Nooraine Fazal, CEO and Head of School, Ms Benjamin, Board Advisor, members of the faculties and the most important people present, the families of those who are graduating. You are the most important because you are the ones who have made today possible. While we are here to celebrate the achievement of the Graduating class, it is a milestone on a long, long road on which your families have been accompanying and encouraging you for many years.
Your graduation from Inventure Academy today can be likened to a stage in a manufacturing process. You now have the potential to acquire life skills. They are not yours yet. Part of the implicit contract into which you entered many years back when you enrolled at Inventure was that you would be exposed to much more than lecture room and library knowledge. You would gain much more than new friends and technical skills. You would learn lifelong values which would differentiate you from others, who had read as you have.
That quality is what I call the Inventure Brand. It is not just a turn in mind acquired over your years here. It is not just a style of behavior of what we call the entrepreneurial spirit. It is all these but so much more - much of which you will only discover that you have acquired some time - may be years in the future.
I am talking of the “carpe diem” the ability to seize the day, a commitment to social responsibility and a self awareness that when we do wrong we know it’s wrong. All this, and so much more, constitutes that Inventure Brand with which I now urge you to go ahead - heads high with proud steps to change the world.
I am moved to be sharing this special moment with parents and teachers and not least, you have many illustrious alumni lighting the way.
First, success only knocks on your door if you win the National Lottery or the Irish Sweepstakes. All the rest of us have to work for it.............hard.
There's that old joke...How do you get to represent India at the Olympics? Practice, practice, practice. That's a major point Malcolm Gladwell makes in his book "Outliers." He writes that to truly master something, you need to spend at least 10-thousand hours doing it. Take Bill Gates, for example. He dropped out of Harvard and he still became Bill Gates...by devoting his every waking moment to building and understanding computer codes. The Beatles might have seemed like an overnight sensation, but they played together more than a thousand times before that famous appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. For them, it really was a hard day's night...night after night after night...for four years!
I'm no Beatle or Bill Gates, but I've learned the importance of hard work, as well.
Next, don't be a hater. Inventure has taught you to think critically, to approach things with a healthy dose of skepticism...and that's a good thing, as Abdul Kalam would say. But you really must guard against the cynicism and nastiness that are so pervasive today, particularly on the internet. It can be a wonderful, powerful and equalizing tool, but it's also populated by haters and trolls. People think they can say or do anything online under the cloak of anonymity. Don't get sucked in...In his book, entitled "Snark", David Denby writes, "Snark often functions as an enforcer of mediocrity and conformity. In its cozy knowingness, snark flatters you in assuming that you get the contemptuous joke. You've been admitted or re-admitted to a club, but it may be a club of the second rate."
Rise above the nastiness and instead....celebrate excellence. The joy of reveling in someone else's success is much sweeter than the bitter vitriol of sites like Juicy Campus.
It's not all about you. No matter what your opinion may be about the wars this world is fighting, the men and women of the military are making sacrifices every day...and deserve our respect and support when they're deployed...and when they come home.
But there are many ways to serve. The unsung heroes of this countries...scientists, doctors municipal workers who work day in and day out...without fame or big checks so many more people can live with disease and not die from it.
There are smaller, quieter ways to serve...that are just as important. Never underestimate the contribution you can make. It’s been said: "If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito."
So give something back. After all, you're graduating from Inventure! You are so lucky. And do me a favor...thank your parents or whoever helped you achieve this goal. Then, transform your gratitude into action...and give back to a world that has already given you so much.
Parents, your children, too, can achieve anything because you gave them strong shoulders to stand on and the tools they'll need to succeed. The silver lining of these tough economic times is that it may be the wakeup call that helps recalibrate our values.
The truth is closer to the Old Italian Proverb that says: "At the end of the game, the king and the pawn go back in the same box."
What really matters in the end is how you've played the game of life...that you've lived it with honor, integrity and character... old fashioned qualities that never go out of style...whether you're a fan of Ella Fitzgerald or Lady Gaga.
Finally, take some chances. Get out of your comfort zone, even if that's extremely uncomfortable. Mark Twain once wrote, "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do."
T he old Chinese saying is "Boats are always safe in the harbor. But that's not what boats are built for." So set sail, even if the waters are choppy and the territory uncharted...you'll be amazed at what you learn about the world and about yourself...and through it all, cherish the handful of people you can always depend on to throw you a life preserver when you need it the most.
To the Class of 2010... My personal congratulations to you all and to your families. I wish you well in your futures.
On behalf of Arpita and the proud team of teachers who taught Grade 10 I end with Joan Baez’s words that Salome will sing for us.
May God's blessing keep you always,
May your wishes always come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young.
May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.
May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever youngMay
Who wouldn't want to be in a movie? Not me! So after a couple of auditions for ‘Lessons in forgetting’ , an adaptation from the book of Anita Nair, when I found out that I was selected for the role of Nikhil, I was as extremely excited! This was going to be awesome! The catch? It was during my final exams.
