FOR MY DEAR STUDENTS

and their garden of experiences...

Some fun times with my students and colleagues

Teaching at a school of architecture and design gives me the opportunity to build bonds with a multitude of young individuals, year after year. I spend a greater part of my day engaging with young minds, discussing ideas, debating theories, exploring cities and their architecture with them. Every year, as they graduate and move on to the professional world, I make it a point to write (and deliver) a graduation day message to the outgoing batch of young architects.

Time flies and students move on to pursue post graduate programs in different parts of the globe. And unfailingly, at this time of the year my social media feed gets flooded with happy pictures of my past students smiling away at convocation ceremonies for their postgraduate programs. My heart soars as I see them graduating from some great universities. Since I can’t be there to give a congratulatory hug, I am sharing here a graduation message in the hope that it will reach out to all those who have graduated in the past, all those graduating this year or some other year in the future, and really to anyone who loves to learn and grow. 

My dear students,

Let us take a few moments to think back to when you stepped into the world of architecture, to your years in college as you transformed from being a nervous fresher to a beaming graduate. What if we were to think of this period of growth and self-transformation as the nurturing of a garden?

Imagine yourself starting off as a tiny seed. You planted yourselves into an empty patch of soil. At first it was dark and lonely and a bit scary. But you let the sun shine, and watered the soil and gave it some love. 

For a while nothing seemed to happen...but you didn't give up! 

You persisted, because you knew that though nothing was visible outside, deep under the soil, roots were emerging. With time, patience and persistence small shoots sprang out and a sapling started to grow. Over the years, the stem grew stronger, branches sprang, flowers started to blossom and fruits began to emerge. 

Sometimes you forgot to nourish yourself. At other times you weathered some storms…

As you looked around, you saw that different plants took different timeframes to grow. And that was ok. Every plant was different - some flowered, others bore fruit, yet others provided shade. Each was important in its own way…

Today, as you gather for your convocation, I see a magical landscape - robust young trees providing beauty, bounty and shade. 

I wish you all the very best as you continue your journey in this garden of experiences, taking care of the plant that exists and planting more seeds in the soil of your creative tomorrow. 

Dear students, what other seeds do you want to plant further in this abundant garden of life? How do you plan to nurture yourself? How do you hope to keep the elixir of knowledge, compassion and community spirit that we fostered here flowing in your life? And most importantly, how do you intent to contribute to creating a loving, peaceful and harmonious world? 

I leave you with these questions today as you embark on a new journey of growth and abundance. And yes, if you ever need some tending to, we your teachers, are there for you in the garden of life.

Go out into the sunshine, bloom and spread joy. 

Thank you and bless you all.