Splinter or a Spark!

‘You are kids to me. You have grown into young men and women capable of supporting yourself’ He spoke with his simultaneously composed and excited disposition. ‘No matter how old you grow, you would always be kids to your parents’. Did we hear a creak in his tone; did we sense the bitterness turning heads in his stomach. ‘As you move out of this college on this day, my dear children, bind this message to your heads. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, at no stage of life, at no level of success; should you ever forget your parents’….My oh my!…. Did we see that cute old jovial fellow at the verge of tears? Yes, in no time he was engulfed in a barrage of pearls rolling down his eyes. A 100 odd bright minds sitting in the last session of their 4 year long endeavor were shocked and moved alike at this sudden unexpected turn of events.

Seemingly some ‘kids’ had wanted to sell of their father’s property much against his will. The father had protested and he was bashed up by his own children. The mother had stood begging for mercy. The thought in itself wreaks havoc; it became all the more dreadful when a distinguished veteran of the society and a claimant of our immense respect complained. In his frailty, we sensed a slap on our collective conscience. In his fragility, we felt shattered and duty-bound at the same time. My last class at NSIT became a true frame of emotions and introspection not because of the inadvertent nostalgia but because of this heart rendering parting message. The Professor let it out in no uncertain terms that if we are to do him any proud, we would have to ensure that we never absolve ourselves of the responsibility to our parents in particular and to elders of our society in general. The fact that a man of his stature had been moved to such an extent was evident of the malaise in the society. It was irrelevant whose story he was talking of; what was more pertinent was something rightly pointed out by him as tears rolled down his skeletal cheekbones. As the newest stock of the society it was our responsibility to absorb his message and usher in the corrective change. As he walked out of the class his parting words were that there is no such relation like that of a parent and a child: the former loves the latter UNCONDITIONALLY; even if (s)he has to do it unilaterally.

True, love is precious; money cant buy it; but it always comes with conditions attached and expiry clauses; except for a parent’s love, which comes with no strings attached. Your message is well received, SIR. On the face of it, Professor looked like a splinter struggling to readjust to changing realities of the world; but in effect he had ignited a hundred sparks that would amend the realities of the world.

— written by a student at NSIT about his Professor