Pamana

The blip title (in Filipino) which roughly translates to "Inherited" is what that small sculpture is in my blip entry today. My friend who is leaving the UK for good left his very awesome "Oblation" replica with me. The Oblation is the iconic symbol of the University of the Philippines symbolising selfless offering of oneself to his country. All University of the Philippines campuses all over the Philippines have their own (lifesize) replica of the original Oblation made by different well-known artists in the Philippines. The very first and original Oblation now proudly stands inside the Main Library of the University of the Philippines Diliman campus which i was lucky enough to see when i did my Master's degree in that campus more than a decade ago. My stint as a PhD student here in the UK is indeed a selfless offering to the Philippines. I have recently found myself asking the question over and over again, "Why am i doing PhD again?". And it seems like the answer to the question is "Para sa bayan." (For my/the country.)