It Aint Gonna Work

If there is one phrase or a sentence which OSDD is very familiar with it is this: ‘it is not going to work’. And many a time this will be followed by a highly condescending ‘drug discovery is serious business’. This was at times accompanied by ‘look, you guys don’t understand TB research’.

Well, it had started even before OSDD was launched. Prof Brahmachari used to discuss about his vision of Open Source Drug Discovery in various fora. The Mint carried an article on Open Source Drug Discovery project on September 20, 2007. It had an interesting quote: “ You’re kidding me,” said the chairman of one of India’s largest pharmaceutical companies when he heard of Brahmachari’s idea. “Open source for drug discovery?” Prof Brahmachari did not listen to such ‘sane’ advices. He obviously is made of sterner stuff to be deterred by naysayers and went ahead with his plan. OSDD was launched on September 15, 2008. Many thought that it will die of its own. It wont just work. But then they didn’t realise that there are some youngsters around the world who just don’t get it. They don’t understand the meaning of the phrase ‘it wont work’. And they are the leaders of tomorrow. Today as OSDD is nearing 3000 members, a large number by any standards, it owes to people like Prof Brahmachari and others who just refuse to listen to ‘it is not gonna work’.

We had heard it again and again. The chorus was loud when we launched Connect to Decode. ‘It will not work’. ‘You wont get people to do this’. That was one line. Well, just the day it was opened, registrations crossed 100. And it went on to reach about 800. So much for that line. But there was a more serious line: ‘you guys don’t know what you are doing, you wont get quality data’; ‘you are going to get a lot of junk’. Well, that was a serious concern, but as Connect to Decode progressed, the power of the community annotation was evident. We got wrong data of course. And sure enough, they were curated by the community. But not junk, by any means. The community power proved the naysayers wrong again. A bunch of youngsters and not so youngsters who just don’t listen to ‘it just won’t work' are at it.

These are the folks who share the audacity of hope. They are made of the same stuff as that young American who chose hope over despair and chose to dream through a difficult childhood and went on with his Audacity of Hope to be the first in many ways in this world. OSDD understands and shares this passion of hope. ‘Yes we can’ is not just a campaign slogan, but is a matter of faith! There will be many who are waiting to tell us again and again, 'it will not work'. To them, we say, it wont work!

At OSDD, this is what we believe - Yes, We Can!

Together we will!!

Together we should!!!