For the Class I Will Always Remember

Dear Students from the Class of 2026,

Big congratulations to you all for your farewell from Plaksha campus in a few days, and the upcoming graduation in a few months! You have absolutely earned this. I am not saying this because you have merely passed some courses or gained academic credits, but because I have seen you grow intellectually and have been a witness to the development of your multifaceted personality. As someone who taught/co-taught four courses to your batch (Tech and the Anthropocene, Machine Learning, Hindu Philosophy, and Human-Technology Interaction), we have come a long way together from figuring out how technology could change our lives, to creating AI models for changing our lives, to questioning what exactly it means to change our lives, to calling all the bullshit that life has to offer. It has been a long (I wish it were longer), fulfilling journey.

Many of you have worked with me outside of courses as well, either through projects originating in courses or in the Human-Technology Interaction Lab. I have not only admired your hard work and the ability to pull off everything at the last minute, but also your curiosity about everything under the sun. It is inspiring that so many of you excelled in and volunteered for activities beyond academics. You took the lead from your seniors and firmly established an amazing culture of service, collaboration, and mentorship on the campus.

What truly makes your batch exceptional is the way many of you combine technical insights with emotional steadiness. You carry a maturity far beyond your age—a trait that is impossible to teach and rare at your age. I have seen so many of you take care of each other in so many ways. I once found myself traveling during a critical phase of a research activity in the HTI group. In my absence, a serious conflict emerged between two student subgroups, a conflict that could have jeopardized the entire experimental setup. It was at this time that many of you stepped in—calmly, compassionately, and with impeccable judgment. They resolved the disagreement, restored trust among the team members, and ensured that the research continued smoothly. They did all this quietly, without bringing attention to themselves or claiming credit. This instinct to protect the integrity of the scientific process, combined with humility, reinforced my belief about the exceptional nature of this batch.

Graduation is a time not just for celebration, but also anticipation and reflection. Truth be told, life after graduation is not as fun as you may think it is. The world outside may not exactly have the comfort of academic life with the support system that you cultivated around your peers and teachers. Quite likely, it will throw many questions at you that no amount of exam preparation or assistance from ChatGPT can solve. Furthermore, the competition you witnessed in your undergraduate journey was like a warm-up match before the commencement of the one big tournament that actually matters. I am sure that, as smart as you are, you already have an inkling of all these and other challenges that life is soon going to throw at you. As you anticipate and prepare for what is to come, let me just share three (you know why they are neither two nor four) ideas that may come in handy when you find yourself in an intractable situation in life outside academia. And, of course, just like in my courses, you will find Bollywood masala sprinkled around here and there!

इतनी सी बात न समझा ज़माना, आदमी जो चलता रहे तो मिल जाए हर ख़ज़ाना

शोहरत है चीज़ क्या चलने का नाम है, इज़्ज़त है चीज़ क्या चलने का नाम है

आड़ी-तिरछी चला-चला के झूम, आड़ी चला-चला के झूम, तिरछी चला-चला के झूम

बाबू समझो इशारे हौरन पुकारे पम पम पम

यहाँ चलती को गाड़ी कहते हैँ प्यारे पम पम पम

—Majrooh Sultanpuri from Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958)

First, you will continuously need to learn to balance your short-term instincts with your long-term plans (believe me, I am still learning). The urge to do something right now because “You only live once (YOLO)” and the delayed gratification that comes with “Live to fight another day” are both equally good philosophical ideas. You may have already witnessed them when deciding to volunteer for an event vs. studying for the exams. Sometimes they will knock together at your door, asking you to choose one, and the decision will be a tougher one to take. “The trip to Europe that my friends are planning for next month sounds like a wonderful idea, but should I wait for a couple of years to first pay back my education loan?” “I have been promoted thrice in the past four years, and financially, it’s great. However, there is this void inside me because all this time, I have been pushing back on starting my own company.” “I want to marry the love of my life, but my parents want me to marry someone else, and they are quite depressed right now.” It would be hard to deal with these and many other situations when your short-term instincts and long-term plans may collide. I will not recommend that you forego all the luxuries life has to offer or ruin your friendships to save for the long-term plans. Nor will I implore you to make compromises with your integrity in the short-term to gain big in the long-term. Take it from me, neither is worth it.

A natural response to such situations at times is to just procrastinate taking a decision. However, notice that procrastinating on taking a decision is also a decision. Procrastination, which you have learned to practice so well in your academic life, may not always be useful, as it may just worsen the situation or harm your peace of mind. When you encounter a seemingly intractable situation having to balance or choose between the short and the long term, asking yourself one question could help in its resolution: “Having taken the decision that I am planning to take, will I be able to go to bed with a clear conscience, or will I regret my decision?” Only you can, and only you will have to work out for yourself what a clear conscience in any such situation would mean for you. While deciding, remember Thomas Jefferson’s dictum: “In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”

Going to bed carefree every night, like a child, is, by far, the most precious gift you can give yourself. Life may throw lemons at you, and if sometimes they succeed in disrupting your sleep, that is alright. However, never ever let your own decisions, or indecision, make you go to bed with a faulty conscience or with the regret that you could have done something differently. Invest time in asking yourself every day, “What am I doing with my life?” to get a firm grasp on your conscience. Now, you may ask, “I am just so overwhelmed with everything happening around me that I have no time to think about such intangible ideas,” or “There are 10 podcasts I listened to for helping me deal with this life situation, but I am now more confused than ever!” This brings me to my next idea.

कहते हैं ज्ञानी, दुनिया है पानी, पानी पे लिखी लिखायी

है सबकी देखी, है सबकी जानी हाथ किसीके न आयी

कुछ तेरा ना मेरा, मुसाफ़िर जायेगा कहाँ

दम लेले घड़ी भर, ये छैयां, पायेगा कहाँ

वहाँ कौन है तेरा, मुसाफ़िर, जायेगा कहाँ

— Shailendra from Guide (1965)

Second, you are graduating in an age where not just data, but information is also dirt cheap. Unfortunately, this is also the age of information clutter. For most of the history of our species, we did really well by compiling and passing on stories as rich sources of information about our environment. Information helped us survive and thrive as a species. Until a few years ago, finding information and procuring its source were arduous tasks. You had to search for information in a library or the newspaper, while television news (if your family owned one) was available only at certain times in a week. Now, information of all sorts is being bombarded at us all the time, no matter where we are (Sorry, not sorry, for asking you to put away your phones during lectures!) It is available to you on any topic of choice by just sending a single voice command.

Our day usually starts with multiple notifications on our “smart” devices and ends with worry about charging them. Throughout the day, scores of meaningless notifications pop up to divert our attention towards usually equally meaningless things. This overload of information, often fake, has also contributed to the creation of information silos in our lives. By following selective sources of news and media platforms, we start living inside our own bubble. The feedback loop created by selective sources of information worsens our perspective. The cognitive decline in our abilities because of mentally drowning in information is immense. Add misinformation on top of this volatile recipe, and you get a highly toxic mixture. As T. S. Eliot remarked, “Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

In this age of information clutter, try to appreciate the power of “boredom.” Take some time off from your digital devices and do, well, nothing. Try to go out for a walk every evening without your phone or, at times, go for a weekend trip with minimal use of digital devices. You will feel both mentally and physically rejuvenated. Research has shown that paradigm shifts in both productivity and creativity happen in bursts and not in deltas. Phases of boredom really help in relaxing our minds to make them more receptive to productive and creative bursts. Most of you know that I am no believer in work-life balance in the sense that one should have fixed hours for “working” and “living” every day. I do think, though, that giving oneself time away from everything every few weeks just to immerse in traveling can help be more productive with work upon returning. It doesn’t have to be traveling. It could be music, art, sports, gardening, writing, or anything else that works for you. The greatest of idols that one can think of in any sphere (Buddha, Jesus, Adi Shankaracharya, Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Pablo Picasso, Nelson Mandela, Satyajit Ray, etc.) made sure from time to time (mostly willingly, at other times, it was forced upon them by events such as during incarceration) to embrace boredom or cultivate other hobbies from their main preoccupations. They may have thought about what they were passionate about every single day, but they also sporadically detached their minds from it to embrace the power of “boredom.”

Having a calm mind away from information clutter is a prerequisite to listening to your conscience. In our age, it is atrociously difficult to detach ourselves from our digital devices, whose apps are optimized to keep us hooked to them as much as possible. However, time once gone, sadly, never returns. You will understand this soon enough, as the craving to relive your undergraduate years will bring nostalgia. We have all been born with a definite but unknown quantity of time at our disposal. Thus, put your time to good use, away from information clutter, embracing a bit of “boredom” from time to time.

तेरी मिट्टी में मिल जावां, गुल बनके मैं खिल जावां, इतनी सी है दिल की आरज़ू

तेरी नदियों में बह जावां, तेरे खेतों में लहरावां, इतनी सी है दिल की आरज़ू

—Manoj Muntashir from Kesari (2019)

Third, it has been your fortune of the highest order to have grown up in India. We are a civilizational state. It is another stroke of luck to have been born in this land at a time when it has recently emerged from centuries of foreign occupation. We did not get the opportunity to participate in the struggle for India’s freedom, but we surely have the chance to strengthen the nation-state that our civilizational state is presently embodying. Our nation’s “Tryst with Destiny” that began on August 15, 1947, is an ongoing endeavour to realize a more prosperous, a more progressive, a more just India. Through these 75+ years, we have shown ourselves to be incredibly capable of preserving and promoting our diversities while staying on course to greater prosperity. We have come a long way from predictions of mass famines and the nation breaking apart. Despite the myriad problems that plague our nation today, this is no mean achievement. You will appreciate this even more when you travel abroad. If you reflect on the changes around you since childhood—how the quality of life of people around you has improved—you will easily realize that the story of developing India has been the defining story of your lives.

Any institution, public or private, whether it be a university, railways, company, hospital, or bank, that has been a part of your life’s journey has been built on the hard work and toil of fellow Indians. Your parents’ employment, or indeed the very founding of Plaksha University, has been possible because every day millions of Indians go about their daily lives and put their sweat and blood into their work, hoping that it will help in building a better India. Any time a fellow Indian pays any sort of tax (sales, income, capital gains, or otherwise) to the government, they become a stakeholder in these institutions that support us. They have literally been the angel investors in your life’s startup.

You may, for all kinds of personal interests, delude yourself into thinking that, by sitting in a different country or working for a foreign firm, you are working for humanity at large. But the last time I checked, there was no world government in which you had a stake. The ground truth is that our world is run by national interests, and unfortunately, they are not always aligned with the common good of all. No matter where and what kind of success you achieve in your life, more than anyone else, you owe it to your fellow countrymen to contribute to India’s development. They have placed their sweat and blood into building those institutions that have made you successful in life. We have been born at a time in which the defining theme of our lives is to be able to make India a developed nation and a real superpower. You have been trained as engineers. When you see a problem in India that you relate to, your first thought should be to fix that problem instead of running away from it. Only this attitude of going ahead to fix things by having a skin in the game can lead India to realize its promised destiny of “discovering herself again.”

To conclude, life outside the university will challenge you in ways you have not imagined yet. That is a part of growing up. Soon, there will be many responsibilities placed upon your shoulders. Don’t let the child inside you get crushed under them. Go to bed with a clear conscience, at times embrace “boredom” to reflect on the trajectory of your life, and when you need strength, just think of your fellow countrymen and their contributions to your growth story. Do not let anyone tell you that you cannot do something, and do not fear trying out multiple things. Here are some golden words from the great Javed Akhtar that inspire one to be fearless-

क्यों डरें ज़िन्दगी में क्या होगा, कुछ न होगा तो तज़ुर्बा होगा

Of course, whenever you feel the need for a conversation, I will be there for you, just a single email/call away. Go forth and fulfill the destiny you have been born to realize!