This 29- year-old Kashmiri is basking in Lindau – not just in the pleasant warmth of the balmy and quaint coastal town on Lake Constance, but more importantly, in the company of a galaxy of role model-scientists, and all Nobel Laureates, too! Moreover, Syed Khalid Yousuf, born and brought up in the strife-torn Valley of Kashmir, is engaging with up to 600 high-end science researchers like himself from around the world, exchanging ideas, sharing experiences and forging networks. And this is the very first time he has set foot outside India.
How did he embark on this dazzling journey?
Khalid completed his PhD in Chemistry in February 2012, at the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Srinagar. When he enrolled for a PhD here in 2007, his supervisor was Dr Devaraj Mukherjee – who went to Lindau in the first batch from India in 2001, to participate in the Nobel Laureates meeting with students from all around the world. “When he told me about the Lindau meeting and how you could meet so many Nobel Laureates and learn from them, I got really inspired. Imagine interacting with Nobel Laureates! Since 2007 I have been thinking of Lindau and waited to publish papers so that I could be shortlisted. I applied in November 2012”.
What kind of preparation s did Khalid do before the Lindau meet? “I went through the list of Nobel Laureates who are to attend this year – I researched material to know what their research topics were. I have published papers on the Suzuki Effect, so I am very keen to meet with Dr Akira Suzuki who shared the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2010 with Richard F Heck and Ei-ichi Negishi for their independent work on palladium-catalysed cross couplings in organic synthesis,” says Khalid, excitement writ all over his face.
Khalid was offered a fellowship in Japan earlier for one and half years. “My ticket was booked March 27, 2012 but in the meantime I was interviewed for the Inspire Faculty award and the possibility of winning it was quite high. The Inspire Faculty award of the Government of India’s Department of Science and Technology – a five year fellowship of Rs 80,000 and a contingency payout of Rs Seven lakh per year. And he did get the award. Explains Khalid, “ My area of work is total synthesis of bioactive natural products. See, 80 per cent of drugs in the market are natural derivatives and I am doing research on natural product synthesis. The Himalayan region is rich in natural products – we need to examine, how to convert them to better molecules? All this is basically for drug development.”
Khalid’s father was head clerk at the Government Medical College Srinagar (SMHS Hospital). In when Khalid was studying in the fourth standard, his father got caught in crossfire during the militancy — and died. “I am single – my family consists of my mother and sister – Mom is a homemaker and sister Bazlah studies in the Twelfth Standard. When father died Mom did tailoring work from home and her brother (my uncle) helped us a lot. Now I am the only breadwinner in the family.”
Khalid went to a local government-run school that was free till class 8. “In the Ninth Standard I began working after school 4 pm – would pluck apples in orchards or work in paddy fields. Once I passed Class 12, I began to tutor children in junior classes. Then I graduated and went on to do MSc, and later, PhD.”
Why did Khalid choose to do high-end scientific research when it would have been far easier for him to get employed or even study medicine and become a medical doctor? “My father was very poor. He would say to me, ‘I want you to become a doctor but not the kind of doctor that gives injections. Not a medical doctor but doctor of another kind!’ My father was impressed with the other category of docs who did so much research, and who seemed far more dedicated that medical doctors (according to him). My dream was to fulfil his dream – I worked hard with the goal to do something for my mother and sister,” says Khalid.
Khalid’s resolve to get into research got stronger when in 2004 he visited Kolkata with a friend who sold shawls. “There I visited Science City and the Indian Institute of Science. I went to Jadhavpur University — I got so inspired, and everyone advised me to go for research.”
Khalid says he has been lucky as well. And how is that? “I applied for a passport in 2011. On June 4 the German embassy in Delhi rejected my passport because my first name was in the surname space and surname was in first name space on page one. They told me to get a new passport made. I went back to Srinagar passport office and stated the case to the officer there, showed him all my CV and other papers, the invite to Lindau -– he was very impressed and promised to help me. Since June 6 and 7 was the weekend, I applied on June 8 and got the passport on June 9! Within 24 hrs it was done and I went back to Delhi – took the bus from Srinagar to Jammu a ten-hour road journey; then from to Jammu to Delhi by the overnight train.”
Khalid’s is an inspiring story, no doubt, for the scores of students who wish to follow their dreams. To them, he would say, never give up and always look forward to the best and work hard to achieve your goals. For it can always be done – if not today, at least tomorrow!
Once the Lindau Nobel Laureates meeting with student researches concludes on July 5, Khalid and the rest of the 21 student researchers selected from India will proceed on a week’s tour of premier laboratories and scientific institutions and universities in Germany, thanks to the generous support provided by the DFG, the German Research Foundation that is associated with the Lindau meetings since long.
Source: https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/treasurehunt/an-inspirational-story-from-kashmir-at-the-63rd-nobel-meet-in-lindau-germany/
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