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.
I read somewhere: “Your life is a message to the world, makes sure it's inspiring”. To all those people who are currently struggling, always remember, “You are bound to win if you are crazy enough to believe you can!” This is my story, it’s full of big failures and some small victories. But out of all the stories, I have heard, I love this one the most. Obessed?-No I am not! Proud?- Very!
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