Grad and my thoughts of the journey after...

Bright blue sunny Saturday, not spent in Putrajaya this time. It was Terence’s graduation!!! Upon arriving at the hotel, there were pockets of people crowding the lobby and cameras flashing everywhere. The place was chock-a-block and it felt as if I was attending a wedding (seeming smiles plastered on the faces) only to realize that every corner I turned another person with a white t-shirt, black pants, black regalia and a trencher hat came into sight. Finally we found Ter in sea of bobbing heads unconventionally dressed (brown pants and black shirt) *Phew* Took and few pics and the grad was ready to roll! Thankfully there weren’t any long winded speeches *Yawn* or unnecessary protocol *Whatever* Despite it being short and sweet, Esther was squirming in her seat like an octopus wiggling to get out, jump and shout “Congratulations Koko!”.


The years have flown right by. It felt like yesterday when college was the daily routine and lectures were what you wake up for. It felt like yesterday when assignments and exam dates were your priority. It felt like yesterday when the phrase “When I start working …” was an illusion too far away. The endless journey of burning midnite oil and a trillion research journals stacked up high. When the thought of another assignment, exam or presentation was a stress to begin. Then finally after 4 years you walk down that stage and shake the chancellor’s hand, flash him a big grin and he hands you a paper with a huge stamp and your name written on. You move the tassel on your trenchers cap from your right to your left. Looking like a graduate now, it’s done, one chapter officially closed.



Reminded me of that day not too long ago… I can’t help but wonder what lies ahead for the many holding these certs in their hands. It’s just a fraction of the thousands of other graduates who have come and gone, a fraction of those who are yet to come. Is it going to be another rat race to achieve status, wealth and power? Is it going to be a corporate pursuit of wearing swanky business suits and driving slick cost-you-a-bomb cars? Or is it the start of being tied down to installments of a new house, car or credit cards? Is this the meaning of ‘success’ I ask myself… Is this a closing of one chapter and an opening of a lifelong one till we breathe our last?! If that’s the case, it’s pretty pathetic sight of blending into the social norm of a race to be ‘accepted’.
If success is about a mad rush to work everyday, a filial attempt to look accomplished, a stack of self inflicted bills to pay up, a dress up in business suits and a title stuck on to your name… I’d rather not begin the journey of ‘success’, but hope to redefine the banal perception of this 7 letter word.



It’s no harm working hard and enjoying life, that’s the way it should be… it’s no harm working from 9-5 and sometimes clock in a few extra hours or more, it’s no harm spending the money from your paycheck on little pleasures of life… it’s no harm driving a MERC or dressing up in GUCCI and smelling like CHANNEL. But the fulfillment of it all never really hits home when the CORE is not taken care of. It’s never success when success is not properly understood…

“Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Let not the rich man glory in his riches,
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight”, says the Lord. - Jeremiah 9:23 & 24 -