On Friday, June 9, 2006, I officially graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours Bachelor of Arts Degree with Distinction. My convocation wrapped up three years of study — with a specialization in social/cultural anthropology — at UToronto, and I had the opportunity to convocate with my fellow students enrolled at Victoria College at the University of Toronto (including some of my good friends Bora, Rebecca, Iris, and Hussein, and Alexis).

After I left Georgetown University in late 2002, I wasn't all to sure I would be ready to go back to school. I applied to the University of Toronto just to be sure I had an option if I chose to go back to school, and in May of 2003, I was sick of being unproductive and decided that I would go back to school that fall. I entered UToronto in September with a few transfer credits that would allow me to graduate in three years, and immediately signed up for an Anthropology Specialist program.

Ten anthropology and four elective courses later — which brought me to mid-April 2006 — I had finished all my degree requirements. It was then when I actually felt like I had graduated; convocation two months later was just icing on the cake.

During my convocation ceremony, math researcher and award-winning playwright John Mighton talked about making a difference in a chaotic world in any way possible (even through math), and I nodded my head: for me, this degree is not a validation of knowledge or skills. My degree is a marker of my obligation to help the community around me, and I plan to keep that promise.

So now, on to the real world. Actually, I do plan on going back to school for a graduate certificate in September, so I guess it's not real world time just yet, but it's around the corner. I, for one, am ready for it.

This is the same lady I shot near Nawab Masjid Pydhonie next to a scooter , wife and I were in town for some urgent requirement, and the temperature had fallen , it was very cold and a biting chill, I could feel it though I was layered with a short jacket and shawl.. As we got out of the cab, I noticed her and her children oblivious to the cold or the surroundings..I told my wife immediately to give her some money.. I was wonder struck, as my wife has had a serious operation on the back, my wife bent down,almost at her eye level and gave her the money.. I shot this picture.. I was also thinking which is the greater devil the chill and cold or the pangs of hunger..I was also sure somewhere hidden from us her husband was watching these proceedings.. I wish political leaders instead of shadow boxing each other , bent on throwing Indians from the soil of India would wake up, for a larger cause of alleviating the pain of the shelterless and homeless.. Of late even the Turner Road Traffic Signal kids have been exiled from the signal, now they beg at the Linking Road junction opposite Pamposh. I cannot shoot suffering its not my call, and I do not wish to emulate Dr Glenn Losack MD .. He is a master who shoots their pain and makes it live , he has done a lot for them and the lepers too..He arrives in Mumbai today late night I will go to recieve him att he airport, this relationship was built through the Internet and likemindedness of photography .I will help him shoot the underbelly of Pain as it exists in Mumbai. One person I would love to see in India is Tom Andrews and the other Ben Bell both enchanting street photographers of the highest order..also Neil Romanek Rabbit and Crow but I dont know whether he would like the squalor and poverty and so I reserve my thoughts for Benn and Tom .