Good news to all... 54 of our students have been selected by CTS. Hema has made it and I am glad for the kid. Some of our students came to the department to share the good news. Ayush Sharma, the musician and mischievous Mr. Festember 2005, spent a leisurely hour talking to us.

We asked him and a few others how they had improved their communication skills and were told that English movies with subtitles at the rate of two or three a day and newspaper reading helped them. So, I guess, that in time English teachers may have no role at all ... as if we do now...who am I fooling? Ha..ha

Satyam, Caritor and one another company whose name I forget are coming in the ensuing weeks... should see a sizable number placed then.

Ayush, ofcourse was telling me that there is a peculiar problem that he is facing in the hostel after the placement...It appears that those who are not placed feel a certain resentment and are kind of ignoring those who have been placed. Ayush said that it was a new experience, since he has always been friendly and popular with all. He was diffident about even offering to help, in case the unselected students felt marked and kind of small.

Well, I guess time will heal these students as they come to accept the realities of life. It must be tough on them. Pray that God gives them the strength to accept their defeat and the courage to face the tomorrows and prepare for future victories.

Hooray! TCS has taken in 84 of our students after that mammoth exercise that extended into the wee hours of Wednesday. However, our Prinicipal is not happy as he had expected at least 120 to be recruited.

He asked us, the department of English, to help the final year students. We promised to take up one seminar hour to help out our guys.

But, there is something strange in the selection process - it cannot just be lack of communication skills - brilliant students with excellent academic record and really good, I mean really good communication skills have not been selected. I do not know what the expectations of the company were, but, I do wish there were a feedback to let us know where our students have failed to live up to the expectations.

However, I am happy that there is one person in Salem, a consultant who runs an education consultancy service, who has told my neighbour that their daughter should find a place in GCE, but should not consider it as GCE does not have any recruitment at all ( hey, is the guy deliberately blacking out info? Last year, 220 of our students were placed), who will have to eat his words.

CTS has come in today, and I hope a good number of our good students overlooked by TCS will be happier today. Heard that Hema and Divya had sobbed their hearts out. I wish the kids well.

TCS, the giant is in the campus. They had an accreditation meet to review the college and to probe the validity of the college of its claim as a college of repute. Mr.Pattabiram, one of the members unreservedly apologised for the fact that the college had so far been overlooked by it. It questioned teachers on methods used to impart good communication skills, review, student feedback, parent- college interface and importance given to ethics.

What impressed me at the end of it was their assertion that the company looked for culture, communication skills and knowledge base. They were simple, frank and open too in their discussions.

Kudos to the principal, Dr.Jeyakumar for his perseverence in persuading the company to come in for a recruitment drive in the college. All this happened last week. Today, the company has come for an online test for our students, which I believe goes on till 3a.m tomorrow. The kids are dead serious about it and anyway, I have no doubt about the capability of the present set. They are a brilliant and hard-working lot. God bless them with success.

Hema and Pradeepa, the two sweet things from EEE called up late last night to tell me they were taking up the test and sought blessings. God will be there with them and guide their thoughts and actions, I am sure. I wish the kids well.

Am on vacation for the summer. Am polishing up the research pages. Am wondering if I will ever finish the study.
College was quiet and seemed to have gone into hibernation too, except for the office and exam cell. Maybe my imagination. The college has activities running throughout the year.