You know life moves on - doesn't it? ; A Farewell Note to the Class

Greetings.

A note to the class and others running the program mentioned here.

Hello there:

You know life moves on - doesn't it!

Since there isn't likely to be any formal ending to our soon to be concluding program, I feel the need to at least try and sum up. Add the positive and negatives and see in balance what is to be said about the experience these past six months.

It feels so much like an unfinished something at this moment. Something abruptly coming to an end and it's not feeling right. It's almost as though something has gone wrong within the program and I am certain, nothing has.

I am finding this unacceptable that were things left as they are, the impression we all who have attended the program will carry is that something failed, or worse, that in some sense we failed - in achieving some 'undefined' mark. Whereas in reality, I feel we actually met the mark. Truly, we actually made it!

We have achieved a very real and strong orientation to the subject we came to learn. Other than that we also learnt lessons we were not thinking we will be learning here. The reason for that may be the unique make up of this group and the dynamics that came about as a result from that.

Here is what I can say from my own perspective. I stress this because that is a major ingredient to the mood being as it is. I feel others have drawn back slightly from a close sense of camaraderie we once shared. One reason can be that they acknowledge that they are unable to completely comprehend something I wished to communicate to them. Another less pleasant reason is just an intrinsic sense of mistrust, so detrimental to learning something not in the prescribed coursework.

The time for our mutual interaction is coming to a close and there isn't any need to try and say things as gently as possible. I tried to lead my class mates, in the space where I exercised influence, towards an end I saw possible for them. It had to do with learning an attitude, an attitude I think would enable them to be as they are, yet make the impact on people of Western cultures, people who are most likely to be dominating their lives, a fact they cannot as yet see.

Somewhere down the road this exercise came apart and though on the surface, there is an individual, who spoke out against my entire efforts and attempt, I think it as likely that everybody felt secure agreeing with that particular line of thought.

But no one can turn away from -truth-, that is our training through life and childhood. Sometimes the truth is so harsh, we are just unwilling to accept it. Unfortunately that attitude is not going to help, the harsh truth has to be faced, and if that is so, why not be prepared.

It is a fact of life, that those born in the West are at an advantage. It is a fact that in the struggle we find ourselves, they have the high ground. We have also to accept that they realize this better than we do and will like to keep things the way they are. It is not a solution to hate them, but it is 'the' solution to just do those very things which they are doing, and do them better.

The special thing that I have felt in the course has been the continual and genuine attempt by all the teachers to make us understand concepts in a real way. This, they stressed time and again was different from learning for exams. Because when we learn as we have done in our schools, we become someone else's property. We are used as a component in a bigger machine, which does not really improve our own quality of life, but of their country. And this is how the order is maintained as it is now. We end up working against ourselves and do not realize it!

Good luck to the VLSI class of 2007-'08.

Greetings!

I think you stated your case very well in this essay. I did not find any grammatical or syntactical errors in it.

Are you acting as a valedictorian, or is this a message you personally would like to offer your classmates? I ask because it makes a difference in the tone of the piece. As I'm sure you know, valedictory speeches are usually very positive, with little critical content. Of course, I think it's up to the individual to say whatever he or she really feels. :-) And if it's a personal message, then anything goes (well, almost anything).

In either case, your essay is very direct and well-written. If you have said exactly what you want to say, then I think it's ready to go.

Best of luck, and thanks!

Sarah
EssayForum.com

You're one of the most beautiful person on this planet.

Thank you, Rajiv. I wish you a happy and prosperous future.

Best wishes,

Sarah

A note to the same people addressed in the note above, after the class dispersed. This is an attempt to bring them together, and to influence the program co-ordinators to extend the program to the next higher stage.

This is just a random email to say how much I have you all on my mind. Another time later I will also send you some pictures of these beautiful natural surroundings I am so fortunate to live in, atleast for now...

For those of you who may not know, M.. and I have become friends though he might say we never were not friends. He wrote me a very clear and nice note on the day I was leaving Delhi, expressed his remorse for how things had gone between the class and me, and we have agreed to meet and drink a glass of wine on Patnitop sometime soon I am hoping.

So many things we do, and at the time we cannot see how they are just one action in a composition of many things that are happening at the same time, and in that sense, it was all meant to be the way it happened. I was talking with Mr G.. during lunch one time, soon after things started to happen in the wrong way for me, as it seemed to me at that time. It was about this incident I had read that took place in Washington and was reported in the news there.

A small group of Tibetan monks had been invited to exhibit some of their artwork at a National museum there. As you may know, Tibetan monks make mandalas and this group worked very hard making an intricate design with coloured sand and it was nearly complete after some days. This work was going on in the museum itself, so while they were not working on the piece, it was cordoned off by a rope. A mother came along with her son who was about 8 to 9 years old and leaving him near this artwork she went a little away to purchase tickets. The security camera captured how this boy, being a typical boy, crossed over and methodically using his foot, rubbed and demolished the entire piece of art which had been made on the ground. There wasn't anyone to stop him. The mother came back, saw what he had done and more in fright that she may have compensate the damage, simple scurried away with him.

As the entire incident was captured on camera, it made the news and everyone was outraged, blaming the mother , the child and other similar things. One monk was interviewed by a news channel and asked that, since there were only a few days remaining what was their reaction to the whole episode. The monk was very calm and smiling. He said, it was quite alright and perhaps this is how it was meant to be. They would now work only harder and re-build the mandala and have it ready before the exhibition opens. I saw his interview on my website where I read this news. I do not know how much attention their mandala would have got from the American public, and how many people would have come over to see it. But the way in which the monk took everything in stride, and showed that it only strengthened their determination to showcase their culture, this I am sure made much more of an impact. You can surely understand what I am pointing to here.

I was surprised at that time by his answer, but it gave me a perspective on what was happening with us.

I won't make this note much longer, but I do want to say, I hope you are also thinking about things the same way that I am.

regards