Bindu (2002 Entry)

BINDU

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“Ouch! It hurts,” I screamed. “Its fine” said a tender voice. As he dressed my wounded finger, I felt my heart slip away. He was my chemistry teacher nursing the cut on my finger. I broke a test tube. I always dreamt of this…not the man, but the laboratory. I always wanted to become a scientist, work in the lab, make couple of explosions and discover a new element and name it “Bindu”. Yeah!! I dreamt of that.

When I was in fourth grade, as a part of the curriculum, we had a lesson about Madam Curie. It was all about the hardships she went through and how she discovered Radium. Since then I wanted to have a lab of my own. At home, I was never discouraged. My parents wanted me to do well.

Up till my Tenth grade, I wanted to be nothing but a scientist. After Tenth, I had to rethink my options. Not that I didn’t do well, but the competition was tough. So, here’s what I thought – If I take up science as a subject, I would be a scientist. If I take up Commerce, I would be a Chartered Accountant (all I knew about CA’s that time, was that they were very Rich). If I take up Arts, I would be an archeologist. In that case, I would discover a historic site and name it “Bindu”.

I took up science. I saw my dreams come true. In grade eleventh and twelfth, life was smooth. Well!! I did break few test tubes but no explosions yet.

After passing my school, I still wanted to be a scientist. But I also wanted to be an engineer; a doctor, a designer and the list didn’t end. With this confusion in my mind, I filled up as many entrance forms that I could lay my hands on. Fortunately or unfortunately, I gave just two exams. The first one was the Hotel Management Exam.

My father was transferred to Ambernath (a suburb of Mumbai, India). I joined Bachelor of Science in a college near by. My subjects were: Microbiology, Chemistry and botany. My parents wanted me to take up Microbiology as a specialization in my honors, while I was interested in chemistry for the obvious reasons that I had to discover my element. For a brief period, I was interested in botany. I could have become a botanist, crossed some plants and get a hybrid fruit and name it “Bindu” (wasn’t a bad idea).

It was during my B. Sc., that I joined Computer course from a reputed institute. Here, I gave my second entrance exam for a B-tech Degree. I happened to be the only one selected from my branch to be selected for the degree. Now, I wanted to develop software and call it…(You must have guessed it by now).

Just when I thought every thing was so planned, I received a letter from National Council. I cleared my Hotel management exam and was supposed to join the institute in Hyderabad. The opportunity tempted me. It was a professional course. My father was apprehensive of sending me so far to study but my mother some how convinced him.

Here I was in Hyderabad. As I stood right in front of my college building, I had just one thought in mind – A dish named “Bindu.”