Flashback 2002: "We usually don't give Arsenic," the invigilator Prof Marzban told me. "It is Arsenic," I responded holding up the dirty-yellow precipitate in the test-tube. "If you get it wrong, you lose 20 marks," he told me. "If I get it right, you give me 20." He smiled. The results of the second year BSc #Chemistry practicals at St Xavier's College, Mumbai, came out after a month. I had scored 73/75, the highest ever since 1934, Dr Hoshang, the HOD told me. He urged me to change my stream from Life Sciences to Chemistry. I did not. But of all things that could save me, I had never dreamt Arsenic, one of the most devious poisons, would be the one. "We never give Arsenic, you know, not even for regular practicals. I don't know how you figured it," he said. "Well, I had got it during my practicals and I made the same mistake again and again believing it to be a failed test for Cadmium instead of a positive test for Arsenic," I told him. Mistakes help change the way you think ๐
#mumbai #chemistry #QualitativeAnalysis
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