Culmination- 2013

It is with bitter-sweet feelings that I have to call Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)’s 120^th graduation ceremony a culmination of many things. Bitter, because this is the day when we will see many of our friends for probably the last time. Many of them, I am sure, will cross my part of the world one day, but then, there are so many I may not even manage to keep in touch. Sweet, because, like everyone else here, we will be together with families and loved ones once more. It was nice to see the insides of a classroom after about a decade or so; it was a nice break from the daily grind of a regular job, but it was not easy to be away from the loves of your life. Sweet, because the ceremony also falls on the 106^th national day of my country.

Well, it’s over for now. As they say, till death, education continues. I am sure some of us may meet at a different part of the world, still in the quest of further knowledge. See you there!

What did I learn? That’s obviously the next question.

Indeed, I did learn a few things. We have a phrase that is occasionally used by the learned to label the ignoramuses in my country:  “Jhing gi boep”. It means a “frog in a pond”, who thinks the pond is the whole universe. This stint at AIT at least took me out of the pond. It made me shed my blinkers, and showed me the whole panorama of life!

It also taught me that there are a lot more things to learn, and everyone is interested in knowledge. That everyone likes to live in harmony with the other person, everyone has the same feelings, and everyone misses someone dear somewhere. The last part was really very subtle- it showed in only the small involuntary things that people did, but the message was there.

I would guess that, for most of us, what we learnt outside the classrooms and lecture theatres was far more significant than what we did inside them.

Best of all was the diversity of life here. That teaches you things, doesn’t it. The culture, the resemblance of cultures, and humaneness. The love we shared. I am sure God created everyone the same; hence the similarities within the differences. This is something I will cherish all my life.  

But as someone has written, life has to go on, and living has to be made.

So, off we go. Back to our desks. Back to routine. To try and apply, where possible, what we have learnt here.  Let us work hard, discipline ourselves, and move ahead in life. And never stop learning- the world is the biggest classroom, and experience the best teacher!

To all my new (and old) friends: Let me bid you farewell for now. We’ll meet again. Somewhere, some place. I know we will. Keep in touch, and see you there! 

From Bhutan to AIT, Bangkok!

Yes, I come from Bhutan. That small nation that is ensconced between India and China, and the very one that introduced the concept of Gross national Happiness to the world. In Bhutan, we calculate GNH as a measure of the country’s development, and not GDP. Surprised? I do look like I am from India, or Bangladesh or Nepal. Depends on how you look at it. We are called the “Lhotshampas” in Bhutan, rather fondly, I would say, and loosely translates to “one from the southern fringes of the country”. Well, once upon a time my ancestors came from somewhere and settled in Bhutan.  But me and my family (and my grandfather before that) are firmly Bhutanese, although we also celebrate Hindu festivals like the Dasain, along with all the Buddhist ones. You see, in Bhutan, Hinduism and Buddhism are the two state religions, and English and Dzongkha are the popular two languages, apart from other vernaculars. Yes, English, because the education in Bhutan is all conducted in English from the beginning, which is the official language of communication, along with Dzongkha.

Well, that’s it for the introduction. Do let us move to AIT now.

Along with my 18 colleagues (comprising of Bangladeshi, Myanmarese & Bhutanese nationals), I am doing my Professional Masters in Banking and Finance here.  As far as AIT is concerned, we joined the institute in January 2013. My student ID says I joined the program officially on 7^th January 2013, although I arrived here only on the 31^st March, with a further wait of another month for my friends from other countries to arrive, before our course actually started. I graduate in December 2013, which gives me an effective period of seven months for full-time study, to complete all the course modules plus a research project.

It seems ironic now, that my first impression of AIT was of the silence that was prevalent. Yes, it was silent, very much so. That was so, now I realize, because I landed here at the wrong time! Everyone was either readying their thesis defenses or studying for their final exams, except for a few hours of sports in the evenings. Well, that made us odd men out. No friends to speak of, till the new semester started.

The other impression that I had was the speed of internet connection available in the rooms. I come from a country where the net penetrated very late, and the fastest speed, from the recently popular broadband connection, was at least ten times slower than what we got here! You see what I mean: a streaming YouTube video playing without buffering was a novelty to us! And, obviously, we got hooked immediately. It is another long story that we had to wait for another week to get our student IDs, and therefore the net connections (despite being “officially” a student since January).

During the entire month of waiting for our other colleagues to arrive, we were made to study a “bridging course”. I have no idea now what the bridge helped us cross, because all we were taught were how to calculate sums in excel (which most of us were already very proficient, having worked in a Bank), how to write in English (which I realize now was an exercise to make use of the abundant time we had at our disposal, and which I believe, frankly, was not required) and some introductory economics (which was useful, providing a background for Professor Juthathip’s intensive lectures later on), which were basically meant to get us used to the classroom- which we had forgotten for the last 10-15 years. The problem was, the useful part I mentioned was covered through online materials, which gave us an added incentive to get hooked more than ever to the internet.

Now AIT seems a little different. I have made quite a few friends. We see a lot of activities going on. That brings me to a conundrum: that of being a new student, but neither being considered  “new” (as in having joined in August of this year),  nor “old”, because we started our studies not in August last year, but May this year! Of course, thanks to the SU team, that was solved soon enough- at least starting from the weekend trip. And another one: not being fully considered a part of SOM, since our classes are always held at AITCC, although our course is coordinated through the SOM: which meant missing a lot of things there!

On to other things now: As I said before, we had a quite a bit of time on our hands initially (a month, to be precise), and with the new found wealth (the allowance for books and research that our company kindly paid us, apart from the 3-months stipend), we got a lot of opportunities to visit Bangkok, which was the nearest place to us then, since we had no idea that the Future Park was nearer. So we went, almost daily, to Anud Sawari Xaisa Maraphoom by taxi, no less- we were wealthy, you know, and no one advised us that bus no. 29 & 510 were far cheaper alternatives. And so we went: and KFC , MacDonalds & Burger King (at the MBK or the Siam Paragon, obviously) became our regular haunts, not to forget the Asiatic pier, the Baiyoke tower, the Bobae and the Indian market. Our taste buds are used to spicy food (spicy meaning lot of chillies, since a dish called ema-datshi, literally chillies cooked with cheese, is our national dish), and the “spicy” Thai dishes, which meant sweet (“Hwan”?) were not our kind. So the last minute realization that we would need some rice & curry cookers, so we could sometimes- at least at times when we were not too lazy- cook dishes to our own likings, despite having never cooked before! Cooking in the balcony sometimes is indeed fun- with people at the badminton court looking up and wondering what this strange man was cooking, at such odd times. See, the life at AIT begins at 9 pm.

Then the realization that we were almost done with all our allowances, supposed to last the next three months!  You see, Bangkok is such a bargain place, where everything under the sun is available so very cheap- until we realize, too late, that the value of things here become twice when we convert to our own currency. But well... we all learnt the English the Thai shopkeepers knew- four complex words: Have? No Have! Discount? Cannot, Mistah!

And, thank god for the AIT Dorm rooms, which we found very tiny when we first came, but which now seem large enough to accommodate us plus all the junk we purchased at the time, including that funny sun-hat from Pattaya (we did visit the place anyway), the picture-on-a-plate from Phuket & Dreamworld, and so on. Who says it doesn’t pay to stay in campus? It is so cheap after all. I have to just conveniently forget, for now, the excess baggage when I go back, collected from those shopping jaunts - not counting the course books (by themselves no less than 15 kgs) although we hardly refer them now- we prefer uncle Google, who is so very generous in providing suitable materials, especially when throwing silly questions at whoever is lecturing to you in class. And the Facebook experience.  Don’t let’s talk of that… just rest assured that I am now blocked from sending friend requests, because I sent too many to people I saw were in AIT, and someone very kindly answered “No” when it asked “Do you know Hem outside of Facebook?”. Ha ha, so very funny.

So- the life goes on.

AIT is a huge community- with scholars from countries that we common people have never heard of, congregating here. The Sodexo cafeteria is fun- although the food is a tad too sweet, we like it much better now, thank you. With the added green chillies, of course. And there is always the SU café, with the deafening noise inside, despite there being only around 10 people- everyone trying their best to make themselves heard, and vying for the attention of our homely Aunty at the India counter. Also, who can forget the coffee at Hom Krun & UFM café. And the Friday nights! Interesting is hardly the word for it.

Well, this is adaptation now. From sitting in the office on a revolving chair, commanding people to do your bidding for the last 10 years, to being a student again. Life is good now, fallen into the rhythmic pattern of a student’s life. AIT, thank you for the experience. I am going to miss the ambiance after December 2013. Even though I am counting backwards to be back home: hok..ha..si..sam..song…..nguen.

Yes, mistah, I lie. Really, I do.

Khop khun khrap.

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