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Dad didn’t want us celebrate his 70th birthday last year. Insisted on waiting another couple of months and celebrate when he reaches the highest count of new protein structures discovered. In the world. (1/n)
It’s a goal he has worked towards for more than 30 years in the his lab at AIIMS, which is now named after him. 365 days a year for 30 years including every Sunday. As a kid, I’d see him go back to his lab after dinner and often work through the night. (2/n)
Mom & I took vacations without him. People got used to not seeing him at family functions. His retirement age went by. Noone flinched about him not slowing down. He was on a mission to keep adding new proteins to the global Protein Data Bank & enable critical drug discovery (3/n)
Last year there were only a couple of Nobel laureates on the list who had contributed more structures than him. So when he finally hit his goal in Jan with 600+ protein structures to his name, I asked him how he feels about accomplishing a goal he has worked on for 30 years (4/n)
He said that he feels he has it in him to do many more of these discoveries while he’s still healthy and that he’s actually as excited about it as he was on Day 1. So, even through 2020, he has been in his lab everyday. (5/n)
While I was growing up, I could never understand my dad’s “irrational passion”. I’d argue with him all the time about how crazy it was to dream about 600 when he wasn’t even adding 15 in a year! l vowed to not be a scientist or a doctor. (6/n)
And then at 23, I turned down that “1 crore” job offer to start building. After 13 years of entrepreneurship, I still don’t “earn” as much, but even if I did, it wouldn’t matter. All I want to do is keep on building. So, yes, I get it now. “Irrational passion” must be genetic (n)
