Leading Light on Design 1979-2017

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This anthology not only serves as a collection of convocation addresses delivered at the National Institute of Design (NID) thus far, but it also serves as a chronicler of milestone events in the life of this remarkable institution, right through its first convocation in 1979 to the Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2011, and to 2014, when NID came to be recognised as an 'Institute of National Importance' through an Act of Parliament. This achievement was indeed an honour; it was a well- deserved acknowledgement of NID's contribution to design education in the country and also to its illustrious stature in the same.

In the 1960s, when the institute had just begun functioning, the challenges before it were manifold. At that time, an academic discipline as nascent as design, found it difficult to establish its individual standing amidst long-established streams of the sciences and humanities. Ultimately, the institute actually came to its own due to the perseverance and dedication of its founders, its faculty, students, and staff; it is this dedication that has continued to be the keystone of the institute's academic endeavours for more than five decades now. The spirit of the times in the context of an ever-progressive NID gets beautifully captured through the photo narrative included this publication.

The convocation' is held against the backdrop of an ancient monument at the Eames Plaza on the NID Ahmedabad Campus. "Situated on an ancient trade route that had Ahmedabad as it crux, this monument was originally built on the vast expanse of open green fields on the banks of the Sabarmati River. This is the area where the NID Ahmedabad Campus stands today. The ancient monument is believed to have been built sometime before the seventeenth century. In the early 1960s, when the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation allocated land to the institute for constructing its independent building, there was an unwritten pledge that no buildings standing on the plot of land would be destroyed." This ancient monument, though ensconced in the mists of time past, continues to remain a witness to the present and the future to come; its mystical aura certainly adds more gravitas to the entire occasion. Graduating students from across the three NID campuses-one each at Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, and Bengaluru assemble at the Eames Plaza. Thus, in marking a significant rite of passage in the lives of its students, the convocation at the National Institute of Design evidently transcends the ceremonial grandeur of the event.