Nagpur: A man from a remote village in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli has set an example of what one can achieve by sheer hard work and perseverance. Bhaskar Halami (44), who struggled to get one square meal as a child, is now a senior scientist in the Research and Development section of Sirnaomics Inc, a biopharmaceutical company in Maryland, USA.
Brought up in a tribal community in Chirchadi village in Kurkheda tehsil of Gadchiroli district, Bhaskar's journey is an inspiration to many. His journey to become a successful scientist has been fraught with obstacles and he has had many firsts to his name. He was the first science graduate from Chirchadi and the first from the village to earn a Master's degree and PhD.
Speaking to the media, Halami recalled that in the initial years of his childhood. "We had to struggle so much to even get one square meal. My parents till recently wondered how the family survived that phase when there was no food or work," he said. Some months in the year, especially monsoons, were incredibly tough, as there were no crops in the small farm that the family had and no work, he said.
"We would collect parsod (wild rice) and cook rice flour in water and drink it to fill our stomachs. This was not just us, but 90 per cent of the village had to survive this way," he said. His parents worked as house helpers as the produce from their small farm wasn't enough to feed the family. Things got better when Halami's father, who had studied till Class 7, got a job as a cook in a school.
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Halami did his early schooling from Classes I to IV at an ashram school in Kasansur, and after clearing a scholarship exam, he studied at the Government Vidyaniketan Kelapur in Yavatmal till Class X. "My father understood the value of education and ensured that my siblings and I completed our studies," he said. Later, he completed his B Sc degree from a college in Gadchiroli and obtained his Master's degree in Chemistry from Nagpur.
In 2003, he joined the renowned Lakshminarayan Institute of Technology (LIT) in Nagpur as an assistant professor. Despite passing the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) examination, Bhaskar's interest in research did not diminish. He went to America for his PhD and did research in DNA and RNA. The top researcher now receives at least a couple of e mails each week from recruiters scouting for talent in the field of DNA/RNA. Halami gives the credit for his success to his parents saying that the role of his parents was crucial as they worked hard and contributed their meagre earnings towards his education.
