Young Researcher Award

Here's to another achievement of my life.

Not a big deal, but it means a lot to me as I've always wanted to contribute towards the betterment through science at a young age.

Last year, my post graduate research was nominated among achievements by Young researchers in India. From among 2k + nominations, I was privileged enough to receive this Title along with 499 others who had worked on significant and novel research in their field of expertise.

Did you know how my post grad research journey began ? :

Not gonna lie, but when I started my post grad research, all I got to hear from my seniors and colleagues was "It's gonna be worthless to struggle so much to work on a research topic for a Master's degree. It's better if you reserve that topic for your PhD. There's no need to put in so much effort for something that's not as important as getting a degree, it's only gonna get you depressed for real. You should stop being overwhelmed with your research topic for god's sake and study for theory subjects instead."

From listening to people say this to me, to doing what I wanted to do, I completed my post grad research.

The ones who know me personally know that I listen to everyone's suggestions and opinions but follow what I want to. This is what gave me the courage to stay strong through the criticism of all the ones going against my decision to struggle for my post grad research.

Know how it ended :

Focusing on the bright side first, it ended with 1 research paper in an International journal with 200+ reads and 2 National awards.

Talking about the dull side, as a matter of fact, I struggled a lot throughout my Master's research dissertation. I was not only depressed, but also lonely in the journey of beginning a topic that I liked till achieving the best through it. Yes, my seniors and colleagues were right. I was depressed for real. But well, they were wrong in terms of the rest of the things they said to me. I never felt the need to focus more on theory subjects as compared to my research work. I was definitely overwhelmed with the idea of waking up to doing experiments that would end in getting answers to something I was questioning for a while. The 9 months of my Master's research dissertation were just like the ups and downs of an ECG. Without which, of course I wouldn't have achieved what I have today.

So when people advise you against something that you're really confident in doing, go with what you want to; because oops is always better than a what if.

Yes, the probability of failing at my research, ending up in P>0.05, Zero publications, no support or guidance, depression were as much as the probabilities of publishing my research paper, receiving 2 awards for the same. But instead of focusing on what worse path could my choice land me in future, I chose to go with the unknown with a hunch, because belief & confidence in myself and perseverance during my research was more important than the opinions of people who never chose to struggle.

I would like to thank my Research guide Dr. Bhaskar Saha (Department of Life sciences and Biochemistry, St. Xavier's College) who is also the Corresponding Author of this Research publication.

My mentors are Dr. Mugdha Harmalkar and Dr. Ashish Dabade (Department of Food Science and technology, DY Patil deemed to be University) for their constant support and guidance.

My family, close friends and critics for motivating, supporting and believing in me in my Master's research dissertation journey. Your support has been unparalleled.

Stepping out of the comfort zone to enter the unknown, taking risks by breaking the barriers of what have been followed for a long time is what fetched me this title today.

Because as per T.S. Elliot, only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.

So break the barriers to achieve what you want to. Because oops are always better than what ifs. If you win, you win, if you lose, you learn.

- Rachna Jadhav

@theresilientresearcher