Valedictorian Address

It is painful to say goodbye. At Woodstock we do this all the time. I remember saying goodbye to friends at the end of each year, sometimes twice a year. I remember the departure of mentors like Miss Susan Downs, Dr Barton, Mr Shaw Hamilton and later Mr. John Paulraj, who made tremendous impact on my life. To me, Woodstock has become a symbol not of a school, but of a hub where you meet people who you will remember for the rest of your life and forge friendships time will be unable to break.

When you've been here for as long as I have at Woodstock, there are many things you want to say in your departure, but only so many that you can. Woodstock has taught me what I would find hard to learn elsewhere. I have criticized almost everybody and almost everything. Elsewhere I would be kicked out for the ruthlessness of my honesty. Woodstock has taught me to be able to think for myself, to be comfortable in standing out, to criticize. As we leave, I must tell the less informed that the world is not waiting for Eminence to make a difference. The world, like time, waits for no one. We have to find our own place in the world. We have to make ourselves heard and we have to go out with a desire to conquer.

Salman Rushdie said something for the commencement ceremony of Bard College in 1996, which I find worth repeating: "It is men and women who have made the world and they have made it in spite of their gods. The message of the myths is not the one the gods would have us learn - 'behave yourself and know your place' - but its exact opposite. It is that we must be guided by our natures. Our worst natures can, it's true, be arrogant, venal, corrupt, or selfish; but in our best selves, we - that is, you - can and will be joyous, adventurous, cheeky, creative, inquisitive, demanding, competitive, loving and defiant. Do not bow your heads. Do not know your place. Defy the gods. You will be astonished how many of them turn out to have feet of clay. Be guided, if possible, by your better natures." If I have any message for my classmates, it is this: the world is not waiting for us, so let us shock it with our presence. We have chosen the name Eminence. Now let's defy the world, rise above it and live up to our name.

I have another message. Although I have rarely echoed the sentiments of a majority, today I would like to thank a special group of people on behalf of Eminence. I want to thank our parents for everything that they have done for us, some of which we cannot comprehend or recognize as of now: from the obvious - like paying our fee and sending us to what you recognized as the best school for us, for listening to us crib and sometimes cry over the phone, for encouraging us, for telling us to get on with our work and for being there for us - to the not-so-obvious like the hours you spent worrying about us and our lives. We sometimes forget to, or find it hard to thank you for everything you give us and do for us, but we want you to know that we love you and appreciate all the work you put into us. As we leave, we will miss the friendships forged here at Woodstock. This is not the end of something extraordinarily grand, but it is significant nevertheless. I would like to thank everyone who has been a part of my life, even if your role was that of an antagonist. Time will heal the wounds of the past and we will, even if we hate to admit it, be nostalgic about some aspect of our Woodstock lives.