MY graduation Day

On being asked a difficult question the instantaneous reaction of one would be to retract into a protective shell of thoughtfulness for varying lengths of time depending on the type of question, the thinker’s speed and direction of thought, the proficiency or the depth of intricacies one might have or lack regarding the subject. But the most crucial bit is the eagerness to ‘think out of the box’ regarding the subject.

As one passes the stages of life-‘the seven acts of man’ according to a famous poet, it is but mandatory to ‘pick up skills’ to ‘earn a livelihood’ and to be recognised for having done some act of repute.

Coming across the many experiences in a concerted fashion, having a graded exposure to the depth and involvement in the doings of men and deriving from it the patterns that enhance our ‘knowledge’ constitute much of what we simply call education.

Convention which, sadly in my opinion, has governed the imbibition of knowledge into a few rudimentary patterns of school, college, graduate and higher levels of learning and the forced choice any of the subjects and its inherent ‘boundaries’ have all but restricted our view. This has led to our feeling overwhelmed whenever we get close to the holy grail of ‘the big picture’.

The few dwindling numbers going into the Basic sciences streams has forced upon us the pathetic situation of making sons into scintillating doctors and engineers and the grandsons cave men.

I can’t help but feel sorry for all those vast seething masses that hold dear to their hearts feelings such as religion and class and convention and history and patriotism and confine themselves into places out of which there is no space for intellectual growth.

All these are the thought s as I spend this fateful night alone churning in these thoughts as the full picture dawns on me like a sunrise illuminating the dark hidden landscape.

On the eve or the nascent dawn of my graduation day it is but comic relief that my sojourn into adulthood has been successful without being struck by lightning or being hit by a meteor. The enormity of the occasion makes me panic at the feeble string of thought that I can currently manage. The sojourn just begins, the education just begins, the steel has been tempered, but the blade has to go to war.

What the future holds few can tell (and spoil the fun.). It is my prayer that goes out into the silence as we step in to the wide wild world trying to make it a better place.

I know most of us will succeed in making a mark around us. For the few who might get lost or become casualties of war, all is not lost as they are invaluable lessons for themselves and the rest of us in strength and resilience and the true spirit of mankind.

This speech is for those and their parents who felt left out, who have experienced the pain and the anguish, and ultimately picked up the pieces and surged forward.

It is also an open warning to all those on the high clouds of success that all not well that ends well because the true End is Death and that the life and its victories we might have scored are far too fragile to rest upon.

However it is also true that one victory paves way for another war.

So friends before the next knock on that door, let’s buckle up. It’s time up for frying pan,

Let’s have some fire.