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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Curricula and syllabi are being discussed with great interest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

God bless GCE.

Sunrise from RIE rooftop A view of RIE, Bangalore

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This calls for celebration.

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

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

God bless GCE, once more.