Into my fourth month of college and the memory of my first class still brings a smile to my face. To those readers who might wonder, let me say I am a student of Microbiology……….and to those who are wondering even more let me expand that Microbiology is the “study of micro-organisms”. I am sure by now I must have succeeded in putting off most of my faithful readers (especially since most of them aren’t science students!!), but I promise, if you show some patience even you’ll have a reason to smile.
As is expected, one steps into anything new with a lot of expectations and a lot of pre-conceived ideas. It was the same with me. Filled with a highly embossed picture of the life of a Research scientist had I taken up this subject. Little was I prepared for what was coming my way.
It was my first practical class and we were to prepare a slide of the bacteria Bacillus subtilis and observe it under the microscope. A lot of care went into preparing that slide – staining it, washing it, blot-drying it and then finally observing it under 450x magnification! A myriad images of those coloured pictures I had seen in books and encyclopedias, not to mention those endless science programs I used to feed on, on Discovery Channel flashed through my mind as I mounted my slide under the microscope and put my eyes to it.
Within minutes of successful focusing a wave of disappointment washed over me. All I could see was a mass of stain molecules and a few spattering of what looked to me like blue dirt particles! Not even Sir’s exclamation that it was a good slide and there were a lot of bacteria to be observed could make me feel better. This was nothing like what I had seen in books! It was only after some time that I realized that those “blue dirt particles” were in fact Bacteria. It took me quite a few more practical classes to get accustomed to the fact that I couldn’t really expect anything bigger and that this was what I had chosen to work with for the rest of my life- those miniscule things that looked nothing less than dirt!
It was this that made me realize that things are not always what they look like in print. Real life is all about a whole new vista and more than often it’s the little things, which matter.
Three months from then, and I can proudly say that I am in love with my subject, with what I’ve chosen to do. I love those teeny-weeny things. …those “blue dirt particles” of mine!
2 comments:
girl...i came across this one on a random board in a class in school.
"little things affect greatly in life.the proof is..u can sit on the top of a mountain but not on that of a pin!"
my love to you and all the teen weeny creatures which make up the three most beautiful years of your life...have fun!
i know dear,same here........i just so love my bacterias....................but actually i am biased towards E. coli more...dunno y, prhaps coz we use it so much in the lab.
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