It's that time of the year when things begin happening. 

Today, the JSW scholarships were presented to 7 recepients.

The function took place in the new digital library auditorium. The gallery hall is attractively furnished and the function was solemn and simple. 

Shri. Ravichander/CEO, JMD/JSW was the Chief Guest. Shri,. Mehrotra, VP/Finance and ShriRajendran/DGM/HR were present for the award ceremony.

Prof.Kavimani used the opportunity to exhort JSW to extend its MOU with the institution and to extend its interaction to enhance technical knowledge dissemination. He underscored the point that JSW's benefaction would be repaid in full, when our students were recruited by them in turn. He underscored the importance of such awards to needy  and meritorius students.

Shri Ravichander was emphatic that the efforts of JSW to expand would include our college. He assured that steps would be taken to renew the offer of scholarships. He wanted stimulating and challenging pattern of questions in exam in order to encourage smartness. He once again emphasised the view that good communication skills would be necessary to survive; good technical knowledge would help engineers to make their presence felt in the smooth functioning of  work.

JSW's munificence is a part of Corporate Social Responsisbility, when it has pledged its support to education, health and employability. 

 

Well, GCE girls are making waves at the National Level! Kalpana Kaur and Sneha Lall of III EEE stood fourth at the ETQuiz, conducted by Economic Times and Cognizant. Not a mean feat, if you consider that all the others were management gurus. Of the 100 teams that appeared, 6 were shortlisted and our two young ladies were among these 6. Now, isn't that something to be proud of? Boys, move over, you got tough competition. I feel, girl power is making itself tangible everywhere. 

Congratulation to the two and thanks for making Cognizant sit up and notice our potential. 

Rumour mills are working overtime at GCE - one says that the Principal, Prof.P.M.Kavimani is promoted as A.D./Planning at DOTE, Chennia, the other, that Dr.RSD Wahida Banu has been selected as Registrar for a University; the last, that workers of the mess at the hostel propose to go on a strike demanding a hike in their contract salary. 
The element of surpise and unexpectedness is what marks government service and events like these are talked about in whispers...they become official only when a circular comes around and till then, it's a secret everybody knows but 'does not know'. 

Everyday, I learn lessons in humility...today, I learnt it from Arvind.T.M. of final year Mech, Student Editor of GCE Newsletter, ELA Secretary,Student Placement Co-ordinator, aspiring to be Ohio University Doctoral Student in Aerospace Engineering, avid reader, organiser of Mekchat 2011 and now, an active blogger. 

His blog at http://airbornegeeks.blogspot.com offers interesting insights into the various facets of aeronautics. Written in his inimitable style, the blog takes up his free time. The intensity on his face when he writes is a study by itself. 

Today, I had Arvind and Gowthami in the department taking their work very seriously, one in blogging and the other in preparing for her CAT essay writing, almost the entire afternoon. It's a pleasure to see children engrossed in academic work...Gowthami has sought help to sharpen her skills in the language, since she is preparing for the CAT exams. 

I'm always delighted when in the fourth year, children find a sense of direction and are ready to experiment with their choices. Suddenly, they are no longer children...they are adults who are wise, curious, alert, practical and insightful.

Our fight with machines and equipment goes on - the T-Lan switches for 36 systems has malfunctioned and I don't know when it will be set right. Third Year students are going to miss their classes on the LAN-system based exercises on GRE vocabulary and reading, till that is set right. 

It's a little depressing when one's best efforts to give our students the best possible training during a semester comes undone because of such faults and when everything has to go through a long process to set them right - if the process sees the light of day! 

It's a long struggle, but I sure hope things will take a turn for the better. 

At times like these, infact, the only time, when I wish I were younger, just to possess the optimism and hope of  young people.

That's my sob story of the week, though, otherwise, the week was full of surprises. My best surprise was the Mech 2, first year boys. So refreshingly human, these boys have their hearts in the right places. They are noisy, as boys must be, (it's kind of unnatural when kids keep quiet for long hours), but their work is different, natural and spontaneous. Sasi and Prashanth were my heroes of the week, one with his determination to succeed in life and the other with his appreciation of human effort from a fellow student. 

Placement is slowly closing the gap between the recruited and the hopefuls ,in almost all the branches. Metallurgy is almost done and in the other branches, only about 16/17 remain; by the end of the month, student co-ordinators are optimistic about placing all their classmates in companies. The only painful realisation that has come about is the fact that girls in the Civil branch are being overlooked, because their core companies, inspite of a phenomenal recruiting spree, are only looking at employees who will be working onsite, in interior parts of states, hilly and inaccessible parts and they will not be able to ensure the safety and comfort of girls. 

I feel it's a pity that our brilliant girls, with fantastic aptitude and passion for their subject and with additional technical skills are left wondering where their dreams are. My heart goes out to them. However, I'm sure there are companies which will recognise their potential and take them in. It takes courage to answer a call and it takes courage to bear it all. God be with you all, girls of Civil Engineeirng.