THE RESPONSE
THAT LAUNCHED UNIQUELY U.

I am going to make a brash assumption that your eyes are glazed over from reading high school seniors predicting their future. “This is a very tough task to achieve and probably impossible. College is a place to have assumptions shattered and to discover things not even imagined. If I were to hazard a prediction, it would be all of the obvious stuff: become responsible and independent and to learn about myself. Most of all, I want to come out of college knowing more, but as Socrates said: “The more I know, the more I(’ll) know that I do not know.” So I would like to pose a different question: In what ways can I imagine Princeton growing and changing as a result of my spending the next four years with you? Princeton has a unique emphasis on family--as in the “Princeton family.” Once you enter Princeton, you have extended your family, not only to those in your class, but also to the generations of Princeton graduates prior to you as well as the generations to come after you.

I, too, am part of a people that goes back thousands of years. My family’s value system, music, art, culture, architecture and religion have been around long before recorded history. My people invented language in the form of Sanskrit, the Mother of Western Language. Even the preppy clothes worn on the campus of Princeton have an Indian origin: consider khaki, madras plaid and the polo pony on all those Ralph Lauren jerseys. Most famous of all is the food that we create. It was the matchless aromas of our spices in the time of Columbus that drove men to risk their lives to reach my family’s land, the Indies and the spices we alone produced: cardamom, cumin, and coriander. This venerable and classic family of mine can add to the prestigious family at Princeton and therefore make the next four years and many more years to come ones of progressive change and growth for both our Families.