Invocation less-nonsense
I have written earlier lamenting the trend in India to start all technical discussions and conferences with invocation nonsense. So, I should give credit where its due. Some of the official ceremonies that I have attended in the recent past started with invocation of “Vande Maataram.” While I am not in favour of such invocations either, I think they make more sense than invoking an imaginary being. And more secular as well.
The other day, I was contrasting our convocation ceremony at IIT-M with the ones I experienced in the US. Here, we did not have any religious invocation, religious references or a priest/chaplain “blessing” the ceremony. The director and the guest of honour spoke and we carried on with business. On the other hand, its quite common in US universities to have a chaplain address the convocation and speak about “greater purpose” to life and such things.
Give me IIT-M convocation any day over an IIT-Chicago convocation.
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