No Excuses.

Over a month has passed since my last post, and with it, a whole bunch of other stuff that I could write about.

I could write about the trip to an Indian orphanage in Rembau, and how being in the Rembau area invoked within me feelings of nostalgia, and how I was touched by how happy the kids there were with their lot, despite it not being much to shout about.

I could write about the surprise party for my birthday that had been held a week before the actual date, and how I experienced that feeling of utter awkwardness of not knowing what to do while everyone else was singing 'Happy Birthday', and how that led me to absent-mindedly cut my cake before blowing out the candles.

I could write about how an unexpected call from a former schoolmate currently studying in Canada came to wish me a happy birthday (albeit a belated one), and how I was so pleasantly surprised by the whole thing that I was probably red in the face for the next half hour or so.

I could write about how I went home every weekend for the past month or so to attend some seminars, where the speakers were some of my parents' friends from Nigeria, and how I learnt a whole bunch of stuff. Oh, and how we had a grand dinner at a fancy Arabian restaurant after all that was over.

I could write about how I was in an exceptionally good mood last week, and how, despite me being exposed to some so-called 'office politics' due to some conflicts regarding one of the subjects I've been taking for this past semester, it refused to be significantly tainted.

But no. I'm not going to write about any of that.

Wait, what? I just did? Oh, well. Anyway, we'll move on to the main point of my post now.

My mother recently completed her PhD after four long, hard years. Her convocation was held at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi last Saturday, and I and three of my eldest younger siblings went with her to celebrate the occasion. We might have brought some of the younger ones along as well, but they were all too young to be allowed into the event hall.

The place was huge; my guess would be that it could hold a few thousand people. It was my first time in such a hall, and I wondered how it would feel to be sitting for an exam in such a cavernous building. I mean, it was so big that it could hold all the people graduating at the convocation ceremony that day, as well as their invited guests.  

So yeah, a whole lot of people received their scrolls that day. So many, in fact, that a good number of spectators decided to catch a few Z's while the convocation was going on. Some people even managed to get their snoozing caught on camera, to be broadcasted onto giant screens where everyone in the hall could see them.

I should also mention that the scrolls were given out by the Chancellor of UKM, who was none other than the Yang Di-Pertuan Besar (YDP) of Negeri Sembilan. His face largely contained a look of disinterest throughout the entire ceremony; but then again, maybe that's just his regular expression. Nevertheless, I found him and his overall manner to be absolutely fabulous. I can't remember how long my brother and I spent discussing how awesome his hair and moustache were. My sisters, too, seemed to be equally impressed. 

To top things off, the state song of Negeri Sembilan was played at the beginning and the end of the convocation. I honestly enjoyed singing it, as it had been a while since I'd last done so. I've always liked the song anyway, so yeah.

We couldn't get the YDP to pose for a picture with us, unfortunately.

Anyhow, after all that was over, I started to wonder exactly how much of a struggle it was for my mother to somehow complete her PhD (with distinction!) while raising ten kids, coping with office politics, and volunteering in NGOs, among other things. And then I thought of my own studies as a bachelor's degree student, and just how relatively petty my own obstacles to success were.

It just goes to show that where there's a will, there's a way. I shouldn't be allowing trivial matters to disrupt my mission to maintain my 4.0 CGPA for this current semester, as well as all the ones that come after it. I need to really dig deep within myself, and maximize the potential that I've always known was there all along.

No excuses, old boy. No excuses.

Proud.

Earlier today, a three-person panel from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) paid a visit to my university as part of the process to get accreditation for its Foundation in Engineering (FIE) program. They had done this before, and had interviewed some of the lecturers and other staff members. This time round, though, they went for arguably the most important part of a learning institution - the students.

A number of students from the FIE program, including a few of my housemates, were selected for the interview session, as were the five main council members of the Student Representative Council. Being the Secretary of said Council, I was made to dress formally on the day and attend the group interview.

In truth, I didn't end up doing much speaking at all. The questions asked by the panel members were mostly routine - role of the Student Representative Council, activities we had planned for in the future, main problems faced by students, etc. - and were rather calmly answered by the Council President (they just asked the same questions as "last time", he later said). All the rest of us had to do was just sit there quietly and smile and nod in polite agreement.

At the end of the interview, one of the panelists asked: "Are you proud to be a student of MIU?"

The reply from each of the other Council members can be summarized as a big, collective 'meh'. I, however, said that I was "very proud" to be a student here. Which I was. Or am, rather.

Okay, perhaps at the time I confused being very proud with very happy. And indeed, I am very happy at MIU, in spite of everything.

It's understandable if the students here are mostly unhappy with studying at Manipal. The campus is still in its infancy stage, and is hence largely lacking in decent facilities. Tiny library with too few books, tiny cafeteria with too little choice of food, tiny building that can barely contain its expanding number of students and staff - the list goes on.

I'm quite content with what I have here, though. I'm enjoying my studies, and I have good friends around the place. What more could I need in this university, when my main objective in coming here is to obtain as much knowledge as possible?  Sure, there are things that I want, but since they're not nearly as important as what I need, then I'm willing to wait.

Anyway, upon reflection, I realized that I'm not really "very proud" to be a student at MIU, mainly because there's not much to be proud of. I can't even claim to be proud of being one of the very few Malay students here anymore either, with our number due to at least double with the incoming September intake.

What I can be proud of, though - or potentially proud of, anyway - is that I'll be part of one of the first batches to graduate from MIU. I have the chance to blaze a trail; to set a standard of excellence to be used as a benchmark for all the university's future students - and even more so with my position in the Student Representative Council.

So maybe I'm not very proud of being a student of MIU right about now. But here's hoping that there will soon come a day that I will be.

Revamped.

Image courtesy of Facebook.

In my last post I wrote about the upcoming election for my university's Student Representative Counil (SRC), and that I had been uncontested for my post as one of the two Secretaries.

(On a side note, what does a secretary do, anyway? I've always thought that their job description was mainly to write things down. But then again, that just sounds too easy - there's a reason why this post was uncontested.)

The election was held last Wednesday, 28th August 2013, and the results were supposed to have been announced the very next day. Well, this did not transpire, for some reason or another. On the afternoon of the scheduled results day, an e-mail was sent out from Student Affairs to all the students which stated that a re-election was to be held. 

Apparently, it was decided that this would be done in order to "clear questionable doubts on the process of election" - whatever that meant. Conspiracy theorists would conclude that an 'undesirable candidate' had gotten the most votes for President, but I'm not one to stir up such controversy.

So anyway, the re-election was held on Monday, and the results announced the day after. As expected, the favorites for each position all won - although one might argue that the Zimbabwean who won Treasurer was a shock pick; he did only win by one vote, after all.

I was glad that the guy won, though, and not just because he's a friend and batchmate of mine. His presence on the SRC meant that the numerous Africans in the student body would have a voice; a say in whatever the SRC comes up with. Also, the fact that both Secretaries are Malay and one of the Committee Members is Chinese means that there is more diversity in the Council this time around. If all the SRC members had been Indian, like last time, it would be much harder to achieve what is arguably our main objective - to instil unity among the students. I'm not being racist or anything, but people do tend to believe in and support something more if one of their own is involved in it. That's just the way the world works.

Anyway, now that the election's done and dusted, I can look forward to carrying out my duties as one of the SRC Secretaries, although I'm still unclear on what my role is exactly. The upcoming meeting with the Vice-Chancellor should clear that up.  

I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping that this new SRC will spell brighter days ahead for MIU. It's been said that the students are the soul of a university, and maybe now this university's soul will be getting some much-needed chicken soup. Unity in diversity is the goal, and this revamped, more cosmopolitan SRC should be well-equipped to achieve it. I, for one, am determined to make that happen - even if my job is only to write things down.