Dostoyevksy wrote: "We will remember, and even if we are occupied with most important things, if we attain to honour or fall into great misfortune- still let us remember how good it was once here, when we were all together, united by a good and kind feeling which made us, for the time...perhaps better than we are."
This weekend hopefully offers you a platform to remember a time when we were all foolish idiots with some potential, still greater hope, lots of debt and a great many smiles.
We will attempt to make cheap jokes at the expense of our classmates who could not make it this weekend. We honor and recall the spirit of our classmates who have touched our lives and left us far too soon. And we celebrate the new members of this family. The partners and children.
To those of you who have partnered into our class, welcome. Thanks for looking past our mediocre looks and our social awkwardness and evaluating us only on our resume. And the children. As a pediatrics resident when I meet your child I will secretly evaluating their developmental milestones. When I realize they are more advanced than I am and are actually evaluating my development, I will be sad.
What a joy to see our family get larger. For me the juxtaposition of your gorgeous families and this place only serve as further reminder of what a chance and duty we have to help fashion a world worthy of them.
Mostly I’m just so excited to say hello and to you my friends.
I thank you on behalf of one guy who came here 14 years ago from Minnesota whose life was enriched and altered in unimaginable ways. Thanks for coming, thanks for being here.
It is now my duty and honor to publicly thank and to introduce.your reunion co-chairs: Tom Dow my roommate from 13 years ago, who took countless hours out of his tireless advocacy for human rights and brought his experience and HAA wisdom to help bring us together. Philomena Gambale, who I met in college nut got to knw through this process and whose enthusiasm and leadership have been instrumental over the past year. Getting to know you through this process is a reminder to me of the many stories within our class we can still hear. And the man who for the past ten years has been the most energetic advocate for the recreation of the Harvard 2003 community, Pat Noonan
On behalf of our class, We are so grateful for you, Taking the time out of busy lives so that we may have chance to reflect, and celebrate.
To the Class of 2003, Welcome and Have a Wonderful Weekend
Class Survey
Krishnan Subrahmanian's 2013 Kick-off Address
Class of 2003, Welcome Home. Welcome back to this incredible city that continues to inspire world, welcome back to this beautful campus and even welcome back to science center A place that to today induces in me the perfect combination of sleepiness and anxiety.
My name is Krishnan Subrahmanian. The last time I spoke with you I had much more hair, many fewer of which were grey. I speak to you today as a class marshal sure, but I speak for another reason as well. All available statistical evidence states that I have the lowest net worth of any individual in our class. Indeed my debt load is only rivaled by the State of California, the government of Greece and the Houston Astros.
I was asked to speak today to reassure you. Like the slovenly boyfriend you dumped years ago and will avoid later tonight, I should be a symbol of the many great life choices you have made. Once upon a time Harvard held a great deal of promise, million dollar job, a Radcliffe girl and the title of Duke of Cambridge. Unfortunately for me my website krishnanmingle.com has just not done as well as we thought. I blame CEO Charlie Cheever.
So much has changed in ten years. You are a much more intimidating group to speak to. You used to do a very minimal amount of reading, stumbled into section and timed out your one comment about a new lens or a slippery slope. You now do a very minimal amount of reading, stumble into work, and run companies and countries.
When asked where we went to college We used to tell people we went to college somewhere in Boston”. Now when people ask us how we screwed up the big account so badly. We say, “Wait a second, why don’t you ask me where I went to college instead. It was Harvard. Where did you go again?"
And yet some things turn out just as we expected. Jon Lee has spent most of his time hanging out in bushes and eating nachos. Will Ferrell was correct, our class has been exceedingly successful and the adult film industry has not been immune to your awesomeness. I would like to congratulate the first person I met at Harvard, Vali Chandrasekaran for his excellent work in "the industry" and for dispelling viscious false stereotypes regarding Indian males.
Every time I hear about The great changes of our day and investigate further it is clear that some one here, one of my classmates, is somehow behind it. We have left our mark on all sorts of organizations like Fannie Mae, My space and Bear Stearns, the Ohio office of the IRS. Amazing stuff.
Your impact on every imaginable field . Your impact and grace on countless lives not to mention your impact on your friends and family is part of the fabric that has changed the world and will continue to do so.
What do you say to a group of people who are professionally exceptional and likely a concentration of some of the most successful people you could find anywhere? I say to you that No matter how powerful and influential you become, you will always be that group of people who ran naked across Harvard Yard in the freezing cold.
In reality I say we celebrate and are genuinely proud of you for the Amazing things you do but we also celebrate the ridiculous things you do and the mundane things you do. We celebrate and are proud of you simply because we share something. Friendships, A brief moment in time