From Struggling For One Square Meal To Becoming A Scientist, This Maharastra Boy's Story Is An Example For Many

As a child in a remote village in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli, Bhaskar Halami faced several challenges while growing up. From struggling to get one square meal to becoming a senior scientist in the United States (US), his life has taught many about what one can achieve with sheer determination and hard work under any circumstances.

Halami was brought up in a tribal community at Chirchadi village in Kurkheda tehsil. He now works as a senior scientist in the research and development section of Sirnaomics Inc. The biopharmaceutical company in Maryland, USA

conducts research in genetic medicines, and Halami looks after RNA (Ribonucleic acid) manufacturing and synthesis.

Many Firsts To His Name

Halami's journey to becoming a scientist in the US had several challenges and obstacles. He also has many firsts to his name as he was the first science graduate from his village and the first person to get a master's and PhD degree.

While recalling his initial days, Halami mentioned that his family survived on limited resources. He said, "We had to struggle even to get one square meal. My parents, till recently, wondered how the family survived that phase when there was no food or work," NDTV reported.

The family had a small farm, and some months in the year, especially monsoons, there used to be no crops, due to which they had no work to earn a livelihood. Halami added, "We cooked mahua flowers, which were not easy to eat and digest. We would collect parsod (wild rice) and cook rice flour in water (ambil) and drink it to fill our stomachs."

Notably, about 90 per cent of the villagers used to survive in a similar way. The Chirchadi village is home to around 450 families where Halami's parents worked as house helpers. Things started getting better (financially) when Halami's father got a job at a school in Kasansur tehsil (100 km away from home). The earnings helped Halami to get quality education and access to study materials.

Know More About Bhaskar Halami

After clearing a scholarship exam, he completed his primary schooling at an ashram school and attended the government-run Vidyaniketan till class 10 as it was not affordable for Halami's parents to send him to a private educational institute.

He completed his graduation in science from a college in his district and attended the Institute of Science in Nagpur to get a Master's degree in Chemistry. He was appointed as an assistant professor in 2003 at the LIT college, Nagpur.

Following this, he cleared the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) examination and remained focused on research and development (R&D). He went to the US to pursue a PhD course and chose RNA and DNA for his research.

He completed the PhD course at Michigan Technological University and became a potential candidate for all the job openings in the field of DNA/RNA research. He gives the credit for his successful career to his parents, who worked hard to contribute towards his education.

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