Class of Unity

Segregating. Pigeon-Holing. Categorizing. Our life has always been surrounded by divisions. While there are some who try to rebel against these divisions we can all agree that we seek some order in life. Some of the ordering points towards an objective way of ordering there are others that are purely subjective. All through history and in ancient tradition, one may observe that divisions and ordering have pervaded in every society. But, this is all human creation. By nature we are called to be people relating with everyone without divisions.

I had had an experience like this a few years ago when I was in high school. I would term it as a class of unity. We were a varied mix. Among our classmates, there was an African, some Bangladeshis, Afghanis, Pakistanis and a whole lot of Indians hailing from north and south. But as a class, we never looked at the others as people from different lands. We looked at each other as fellow brothers and sisters. Despite our differences, a great sense of unity continued to pervade.

There seemed to be blurry divisions due to varied interests or levels of intellectual ability. But, on the whole we were very united; hardly gossiping or slaying the other's identity in secret. An event that really showed our unity was an inter-class cooking competition. Most of us knew nothing about cooking. Yet, we received a lot of encouragement from the 'cooks' of our class that at the end of the day, we too felt that we were good cooks. That was the kind of support we received from each other. The academic rat-race to fight to be on the top could not prevail. It was a healthy competition that helped the weaker students do better.

As the two years came to a close, and we headed to our various futures in diverse settings, I knew I wouldn't get a chance to meet any of them by the life choice that I had made. Yet, I knew that they would always remain close at heart. It has been five years since we all parted to tread our own life journey. But, the lesson of living life without frontiers was taught by my very own 'class of unity'.