https://careernaksha.com/blogs/career-counselling-phd-small-town-biotechnology-bioengineering-speaker-motivation-failures-tale
A small village boy with big dreams in eyes and fire in the belly, that’s who I am. Tall, Brown and Handsome is what they call me (‘they’ is my nickname)! My name is Jitendra Pant. I am 30 years old, a Scientist by profession (at Univ of Georgia), an upcoming cofounder of a Biomedical Device company in the US, a singer by hobby and an upcoming novelist (“A fool who ate his hunger-watch out).
Life with sacrifices and rejections.
I grew up in Ramanagar, now popularly known as Corbett City in the district of Nainital, India. My father, a forest guard (retired in Feb’ 2012) by profession and my mother, a homemaker together nurtured three of my sisters and me in Ramanagar. My father was a guard and above all, a very honest man and we were poor (my father uses to make 3000 Rs/month when I was in school). I struggled for the little things that my friends would get very easily. ‘Pocket money’, this word only existed in TVs for me. As a kid, I have spent many days, gulping my saliva standing next to a fast food shack. Inside the expensive branded shoes that I wear today, I still have callus in all my toe fingers, that were formed during my childhood, as I didn’t have a choice but to wear the same pair of shoes for many years until the cobbler has completely given up on them. On top of that, my mother had a chronic illness, that exists to date. Ever since I started to understand life, it didn’t seem fair to me. I had a belief though, which sounded foolish back then; I knew, “I won’t die in scarcity, I knew I won’t live an unhappy life forever, my day will come”.
My eldest sister waived the path for all other siblings by taking a lot of household responsibilities on herself, while devotedly taking care of our sick mother. For me and my siblings, education was the only hope to lead a good life. My two elder sisters were great in studies, they laid a good foundation for me that I had to follow. I don’t think, I am intellectually sound, but I worked hard in school and college. I started giving tuitions when I was in 5th grade. More than money, it gave me hope for tomorrow. My plan for life was: finish school, do a professional course and get a white-collar job, pretty straight, isn’t it? I wish it was!
Like my sisters, my schooling was mostly covered by fellowships. With my elder sister’s financial support, I started B.Tech in Biotechnology at ICFAI University, Dehradun in 2006 (back then it was among a handful of schools nationwide that has biotechnology in engineering). During my final year, I worked very hard spending hours in the library studying for GATE dreaming about a Master in IIT. For the score, I got, I had no chance in any of the IITs. It was a big shock for me, I didn’t know what to do next. Fortunately, my hard work was not in vain, I was hired at Biocon, Bangalore (it’s another interesting interview story). At Biocon, I would hear inspiring stories of successful managers, team lead and the founder Dr Kiran Majumdar Shaw. Looking at these big shots, I was once again, motivated to do higher studies. With my grades in B.Tech and ongoing experience, in one of the biggest Biotech Company in the world, I foolishly assumed that anyone would hire me. I failed miserably!
I started with my first PhD application with A*STAR, Singapore (NUS, NTU) in 2011, I got rejected. GRE, TOEFL, IELTS, online applications, there was no one to guide me for. Moreover, I didn’t have money for application fees. By compromising on my meals and lifestyles, I saved money to spend on the internet, postal charges and applications fees. I have literally fed myself breakfast throughout week (form many weeks) with just one 5 Rs. Crème biscuit. I applied to many Universities worldwide, for the next two years, I kept getting rejected. UK, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, Turkey, Israel, India (TIFR, IISC) I got rejection after rejection with some intermittent signs of minor success. Nothing worked out for me. When you face such time, you are surrounded with frustration, and anger, I was no different. But I didn’t have too much time to cry, it had to work. I realized I am not ready for a PhD and decided to do a master’s instead. This time I applied to many Universities in Germany. Rejections after rejections again. Finally, I was accepted for a Master’s in Biotechnology at BITS-Pilani University in 2014. It’s a great University but was not fitting my dream of studying abroad. Moreover, after spending my money in applications, I didn’t have much savings left to pay the tuition fee beyond two semesters. However, I had a small hope that BITS collaboration with international universities might work out for me.
At BITS, I faced a different type of challenge, I was not ready for. I was older than most of my peers in Masters. They had come straight out of college and I had come after working for 3 years in the industry. I had to face many questions such as “How old are you?” How did you leave such a good company? Were you fired? Some would call me uncle, others bhaiya. Faculty members had very high expectations from me while my peers thought I ask stupid questions in the class. They were not wrong though; I had forgotten so much during all these years that some of my questions were actually too basic for those bright minds. PhD students would find ways to question my intelligence, I have seen them laughing at my face. I laughed back at them (in my mind) knowing my day will come soon. It was getting difficult for me to make friends. Not all of them were bad though-I have made some friends for life in BITS. By the end of the semester, I turned out to be the topper of the class, scoring straight “As”, was selected among 25 students worldwide for a workshop in Germany and was accepted for my master’s thesis in the US. In the meanwhile, I received a double fellowship (fee waiver+ month allowance) that kept me going financially. This was a turning point, I was taken a bit more seriously now.
15 publications, 7 patent apps, 20+ awards in record 3.3 years.
Finally, after 200+ rejections between long frustrating 4 years (2011-2015), I was accepted for a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Georgia under the guidance of Dr Hitesh Handa (who is now one of my very close friends, I love him). The joy of final triumph put me into tears. This was just the beginning; I had a lot to prove to myself. It worked out well. I defended my theses in Nov’ 2018 within 3 years and 3 months of record time with 15 publications, 7 patent application is US patent office and more than 20 awards. During my convocation, I was shortlisted as the final convocation speaker and had an opportunity to share my journey with the world (Link is here). In the meanwhile, I had the opportunity to be interviewed for some postdoc positions at MIT, Harvard and Brigham’s Women Hospital. It was not just my victory alone, it was the victory of a 10-year-old boy and his family. But fortune had something else for me. I got the opportunity to be a co-founder with Dr Handa to start a Biomedical Company in Georgia. More than anything, it was my friendship with him that I finally made my mind to stay with the company. So finally, here I am working passionately towards making this Nitric Oxide (NO) technology-based company save millions of lives. My PhD work recently resulted in two TEDx talks.
Comments