 Good morning, everyone. Wonderful to meet you, even though it's virtually, and Chairperson Dr. Anir, Principal Dr. Hewasa, and Faculty of Postgraduate Studies Program of Tetsuo College, my dear students, the graduating students, and parents. Today we are here to honor the Tetsuo College first postgraduate class of 2021, who have made it against all odds. Congratulations to the class of 2021, and also I express my appreciation to the parents and the teachers who have provided the much needed support system for this class of 2021 in pursuit of higher education. My heartfelt congratulations to Snia Kukta for securing the gold medal from Nagaland University, and I wish you academic excellence in the days to come and may you shine as you go along in life. I'm truly honored and humbled to share my thoughts on this special day, and in fact, I had mentioned my reluctance to Dr. Hewasa for this assignment, but it was very difficult to overcome her gentle persuasion. So here I am. Tetsuo College has a special place in my life as well as for heritage publishing house, not only for the various engagements and collaborations for knowledge production with Tetsuo College over the years, as Hewasa has mentioned, but also I had a very meaningful brief association with the founding principal, Dr. P. S. Lauren, and I really miss him today. And under his general guidance, I learned to look at, or I must say that I learned to really look at the responsibility of being a Naga. You know, my responsibility of being a Naga without the men made mental boundaries and to embrace as well as challenge the realities of the Naga situation. And I've seen how the college as an institution, as an institution have, you know, really grown over the years, and I really appreciate the management of the Tetsuo College, the teachers, the students, you know, and the leaders for the leadership that you're providing for knowledge production in the state as well as beyond the state. Now coming to the point, considering that class of 2021 is the first BG batch of Tetsuo College, this batch have undergone the sudden transition of synchronized online learning since the COVID-19 pandemic in the last two years have shifted the process of traditional classroom learning to hybrid learning experiences as we all know, even as parents as well as students. Looking at the activities that have taken place, taken place for the class of 2021, I must say that Tetsuo College has reached the gap of engaging the students in various activities, both online and offline, beyond the academic exercises. The dictionary definition of commence is to begin or to start. Commencement marks the beginning to the provisional world, even though some of the graduating class of 2021 will continue to pursue the studies or engage in the activities for additional knowledge and skills. We all know that education is pertinent towards gaining knowledge, critical thinking that engages us for creating meaningful existence of our own and the world we interact with. As a postgraduate, I would like to tell the class of 2021, you are equipped with the power to stand and fight for healthier conditions. And this moment today is the day it's an invitation to use your education to apply the best of what you have learned, what you have learned in your head and felt in your heart for what you aspire to be. Today, I urge the class of 2021, Tetsuo College to go beyond being satisfied with the job which will give you a regular monthly income. We need to develop a consciousness that each one of us are capable of empowering not only ourselves but our community and contribute towards nation building. Many people say that we live in challenging times. Times are bad, situation is not suitable for the growth of a community of an individual or for our economy, but I say that we live in interesting times. Why interesting times? Because in the challenges that we are faced with, we find opportunities. In the challenges, we need to pursue and strive and to overcome the challenges that are thrown at us. In the context of Nagaland that we live, we need to develop the moral responsibility of conducting our affairs based on mutual respect in honor, which is really the need of the art. We also need to take ownership of our resources and history. Why I say this is because for long, we have allowed others to colonize our mind with different ideas, but we need to, but we need not remain any longer in that condition when we can apply our mind and when we are empowered with knowledge to assert our rights. We can transcend beyond the oppressed mind by embracing intentionally intentional decolonizing of our minds. Class of 2021, as you all navigate through the rest of your life, what I want to tell you is that be open to paradigm shift in your thinking because we can't be just stuck in one line of thinking. Be open to collaboration with fellow friends, continue to inspire one another, carry one another when the journey becomes tiresome, and celebrate each other milestone, not only today, but for the rest of your lives, and continue to create meanings in life and be that person that has journeyed well in life. I wish you all the best and may you shine as the shining stars in the sky. Thank you for having me today.