3 parts one for both the girls and other two for me and Shuvro! At that time I and Shuvro thought, that it was alright but I guess I later realized it was a bit unfair to Shinjini and Megha. Our work-place for this poster was a rather unconventional one! It was the room of one of our fellow-colleague, Komal. The schedule for making this poster was quiet hectic. All four of us were supposed to complete our college (which was from 9am to 5pm or 9am to 2.30pm) and then come down to Komal's room for working on the poster.
The work on the poster lasted for almost 10 days. I remember there were many of those dog & cat fights between me, Shuvro, Shinjini and Megha. I use to have a lot of those with Shinjini. I kind of enjoyed them because Shijini was quiet intelligent and pricking here would actually give me an opportunity to learn some new things that I would otherwise miss while reading books. She use to study more than all of us and I guess that was the reason why she thought that she had the ticket to the party all the time! I think that was fitting and alright but with Shuvro as my ally I use to pretend otherwise. Things went smoothly and after a lot of hard-work we came up with a great poster which would make even a printer sweat! Then came the D-day, the day of our presentation. All was set, things were well-versed and we were ready to go.
We stuck up our poster on the laboratory wall and as the "judges" (they were some lecturers from within the Post-graduate department) came in, everybody started explaining their own posters, one-by-one till our chance came (actually at the end of it all). So than we started explaining the various anatomical features of a typical bacterial cell (as planned!). Everything was going according to plan until when Shuvro who is often obsessed with the habit of crossing the line now and then decided to show some of his brain power which later proved to be quiet embarrassing! It was very well discussed before the presentations that nobody will talk about things they are not completely sure of but, Shuvro was probably not listening properly. While he was explaining about the cell wall of bacterial cell, he suddenly touched upon the terms 'Protoplasts' and 'Sphaeroplasts'. Needless to say, we all were caught in no man's land! One of the judges actually caught hold of the nervousness and whoomp! came the question. Everybody went quiet since these terms were never planned to be discussed. This was extremely embarrassing. Though our group got the highest points yet this single incident taught me something, "Speak only what you are completely sure of"! The presentation was great and at least I was able to get some reputation going for myself. The reputation that I carried brought me the opportunity which also later turned out to be the spark that started everything else in my whole career.
(ABOVE INCIDENT CONTINUES IN PART II: The Unfortunate Spark).
