Old Sydneian Dr Dhan Thiruchelvam (OS 1992) gave a presentation at Assembly entitled, ‘Reflections on a winding path in surgery and in life: how Grammar assisted me!’
Dr Thiruchelvam recalled his time as a Sixth Form pupil three decades ago, describing his single-minded determination to get enough marks to study medicine. When he achieved that goal he felt that the rest of his career would follow in a straight line. ‘Life was sorted,’ he said. However, his career turned out to meander along a winding path. The intellectual curiosity instilled at Sydney Grammar School caused him to ‘zig zag’, and he began to develop new ways of doing things, such as the use of robots in surgery. Sometimes, events in his career which he thought were a backward step turned out to be quite the opposite. ‘The indirect part,’ he concluded, ‘is actually the most enjoyable part of life.’
