First day - First show

I have always loved giving presentations. I mean, isn't it nice when girls walk up to you and shake your hand vigorously, after a good seminar. That has always been my source of inspiration.

But that doesn't mean I don't work hard. I do. A lot. Take for example my presentation on "Jatropha biofuel and tomorrow's energy demand". The word 'Jatropha' seems alien at times. But Jatropha plants were grown at the University of Agricultural Sciences, and that's where my research started. Hunting professors in such places ain't easy. Most of them to whom I talked to had this expression - "Huh !! Are you sure we have Jatropha plants growing in our campus ?" Finally, the search yielded some good results. I met a retired professor who had written a book on 'Jatropha', and he helped me a lot.

My next destination was GKVK. There too, it wasn't easy. Travelling from one building to the other had to be by a vehicle only. Some scientists looked at me as though I was a bug that had to be squashed immediately. Some of them were only too glad to help. With lots of guidance, lots of Googling, lots of papers referred, and lots of leaf, fruit, seed samples with me, I stood before the audience.

It was the first presentation, first day, first show. The campus director was there too, apart from the 4 to 5 lecturers. The keen interest shown by our Head of the Department when I was speaking was way too distracting for me. C'mon....how can I talk when someone is listening so intently? The talk went good, H.O.D impressed, campus director impressed, friends impressed. Girls came running. No, I did not ask anyone to go on a date with me !! I have another seminar to prepare for, and with our H.O.D predating on us all the time, it is virtually impossible.

I don't mean to brag, but it takes a lot of research, studying, and creativity to give a good presentation. When I went to collect plant samples from the Agricultural campus, it was raining damn heavily, I had a cough, and I was drenched all over. But to me, it was worth all that effort. Once I collected the samples, I ran towards home, in the bloody rain. I felt ecstatic. It was like I was running for a marathon which I had a good chance of winning. People looked at me in pity, as though I had gone nuts. To be a scientist, you have to go nuts...I'm showing all the symptoms.