Testimonial time

At the end of their two years at XLRI, as our seniors leave, to ply their respective trades, we wish them luck and happiness... here's the testimonial I wrote for my committee seniors, for publication in the yearbook...

I wonder… how does one compress a year of fun, learning, hours/days spent in work, minutes of madness, and what not, into one tiny, miniscule page? Thoughts gather in my mind, like leaves in an autumn wind, as I set out to complete this task of writing a note about you folks.

Where shall we begin? When we juniors were a bunch of greenhorns appearing for interviews for the committee? Or shall we jump forward to the post-selection phase, when we were invited to a ‘formal’ dinner with two senior profs from some American university? Of course, decked in our best formals, we reached The Regent, only to find out that our serious, no-nonsense secy, Vaibhav, had master-minded a prank!

We could also describe all those late night meetings, where we were encouraged to give voice to all our ideas, which threatened to gush forth and cause a deluge! But thankfully, Shradha, the voice of pragmatism, always detected a potential pitfall or challenge, allowing us to make things better.

Since Ankit decided to make use of the committee’s expertise and knowledge, to go abroad for a term, we didn’t get to know him too much, except for becoming aware of his brand name – Ghissu J and the fact that he, even when abroad, did his best to help us out.

Ambira, the consultant, who packs a powerful, intelligent brain, behind her beauty, was always at hand to bail us out of tough situations with a smile, and some nice ideas. And Arpan, the silent worker, always spot-on with work, and always game for some fun helped us integrate well into the team, and keep going!

You know, the next year will be tough for us. We’ll have some really large shoes to fill, and it’s a scary thought for us. Without Vaibhav’s focus and direction, and without the rest of you to guide us, we might feel a little lost, on occasion. But then, kudos to you, for setting such an awesome example, that we must live up to.

Of course, we wish we had more of a chance to know you better, work with you, and spend some more fun-filled moments too. We’ll miss you folks, but then, we’ll have with us many memories of the happy times we spent, and hope you do the same.

For all of you, we have nothing but good wishes and smiles, as you embark on your respective journeys through life.

Forrest Gump said, "I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental - like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both." I can’t help but agree with him, as I write this note.

So, till the time, another such breeze blows us back into each other’s lives, we wish you farewell. Godspeed, seniors!