In the cold Siberian town Tobolsk in 1793,
Into the family who started the town’s glass factory,
Born was a bright girl Maria,
was she destined to be strong? ya!
Died at birth her mother,
raised by a single father.
No Maria! girls can’t attend school,
learning through books at home, see me break the rule.
Married a school teacher and had more than dozen kids,
encouraged them to read and gather all the wits.
Soon after she had her youngest son Dmitri Mendeleev,
Her husband loosing his sight retired with a long leave.
To feed her family,
she reopened the abandoned glass factory.
Flourished under her,
the factory did prosper.
For the workers, she built a church.
For their kids, she built a school.
Etched in Dmitris’ memory is his mother’s beautiful face,
glowing in the light of glass furnace.
The illuminating night skies that sparked his curiosity,
soon fell blue to the darkness of fate’s animosity.
First the factory burned down,
within days his father passed away bringing it all down.
Now a single mom Maria settled all her children bourgeois,
recognised the potential of young Dmitri who excelled in sciences.
She did not want this town to limit his intellect,
at the best University in Russia his enrollment she dreamt.
Came up with the most radical plan for those times,
embarking on a 2200 km long journey with her two kids besides.
Mind you, there were no motor cars or railways,
all hitchhiking, horse sledding, and trekking over mountains.
It is almost a straight line distance from Kanyakumari to Kashmir,
except in the bone biting Siberian cold with resources meager.
Weeks of adventurous travel to reach Moscow,
only to be rejected by the university damn no!
She did not loose hope and travelled another 600 kilo meter,
to St. Petersburg rejections again defeating her.
This time pulled all her strings,
managing to admit her son into physics-mathematics.
The journey took a toll, she passed away soon after,
but last words to her son that she did utter,
“Refrain from illusions, insist on work and not words,
Patiently search the divine and scientific truth”.
He went on and had so much to discover,
dedicated the findings to his mother.
“She instructed with example,
corrected with love,
travelled with me to places,
spending her last resources
She knew that with the aid of science without violence,
with love but firmness,
all superstitions, untruth and errors can be removed.”
For a time that oppressed women,
She shattered the boundaries,
She broke the stereotypes,
She picked herself up every time life knocked her down,
Against all odds, she raised one of the greatest chemists of all time.
Dmitri Mendeleev, inventor of the Periodic Table.
Behind him was one of the strongest women our history witnessed,
Maria Mendeleeva!
Vineesha Badabhagni 
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