MAHARASHTRA: It was not a simple journey for this tribal boy from the Naxalite area of Chandrapur in Maharashtra, who once wanted to be an IAS officer, but then went on to become a genetic scientist in the United States. Bhaskar Chhintaman Halami completed his primary school at his small village in Chandrapur. “It was a difficult journey for me. I always craved to do something big, but had no idea about what that big was,” 42-year-old Halami said.
Recalling his early days, Halami said that his father used to work as a cook at a local school. “My father was often mocked for being a cook. However, he was determined to provide the best education to his three children."
"Being the oldest, I had this responsibility to be good enough so that I can motivate my younger ones also,” Halami added.
“Once a district collector visited my father’s school, after that my father would always tell me to become a district collector. As a child growing up in a little town, I had no idea about collectors and how to become one. My mother used to call the collector a Callander. She also used to tell me one day I should be Callander, a big Callander,” he recounted.
“After I completed my graduation in science, I got an idea of who a collector is. I then started preparing for the UPSC. No one was there to guide me so I would consider everyone’s recommendation of books. I had decided that I had to become an IAS officer,” recalls Halami.
After completing his graduation in Chandrapur, Bhaskar decided to go to Nagpur for higher studies. His aim was to get a hostel at a university and study for UPSC.
“I got admission to a university’s M.Sc. programme so I could stay at the hostel. I cleared the PSI state board competitive exams but failed in the first year of M.Sc. I still wanted to be a collector. Then I visited my village, and I realized that focusing on one target would not solve my problems. I had to balance my M.Sc and preparations for civil service. But things were not working as per plan,” Halami lamented.
He later applied for an overseas scholarship and got selected. “This scholarship opened up new opportunities, and I got admission in PhD at Michigan University in the USA. Then I realised that I had achieved something ‘big’ that I had been aspiring for since childhood... Not a collector, but a scientist in genetic medicine,” he added.
He said that genetic scientists are finding medicine for rare diseases. “There are many types of cancer, some of them are curable at the nascent stage, but most of them are still waiting for precise medicine. Chemotherapy is not a viable option. This treatment badly damages your other body organs. We want precise medicine that can be injected where the problem is in the body,” he added.
He said that in India, they are yet to start work on genetic studies. “Once I achieve tangible knowledge of genetic diseases and medicines, I will surely work for India,” he signed off.