"Chemistry" means "mugga" is the conventional notion! So, I had a lot of skepticism when I decided to at least respect my father's request to major in chemistry instead of mathematics for my undergrad since I had already given up my parents' request to study medicine. You see, I had problem seeing oozing blood and I fainted on witnessing the dissection of a frog in my high-school. However, there are no regrets.

I can tell you that I managed to always find my own logical ways to redress the "mugga" issues; if nothing else, it could be as simple as connecting it to some funny sounding acronyms! I also tried to bring in as much mathematics and physics logic as I could into chemistry. And, guess what, today I am even addressing some of the frontline medical research problems in our laboratory -- which obviously does not involve oozing blood! Besides, it's all chemistry around us anyway, right? Starting from cooking down to the molecules!

So, you see, it is all in the perspective. If you put your mind to whatever you do and focus to look at it, in whatever the way you like to look around you, everything gets into the right place. There is no lesser logic or mathematics in chemistry than there are in any other branch of science. In fact the more you explore, the more you find them. So, keep looking for those connections and develop the eye to explore in your own mind and nothing can stop you from realising what Nelson Mandela's epitome has been: "I have a dream…"

Dr. Debabrata Goswami
M.Sc, IIT Kanpur
Ph.D, Princeton University