Infection or a Health Checkup?

It all started when I bought giant mushrooms from a street market in my hometown. I was happily cleaning the mushroom when I saw small worms in the inner umbrella of one of the mushrooms. My tribal housemaid saw me deeply observing the infected mushroom. She casually told me in the local language that “the mushroom lost the fight”. I didn't understand and looked at her blankly when she repeated it a few more times. Then suddenly it clicked in my mind and I had an ‘Eureka’ moment, as if I got the answer to all my long-awaiting questions. She was saying that worms and mushrooms were in a continuous fight for survival and the mushroom which was weak lost the fight and became host. Being from tribal origins, she is well acquainted with the phenomena of natural selection.

interview process

No matter how hard we try, the complete removal of any organism from the environment is impossible and unnatural. All the organisms live together to make an ecosystem in which every species is continuously fighting with some or other species. It is a phenomenon of natural selection in which the weak ones get targeted and removed from the system. This helps in maintaining the quality of species and balancing the overall ecosystem. The same phenomenon might happen at the microscopic level when the microorganisms interact with cells of higher organisms. During an infection, microorganisms might target and remove weak and damaged cells from the system. In response, the system creates new cells and fights back to overcome the infection. Therefore, the infection is not always a bad state and there are repairs and replacements occurring simultaneously.

All the microorganisms that are called pathogenic to humans are also an inherent part of the ecosystem. And every entity of an ecosystem is involved in natural selection of each other. Therefore, the human body may naturally be planned to allow microorganisms to check for the unhealthy cells and create space for the healthy ones. Once the system is all revived, we become immune to the same microorganisms for a long time. This is another aspect of infection to improve the longevity and immunity of the body.

Is it hard to believe or you have already thought about it? I would like to hear from you if you have ever experienced any improvement in your overall health after recovering from an infection.

This is thought-provoking but the evidence is everywhere. We just need to use a different eye to see infections as a health checkup.

Embrace the Uniqueness

The past few years have been tough on many and I am one of them. Post PhD, I was missing my work so badly that I started working as a freelancer to be in touch with science which is my passion. I was done with applying for PDF fellowships and lost in understanding of the biotech job market in my country. I heard many stories, took several pieces of advice from people already working in the biotech companies and approached countless people for recommendations. All this was sucking my soul away as I was going away from my passion and getting lost in the haze of the so-called “corporate world”.

When I calmed myself down, I realized I was not alone and many PhDs are feeling the same no matter in which phase of their career they are.

Many career counsellors are nowadays trying to help PhDs to join industries but they solely blame PhDs for their condition. It might be true but not fair. This is like blaming an athlete for not being able to walk slow with the crowd.

Not everyone has studied management, those who have, are the ones to understand the strengths and weaknesses of every degree and how to utilize it in managing a company. If we really want PhDs to sync with everyone else for bigger transformations then they must be accepted for their uniqueness. I am emphasizing here some of the issues that make me feel extremely uncomfortable to hear and experience.

• They are groomed differently: PhDs might be lacking the potential to market themselves or understand the requirements of the industrial sector but that’s not their fault. They are trained to be self-critical due to which they feel less confident when highlighting themselves (even when they are Nobel laureates).
• They are not their techniques: PhDs are researchers and not technicians who should be hired only for their technical expertise. We must not forget that they are the ones who invent techniques out of nowhere to get the desired result.
• They cannot be concise: They are the people who go into details and work with those details which must be treated as their strength. So, expecting a short and concise answer is not their forte.

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• They are the passionate: They are those driven people who left every pleasure in this world to be a PhD. It's their passion which makes them compromise even their salary or position to work in their area of interest. Their passion must not be taken as their weakness and lack of competitiveness.
• They are the asset: They are trained to be a scientist. In the real world if they have compromised on that dream and settled for your company then they must be valued and appointed for their unique abilities. They will be the ones in your company to wait for that last approach when everyone else will give up.

I always thought writing critically about an issue might give a wrong impression about me and I might be judged for being rude. I was wrong and now I am willing to embrace my uniqueness. I would want to be a part of a team where my critical thinking is appreciated.

I would like to hear more from you when you felt unaccepted or criticized for something you know is your strength and makes you unique.

How else we can call ourselves intellectuals!