Happy New Year to all our children. Funnily enough, one of the questions asked at my viva was whether the words 'children' and 'students' are interchangeable. I had replied that all adults retain a bit of the child and that students as adults retain that child in them and therefore it was not wrong to equate one with the other. The professor replied with a smile that it was a generalisation, a rather sweeping statement, too broad in its perspective. But, you know, for a teacher a student is always a child. Therefore, once again, Happy New Year to all.

A rather quiet beginning to the new year. Classes for the higher semesters are beginning tomorrow. We have Communications Skills Lab, a practical paper for 100 marks. I look forward to it.

Today, we had to send the internal marks and attendance details to Anna University, Coimbatore. This university does everything over the net. It is amazing how technology has revolutionised the way teaching and learning are carried out. Time was when the teacher would struggle over the percentages and marks and averages. Today, it is so easy, well maybe not too easy, since the entry of data is rather tedious and cumbersome. However, the fact remains that book-keeping is simple.

Proposals for increased intake are being prepared by the departments. This proposal if accepted should give more students the opportunity to study in government engineering colleges.