The Tamilnadu government honours young scientists for their achievements in their chosen domain and one such honoured was Ms. Meenambigal.
She stood out conspicuous at the end of the ceremony as she was in tears of joy surrounded by her mother and elder sister. This 36 year old is the Associate Professor in the Leptospirosis Research at the Centre of Animal Health and credited with inventing vaccines for cattle diseases. Her achievement is all the more laudable as she hails from a very humble background.
Her journey has been one of battling the odds for long. She lost her father at the age of 10 and after the loss of the sole bread winner; the family went through both an emotional trauma and a financial one.
For a young widow to fend for herself in a village and manage two daughters is indeed a daunting task. Her mother had to face the stares and whispers of her neighbours while she ran a tailoring machine to keep the kitchen fires going.
The eldest daughter did not show promise in studies and upon completion of X was married off to a maternal cousin while Meenambigal was so bright that she had finished all that the village had to offer.
Doing her graduation was another problem and their limited means did not allow her the luxury of a hostel in the city. She stayed with her relatives and gritted the way to a graduation swallowing many snide remarks and insults. After graduation, it was smooth sailing as she won a state scholarship for post graduation and could now afford a hostel as the stipend came in handy.
She has one philosophy that helped her through: obstacles will always be innumerable and one must be mentally tough to rise over them. Her greatest inspiration was a book of Vivekananda tales that she read as a kid – Arise, awaken and stop not till you achieve your goals.
She summed it up as she escorted her mother and sister to her car,” But for Vivekananda’s words, I would not have accomplished half a much”.
Her colleague added, “Her self-belief is amazing and she can handle any situation”.
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