Looking back on the last 5 years: Dedicated to my students

IISER Bhopal Campus

I remember my first day at IISER Bhopal on 31st Jan. 2019. I had just arrived, all jet-lagged and groggy eyed. I filled up all the forms, met the HOD of my department and was taken to my new office. Thereafter, I was asked to go to the Chirayu Hospital for a medical check-up, was asked to fill up some more forms upon my return to campus and left to my own devices. However, I did not have a bank account, a phone number, a PAN card and most importantly, good internet (hah!). Procuring all these over the course of the next 10 days led to varying levels of frustration with the Indian system. It was a reverse cultural shock in some sense and made me question my decision of coming back to India. I think it is fair to say that my postdoctoral experience in the US had left me drained and this new life here was not helping in making me feel better. I was like a fish out of water, not able to find comfort anywhere.

The next few months of my professional life were a struggle where I was slowly made aware of the levels of bureaucracy in the Indian system. So, you want to buy a computer, a chair, a basic printer, here is all the paperwork you need to do. While you're at it, please know that a printer is a non-consumable item under the Non-Recurring head and the paper and printer cartridge are consumable items under the Recurring head. What the hell are all these terms! Several of the paperwork I filled up were returned with comments about how I had entered the wrong things. You need lab space or money for your work, here's some more paperwork, proposal submission and committee recommendations you need to seek! You slowly learn to navigate and negotiate through all this, with the hope that if you take care of one more thing, you will finally be able to begin working on your independent research problem!

Summer 2019, L to R: me, Sushmita, Aditi and Shoubhik

The first few months of my time here was also the period where I wrote and submitted several grant proposals for various funding opportunities, aggressively tried to hire both Masters and PhD students and tried to build my lab here. The first set of students finally joined me in my research endeavours in the summer of 2019. It was a small cohort of a couple of Masters students (Sushmita and Aditi) and a summer intern (Shoubhik). We were now officially a research group, albeit a small one. Gradually, we also formed a routine, with daily updates and discussions on how to proceed further, weekly group meetings to review recent literature related to our research problems, followed by coffee sessions with casual non-science conversations. Being part of this group infused new energy into me and suddenly the thought of being in India to carry out independent research was not daunting anymore. We worked as a team and learnt from each other. 

Snapshot of the lab in 2020

It was during this period that I was finally also assigned a lab space wherein to carry out experiments. Then, in August of 2019, two PhD students (Abhilasha and Khursheed) chose to join me (lucky me!). Our group had now grown from 1 to 5 in a span of six months and I couldn't be happier.  These two literally set up the entire lab with me from scratch! All the equipment, computers, glasswares, pipettes, every single item, as they say from pin to plane was set up by the three of us! We purchased so many things in a span of two years, we were bound to make some mistakes as well, but we learned from them and made better purchases the next time. A little more than one year mark and COVID hit us. The lockdowns came and went in waves, we had to close the physical shop and almost every member of my group caught the virus at least once, some even twice. However, we tried to make the best of the situation and continued our group meetings and discussions online. With a little discipline and a lot of intent, we actually managed to get our first papers published during the lock-down. Despite the grim atmosphere everywhere, this was exhilarating, providing us with the necessary motivation to do more once the lock-down lifted. :)   

Snapshot of the lab in 2022

We began our work with new vigour, when things finally got back to normal after a series of lock-downs. More students joined us in our endeavour. The wonderful aspect here is that some of the students who interned with me returned for their Masters thesis research. It was a validation that I was at least doing something right, that good students chose to return to our group for longer periods of research. I am grateful to my students for creating such a welcoming atmosphere in the lab that short term students wanted to come back for longer projects.

April 2021, L to R: Gouri, Abhilasha, Anand, Khursheed, me, Shoubhik, Tushar, Ayushi

November 2021, Top to Bottom and L to R: Kartikey, Utkarsh, Khursheed, Tushar, Shoubhik, Abhilasha, Deepika, Anand, me

April 2023, L to R and clockwise: me, Tushar, Mihir, Anand, Khursheed, Binil, Debasish, Abhilasha and Srinibash

November 2023, L to R: Harshita, Shivam, Khursheed, Binil, Debasish, me, Ashish, Charu, Abhilasha and Nafisa

Current group, April 2024, Back to Front and L to R: Khursheed, Sharan, Charu, me, Harshita, Binil, Ashish, Abhilasha, Ankita, Debasish, Shivam and Nafisa

Over the course of these 5 years, as a team, we faced rejections as well as experienced triumphs. We have learned to navigate the referee reports, the grants, the failures and the successes better. Navigating through the paperwork is still a work in progress though (haha!!). Our lab has graduated several Masters students and hopefully, the first set of PhD students will also be graduating soon. I too hope to have been a better mentor with each passing year. My students, over the years, have taken on more responsibility and displayed greater initiative in starting new projects. Our team has only gone from strength to strength. I feel so lucky to have had them with me.   

Finally, I would like to emphasize that the independence among individuals, yet cohesiveness within the group was possible only because they learned from team members while still having their backs. This growth in the team has fostered well in these last six months, when I've not been able to devote as much time as I would like. I gave birth to my daughter in December of 2023. And therefore, being on maternity leave, recovering from child-birth and getting used to being a mother has meant that there's not much time or energy left for work. A woman who has a career and especially one in academia always wonders if the maternity break will hamper her work and halt the progress made so far. I had my share of doubts and insecurities too. Although immensely joyful and satisfying, it has indeed been a tiring six month period. However, my students not only helped me with all the administrative paperwork that needed to be carried out in order to run a lab, but also showed great discipline and diligence towards their research. They kept me updated with their progress even when I did not have the bandwidth to follow up with them. For this and much more than words can express, I am eternally grateful.  

March 2024, Artwork by students to celebrate 5 years of CEBP Lab :)

So, let's raise our glasses and cheer for our team as I look forward to having many more fruitful years of good science ahead of us. The start has been wonderful, but the best is yet to come! :) :)

xxRS