There was great appreciation from Mr.Prabhakaran, an alumnae of the institution and an Asst.Engineer of TNEB and Alumni Association organiser, for the Newsletter. It was gratifying to see that all the effort taken was noticed and appreciated. Thanks to all for your encourgement. 
Mr.Prabhakaran also said how the association of alumni has contributed a sum of Rs.15 lakh as development fund for the institution. Amazing effort and they deserve all kudos for the effort taken towards this. I know the GCE alumni has very strong roots to its alma mater. God bless all of them.

Would you believe the reach of the net? 763 visitors  have downloaded the newsletter and at a throwaway price. The number will grow exponentially everyday. It's amazing. 

Even a conventional newsletter wouldn't have had such a reach. People from far and wide are writing back to us about how they enjoyed reading it. Nostalgia was the emotion running through most. 

At college, Pongal stupor is still filling the classrooms and students are far and few in between. I introduced the first year ECE students to Pictionary, a game that stimulates lateral thinking. The kids loved it. We had words like circumnavigation, logistics, transformation, national highway arrived at  after a lot of wild passes and guesses.

Yoo...hooo...I'm jumping...I'm ecstatic...I'm over the moon...I'm floating...I'm flying...
GCE Newsletter for 2010-11 was launched this evening in the Principal's chamber. 
It opened from the Principal's mailbox and now, the link will be given to all...happy viewing and reading!!!
We went through a Publisher to PDF to Encrypted PDF to Uploading file to Getting the link and Posting it process. The journey has been one of unending fun for the team and one of learning for me, as I learnt the uses of technology in publishing. 
Let the show go on, now. 
The link below opens up a wondrous world for you. 

http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/2483734/gcenewsletter-pdf?da=y

Could people check if this link works and please let me know?




http://www.4shared.com/audio/j61n9YMO/Daffodils_edited.html

It's that time of the year when one sits in retrospection and wonders how fast time flies by every single year! The autonomy seems to be working well, both for the students and the teachers. 

For students, because there is better organisation of schedules and time bound announcements from the COE's office, which is so easily accessible. Prof.Perumal and Prof.Sukumar have both moved from the chaos and clutter of the early days, to a smooth flow of work in the Controller's office. Prof.Balusamy, the Chief Superintendent carries out the conduct of the exams with hall arrangements, etc, handling the pressure with composure and goodwil.

For teachers,  there is freedom to experiment, vet, choose and implement the syllabus of their choice; along with it, is the added pleasure of co-ordinated vacation.

I, especially, loved the challenge in 2010 of designing the syllabus, channelising the classroom activities, preparing extra materials, thinking out relevant and enjoyable assignments for the third years and the first years, preparing an e-book to stimulate the reading habits of our third years, learning to manage the language lab resources and best of all,  the joy of giving learners confidence and belief in their own abilities, whether in language learning or in other extra-curricular activities. 

How can I forget the long hours the team of GCE newsletter spent from 4  to, sometimes, even six in the evenings, as we planned, experimented with software, web designing, collecting data and materials and resources. The team is absolutely fantastic. 

I have Arvind, the serious aciever, who comes up with his brilliant ideas, Uday, the laughter icon of the team, with his joyous ways, Navneethan, sincere and filled with a desire to keep learning, Prashant with his charming ways and relaxed attitude, Jinu, the result getter, calm, composed and laughingly accepting the teasing of the group, Krithika and Rabiya, the silent contributors. They are a good team, result oriented, they see the vision and are ready to work, but abvoe all, they are fabulous at working together in a straight, no-nonsense manner. There are no under-currents here, so, it's a pleasure working with them all. This has been one of my best piece of work of the year. They made my work enjoyable and made me see, once again, the best side of our GCE students.

Yes, the last two semesters have been particularly and extremely tough on my endurance, cos of the faculty shortage in the department and the academic and administrative responsibilities, but, I'm ready for the challenges this new year 2011. 

People have been kind and considerate...Prof. Srinivasan, who appreciated my efforts to handle my responsibilites as class advisor and on many occasions, extended a piece of advice that would help me out with the work, deserves a special mention for having made 2010, bearable. Thank God, for small mercies.

I love what I'm doing and hope to be able to continue to give GCE, Salem, all my passion for my profession. 

A few of our students have had personal losses in their lives. My heart goes out to them. Many have had success in their studies. I'm happy for them. We've lost a student to an illness...I'm sad, he did not live to enjoy the best part of his growing years. 

Work, chaos, challenges, friendships, team work, achievements, hopes, frustration, sadness...what a mix of emotions and experiences, it's been this year. 2010, farewell to thee.

Arvind came up with a brilliant idea to launch the online version of the newsletter, without waiting for the process of publishing to be completed. It made sense and the Principal was also extremely happy to give the thumbs up for the idea. So, the process of converting it into pdf, making it tamperproof, hosting it in a webpage and sharing the link through various net sources like the gce webpage, alumni webpage, placement webpage, this blog and email addresses is what we are looking at right now.
You will get the link very soon on this page.

HCL has taken in 52 of the 54 shortlisted. Kids are coming around fattening us up on Adyar Ananda Bavan's sweets and savoury items. They are so  happy and relieved that their ordeal is over. The care they show for the ones who still have to be placed is touching. Only young people can care like this for another in mental agony. Older people give advice and younger people laugh it all off...only a peer member can understand the pain and can immediately think of ways in which the situation can be saved. 
I believe there are other companies also coming in. Good job by the placement co-ordinators of the various branches. 

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.