Vacation has begun and at the right time too...Salem was burning in the heat and with the powercuts, life was getting pretty miserable. (For the last two to three days, Salem's famous fair-weather has returned, much to everybody's relief, though I believe Chennai is sweltering in the heat).

I've always wondered why the British legacy of exams in April/May is still followed in South India.(In the North, exams are completed before the actual heat of the summer is turned on, during which time, students have a short vacation to tide them through the worst of summer). Children lose their energy in the heat and no one seems to have the strength to even move, let alone exercise the brain and have the energy to write pages and pages in the exam hall. Why can't exams be rescheduled for the cooler months of January and September? Rather fanciful, I know, but my heart goes out to all the little ones battling it out in the heat and coming out of the hall, as though they'd been in the wringer of the washing machine. 

Board of Governors has met and ratified the items on the agenda, presented by the new Principal. A meeting with a lawyer to discuss harassment issues was organised by the Principal. TCS has awarded the topper award to an ECE student this time, in accordance with the request of the Principal to consider the students of the other departments too for the award. 

I don't know what it is about farewells at GCE, but it's a moment that I see every year and like an ostrich, put my head in the sand and pretend like it's not happening. This, from a mother, who sent her own sons out into the world unhesitatingly and with implicit faith in their destiny. 


Yet, it happens, year after year. Young, wide-eyed and vulnerable and literally like babes in the wood in the first year, I see them transform themselves in the most magical manner - they mature into strong, self confident, right thinking, generous, socially conscious adults, ready to take on the world with huge smiles and unhesitating faith in its goodness, in the final year of their study.  


And, when it's time for them to leave the institution, they leave behind memories of themselves in the different nooks, corners and niches. 


This particular set has seen the best moments of GCE -  NBA and Autonomous Panel Visits, the showcasing of the placement facilities to the visiting recruiters, successful newsletters and the usual campus activities spiced up with a will to make every event better than ever before and a unique one at that. 


I pray for the well being of all our boys and girls and know that GCE has done its best for them and that they will do their best for themselves and those around them.