Life is so busy...there is no time to sit down to read or write anything of academic interest...a sad state of affairs, I feel.
Today, most of the day was spent in exam related work, hall arrangements for the English exam, which once again requires seminar halls with good audio facilities. It is a repeat story of the last two years, but compounded by the fact that we have an additional 120 students due to increased intake (60 in Civil and 60 in Mechanical). However, 6 halls have been identified. Tomorrow it will be testing the PCs and audio systems in the halls. And, on the 17th students take up their exam under autonomous status.
Whew...

The Board of Studies for English approved the syllabus and curriculum for the First Years.
The syllabus was appreciated by other board members who wanted to know details about the syllabus and appreciated the efforts.

The long processs of framing the syllabus requires mutual extension of help among departments and I find that there is more collaboration and friendly help now more than ever. Changes entail more responsibility and more commitment...
During this process, I have found help from the most unexpected quarters - from department heads, from colleagues and from the head of the institution hemself. A proactive principal achieves more through precept and leading from the front and I see in Prof.SR.Damodarasamy, a readiness to accept new challenges with gusto and sensitivity to those who need help and support. What could've been a painful and arduous transition has been smooth, atleast outwardly. Because , behind the smooth change, there were unseen difficulties - the road taken was bumpy, full of unexpected twists and pitfalls and but for some exemplary direction shown, the moveover to autonomy would not have been pleasant for anyone in the different departments. I also observed how the expereince of the heads of departments and the co-operation of the faculty invested with several responsibilities made it all a learning expereince. I've learnt a lot of lessons in this one year of empowerment through autonomy.
The Board of Studies meets tomorrow and again the input from experienced faculty will be of immense help.
Autonomy is good for the institution, but bad for the health, because it has meant extra work, bigger burden and greater stress due to time frames, meeting the schedule and being constantly on one's toes, in addition to all the academic class work. But then, no pain, no gain.

The First Academic Council Meeting was held on 5.12.2009 to approve Regulations 2009. Eminent academicians were invited. It feels good to see how the faculty are today directly involved in the process of framing the curricula and syllabi for the students...I mean, I fully understand the meaning of the word 'autonomy' as applied to academic reforms. Introduction of new subjects that are relevant to knowledge acquisition, getting far fetched ideas grounded by the sound reasoning of a helpful Academic Council, learning to be more aware of the needs of the students now more than ever...these, I observed, are an integral part of autonomy in academic decisions. Wow, I am zapped.

Board of Governors Meeting was held in the college. Principal Secretary and Commissioner of Technical Education as Chairman of the Board visited the institution and shared his views on how higher education and research should be the focus of GCE in the next few years. He suggested that the best talent be lured to take up PG studies as they would get a stipend of Rs.10,000/ and also go in for research to improve the quality of teaching. He suggested close interaction with the alumni in order to foster development . He also strongly advocated Industry-Institution interaction to lead to better infrastructure and better student resources. The best part of his talk was that he wanted GCE Salem to emerge as a Centre of Excellence in the region, as it is well located with industries in its vicinity.
Can GCE students work the magic? I believe they can.

We bump into so many of our past students every day that it almost seems as if they haven't left us at all...I sometimes feel Time steals memories too, for I always forget whether the students I meet in the corridors and lounges are from the first, second, third or fourth year. It never strikes me that sometimes these are students who have left the classrooms for distant lands and new jobs.
And then, there are those who give me news of their classmates and sometimes, siblings who had also been my students. There's the P.D. brothers (as I like to call them), both of Mech, both with brilliant musical talents and while one is still in the final year, his elder brother is already in TCS, where he is working away at debugging and left his keyboard and guitar clean and shiny in their cases. There are some who come back with news of their wedding..some from boys who had vowed to remain bachelors till eternity! There are some who call up to say that the rough course of love that they had had to weather was now all good and promising and that life was good after all. There are children who lose their parents in accidents or to illnesses and I see them determined to take up their new responsibilities as the young shoulders on whom everything at home rests with a smile and my heart melts. There are those who have had to search for jobs and on successfully bagging one or on successful completion of a year or appreciation from a manager call up to share in their happiness.
I see in GCE life itself...there are the experiences of life in its diverse moods and it all moves forward and backward like the eddies of the ocean. God bless GCE.

8 of our students, 2 from Civil, 2 from Metallurgy, 1 each from CSE, ECE and EEE were the proud recepients of the O.P.Jindal memorial Scholarships awarded by JSW Steel Works as part of its social commitment. This is an annual award and is an inspiration for many students.

The selection of the candidates rests with a committee that selects students with several selection parameters - academic performance, NSS and NCC achievements, voluntary blood donation, participation in sports and paper presentations. All the eight students deservedly won the scholarships - there were two first generation learners, two wrestlers, gold, silver and bronze medallists, winners at paper presentations, a tennis player, an Under Secretary of NCC, a Rajya Purashkar President award winner and all were academic performers.

The function was organised in the Metallurgy seminar Hall. Dr.Vijay Sharma, JMD and CEO, JSW Steels was the Chief Guest. Mr.Jayant Sathaye,Executive Director of JSW, Salem Works, Mr.Alok Mehotra and Mr.Kannan were the other JSW executives. It was a pleasure to introduce the Chief Guest to the gathering.

Dr.Vijay Sharma reminded students about the mission of O.P.Jindal who wanted to help the society with what he had. He exhorted them to do their best at whatever they did. He wanted them to adapt themselves to changes - a reference to the economic recession. He asserted that it was a temporary phase and that India had weathered the recession much better than most countries. He assured the gathering that JSW was committed to its recruitment of students from GCE this year too. That drew a loud round of applause. His brief three minute speech was noted for its simplicity, conviction and reassurance.

The press, The Hindu and CTN, were there to cover the presentation of scholarships. I think that more such acknowledgements from the industry of the value of GCE as a partner in social responsibility and commitment will benefit the student community and open up possibilities of industry - academia interaction in enhancing the quality of life for the society we live in.

The north-east monsoon is bringing in some breath-taking showers...it really pours in sheets of white and everything becomes hazy and misty when it does. For the past two days, we have been having some glorious showers that have given a freshness to the campus.
The college is alive with some refurbishment in the conference hall going on...the Board of Governors' Meeting is slated for the 21st and the new hall is being spruced up for this.
I truly feel that GCE is catching up with technological developments, what with smart classrooms, video-conferencing and other facilities coming up.
I keep praying that the children get recognised for their merits and companies take them in in good numbers.

From last week, I've been beleaguered by a task I've taken on myself...generation of listening tasks by using text to speech tools. Muthuraman has been spearheading this effort of mine with his research of the net to find suitable tools. Shankar of CSE also gave me three tools - TalkIt and two other tools. As I always say, our kids are always there to help out with the technology.

Anyway, coming back to Muthu, this afternoon he brought another one called, TextSound. The problem with all these is that they pose a few hitches and features that do not meet our requirements. I am at it and hope that some solution will come up with help from theWizards of GCE.

If I can find a free software that will help me construct a conversation based on which I can design questions, I shall be the happiest person.

Department of ECE put up a good show in collaboration with Renesas, a Japanese microprocessor company in an embedded design contest. Participants were given a microprocessor and asked to come up with a prototype which would use the microprocessor.
I spent a fruitful one hour visiting the various demos. Wow! I was zapped by the creativity of the students. The first one by Ganesh and his friends took up voiced translators of words expressed by the aurally and orally challenged people. The simple commands, greetings, requests etc. were transmitted via sensors in the tips of the gloves and in case they wanted to replace them with other expressions, how to dump the previous entries and enter the new ones. There, they used 'TalkIt', a free software to assist them in delivery of their proposal. And then it struck me that the software could be used to generate listening tasks. What do they call it? Happy serendipity???
There was a proposal for the Unique Identification Number project, a motor vehicle that can sense obstacles on the road, a unique safety system for vehicles incorporating password to deny unwelcome access to vehicle, to use light dimmers, water temperature sensors, load sensors, etc. and another defence vehicle that used very high frequency to sense enemy vehicles, to detect metal sheathed bodies, use cameras to access elctronic readings and a whole lot more of facilities, a PDS mechanism to record proper distribution of rationed goods, an electronic billing software for EB connections (this was very good)...As usual, I am left speechless by the potential for new ideas.
The prize distribution was in the evening and I am guilty of not having stayed for it.

The butterfly exodus was there to be seen today and was the topic at many water cooler meetings and walk a talks. Hundreds, not the thousands about two years back, of black butterflies with a bluish pattern on their black wings flew past us on all roads at GCE, brushed past us, not finding us fragrant enough and were to be seen hovering in the air stream above the teak flowers in full bloom. They also fluttered over those tiny yellow flowers in the low undergrowth. A few yellow ones, looking like the satiny yellow petals of a rose and one or two greenish white ones, one dull brown one were also noticed.

How beautiful they make the campus look...like angels on high, especially when the winter sun shines on them in rays. Beautiful.

Professor Malayalamoorthi had his viva voce today...he joins the band of academics from GCE who have persevered through the years to reach this pinnacle. Our kudos to him.

Technology is so much of a magic at times! Whenever I read Harry Potter I felt it was science at its magical best. Today, when I saw the demo of the Interactive Board, I thought that it was magic at its technical best.

Ah, the many ways in which teachers could use it to hold attention, to highlight a point, to save a brilliantly executed lesson, to use a technique which proved right with one class, to organise the presentation live, to let words rule the space, to allow students to experiment with spellings, to explain grammar, to import images right away, to write with a flourish and style, to bring pre-written formulae right before the eyes, to help review the previous day's class, etc. mmm...the possibilities are immense. I'd love to have an Interactive White Board in the class.

A group of 35 students have left on a ' Festember' talent hunt. I wish them all success. The script for an English play has been accepted. Hooray, to the script writers from ELA.

The two toppers in BULATS Aravind.T.M and Ajay Paul, both from Mechanical, have been asked to go to IRTT on the 24th to enter the competition to fly to Cambridge on a study tour. Hope they excel themselves.

The only thing that saddened me today was that when cleaning the entrance to the department for the inaugural function of SAECE 09, our student volunteers have pulled up about 12 neem saplings about knee high that had grown by themsleves, gently helped by Mother Nature along the walkway. Particularly because just the previous day I had counted them and thought to myself, " Ha, nature at her rejuvenation best!" Spoken too soon and too fast. Couldn't restrain myself from pouring my heart out to a senior student in the lobby, who assured me that such a thing would not happen again. GCE must retain her lush crown of tall and green trees to remain beautiful. It is one of Salem's green spots. We can't afford to take it away from future generations of students.

Visited the spectacular digital library in the fourth hour today, since I had the hour to myself instead of having to rush from one class to another, as has been the necessity these past two months.
What a breath stopper in terms of infrastructure...the well laid out systems and hushed ambience lead to an academically encouraging atmosphere.
I accessed the Springerlink to access journals. Unfortunately, I could not open full papers in the Journals of Children's Literature, Language Learning and Education. Though the page identified the institution in a sidebar, only those that were available for free viewing were accessible, the others requiring username and password.
Though it was a personal disappointment for me, I am totally amazed by the availability of scholarly treatises and papers available to scholars and faculty. One could spend hours and hours just soaking in the reading...
The PG students who were there were prevented from opening YahooMail, as they should be, since I feel that otherwise the whole affair might just become a netcafe and not a knowledge cafe; pendrives were prohibited, though CD-ROMS weren't. Though students tell me that CDs are not virus proof, the risk is less when compared to a pendrive's infinte capacity to paralyse and immobilise systems. (I believe that browsing centre managers in Salem blanch at the sight of a GCEian armed with a pendrive, since they are carriers of deadly viruses and destructive malaware).
Another good measure adopted by the Principal is a request for the logbook records of visits made by his students, since that one single gesture prevents students from straying into forbidden and unacademic territories.
I hope that our students will use the library for productive research and scholarly pursuits in order to enrich their learning and academic skills. Love the library for the promises that it holds for a lover of reading and research.

This year's TCS Best Student Award went to Ms.Gomathi of CSE. It was presented by Shri.Vasu, Senior HR, TCS.
What I liked about the winner is that she gave such a nice thank you speech. Short, sweet and spontaneous. We are proud of you, Gomathi.
I certainly will be killed by my CSE boys and girls, if I overlook their Progeni 09. As if I would!
It is such a splendidly organised and well conducted programme that one would be committing a serious error of oversight, if one did not attend it, much less talk about it.
Progeni09 brought students from all over the state who presented their papers. For a day, the campus saw a lot of hustle and bustle near the auditorium where the rangoli of the Progeni09 logo greeted the visitors. With a lot of warmth we were all welcomed to the inaugural function.
The souvenir was released...and oh, was it impressive! A very well laid out, aesthetically prepared and almost most carefully edited one...I loved it. The articles were all very interesting and informative...of general interest.
The MCs were highly impressive...I get the feeling that they have blossomed very well and are a good example of what a search for perfection can do.
Once again, one had to admire Ms.Kalpana for her complete control of the whole show, though students ran it through and through. Delegation at its best!
Don't forget, student power is awesome here.
The Chief guest was a very simple and friendly person. He sat through the paper presentations, since he wanted to listen to the papers on internet security. He also evinced a lot of interest in the digital library when Ms.Kalpana and I took him around with some of our students;; he spent time checking out the security checks at the library server and giving a few valuable suggestions.
He was also highly appreciative of the Language Resource Centre and the efforts taken by the department to enhance the language skills of our students. The powerpoint presentation on the Language Lab Highlights was an opportunity to allow a guest to see the facilities available and our efforts to give our students all resources to tap their potential to the utmost.

There were two listening task activities in the lab and the children simply enjoyed the classes, especially the thrill that comes with understanding the British and American accent and doing complex listening tasks based on conversations of native speakers.

I think I am also honing my listening skills, cos I have found that I usually make mistakes while listening and these exercises are helping me as much as they do the children.

I am very happy that questions that make us think are the kind found in these exercises. There are no run-of-the-mill, monotonous, challenge-less questions. I am glad that this book for the first time meets the needs of students.

Change is the face of education and any thought process which follows the trodden path will never experiment, learn and innovate. I am glad that English Language Teaching is undergoing such transformations, where the teacher cannot depend only on questions that test knowledge , but must be ready to accept tests of skills. Teachers have to be at the vanguard of change in order to accept the changing environment of learning. Any effort to cling to what is familiar and conforms to the comfort level of the teacher will hinder the progress of learning. Challenges must be accepted if we wish to improve our students. Like Robert Frost, the 'path not trodden' may be a little difficult, but not impossible.

11 of our NCC cadets have received the Sahara Scholarships of Rs.30,000/ each. Isn't that wonderful. I believe that they stand first in the country in this achievement. The scholarship was awarded on the basis of their B grade certificate, their scholastic performance and parental income.
I was very happy that these crew cut boys slaving it out in the hot sun during their parade classes have been recognised on their own merit. Congratulations, boys.

First year students had a 'Guidance and Counselling'Session on ' Challenges as First Years' and how to meet them. We realise that first year students have a lot of problems in this transition period and the problems are not the same for all.

There are problems with attitudes, emotions, studies, behaviour etc. Children are afraid to accept the resonsibilities that come with being away from home. They miss home and the safe and comfortable environment they are used to. They have undergone some traumatic experiences in the past and carry it with them here. They have unlimited freedom and do not know how to use it. They want good friends but do not know how to accept the faults in others and still be good friends. They want to do well, but find that there is no organised approach to studies...there is no spoonfeeding, they are expected to learn a lot on their own. They realise that they do not have enough general awareness, so are afraid to talk. The Tamil medium students find technical terms in English a problem. All that they had learnt in Tamil is now used only in English. (As for the English classes, I find that they are all ready to talk, given a little push and a little encouragement. The first thing they do is...de ennada sollranga... and then, they are forced by me to come up and tell me, in English, what they want or what I want as answers or informatiion from them. I bet, they think I am a big time bully).

So, we invited Arthi Rajaratnam, a clinical psychologist to offer them sessions. They went in batches of two sections each. She is a well known psychologist in Salem, young and passionate about her calling. She travels widely and the list of those to whom she has given counselling include the young, the old, cricketers, dancers, tsunami survivors, school children, children with special needs ( autism especially), teachers etc. She has this extraordinary healing touch and she is able to connect with anybody who is need of some help. She has recounted stories (she is incidentally my student from Cluny where I had taught and we both share incredible laughter moments...in fact, I would say that she is one person who has me laughing my head off over silly things and she has me in splits with her conversations peppered with humour ) of how she has assisted remote tsunami affected coastal villages where help was a little late in coming and how she has literally lifted rotting bodies into mass graves, talked to survivors and helped them come to terms with such a massive tragedy that has traumatised them. She has been in SriLanka volunteering work with war hit people. She was selected as Youth Ambassador by Rotaract Club to go on an exchange program to the USA. She has been to Spain on a spiritual journey. She is such an evolved being that I was glad that she was there to be with our first years'.

Students listened in rapt attention, guffawed, retorted repartees with her, learnt some valuable lessons on how thoughts affect our actions with visible demonstrations, how relationships are to be accepted in new environments, how we can challenge ourselves, how negative vibrations can be sensed, how to accept responsibilities etc. After the sessions, she also offered individual counselling to many students. I had goosebumps when I heard some of the problems they face...we all think young people have no worries, that they are out only for fun...oh no, they are a pretty much stressed out lot with so many things affecting their lives.

After listening to them, Arthi promised to visit the institution regularly and offer counselling free of charge to our students, because she realises that those who need help may not always be ready to go out and ask for counselling, much less be able to spend some money on it. The Principal, at whose initiative, we organised this immediately considered it and suggested once a month Saturday visits.

It was a well spent two days for me, especially because the stressful weeks I have had with five to six hours of teaching everyday had made me forget to laugh and be myself.

Friday, spent running from one class to another for five hours, brought a pleasant surprise. Chidambaram Raja, a Sundaram Clayton employee and a former student of GCE (1996-2001) came around to the department to thank the faculty to express his gratitude. He presented a small packet of candies and a very beautiful 'Thank you' card. I wasn't even his teacher, I only joined in 2001. I know his gesture was not only for teachers who actually taught him, but it also went beyond and was a gesture to thank the institution for what it had given him.

I thought it was a sweet thing to do, especially in a government institution, where one cannot develop a sense of identity or belongingness, because everything changes all the time. That is one of the saddest things of being a part of a government institution, but Chidambaram Raja showed me that it need not always be so.

The first year students, by the way, are a very lively and informed lot. They ask a lot of questions, seek inofrmation and seem determined to make a success of themselves.

The first year students met the faculty in the auditorium at a gathering that is organised every year after the first year admissions and just before the commencement of classes. Heads of Departments of Maths (Dr. Kalyanasundaram), English (Dr.G.Anbalagan), Chemistry and Physics (Dr. Srinivasan), EEE ( Prof. Lakshmana Perumal), ECE (Dr.Chandrasekaran), CSE( Ms. Kalpana), Mechanical (Prof. Jeyadev), Metallurgy (Prof. Venkatakrishnan) and Civil (Dr. Perumal) addressed the new batch and assured them of all facilities needed.

Students were encouraged to pursue a different line of approach to their studies , different from their cover-to-cover rote learning of texts as in the twelfth standard, since that approach does not help in professional studies. They were informed about the anti-ragging measures adopted and assured them that their academic stay would be tension free and ragging free. After the talks, students were introduced to their chief faculty advisors and taken on a tour of the campus.

A couple of students from DAV came up to the Department of English to enquire about ELA. A welcome enthusiasm, indeed. The Department of English is keeping its fingers crossed to get two ad hoc teachers as there are now classes for 8 sections of first years ( 2 Civil, 2 Mechanical and 1 each of the other departments) together with the three third year classes on Communication Skills. The Language Resource Centre is a very busy place now, with one batch after another .

Permission for two ad-hoc lecturers has been given, but they are rather hard to find at Salem. It looks like every M.A. graduate has been absorbed either by Arts and Science Colleges or Government and Private schools and the innumerable small companies established in Salem in the past five years.

Well, I always believe that every new day brings new hopes and new opportunities.

9th Sunday saw a lot of alumni get together for Alaigal '09, the annual alumni meet. Prof.PGV organised the meet and I believe there were hundreds of students of different batches who attended the meet.

Pleading guilty to not attending the meet, I can only repeat what I heard people say...'Appadiyow... we have students in almost all companies and organisations and in top positions at that!!!"

The committee of members to assess the credibiltiy of the institution for affiliation came around to the college on Friday, at about 10.00a.m. Departments were kept on their toes as they went around inspecting and reviewing the facilites available here. The previous two days had been spent by Ms. Kalpana and me in feeding in the facts after obtaining them from the departments, office, the PWD and faculty and turning out innumerable pages of printouts and spiral binding and edge-taping. Dhanasekar and Brindha, were of immense help in this endeavour. Ah, tiring though it was, the feedback has been good and encouraging. The results are formally expected shortly.

The NCC State Camp for kids was organised and we had about 400 kids from all over the state gathered here. On Friday, I was asked to talk to them about Child labour. It was refreshing to see the hope of young minds shining through their eyes. It was a ppt and with the pictures I amnaged to keep most nodding their heads ( was it in sleep or was it in agreement?) It was a little difficult, as I had do the Code-switching trick and the 'tholilalargal' ( I had to say this word throughout the talk) kept tripping on my tongue. But I think, I managed to convince them about the need to do something in their own small way.

Oh...oh..oh...good news for the hostelers, especially the girls, is that they now have solar heated water in the hostel, and, oh, girls must be absolutely delirious with happiness. In fact, this was one of the pet peeves of students who came from warmer climes and were not able to accept the chill weather in the mornings for most of 6 months in Salem.
I am once again amazed that where there are proactive leaders at the helm of affairs, bountiful things keep falling in.
Boys , I believe, have a new mess hall, all tiled and airy.

For all those who were day scholars and used the college bus to commute...here's some interesting news. The bus, (buses, if one includes the small, net-windowed, police vehicle lookalike), usually follows the OldBus stand to Vincent to Hasthampatti to Five Roads enroute College. As far as I know, this has been the route. This academic year, the route will be Five Roads to Four Roads to Ramakrishna Park to Hasthampatti to Old Bus Stand to College.

I love the bus ride...it is comfortable and one can listen to Periannan's favourite songs, especially the sad songs he likes playing on Fridays and reach college without having to hang on to the over crowded, bursting at the seams Omalur buses which test one's dexterity in hanging on to the bars or the hands-free Vadivel type acrobatics ( I swear, one of these days, on KPR, (No.19) I will go flying out through his glass pane, cos of his favourite habit of applying the most powerful brakes).

There are sometimes students who drop in for a chat and end up enlightening one. Kumar, our Metallurgist engineer of 2007 at Bhadravathi SAIL, with a postgraduation in Psychology and a PG Dip. in HR Management visited the department.

One fond enquiry after another continued and then it got into a ruminative, interesting discussion on 'How a person is formed". I said that a person evolves only from the person's own choices,decisions, values and attitude. Kumar was of the view that society shapes a person and is responsible for who he or she is. He illustrated his point with several examples of how one's dress code is decided by the society; how a rickshawallah's daughter may not choose to wear jeans and t shirts in Chennai, but might in a different city with diferent mores.

He further pointed out that a child who watches violence on TV becomes a violent child. ( Come to think of it, then a violent child who watches the life of Gandhi should become a Gandhi?)He said that a terrorist is formed because his perspective of the ills of the society and the solutions to them are different from the ahimsavaadhi's perspective. His thoughts and ideas have been shaped by those around him.

I said that a person may shout his ideas from the tree top for all to hear, but only the one who wants to listen will listen. For all others, I would only be the wind in the trees.

The arguments continued back and forth in a very interesting manner.

It was 4.30 p.m. and we decided to call it a day. However, I am delighted that after a long time I was having a stimulating talk on something other than academic reports, examinations, quotations and marks.

In this context, I do feel that when teachers begin to have administrative responsibilities or their book keeping becomes a vital component of their day to day work, all meaningful interaction and healthy exchanges with students die a slow and painful death.

Came back to college after a ten day spell of recuperation and rejuvenation of the mind and the body. Oh, believe me when I say, the year long classes for the first years has had a toll on the health. There was no winter vacation and this brief break felt wonderful and good.

Everything's happening in college now. Boards of Studies are meeting everywhere in the departments.

Curricula and syllabi are being discussed with great interest.

Department of Humanities and Sciences is convening the Board on Friday.

We propose to continue with the Cambridge certification because children have benefitted from it. It, however, means a lot of hard work for teachers, but nothing comes easily, does it?

Accreditation for five P.G. Courses and three U.G. Courses.

The official fax was received last evening. Except Computer Science and Engineering, all the departments have been granted accreditation for their UG and PG courses.

Detractors have their right to say what they want, but, the truth is, GCE desrves this accreditation of its courses and there is joy and pride that the institution has striven hard to give the best to its students.

Now, I feel no one can say, "This is a Government institution...this is how it will be" in tones of insinuated scepticism and disdain. Oh, how I hated that kind of comment when it came from people.

Once again, it is time for all to accept that change has come in and that the momentum must be carried on.

God bless GCE.

Sunrise from RIE rooftop A view of RIE, Bangalore

It has been a long time since I blogged...because I was too busy being a student. I was at Regional Institute of English to take the examination for the Post Graduate Diploma in English Language Teaching, for about 15 days.

9 days of sitting in classes from 10 to 6.00 and 6 days of examination - teaching, oral and theroy papers was just a bit too much. I was caught twice doodling and talking.

However, all said and done, it was a good experience to see young teachers from the primary level to the tertiary level showing so much of creativity in their teaching methods.

I've learnt a lot, since the exam questions were all application based and there was no cramming possible...that was heaven sent for me, because I've never been able to remember all the definitions that have to be memorised.

I've come back rejuvenated and refreshed and a little more wiser than before about...how students ought to have pages and pages of encomium written for their patience to sit through long lectures and assignments; and more importantly, how much of love and dedication young teachers put into their teaching.

They were the best part of the training. Their simple tricks to make children remember words, their quickly drawn up teaching aids that were so interesting even to adults in the class...I am still to recover from the shock of all that intensity that they packed in. I feel all humble and exhilirated.

I strongly feel that an English teacher gains a sense of purpose and wonder after such courses. In fact, I wish the programme is specially offered to English teachers in Engineering colleges, since English Language Teaching - technical, communicative, business etc. is altogether a different game, considering the fact that we are all literature graduates. We have the love for the language and perhaps the flair for the language, but the skill to teach it as a language?

I do hope somebody in the higher rungs of technical education takes cognisance of the fact and forces us to take up training in teaching the four skills under the guidance of ELT trainers as at RIE or CIEFL.

The campus is quietening down...the first years are the only poor souls to haunt the corridors. A few final year students came to bid good bye. It is sad to see our boys and girls leave us...but there is happiness that they go into the world as GCEians, well armed with enough preparation for the real world. The ELA team was also there...there was a great response to this team's efforts to bring some fun into language acquisition. There was Ancilla, one of the finest students the college has ever produced. God bless all. There were a few moments of sadness when some of them said that their offers from companies such as Feld, Caterpillar and a few other companies had been withdrawn. I can imagine the pain and the sense of low self esteem that these children must be going through. However, I believe things will pick up momentum sometime at the end of the year.

Another development of interest is the oral examination that students of the first year are taking up for the semester for the Cambridge certification. They have an introduction session, a mini presentation and an interaction session with the examiner. All of this recorded in a cassette - two students per cassette; it is a slow process and I hope we will finish the recordings by the 30th. However, it is heartening to see our young first years with so many of them from the Tamil Medium at the school level making such splendid efforts to speak in English. Not always accurate but then fluent enough to make communication possible.

This calls for celebration.

Language Resource Centre hosted the first online examination for the Third Year students. The systems behaved themselves though the power supply didn't...however, everything worked like magic and made us grateful to the good God, the visionary Principal and generous Govt funds for the equipment and other facilities.

We remember the days, not far back, when we went about with begging bowls to the departments asking for halls, systems and other paraphernalia...I won't deny that though permission was always readily given by the HODs, the problems lay with the systems and viruses that had corrupted systems and the necessary hardware and software preparations that were long, not easily available or required a lot of running around from one distant block to another.

God bless GCE, once more.

Today, I came across this information from the net about the standing of the college department wise among the affiliated colleges of Anna University. It was indeed a very pleasant information.

We stand in the fifth place in Civil and CSE; eighth in Mechanical, fourteenth in EEE and first in Metallurgy.

I would say that students deserve all the credit for their contribution. I also feel that our students become all rounders - because they participate in and organise all the events at college (they are simply amazing in their event managements...I swear they know the best rates, the best offers, the best technical teams, the best tips for technical efficiency...I mean I could go on...) .

Another laudable feature is that they just dont hesitate to do any odd jobs, be it fitting out systems, preparing brochures, printing, pasting, posting, inviting even the Presidents of companies, tweaking instruments and devices, learning new skills ( you know, they throng Five Roads in the evnings for their special courses...I don't know how they find time for all this...whew).

They are also perfectly well behaved...you don't find stand offish or proud children here...they are simple and down to earth.

Ofcourse, they are also sometimes late to class, wake up at 9.15 for a 9.00 class, dont take baths, never shave, never clean behind their ears, are to be found in theatres from Friday to Friday, they never read newspapers....the list is endless. Inspite of all this, they are good at their studies, they are updated with the newest skills technically and nowadays, they talk a dime to the dozen in English....

Maybe, I may seem to be blowing the trumphet too loudly, but I stand by every word.

I know I cannot stop bragging about the Language Resource Centre, but do bear with me.

Today, the Commissioner, Directorate of Technical Education , Shri. V.K.Jeyakodi visited the institution and spent a leisurely forenoon visiting the Auditorium, the Digital Library, the Language Resource Centre and the departments.

It was a pleasure to show off the lab to someone who had played a very big role in setting up the facility. After all the moments of tension since the audio played truant before the visit and moments of nail biting wondering whether the other facilities like the LCD Projector and the LCD TV would behave themselves, it was surprisingly and refreshingly simple and informal.

The Commissioner had some kind words for the students who were there taking up a model examination.

The much awaited visit thus passed off happily and cheerfully.

Now, we have to see that the nitty gritty of maintaining the lab with all the little jobs is carried out so that the facility can be offered to students freely and without restrictions. Except, of course, banning pendrives and CDs inside.

I am ofcourse shuddering at the thought of all those smelly feet inside. I wonder if allowing them to wear their footwear might solve the problem.

GECOFEST 2009

Here's the update on GECOFEST 09.

Life must be full of surprises, otherwise the monotony sets in. That is true of GECOFEST. The events are the same, the participants are always students- right down to the invitation design. What is the surprise every year is that the most unexpected talents come to the fore and we see children with new eyes.

This year the celebrations were begun with a talk by a Professor of Tamil from Periyar University... onstage everything was eye catching, attention grabbing and here and there, subtle. The lower levels of the dais partitions had some fabulous paintings of flames done very aesthetically. On the walls were murals of dancers and musicians...wonder how such big artwork was put up. Credit must be given to Nilofer and her team of students who were up in the auditorium till late in the night putting up the deco.

The art competititons as usual brought out some amazing talent....Murugaiyyan and LakshmiNarayanan, the two artists spearheaded the art exhibition in a clourful stall outside the auditorium. Strokes, lines and colours merged in a riotous medley...There were 162 entries for the painting competition...there were so many Gopinaths from almost every year. Our first year boys and girls seemed to have broken free of the shell of the twelfth rigours and given free vent to their artistic talents.

As usual, Mrs.Leema mary and I were there from morning, soaking in the festive and vibrant atmosphere. The music show once again brought out a number of talented guitarists and drummers. The drama show was hilarious as the theme was Yama and ChitraGuptha...and once again, the first years had some fantastic and natural actors. They walked away with the first prize too for drama.

Adaapt Theme never fails to amaze me...where do children get their energy? Mythily of the third year came up with a pleasing and sharp performance to win the first prize. I promise you the girls have so much grace that they tend to take all attention away from the boys. However, Mukhil and his friend J came up with a scintillating host performance. Anitha and her troupe also gave a very graceful dance recital in glowing golden specially tailored dresses. I remembered Saravanan our ex final year dancer who would set the stage on fire with his dances.

Sadly, I missed the second day's performance, as I was on leave. I am sure it must've been a wonderful finale to the celebration.

Did I tell you about the whistles and the guttural whoops? As usual, they added to the gaiety and ambience of the celebrations.

I believe that receiving one's degree at the Graduation ceremony is one of life's happiest moments.

GCE had its Graduation Day on the 5tha and as students, nay, graduates, filed past to receive their certificates, my eyes filled with tears, because I have seen some of them, with their parents, go through some very sad and very happy moments in the course of their studies...four years is a long time and children live in a microcosm these four years.

A.K.Pattabiraman, Head, Accreditation Process, TCS, South India, was the chief guest. And, oh boy, what a rousing appreciation it was that he gave for the institution and the students. Departing from his prepared Graduation Day address, Pattabiraman Krishnaswamy thundered out words of praise for our sstudents for their innovative thoughts and confidence. He narrated an incident when during his accreditation process for TCS with the institution he interacted with students and asked them about the cracks in the walls of the auditorium and two students showed him that they were not really cracks but that they were patterns of the alpha waves of the brain and that they were patterns of new ideas. He admitted that he was amazed by this clarity in thought and optimism in accepting the foibles and pits in life and making them see oppportunities in failures. He was admittedly, floored, (in his own words). He also assured students that the setback to Indian industry was a temporary one and students should be prepared for the boom when it comes.

The funny part of it was that the thundering applause that should've come when so many hands were literally itching to come together to thank this experienced TCS player was that they didn't, because the graduates were asked not to clap during the entire ceremony... how do you like it???

The ceremony by itself was quick, smooth and went off without hitches...thank God for that. Lunch was served in the D1 and D2 halls.

Some of our students, especially Vinoth, was raring to visit the Language Resource Centre. They trooped in, checked out the facilites, played some music on the PA system, tested out the sofware loaded and were left speechless. A few fun filled photos were taken there.

Graduation Day 2009 was good.

I reproduce below the report in The Hindu. http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/06/stories/2009040652970300.htm

‘Indian companies facing crisis with maturity’
Staff Reporter
They are opting for subtle changes in business operations
Photo: P. Goutham Congratulations!: University first rank holder in Metallurgical Engineering Mahendhiran receiving his degree certificate from Salem Government College of Engineering Principal S. R. Damodarasamy (centre) and Accreditation Process (South India) Head, Tata Consultancy Services, A.K. Pattabiraman at the Graduation Day of the college on Sunday. —
SALEM: Indian companies are responding to the challenges of the present economic crisis with remarkable sophistication, maturity, concern, innovativeness and alacrity.
Instead of resorting to retrenchment or lay off on a massive scale, the companies are effective subtle changes in business operations such as fine tuning offshore-onsite ration, increasing employee’s efficiency and economy drive, which are yielding remarkable results, Accreditation Process (South India) Head from Tata Consultancy Services A.K. Pattabiraman has said.
Delivering the Graduation Day address at the Salem Government College of Engineering here on Sunday, he asked the students not to worry about the present situation.
“What is happening now is a temporary and transient phenomenon,” he said.
When a similar situation came up in the year 2000, the Indian companies bounced back and managed it successfully, Mr. Pattabiraman said while assuring the students that their future is safe.
India has the biggest advantage of having huge intellectual capital. “All we have to do is adapt to changes and bring in more innovation,” he said.
The youthful and trained population can do wonders to transform the science, engineering, technology and business in the country, and give them the much needed competitive edge.
“If the Indian talent is harnessed fully, intelligently and innovatively, the younger generation will propel the country to an unprecedented height,” he pointed out.Education
To nurture the talent and sustain the growth, all the people in the country should be provided access to quality education, he stressed.
College Principal S.R. Damodarasamy, presiding, said the percentage of placements in the year 2007-08 was 97.75.
A total of 347 undergraduate and 145 postgraduate students received their certificates during the function.
The university rank holders are: Metallurgical Engineering: Mahendhiran (first rank), Eeswarakrishnan (second rank) and Parandaman (third rank), Civil Engineering: Jasmine, ECE: Shanmugarajan (45th rank). Faculty members and parents were present

Some good news for students waiting for their call letters from TCS. 152 students have been asked to report to Ahmedabad for their training. We are happy that the company is committed to its promise. We are all keeping our fingers crossed for the next batch. Hopefully things should brighten up in the second half of the year.


Preparations are on for the Graduation Day on April 5 in the college. Mr. Pattabiraman of TCS is the Chief Guest.

Today, I saw one of the most improvised motorbikes for a paraplegic gentleman. There it was, by the canteen, a largish, scooter, much like a tempo without the top. Sivalakshmi and I were drawn to it, since it was out of the ordinary. We went close to it to have a better look...and there was a youngish man on his chair with wheels. He seemed delighted by our curiosity and with a very charming smile explained that the scooter was tailor-made for him by one of the boys working at the canteen who was deeply interested in servicing vehicles.

The wide, tempo like bodied scooter had a lever at the side. The gentleman pulled it down and a ramp lowered itself at the back, thus enabling the gentleman on his wheelchair to move up the ramp with his chair and drive the scooter. Truly, it was an ingenuous idea, empowering the challenged young man to have his freedom. When I remarked on this the gentleman nodded his head and smiled very cheerfully. You know, the idea is worth exploring on a commercial basis.

This was one of my best moments today at college for me...it was proof that human wil can design brilliant machines and the same human will can keep one cheerful and enjoying life.

Go...all the way, young man....

Department of English had yet another 'Mission Accomplished'. We conducted a three day Faculty Development Programme on Professional and Personal Efficiency for Facilitators. It was a lesson in student power once more as they took care of the nitty gritty and logistics of the programme. The sense of responsibility is something that one does not easily find nowadays. Dr.Kaushik, Dr. Renuka and Dr.Jahitha Begum offered sessions on various areas of skill development. I shall try to load the course materials for all, provided the Metallurgy department seminar hall computer allows us to copy.

In the meantime, 50 students took up a Pre-test for Univ. of Canbridge in the Mechanical Department. I promise you, the acoustics there is absolutely stunning.

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Evaluation Of Web 2

View more presentations from chitraa.

On Friday, Dept. of CSE had its three day Faculty Development Programme valediction. Ms.Kalpana had asked me to take a session, since one of her resource persons couldn't make it at the last moment. For three days, the net was my companion till 1.30 p.m. as I researched information on Web 2.0 tools.



I presented the PPt on Friday and it was well received by all. I add it to the blog for those interested.



Once again, the web comes up with a lot of information and the trick is in selecting the right information. It is not mere 'Cut and Paste'...a lot of preponderance, contemplation, lip chewing and head scratching goes into the whole process. I did just that.

Ah... as usual, Mechanical guys have had their day...Mekchat 09 was a grand affair this year. Shamianas greeted visitors. A display of their work was on.

There was a junkyard contraption...For the first time, I came to know that a contraption is actually a mechanism that makes a complex job out of a simple one. This one, for example, showed how a balloon can be burst by setting off marbles which rolled all the way setting off mechanical and electrical fittings, to finally burst the balloon. It was quite a fascinating contraption.

There was also a water rocket, which blew right into the trees at trememndous force worked by a foot pressed pedal that increased the pressure and blew the cardboard plane away. It was easy to imagine how the principles of physics have inspired inventions.

There were a few questions for the bibliophiles...that was not me...I couldn't solve even one of those. There was a question...what two 15 letter words have a differnt first letter only. Ans: Rationalisation and nationalisation.

And, there was a graffitti board...filled with hilarious scribbles...Magnificent Mechs and a really funny one : Mechanical engineering is only for bachelors. We had a hearty laugh over it. I thought the graffitti board was a good way to get the thoughts out into a board that seemed to have a million words across it.

Classes are on in full swing...we have everything going on all at the same time...Days are becoming uncomfortably warm. I am sure all the cottons will be coming out soon...

There are so many activities going on in the college, I find it difficult to keep track of everything. ECE has been having a 'Connected Society', a paper presentation session and is preparing for 'Comnet', an annual intra departmental event. CSE has been having its 'Progen-i' and is now preparing for the conference, ' Codeclave'; Mechanical department is having a 2 day annaul conference, 'Mekchat' and is hosting a 3 day FDP on 'Robotics'; Civil department has been having a 6 day programme on ANSYS and is planning a 5 day FDP next month; Metallurgy department is hosting a Service to Community Programme, as is the CSE...Department of Chemistry is hosting a 1 day FDP on...on...can I let you all know tomorrow? And, Department of English is hosting a 3 day FDP on 'Enhancing Professional and Personal Skills for Facilitators'...whew...wasn't that a lot?

Another good news is that all HODs of Engineering departments are being sent to visit universities in different countries in order to understand how they maximise learning in the different engineering departments. It should be a welcome move, since they will all be bringing back some input which might help our students.

Salem is extremely warm...though as usual, the yellow flowers are beginning to carpet the ground. Even yesterday, I saw a young tree decimated to its main trunk near the Planetarium. I feel sad, but, that is the only thing I can do.

What a day it has turned out be! A revelation of sorts. It started off with the second day of examinations for the first year students taking their BULATS paper and the aura of awe that the exam seemed to stir in the external examiners from the engineering streams. All the running around to ensure that the PA systems were working well was by itself a tiring task for us. Once again, it must be acknowledged that TEQIP has helped the department of English the most, because otherwise, there would've been additional responsibilities like hiring, wiring and fixing audio systems from the surrounding villages or Salem and finding that they don't really work when you want them to. The wonderful PA systems in the college were cool, cool and cool.

If that experience wasn't enough for the day, there came the news about the Commissioner's visit to inspect the progress of work on the Digital library and the Language Resource Centre on the 13th.

OMG, there were systems to be brought over from the locker rooms of the ECE department , tiles to be fitted, LAN fixtures and Plasma TV to be put up, motorised projector screen to be fixed, software to be installed and the server to be loaded...

It was here that we discovered angels without wings in the department of CSE. They were ready to help us when they knew of our plight. Boys and girls piled into the ECE block, carried out 60 monitors and 60 CPUs and accessory boxes to the Admin Block.

Willing hands and shoulders moved the heavy boxes to the LRC; students fanned out to the computer platforms as some of them started checking out the device serial number with the number on the box, spread out the accessories on the platforms and started fixing the various plugs and points of the systems. As Brindha remarked, there seem to be as many cables for the CPU as neurons in a human brain. All this was accomplished in two hours.

I would only call it a miracle of genuine interest and dedication to the responsibility of the III year CSE students. It is no wonder that they do well in their professions and are acknowledged for their intelligence and enthusiasm.

What made it all the more enjoyable was the good will shown by the boys as they worked in the dusty and paper strewn, box filled room. And, when the work was over, it was as if there was nothing left to do.

A session of jolly and good natured laughing camera sessions marked the end of the day, but let me admit, there was a warm glow in my heart, though my legs and back ached with the sharp pain of labour that we are not used to.

God bless the children. God bless GCE.

Students are back with a bang...they decidedly look happy to be back.

Today, the seminar halls had to have their PA systems checked for the BULATS test to be taken up by two branches tomorrow.

So, for two days, the department is going to be on its toes.

And, today, while walking the stretch between the Admin block and the Mechanical block, I was shocked to find about 20 strong trees cut down to their main trunk by vandalists. God, I wish a fence was put up around the perimeter to stop these villagers from making a fortune out of the wealth of trees that we have. I was sad, shocked and perturbed by the mindless cutting down of trees.

College is closed indefinitely following government orders. Teachers are attending college. Examinations have been postponed.

A three day training programme on Renewable Resources was organised by the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering from the 27th on. I managed to sit at some of the sessions in between the classes. There were two speakers who were quite interesting. There was Dr.TamilPorai from Anna University, Chennai and incidentally, an old student of the Mech department of GCE.

His slides were interesting, but not extraordinary, but believe me, the teacher in him was there in the last slide, where he had asked the audience to ruminate on a few facts and come to conclusions themselves. One was that the Kyoto Agreement on Greenhouse gases emission did not apply to India since we were nowhere near the threshold levels and did not need to look at alternatives as immediate needs when there were other developmental activities requiring attention. Secondly, the investment in Unconventional sources of energy was huge, huge and far beyond the money being spent on conventional sources.

Well, was he advocating renewable resources or not, asked the participants. For me, answers were not needed...he was stimulating the minds of the young, by telling them don't accept anything at face value or because it is propogated by the Developed World. Think and decide. I found him a different teacher...one who gives facts and lets the learner decide on the lessons to be learnt therein.

The next talk to interest came from Mr.Sivasubramaniam, a TNEB Executive Engineer who showed with statistics and very simple examples how power consumption has increased manifold. From just 234 mw in the 1900s, Tamil today generates ten times that power generation and how by 2100, the need is going to be in hundreds of thousands. He quoted examples from industries which use bad power conservation techniques and how our habit of using second hand electrical appliances causes dmage. He showed how appliances can be used to the optimum by observing some simple, basic techniques. The best part of his talk was not that there was a lot of information for the participants, but that there was credibility in his simplicity. One came away feeling that there was something that each one could do as an individual to bring about the desired change.

This is what the TEQIP is about...qualitative change in the mindset of even a few can change the quality of life for society.

Another surprise about the training was the compereing done by Kirubanidhi and Alwin Subash as they did it casually and yet with the right tone that did not deter one from the seriosuness of the training. Their responses to the sessions, their agenda presentation and the coherence that they imparted to the programme in their humorous (not silly or fatuous) manner spoke well of them. As an English teacher, I realised that they had not overstepped their roles as presenters and yet had the audience loving their interludes and laughing at their good mannered comments. Well done, boys. GCE boys, you prove it time and again...there is a spark in you all waiting to becoming leaping flames brightening all around.

God bless our boys.

On the 20th there was a training programme on Research Trends and Plagiarism offered by the ECE Department. The Principal of TPGIT was the Chief Guest. I did attend the inaugural function and then went away to the two hour class with the III year CSE, hoping to come back for the afternoon session. Sadly, there was a sudden spurt of work in the department and I had to forgo the training. It was a disappointing thing...However, there were a number of young research scholars who were attending and who would've definitely benefitted from the sessions.

In this connection, I am surprised that most students are not aware that paper presentation requires a little original contribution to work already carried out. They identify a topic from the abstracts downloaded from websites and copy and paste all relevant information on that topic from their web searches. This is really sad... I remember my son telling me that when he did his M.S., their assignments were put through a software that detected plagiarism of even the miniscule kind. Students are capable of good work, if only they know the right way and are guided along it. Teachers have a huge responsibility in this regard.

The unofficial confirmation doing the rounds is 'We have got AUTONOMY'.

Celebrate all ye GCEians.

This is great news.

The Yoga raining imparted to 41 trainees, who included members from the teaching, non-teaching faculty and students from the college on completion of their yoga dheekshai are leaving for the Esha Dhyana Centre at Vellingiri foothills tomorrow. Others are also joining them, yours truly being one of them. I am excited and look forward to the trip.

The terrible Oil Strike seems to be hitting us all real deep. The college bus will not ply on the 12th and 13th, this time the non availability of petrol and diesel being the excuse. There was a lively discussion on how one day we might have to commute by bicycle rather like the Parisians during the II World War and how we might have to pack a little food for the onward journey to the college. Will that come about? All these Star Movies which forecast doomsday scenarios are leaving a 'Deep Impact' on me I think!

I hate technology...it fails you when you most need it. It failed us today when the first years were given their third series test in English.

What with these kids giving even series tests like the actual ESOL papers, we have to hold the tests in seminar halls to facilitate the listening test. Today, the system in my hall had a corrupt audio driver, the sound cord was fitted into another system, the copy of the audio CD had faulty recording for some ten questions. And, in the other halls, the CD wouldnt open...or, it played at a low volume...OMG, did we have a hectic three and a half hours from 2 to 5.30 p.m. And, all this for the simple series test which used to be a breeze in the past. Well, every good thing comes at a cost. We were happy that we were all in the same well....

Went to the canteen to cool ourselves at about 5.45 p.m. Aah...there was soft parotta, a spicy kurma that tasted like it was spiced up with chicken stock...there was small, spongy dosa served with hot garam chutney. A compense for the long, frustrating hours in the halls.... There was even kothhu parotta, with eggs and without eggs. Cool draughts of badam kheer chilled us out...

I guess there might be something more for tomorrow...just as we were leaving at six, we heard a rumour that there was a theft in the hostel....