I found the text and video to my graduate speech that happened on 23 May 2015

Hi everybody.

I recall the way my formal architecture education ended almost a decade ago.Immediately after defending my thesis I drove back home, leaving behind my work, full-scale model the size of a mini-van and friends who were waiting in line to defend their designs, only to get to my bed and sleep for an entire day. We all parted like that, excepting the one group photograph under the mango tree outside our department. For the second time I was part of an urban design research program; it was an all-night party in Germany, the morning after which most of my colleagues flew straight to their respective countries!

In both instances, the pictures we took are a constant reminder of how thin we were all back then! Well, I can’t wait to look back at the pictures we take today and thanks to social media; many others might witness those changes too!

But this graduation ceremony, its nice! I have a warm fuzzy feeling now of course, but when I heard about it first, I thought it was a prank! Don’t blame me, I officially heard about it on 1 st of April, no offense to you Rick, but it is possible you know, knowing the bunch of you here for the past two years, this may as well have been a prank!

To be honest, I’ve had no experience of being part of a ceremony like this, but don’t you worry, you’re in good hands!

I spent most of the past few weeks researching about it, I have the necessary data to support my findings, and I believe this experience at best has been exciting and nerve racking!

My data consists of a total of fifteen speeches, half of them are by distinguished and well-known celebrity speakers that include Oprah Winfrey, Ellen De Generes, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, Lisa Kudrow, J K Rowling and the other half is an assorted group, a bunch of grads from many schools across the nation, Rick Kos, Hilary Nixon,Bhaswati Bhattacharya and Herff Jones. Rick Kos, because he is always there to talk, Hilary – this was my first formal class with Hilary only because it was not waitlisted or overlapping with other classes,Bhaswati because she is Indian, Herff Jones – because they sold us this costume for$100. They wrote on their website that they were “committed to the pomp, the circumstance and all that comes before and after!”

Most of my data sources are from the worldwide web, particularly YouTube, Google and TEDeX, TED and in-person discussions. (Pause to check for typos)

There are two significant findings from all the speeches that are of interest to what I am saying today! First, right at the beginning, everybody talks about his or her research process leading to the speech on that day! (Cha-ching! 1 point to me!)

Secondly, most of the speakers were confident that their speeches would beforgotten eventually, so that’s a big relief to me!

Please note that I restricted my speech research only to the funny ones, so here goes! 

Respected faculty, distinguished guests, proud swelling parents, communities watching online and other good-looking people…. wait! Are they my dear fellowplanners? Oh my God! We made it!

If it were not for planning & research or for Herff Jones, I might have not known what this gown, cap or tassel stood for!

Let me tell you one thing, the ability to confidently conduct research, present factual information to an alien audience and emulate accent-free American English (much similar to this speech,) might be something we would be doing in our future careers as planners.

So thank you M U P, for inculcating into me those necessary skills so that I can stand here today and render speeches with all the right attributes, citation and quotations!

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that each one of us here today will be able to do something similar, if not better. I am sure we will use our skills, knowledge and learning to make a positive impact to our communities. Why am I so confident? Well, we did make it to this point here today, din’t we! 

Asha once told me that although we are not the largest graduating batch of the M U P program, we are indeed the most social! In addition to that, I also think we are a crazy batch. Raise your hand if you took 201 and 298A in the same semester!

(Pause and stare…) Well…. good luck explaining that to your parents and friends! It was indeed one-of- a-kind experience for me, ‘cause I took 204 in addition to those two classes! Sorry Shishir, now you know why my papers for 204 were endless rows of unformatted tables!

These past years, I’ve learnt to embrace a different life here. As newly weds and in many other facets; The leafless trees and Philz coffee;

Cold rains (although few and far between,) calling professors by their first name;Unlearning to drive on the other side, learning to drive on the wrong side! Getting lost while walking through endless miles of Costco, but navigating maps on Google like a pro!

And enjoying free transit passes and discounted museum tickets but hated paying for parking tickets!

We all will embrace a future that is global, fast paced, diverse and well connected. As we all prepare to go that path now, we also should get used to a shift in dinner times, from in-between classes to just before planning commission and council meetings.

Without the help and unending support of our parents, family, faculty and friends we might not have turned out as such fine products, as we sit here today. I want to thank them, for helping us sail through this program, and keeping us sane through our projects.

I cannot thank them enough for all the sacrifices they have made for us; I am sure we will do the same for the future generation too! I will not be surprised if our children will be making plans to go the moon for their honeymoon!

I dedicate this speech to my late father, T. S. M, I am sure he would have been proud of me; it was in his utmost thoughts to facilitate higher education for the betterment of my career. My mother and sister stand by his thoughts today and also by my side. I have to thank my in-laws who have been magnanimous with their sponsorship and support to me.

Congratulations once again to all of us here! And thank you for choosing me to speak today! Wishing everyone a fantastic career and life ahead!

Good evening.