The “Graduate”

18^th March 2010. Today, I became a ‘Graduate, officially that is. The convocation ceremony was supposed to make me feel proud about myself, as I was made to believe. The robes, the hats, the works you know…Guess I was watching too many soaps or movies that I actually thought we might have a “hat’s off” ritual!

Nothing like that happened though. After a few speeches by some renowned (though mundane) personalities in Jesus and Mary’s splendid auditorium we were supposed to collect our degrees from the counter made for each department. As usual me and my friends were late and had to undergo the harassment from the infamously impolite staff at the JMC general office. But I was touched to see a silver lining in the dark cloud of loutishness always present in the general office. A staff, ( I am too frivolous to recall his name) said that “ You guys should have come to collect your degrees in the morning. We had made so much arrangements for you. We had tea and we had samosas. You should have come then”

It strangely pleased me. Somehow it was a nice feeling to be chided because somebody was concerned about me and not because I was lousy or incompetent of something. And this was coming from a JMC staff!!! I don’t know why but from among all the events of the day, I am definitely going to remember this one.

So anyways, I finally got my degree. It did feel good holding it but not as good as I had fancied. There was a sense of deeply rooted nostalgia associated with holding that splendid degree. Delhi University and B.A (hons) English printed in bold letters only reminded me that these two entities (or so I believed them to be) wont be a part of my life like they used to be. I had chosen to delve into the material world. Far from Frankenstein and Louisa I had made a choice to move towards things that “actually mattered”.

Perhaps I had grown up, in the conventional sense maybe. Afterall, I am now a graduate...