I feel like Jonathan in 'Masterchef Australia'... feels like everything's half done. Audio setup has been checked everywhere in the halls for the first year exams and we find there's one that blown a fuse and another that will be available only tomorrow at nine. I'm hoping everything's goes off well. But what was heartening through the whole ordeal from morning till evening, as we went around visiting the halls and checking systems, audio drivers, sound cords, mixers, amplifie and the speakers , was that there was a colloborative effort from Mech, Meta and CSE students as they tried to set the equipment right.

I have to say this - every single time you need them, our students are there, to lend their gathered wisom and skills and their willing hands to set things right. As I saw them putting their heads together to find out why the amp was not glowing, I told myself 'That is where our students are way above the students of SF colleges who will consider it beneath their dignity to do what they think a lab assistant should'. And that is where our students score - their willingness to learn, their readiness to help, their unwillingness to let go, till a solution is found. Our students possess rare qualities, which if companies don't recognise, the loss is theirs.

TCS was here on Monday. They have selected 71 students from the college. 33 from CSE, 15 from ECE, 8 from Mech, 3 from Civil, 20 from EEE and 2 from Metallurgy - figures I heard unofficially. The beaming faces of students said it all. 
While I'm very happy for the selected candidates, my heart goes out to those who had looked forward to a placement in a software company. The girls from Civil Engineering seem to have been buffetted by both core and software companies. Core companies have not preferred them, since most recruitment was for distant and remote places. TCS also seems not to have selected girls from Civil, though there are about ten with brilliant attitude, academic performance and very good communication skills. 
I believe HCL is coming in next week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the kids. 

The newsletter is almost ready for the press. Something that seemed simple at first, has turned out to be a long and tedious process of gathering data and information. However, seeing something evolve from chaos soothens one. It's like seeing a cup getting filled,  golden drop by golden drop,  with honey.
The first years' had their first taste of practicals yesterday. All the last minute tasks like the third committee meetings, et all, are being tied up one by one. All indications that the madness of the first semester is slowly passing by...
Next semester, it's going to be yet another long grind, since we haven't found a part time staff to join us. However, as everything goes, this too shall pass...It's surprising how the last semester went off with the combined classes...may not have been possible, but for the kind nod from the Professor of Mechanical Engineering, allowing the use of the seminar hall for the combined classes. I think that most times, help comes unexpectedly, to help one tide over tough times.

Heard this fantastic news from a friend...for the first time, in the history of engineering education in TamilNadu, there's a lady principal, Prof. LakshmiPrabha, at Karaikudi. It's heartwarming, because one sees that women are slowly entering administrative jobs, to lead from the helm. I think this is a milestone in the history of engineeirng education here.
She is one of the best leaders I've seen and I wish her all success and achievements in her future years of principalship. 
The first year students are in a tizzy, as all efforts are taken to complete portions and to help them prepare for exams. Their practical exams begin next week and they are all scurrying from one block to another, to tie all the loose ends up, before they enter their exam halls. 

I cannot stop laughing...you will see why. 
Exams have begun in earnest and everyday, one sees children and older part-time students hogging private space all over the campus and pouring over their books. 
One must know that ever since a set of students, caught for malpractice, were punished by having to appear for the entire set of exams, students have been quite cautious about indulging in malpractice. 
However, things took a serious turn at one of the halls where our part-time students were giving their exams. Invigilators were quite busy, castor-oiled eyeballs nearly popping out from trying to find if there were students copying. Suddenly, two professors of the institution on squad duty, descended upon the candidates like the fury of Hades. They turned hall tickets, id cards and wallets, inside out, with the precision of a computer. One of them seemed to magnetically draw out 'bits' from shirt sleeves, pockets and even wallets, where 100 and 500 rupee notes had entire processes and equations crammed into the small spaces available. Invigilators watched in open mouthed awe at the uncanny ability of the Professor to spot out the violators. And, funnily enough, when all this going on, one of the older candidates, quietly folded his answer booklet and scooted out of the hall, like he had the Furies at his tail. I still wonder why he did that! 
There were requests to the Professor to  offer a workshop on how to spot out violators and to draw out the bits from the likely hiding spaces. He calmly revealed that only experience and a sharp eye to observe body language were needed.
The humour was a nice little distraction from the mundane and terribly tiring duty of invigilation.

I wish the Department of English could invest in a digital recorder, I heard about a Korean CENIX recorder, which can be used to record good speeches and then to load these audio files to the college website. Dreams live on.

Been off the air for quite some time now...28 hours of workload a week doesn't leave one with much energy for off class hours...Quite a few activities have gone on since the last post...
The departments had their inaugural functions and as one chief guest remarked, 'the buck does not stop there'...follow up activities should go on through the year. 
The Association of Sciences and Humanities had its smart beginning and if one were to go by the performance of the first years' involved in the organisation of the function, everything was beyond one's  expectations. 
For the first time ever, they had an audition for comperes...the queue stretched a mile and a yard (just  kidding, there were about 28 eager beavers). And, all of them were exceptional. 
They conducted the show like pros and bested their seniors. 
Led by Mr.Dharanidharan, Research Scholar and part-time lecturer of Chemistry, the children wowed the audience with their sweet voices and the boys' dance. Everytime, on occasions like this, for a few hours, the auditorium becomes a fairyland, where the most ordinary boy and girl, become stars whom everyone admires and applauds.
This is going to be one Super Set.
 

Flurry of activities...Civil Engineering Department had invited two eminent civil engineers from Salem for the inaugural function of their Society. It was an opportunity for me to get in touch with my last year's set, since they had turned seniors and were in charge of conducting the programme. It was a joy to see how kids who had looked at one with frightened eyes were today confident enough to organise, conduct and present a programme. 
This was followed by Progen-i 10, the annual programme where TCS presents it best student award and where the department releases its souvenir and conducts a symposium. The chief guest from TCS said that as major consumers of GCE's talent pool, they looked forward to employable graduates. He urged students to no longer keep thinking along expected lines. They could not afford to keep believing that the earth was round, when in fact, it is flat, in terms of emerging technologies. Creativity should play a major role in their thoughts, he asserted. He believed that Salem could boast of not only its mangoes and manganese and steel plant, but also of GCE as its treasure. 
ECE celebrated its ComCom10, which I sadly missed due to my absence from college on Friday. 
Festember 10, the annual competitive ground for engineering institutions was attended very eagerly by our students and one can proudly say that they stood 4th in the overall position. Their TLA, HLA and ELA members have again done well, bringing back home their pride and self-esteem. I had seen the kids practising for the drama round and was hopeful of something good. My hopes were not belied. Such competitions expose our students to the best of talents outside their small circle here and get them to appreciate the bigger picture.

It's the beginning of a long weekend for the kids...some doing the disappearing trick in the afternoon itself! Ha..ha...
Everything's quiet and subdued on the homefront. By that I mean, the college. 
The class on Advertisements and Marketing was animated and lively, thanks to students who seemed to like the topic. 

Teachers' Day was celebrated by our students with a neat little function in the auditorium. 

Student secretaries of the associations got together under the able leadership of Prof.Rajkumar to offer a Certificate of Merit to all the members of the teaching faculty. 

It was a thoughtful gesture fully endorsed by the Principal, Prof.P.M.Kavimani, who, we musn't all forget, is an alumnae of this institution. 

In his short speech he advocated the creation of students who would care about the society they live in.

A short entertainment programme it was,  with a lot of loving sentiment about the role played by teachers in shaping young minds, a few flash shows on teachers and of course, songs and dances by students. 

As usual, a few teachers braved the howls of the students as they sang songs to entertain them and perhaps, chase them away from the hall too ( At least that's what I attempted to do as I yowled out the Que Sera song). Dr.Venkatesh, accompanied by Prof.Noorula, and Prof.Kalpana  did have sweet voices and sang songs that I would love to listen to again.

The experience told me one thing again...the sound system is so awful that I nearly ran out of the hall on hearing my own voice come out of the mike in an echo that startled me...I kept hearing two or three voices too...quite disorienting and a rather unsettling feeling.

All said and done, our students must  be appreciated for utilising the opportunity to tell their teachers that they do care. I've always felt that in colleges, there is a disconnect between teachers and students, since each goes their way, once the class is over. On days like these, one realises, 'Yes, these kids do care!'  

Salem is having the best weather possible...the days are generally cool and the sky is always cloudy. There are intermittent showers through the day. It's been like this for the past fortnight or so. 
At college, the roads are wet and the red, satin backed beetles are seen burrowing themselves in the wet earth. While some of us hop, skip and jump over them, there are others whose unseeing feet squash the tiny things out of existence. 
ECE had its SAECE inauguration today. 
Students are paid their scholarships directly into their account, so all students have opened accounts at the SBI. 
And, there was a long line of M.E. admissions into the various PG streams this year. One noticed a number of  aspirants, some with wailing babes in arms and  some with accompanying parents. I feel that the AICTE directive that the entry level qualification for teaching positions in engineering colleges would be a PG degree may have been cause for the large number of admissions - especially since the number of engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu has risen to around 425.

Life is looking good for GCEians- the first company has stepped in for this year. EIT- Energy Info Tech, a Delhi based company came in for campus recruitment. Students of Civil, Mechanical and Metallurgy gave the tests and out of these around 12 Mech and 6 Civil students have been shortlisted for the final round. It was jointly offered to A.C. Karaikudi and it appears that their Civil students have done very well- around 12 have been shortlisted. 
I wouldn't say there is a transformation, but I do notice more willingness on the part of the Tamilmedium students of the first year to take their communication skills more seriously. And, most of them, around 90% appear to be fairly good at using the language. Challenges from the industry are always accepted by our students readily and they gear themselves up to face the demands of the industry. Good sign, as always. 

Oh, and if I may add a post script to the former blog entry, it was unanimously agreed that the Public Address system totally failed on this occasion. There was a terrible echo and the twiddling of the controls worked no magic and the audience was treated to an unruly echo in the hall. 
Sad, but once again, what has to be noted is that the college has outgrown its auditorium and expansion and modernisation in this regard is imperative. 

VEDANTHANGAL 2010, the Alumni Day was held on 8 Aug 2010, at the college auditorium. 
I believe around 600 old students from 1986 -2005 turned up for the event. A few had even brought their families over. There were boys from Iraq, U.S, Germany and from all corners of India. 
One of the third year students, Uday, remarked with surprise writ large on his face ,'You know, there were government bigwigs who came with beacon lights in their vehicles who were dancing with us!!!' He also narrated how an old student asked for 'Kavimani' and Uday said, 'Kavimani sir' and the gentleman remarked, 'Unnakku vena principal, but ennakku ennoda classmate' and Uday was left speechless. I wish I could've seen Uday's face. He also noted that many of the former students are in such senior positions in such famous and well established companies, Indian and global that it is a revelaltion of the status of GCE in the world map. It was difficult for him to accept the dimension of the professional status of most of our former students.
The  sentimental journey to their Alma mater, re-establishing the bonds of friendship and reliving memories of places they had lived in, sat in and rejoiced in, was one that had been looked forward to by all the former students and also by the organisers,, who had worked like ants to make it a memorable day for them. 
I sadly missed it because of an important work on the home front. 


 

The first sign that the first year students are arriving is seen in the college bus, as they, their parents and their luggage start filling in the aisles, the seats, the steps and the luggage carriers from Five Roads on. 

Today, it was especially a large crowd. The fear, anxiety, thrill and anticipation of being an engineering student was visible on their faces.

At 10.30, the welcome meet was held in the auditorium. There again, people filled all the seats, the aisle, the space along the wall, the corridors on either side and the open space outside the audi. 

They were welcomed by all HODs and the Principal. The Principal took the cake with his well delineated and illustrated address. He extended a warm welcome and told the students that they had come to an institution well endowed with facilities. 

He pointed out that the institution focussed on four  factors - teachers, parents, students and the alumni. He appreciated the faculty for their sense of duty and commitment and assured students that they were one of the strengths of GCE. 

He stressed the important role that parents played in moulding the hearts of their children. He illustrated the point with the story of mother giraffes sdropping their babies from a height of 8 metres at the time of the birth of their babies and kicking them, even for an hour sometimes, till the little one got up on its unsteady legs and tottered about. He said that was done to keep the baby safe from predators. In a similar manner, parents  must, he said, keep their sons and daughters always aware of the need to survive. He then appreciated the alumni for the stellar role they are playing in helping their juniors. 

Next, he urged students to remember that they must, like Viswanathan Anand who braved the Icelandic eruption, cancellation of the flight that was scheduled to take him to the place of the World title match, the 48 hour bus journey that he undertook to play at the World Title match, though no one expected him, at his fourth place, to win the title. He did...in a similar fashion, he assured students that they only had to work to make success happen. 

The whole ceremony took two and a half hours and one could only pity the  large numbers of parents and students who stood all the time. The audi can accommodate around 350, and today, there must've been atleast three to four to the 450 students admitted. Time for a bigger audi and the alumni's role in ensuring that that one place which they love more than their classrooms should be rightly expanded.

In the afternoon, students were taken around by NCC cadets to the labs and classrooms. God bless these fresh faced kids...

My laptop, barely a year and a half old,  crashed...had a fight with Dell...and so had been missing from blogspace for quite sometime. 

The new batch of GCEians was admitted on the 30th. The hustle and the bustle associated with this, it is said, was really taxing. Office assistants were in college till late in the evening, till about 8.30 / 9.00 p.m winding up the accounts. 

I report this as 'it is said', because I missed the admissions on account of a training at British Council. I know I will miss the odd student or two who will tell me shyly when in their thrid or final year that I was the first person they met in GCE! However, the training that I attended was of a quality expected only from the best in the country.

I believe that on the 8th August 2010, there is an Alumni meet. I'm sure old students are waiting to meet, greet and hug one another in glee at meeting after many years. 

Today, there was a very important development - the first SWOT meeting of TEQIP, under the stewardship of Prof.Subramaniam, was held, to facilitate the second phase of TEQIP. This second phase of TEQIP will focus on research. The good news is that students from various departments with whom he interacted have given very happy feedback about the benefits of TEQIP Phase I. The faculty  also actively participated in a SWOT analysis and everyone had a say. 

Classes will begin on the 6th for the first years...this time, due to the increased intake of 120 - 60 each for Civil and Mechanical, classes will be held in D1, EEE block, ECE block and so on. I shall certainly miss going to classes in the admin block; instead, we'd all be running to the classes in different directions. May be a good solution for burning calories! 

Weekly meetings are being held on Mondays by the Newsletter editors and student correspondents...we might try Adobe Photoshop to try the layout and desktop publishing. 

Why should we seek professional publishers ( might save time and effort, all one would have to do would be to collect articles and information and get it published, but that wouldn't be the same as effort from student artists and journalists, would it?) It's a challenge and I'm sure that the biscuits, puffs and cakes that we have before the meetings will spur us on to achieve success in bringing out the newsletter creditably.

Preparation of the GCE Newsletter is in full swing. The Principal has entrusted the responsibility to me and has given full freedom in the bringing out of the first volume.
I have formed a core group, comprising two first year students, one second year student, two third year students and two final year students. I'm proud that they are a very enthusiastic group and we have already decided on the content groups. We meet every Monday, from 4.15p.m. to 5.40 p.m. This week Uday, one of the Student editors brought two packets of biscuits, which went a long way in calming the late evening hunger pangs. Work expected to be completed by next week was charted out. We shall meet again next week. Ooohh...I just love this work. Tough, but hoping to bring out something good. Keeping my fingers crossed...

A brainwave!
Hope it doesn't suffer a short circuit.
The Principal today mentioned conduct of week long courses, general and otherwise.
Would it not be possible to conduct an online course in English for Professional needs, Teaching with Technology and Teaching Methodologies, offering course materials and self-study materials, complete with ppts, notes and e-handouts, followed everyday be a questionairre of sorts and a feed back form that will allow the organiser to understand whether the objective is being reached?
Perhaps, on the last day, a video conferencing can be facilitated and interaction with an expert like Dr.Meenakshi Sundaram or Arthi Rajaratnam, Clinical Psychologist be made possible.
Hmm...exciting thought.
But, can I do it?
It should be possible and if accepted may mean hours and hours of preparation of materials and making sure that they are accessible to all registrants online, offline or on the Intranet. But, it would save teachers the problem of attending lectures of experts,  especially if they had their own classes to take.They could read the lecture notes, watch ppts, watch interviews, watch recorded lessons on their computers at their own leisure...
Am keeping my fingers crossed.

 The new Principal, Prof. Kavimani, assumed charge today.

He was given a warm welcome by all HODs and Faculty members.

In the evening, the new Principal met all the faculty members and addressed us.

He confessed that it was a homecoming for him, since Salem is his home-town. 

He then outlined some of the initiatives that he wanted to take and expressed his hope that he would be able to complete them with the co-operation of us all. He thoughtfully thanked the former Principals, Prof.Ebenezer Jeyakumar and Prof.S.R.Damodarasamy for having given the institution its identity and how that made his job easier.

Prof.Kavimani, wanted Industry-Academia interaction to be strengthened since he had seen first hand how the industry was ready to co-ordinate with us, as exemplified during the NBA and Autonomous visits. 

His second suggestion was that the institution must look at revenue generation as a component of Sustainable Development. He appreciated the Department of Civil Engineering for their contribution and exhorted faculty to look at projects from DRDO etc.

Next, the Principal wanted all departments to utilise resources like Networking with better application. The Intranet has to be explored for the benefits it could offer by way of speeding up the admin and desk jobs.

The Principal also suggested that a Newsletter would better highlight the achievements of the college among students, faculty and the public. 

His next focus was on creating a Green Club in the college  and taking measures like planting saplings and their maintenance being given over to the NCC cadets.

He stressed on the importance of a Litter Free GCE and underscored the point that such efforts would benefit the institution in many ways. 

He wanted to usher in technology by installing an LED Message Board which could flash information for the stakeholders - that is - the students and their parents. 

Finally, he wanted to resurrect the defunct Staff Club which would usher in a sense of participation and would be a platform to share the joys of all. 

I believe that these ideas, simple though they are, will  help future generations of learners to come into a GCE that will be greener, cleaner and smarter.

Principal, Professor S.R. Damodarasamy retired yesterday from a service that began in 1977. 

In the morning the faculty hosted tea, during the course of which, encomiums were paid by the Heads of Departments on  his commendable contribution to the development of the college.

• getting accreditation for all courses - U.G. and P.G., except CSE - an accomplishment not seen in any of the other colleges,
• bringing in major reforms in academics by bringing autonomy to the institution and making sure that it got off to a flying start by noticing anamolies, making suggestions for changes to all departments,
• establishing the Digital Library, a state-of-the-art one and ensuring that it is used actively by making journal study compulsory for the post-graduate students,
• creating the language lab right from scratch and making it one of the best in the state,
• rejuvenating the pride of the institution - the Planetarium and effecting major repairs and maintenance,
• installing interactive white boards in all seminar halls,
• facilitating vidoe conferences with experts,
• inviting companies for placement,
• helping to effect the sixth pay commission recommendations for the teaching faculty 
• replacing the antique high rise drawing tables in D1 and D2 halls with modern, comfortable and sturdy drawing tables, installing rotating wall fans to offer respite from the non-rotating old ceiling fans that did not cool any candidate during exams, 
• initiating academic management system for all departments
• introducing steam cookers, chapathi and dosai makers, solar water heaters, a well equipped gym with introduction by a well known trainer in Salem

...these are but some of the notable achievments of Prof.S.R.Damodarasamy, which were highlighted during the farewell hosted by the teaching faculty.

Everyone appreciated his sharpness, his eye for detail, his adherence to the rules and regulations of purchases, his aesthetic sense, his acumen, his ability to arrive at quick but correct decisions, his concern for the welfare of students, his sternness when it came to dealing with indiscipline, his energy and enthusiasm for his work, his perfection and expectation of the same from all around him, his humane attitude in recommending an increase in remuneration paid to part-time teachers to higher authorities and the long hours of work he put in everyday.

Within a short span of two years, this Principal has made a difference to GCE and for that he deserves all appreciation and  praise. We all wished him a very happy and productive post retirement period.

Now I know why a vacation is necessary for a teacher...the frenetic pace at which lessons, tests, assignments, entry of marks (internal and external), setting up question papers, valuation, preparing proposals, quotations, passing bills, coming up with solutions for dya-to-day problems like getting HCL, Numeric, Cooltec, Globearena and Young India Films to get computers, keyboards, monitors, software and other technical glitches working right, monitoring their work, setting up exam schedules, conducting practical examinations, running up and down staircases and floors to meet colleagues, students, electricians, office staff, counselling a few dejected souls, meeting parents, saying goodbye to the final year students who visit the department, writing in their autograph books, stopping to chat with alumni while on the run to the Mechanical Department from the Admin Block, noticing increasing use of plastic in the campus and editing and proof reading theses and papers of friends, verifying stocks, preparing attendance records and all...all these and more demand the athleticism of a long jumper, the stamina of a marathon runner and the strength of a weight-lifter. 

Now, I'm determined to find time to complete my papers, started about a year ago and in various stages of completion, complete the book I've been writing a word in a week, water the plants at home and clean the chimney in the kitchen that is grease stained and say hello to my long neglected neighbours ( before they think that I am the new tenant at my house)...

Graduation Day 2010 went off smoothly, except for a few bumps here and there...

The first bump, and a scaredy one at that, till 4.30 p.m. registered graduands hadn't turned up and there were blocks of empty chairs staring at us...tension piled up, till like with a wave of a magic wand, chairs filled and at 4.40 p.m. the hall was choc-a-bloc with black gowns and those neck sashes. Proud parents watched on as their children proudly marched to the podium to receive their degrees from Dr.Shanmugavel, Registrar, Anna University, Chennai.

And then, at 4.45p.m. they were asked to disperse for tea and be back for the procession by 4.50. Just imagine, the procession was to start at 5.00 p.m. sharp and they were all outside. They were herded in with a little bit of cajoling, hard pushing and promises and threats. Hah..ha...

The procession started on the dot and the whole ceremony went off beautifully, in solemn silence and appreciation.Everything went off, like clockwork.  The Chief Guest was astounded by the dignified and silent way in which the graduands behaved during the entire ceremony. 

As always, for me, it was a touching moment, because as a parent I know that it is a fulfilling and defining moment, when we know that one of the prime duties as a parent is fulfilled and that we are now formally turning them over into the hands of future.

This time, the role of student volunteers, in various committees, headed by Paracharan, must be mentioned. Silently, behind the curtains, they worked like ants, doing thankless jobs, which were all essential and significant in the completion of the ceremony. But for them, I would say, things would not have worked so smoothly. 

The only other bump was that Karuppurwalas entered the open air catering area, dressed as students and hogged away the food, leaving us short by about 100 plates. How I hate these nameless guys who are making GCE their playground , just because they are allowed access to the GCE campus to reach the main road. 

However, apart from this, I would say, the Graduation Day was a grand success, in terms of turnout, participation and conduct. The principal was indeed a very happy person, as his efforts to make the function successful and a signing off event, were achieved. He retires in May after a very successful, eventful and  significant,  development-filled tenure  that contributed in no small measure to the growth of the institution.

It was Gecofest time again. Right from the tastefully and visually well designed card to the 75 onstage and off-stage events conducted to the closely fought out battle between the second and third years, GECOFEST 10 was at its best. 
Student Secretary Vinoth, ably assisted by his friends from the various associations had gone to great lengths to make the two days memorable for his friends and juniors. 
Allwyn Subash was an instant hit with the audience as he ably, humorously and cheerfully acted as Master of Ceremonies. I see a great future for this young man who led the audience willingly by its nose, not an easy task, considering the diverse interests at play there. 
Volunteers, like ants, spread out to conduct events off-stage and on-stage. I always marvel at how students come up with stellar performances with the least interference from grown-ups. 
V.D.Kirupanithi and his team of musicians played the anthem music and the CD of the same was released at the inaugural function. 
Once again, new talent in singing, dancing and acting was unearthed. Snekalatha, a 1st year student sang mellifluosly and earned the appreciative grunts of the audience. Artists came up with beautiful collages and paintings and pencilwork. Gopi, Santhosh and  Prashanth could easily be called the artists of the year. SathyaJothi showed her artistry in handwork of different kinds. 
Dancers donned special costumes and wowed the audience with their choreography. 
A special feature was the short film category. There were three entries and I watched openmouthed as all three were good attempts and our boys were natural actors. The cinematography in one had special angles and beautiful locations; I'm sure such kids have a special talent and an eye for detail. 
The variety entertainment and the e-fest events were runaway hits as boys wooed girls and discussed ways and means to capture the elusive God of love at Siva's bar ( all in the skits and plays, of course). There was shadow dance, something new and the girls produced a theme that was appreciated. There was a mime show by the first year boys that produced goosebumps and tears- one of the most original and well directed patriotic themes I've ever seen in GECOFESTS.
A year to go for the next one. Mmmm....long wait that. Wish we had quarterly fests like this.

Mekchat 10 was organised by the Department of Mechanical Engineering. It was a two day affair, but my classes took all my time and I couldn't visit them to appreciate their innovative designs display. ECE had their COMPCOM10 and we attended the inauguration. Women's Day was celebrated on the 8th. The Chief Guest, Ms. Latha, Director/Employment was a facile speaker and held the attention of the audience. And then, we had Vidial, the TLA's annual  celebration. Suhana, oops, sorry, Sahana 10, the Ladies' Hostel Day was celebrated too. This week, we have GECOFEST10. I intend to attend this function atleast, cos I have missed all the above mentioned due to classes and other department work. Horrible. There are many new events and there's bound to be some excellent stuff coming out. And on Friday, the Boys' Hostel Day is scheduled. 

So, the calendar for March is rather full. However, it's all good, cos all these activities tend to bring out the hidden talents of our young people.

The new Commissioner of Technical Education, Shri. Kumar Jayanth, IAS, visited the college this morning. He spent some time in the Digital Library and then met the HODs and the Principal in the new conference hall. 

What I loved most about his informal interaction with the faculty was that he asked whether there were non-engineering books in the library and I was dying to tell him that we have some of the finest collection of good fiction, some of them rarely seen anywhere else. The long and short of it is that he urged teachers to encourage students to go beyond their text books and to develop a holistic attitude to life with a complete development of their personality. He wanted students to take part in sports and games. He suggested that students be given some awareness about making the right career choices and suggested that they be encouraged to take up research and  teaching as careers with a lasting value. 

Having come from a school that lays great importance to building lasting relationships with the faculty ( my school principals knew everyone in everyone's family and became one of the family for all of us), I used to find it an encouraging gesture when Commissioners interacted informally and desired to help us do our best. When a sense of loyalty and belongingness comes in one's teaching  job, then, I believe, only the best effort comes, much to the benefit of students. 

Today, the EEE students made their maiden ppt presentations. Some very interesting presentations were made...some of our students are naturals at facing an audience. There was Manikandan who simply gave some examples to explain inflation. There was a group that presented their guidelines for a wonderful college life that was as interesting as much as it was inofrmative. There was another group that presented their ideas on the 'sensational youths' as they called it...an amateur attempt that was sweet in its implicit trust in the ability of students to change the world. Only young people have this idealistic belief.

Powercuts are killing us in the college. We end up sweating and steaming through the classes, perhaps losing more water from the body as through a sauna. Hah...wish we had a cooler clime in Salem through the year.  

Saw a white hawk on the tree behind the Admin block. It was a rare sight. And, it really is funny, whenever I go to the ECE block and start talking, I hear two birds making raucous calls...children are sighting snakes. Rats are entering staff rooms...squirrels are becoming more and more daring as they boldly fight for the small balls of rice or chappathis that are offered. I do miss Shaan, the one legged raven who used to frequent the window sill of the English department. The fish in the small ponds at the entrance have become bigger and developed longer whiskers...the brilliant red beetles that are found in the pathway between the Admin block and the CSE block are slowly becoming lesser in number as the cold wave is hitting Salem...we seem to be becoming a haven for birds and all forms of God's own creatures.

On a more serious note, L&T has taken in three of our students. Kudos to them. But why such small numbers? Heart aching. But then, I always console myself, the companies are the losers...they don't know what wonderful candidates they are missing by under estimating the strength and potential of our students.

TCS selected 61 of our students...and around another 40 have been selected by core companies.
I was personally hoping that TCS would take in more...but then, 61 out of a shortlisted 74 is not really that bad, I guess. However, as a human being, one wishes as always for more and the heart yearns for a bigger number...L&T is coming tomorrow. CSC is expected...Even while accepting sweets from those selected, my thoughts were on the ones not selected and who must be going through throes of doubt and low self esteem...all I can say is, GCEians are the best and will definitely find their way through these bad times...

Life appears to have stood still, but how deceptive that is...cos while lessons, timetables, classes and tests were going on, recruitment has also been going on slowly and surely. Just today, Ramanujam, my EEE friend told me that 24 of his friends have been placed in core companies and that he has been taken in by Vedhantha groups. God bless these kids. Tomorrow TCS is coming and elaborate arrangements are being made as a large number of students is appearing for the tests. I saw Shankar and Shankarlingam ferrying printers and all to the Seminar Halls...once again, I pray for these children.

Had the joy of meeting a bunch of old students back at college for a good purpose - to train our students in interview techniques and GDs and other soft skills. They had come from Chennai and Bangalore, taken a day or two off from their precious projects to be of help to the final year students. I feel this is a wonderful gesture, selfless and thoughtful. God bless them all.

A very bad attack of viral fever had left me incapitated for almost ten days and I look forward to getting back to work.

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.