Graduation Nite

Sherubtse College is about to say good-bye to their sixth semester students – well, at least the ones that pass. Because of this, there are a plethora of events going on around campus – various certificates and kadars being given out, good-bye parties, and last night’s ‘Graduation Nite’ held in the college’s auditorium. Graduation Nite, as we learned from one of the sixth semesters who personally invited Scott to attend, is an opportunity for any graduating sixth semester student to perform on stage. The event was starting at 6 pm.

Scott and I and a few friends – other lecturers at Sherubtse – arrived at the event a little before 9 pm. The upstairs and downstairs of the auditorium were packed with spectators, including some monks, spilling out into the aisles. We sat upstairs on some steps and watched the entertainment in the dark. People were cheering and shouting from the seats. The stage was aglow with the promise of farewell. Young men in ghos and young women in kiras, with a few exceptions in western dress, paraded on stage, some in choreographed pieces, some just allowing the energy of the audience to move them. Before each performance, the students would give out dedications – “This goes out to the econ-geography group,” “This goes out to D.Y., K.T., U.C., and, especially, to all of you” – which were followed by screams and applause and laughter. One young woman dedicated her solo song to a special someone and proceeded to sing out of tune, which turned out to be okay because the audience’s singing overpowered the young woman’s voice. One group danced to a multi-song montage, which included the intro to Billy Jean. There were modern moves and songs and more traditional, cultural pieces. No matter what – good talent or bad talent – everyone loved everyone. Surrounded by their squeals and laughter, I could only imagine how much fun these college students were having. How extraordinary it must be to see the faces of people they’ve grown familiar with over the past three years under the bright lights of a stage, acting out of character or in character, people they’ve been in classes with, lived with, eaten with. People they’ve fallen in friends with, in love with, people they’ve might’ve never talked to but always wanted to.

It doesn’t quite make sense to impose how I felt around my own college graduation time into their particular night. After all, my college experience didn’t include national dress, evening prayers, social work, or the inevitability of a job with the government. But there were late nights, and dorm life, and the first notion of a home away from home. Graduating from a college in Bhutan is, in many ways, infinitely different than graduating from a college in the States, but what I felt in the auditorium last night was something graduating college students worldwide feel around this same time – on the brink.