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.