You really know that you are ready for research when you realize that half
of what you know is wrong, and you do not know which half. That is the
temperament and attitude one must bring into research.
pneumococcal, giving a 3:1 odds
of pneumococcal pneumonia in
people with bulging fissures, then I
could have defended. But, I never
did find such literature!
You learn a lot. But the point is
learning to think. It is a very im-
portant art of medicine as well as
of research. I knew from the be-
ginning that I am not comfortable
doing medicine or anything else,
unless I understood why. Given the
fact that medicine is so empirical
and we understand so little of what
we actually do, will almost always
lead you towards a dual medicine
and research career. If I had been
in the US, I would have probably
still been doing a dual medicine
and research career, where I would
be seeing patients just a couple of
months a year. But when I came
back to India, I didn’t find any job
with such a description. So, at this
point, I’d say the best answer to
your question is, I think I knew it
always.
96
VP: Many people who come to
AIIMS as UGs (at least those
who tend to stay in India), be-
come PGs and even faculties
here. So do you think, they
don’t get a chance to look at
the bigger picture?
AA: See, we also have a profound
sense of arrogance! We all know
that. Almost all of us at the time
of admission, let me just be frank,
can recognize the difference be-
tween those who got in and who
didn’t get in. Few of your friends
who should’ve got in didn’t, but
typically, you can recognize the
type of people who get in to
AIIMS. They’re all typically smart,
they’re maths strong, GK strong.
They’re this type of “AIIMS” per-
sons. Then you see faculty also.
And then you think that this is the
place where the best medical re-
search occurs in the country. And
then when you see the research,
you imagine that that’s the best re-
search that could be. Because when
we are the best and the best people
must do the best research and this
is the research, therefore logic says
this is the best research. Which is a
bad logic!
This arrogance shuts your eyes.
You think, this is what it is and you
be happy with it. That’s the fault
in our research. If we had man-
aged to get out and start seeing,
in the world of cholera, who does
the best research? In the world of
TB who does the best research?
You would’ve quickly found that
the best research in TB is done by
the TB research institute in Chen-
nai. You’d have found that the best
research in cholera happens at
Kolkata. The best genetics work in
India probably happens at CCMB,
IGIB or IISc. NOT AT AIIMS.
In fact, the main genetics research
that happens at AIIMS, happens
mostly with us. But we wouldn’t
know that. Because we were those
little frogs in the well. Our access
to our worlds was our teachers and
our friends. And our friends also
haven’t been out. We could talk to
our seniors but they also haven’t
been outside. These things have
changed, but at least in my time, it
was this way. Today I get to see on
social media, lots of your seniors
are going to externships. See, our
time it was difficult. One, India was
poor, so the idea to buy an air ticket
to do an externship in the US sim-
ply didn’t exist. Our parents had to
put together a substantial amount
of savings together to send any-
one of us out. Maybe those peo-
ple who return are giving you guys
inputs about how different things
are. Then, internet has become a
great equalizer. So I hope that you
guys growing up now, have a better
sense of what is possible compared
to what we did. Sometimes when I
talk to people, it doesn’t seem that
I was totally wrong in showing ‘the