One of my writer brother D is writing a novel which is a science fiction..
D wrote to me today..."Madhavi, One thing I have been curious to ask you about is what kind of scientist projects you work on on a daily or monthly basis at work. I would be interested to know. Also, I am going to include some short chapters in my novel from scientist point of view. And how do scientists think and what do they think most of the time. this would help me write my novel"
hmm..
Last year I recommended a friend of mine to come to our group to work and said it is exciting productive scientific job where u get to work with cool hitech robots, u get a design high throughput drug screens and get a chance to figure out which is the right drug for a disease which ultimately goes to animal and human trials based on screens we design and do..so my friend who worked in our company for 15years and way senior to me came to my group, got a job in my group and accepted the job. I was happy for him..within two weeks one day he comes to my cubicle area and tells me he cannot deal with the job, pressure is too much and he wants to quit..I freaked out and felt bad that I recommended him to come and take this job and he left his old job for this one...I felt terrible..I told him to give it another month and told him that it is overwhelming the first few weeks but once u get used to the job it is exciting and productive fun..
After two months my friend told me he loves his job..it just took him time to get used to the pressure..I heard a lot of girlfriends tell me that my job is such a high pressure job that they can never do it..
so reality is my job is a high pressure schedule driven job..some 5o people wait for data for every project I work on..And if u are 15 minutes late in sending data people keep on calling...they all are waiting for the data until I analyse,summarise and send it to them..so u understand..even if Iam sick I have to go, if I dont go the job piles up and it is nonstop..And u have to multitask working on multiple projects at one time..sometimes I had ten projects I was working on at one time..and since fda inspections happen , u get audited for ur work, u need to be very very careful...thousands of numbers and yet every number is important..
It takes 10-15 years to find a drug for a disease, so the stakes are high..and there are patients hundreds of them waiting desperately for a cure..so u never know among thousands of cmpds u test which one is the miracle one..so u need to look at everyone of those thousands carefully...and if u look at 50,000 cmpds u might find one miracle drug..so u know the chances..so if u find that right one, that is the most rewarding experience, helping 150-200 million patients for each disease...
one great thing about my job is I get to work on all kinds of diseases and not limited to one..cancers, neurological disorders, musculoskeletal disorders,pain, infections...so many of them...personally after my dad had leukemia and passed away working on diseases started meaning a lot more to me..because I know how desperately I wanted a drug that would cure and save my dad..so my job that is very productive very rewarding despite lot of hard work and high pressure..
scientist job is also rational, discovering truths, discovering ur own body and its working...it is fascinating..
best part about my job are the robots, I love working with hitech gadjets and enjoy it thoroughly...and the new technologies I use costing millions of dollars is an amazing opportunity my job gives me...
my goal in my life is to lead to discovery of 2-3 breakthrough drugs and I will quit science then..some of my projects on cancer, musculoskeletal disorders are in human trials so Iam close to fulfilling my dream of finding cure for 100 million patients and quitting science for good..
then I want to write, read, have a big family with whole bunch of kids, cook ,settle as a proper wife and spend a lot of time with family...who knows it might happen in a year or two...
so how did my job change me..
In my personal life Iam opposite to what my job is..I am not schedule driven at all in my personal life, I take it easy most of the time, I relax a lot...while when Iam at work Iam totally schedule driven, always on time for everything, very strict so strict that my boss tells me Iam sometimes a perfectionist.. Iam more responsible at work than Iam at home though in general I am a responsible person even at home but at work since there are millions of patients involved...Iam more social in my job than Iam in real life I talk to guys at work a lot more in my personal life I barely talk to guys, may be because people at work are like brothers to me and it is easy to talk science than personal stuff with guys....Iam more open and more argumentative in my job than in real life where I hate arguing, at work if I see a scientific point I dont care and I argue but in real life I compromise and dont like to fight or argue..And at work Iam very rational, answer to the point,analytical but in my personal life Iam irrational,go with my heart whatever it tells me to do, Iam very romantic, soft and cry so often seing anything sad and so idealistic and not at all practical...so being a scientist makes me think differently definetely...and my real self is like that girl in movie bommarillu or santosh sivanandan, totally bubbly, non stop talker , effusive and all shy and all emotional but at work Iam so so different , Iam more balanced, more matured, so rational...I dont know how and why I change but all my scientist life I was always like that when Iam at work , but when Iam home I am a slightly different person...
I love art literature creativity so much that my scientist job doesnot give me an opportunity for all that...there is no art, creativity or linguistic beauty in science...I miss that..science is truth, brutal honest rational and Iam that too when Iam at work...so my scientific language is not floral, it is answer to the point, more analytical , so rational..though personally when Iam writing or blogging Iam all verbose, nonstop talker liking long sentences and long conversations...
so being a scientist makes me think differently making me use different part of my brain when Iam at work..
And what do scientist think all the time..I dont know about others..but when iam at work i think science when iam home I dont think of work..I used to work 7 day weeks before now I dont ..I just do a 9-5 fiveday week job...and when iam not working I dont think of science at all.. family, friends , hobbies, cooking, books and reading, movies, music, travel,volunteering take my thoughts..I like to give myself a break, go into other worlds and cannot be madame curie...Iam like any other ordinary girl once I come home, I forget Iam a scientist after 6pm in the evening until 8am next morning..thats me...
so that sums my scientific and nonscientific life..
I did not write to my friend a reply as yet..
but I doubt my scientist story would make it interesting for my friend to shape his novel character around me...
its just monday but i feel like the week is already long dont know why..may be it is me all nostalgic, missing home,family, soulmate, kids etc.,
weather makes it easy on me..Iam all wearing all my lovely spring skirts which make me feel so lighthearted...sunny warm weather is my kinda weather...
Iam going to a baseball game as a part of team building effort day after tomorrow so should be interesting..
weekend looks good with a picnic, discussions on bhagawad gita, some writing, reading, lots of indian and english movies to see..
And hopefully lots of sleep and some great food to eat...and hopefully some sweet dreams of special somene god knows where he is who he is...
