A Namesake Degree!!! A Namesake Graduate!!!

756th BLOG POST -->>

             After sleeping for the whole day, I have woken up at the end on the day 29th when 30th December has already begun. This isn't my fault. Hence, please consider this post as a post been submitted on 29th. :-) Not many of us experience the same but it's a bit surprising that I give my last examination of MCA First Semester on 27th December and get felicitated with Gown and Cap and a Degree for successfully completing my Graduation on the very next day- 28th December in the campus of Bharati Vidyapeeth, Pune. It was a rejoicing moment to travel to Pune from Mumbai to get something that I achieved with smile, confidence and belief. I have never been much studious since I learnt some notorious terms and facts. Hence, achieving this milestone in life has been a good experience for me. I stood with the besties of my class though, in the real world, they themselves do not stand anywhere closer to the Scholars. :-) 

             This Gown and Cap would have had a greater meaning if it could have provided me with some immunity and security in the future but it guarantees nothing except a piece of paper that the world calls "Degree". Yes, it's degree of academics, degree of perseverance, degree of being bibliophile etc. But it's not a Degree that will fetch bread and butter in life. It will always be with me in the life which will serve as a Document to get my other documents made. But it will never give me an assurance of life that one craves for. I will still have to work harder with my Post-Graduation- Master of Computer Applications. The completion of this will at least guarantee me that I have learnt something and through the learning, I will get a pretty job which will help me feed my stomach. This degree will just allow to me to enter some Call Center arena that demands no less than a Graduate Guy in the name of Eligibility. 

                A Picture with such attire also reflects that the person wearing it knows all about the field he is a Graduate in. Another shameful moment. Ask me about my field and I might faint. I am not even clear with Basics after studying on the topic for 3 years. In MCA, I have taken a fresh start and I am learning the facts and factual now. Then, One Night study was all that I did and got this Namesake Degree. And, can you ever compare a Golden Jubilee Marriage with a Night stand? I am sure, your answer is NO except if you are a Real Tharak. :-) Wearing the attire on the day, I didn't feel any good for myself because I knew that I only deserved it because I passed without failing in the Final Semester but I am too weak to call myself a Graduate in the field of Computers. Computer is a study of several Computer Languages. A good Computer Engineer is expected to be an adept expert in at least one of the languages by the end of his Graduation. I am not even basic in any of them. What value then this attire has over my body? It is just equivalent to the men wearing khaki in Delhi and calling themselves Delhi Police but are unable to guarantee safety to its female citizen. 

             The irony is that I have started feeling good about myself after giving the Semester exam of MCA but we don't get felicitated for being a Post-Graduate in the same manner as we get for BCA. The degree, then, is handed casually. Sad! In the Convocation ceremony, I only felt good when I saw many other students from other campuses wearing the same attire as mine and looked good. Only then I felt that I am also looking like them in the similar attire and hence, I have also achieved in life what they have. Otherwise, the Convocation had no meaning for me. I shouldn't say for the whole class but none of my classmates can call themselves a Real Graduate with confidence in front of world. Except one, none has been able to score First class marks. All are in Higher Second Class or Second Class with "no knowledge". 

             For me, this Convocation had only one excitement- "That I was keeping my feet in Pune- the same land which gave me enough pain and torture that I reached this level of life". The city from where my father forced me to leave my academic year of Std. 11th(in 2007) because of misunderstandings turns out to be the same city where I am been felicitated for being a Successful Graduate(in 2012, after 5 years). What can be more emotional moment for me? Else, I am not very happy with the attire I am in. As I feel good about my Mother and Father that they are educated, I am only happy that my children will cherish this moment thinking that their father is a Graduate. :-) Else, it's all formality of University that I joined in. And Yes, it's also a Proud moment for my Parents to see their little child in an uniform that vociferates "A Graduate". What an irony that the upper Generation and lower Generation is feeling good and will respectively about an event of which the Current Generation is a part and is not even excited about it. Haha!

 Thanks.

 ABHILASH RUHELA - VEERU