Thursday, November 20, 2014

A dream graduation speech

While in India, I enjoyed reading Chetan Bhagat's best selling novel,  Five Point Someone:  What Not to do at IIT. The novel was made into a commercially successful movie, 3 idiots. The latter is only based loosely on the novel, and I think is better. I loved it.

In the novel, the villainous Professor Cherian undergoes a transformation. At the end of the novel he departs from his usual graduation speech and says the following profound words.
 Anyway, this is my message to all you students as you find your future. One, believe in yourself, and don’t let a GPA, performance review or promotion in a job define you. There is more to life than these things - your family, your friends, your internal desires and goals. And the grades you get in dealing with each of these areas will define you as a person.  
Two, don’t judge others too quickly. I thought my son was useless because he didnt get into IIT. I tell you, I was a useless father. It is great to get into IIT, but it is not the end of the world if you don’t. All of you should be proud to have the IIT tag, but never every judge anyone who is not from this institute - that alone can define the greatness of this institute.
This receives thunderous applause.
The only problem is then Hari, the protagonist, wakes up from his dream. He has overslept and missed his graduation.

I too dream of such graduation speeches.

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