OUR FIRST DAY IN
COLLEGE - With lot of hopes and joy we entered the college
only to find out that it is a college only in name and just one building
standing amidst the lonely area. Then that became our way of life
for the next 4 years. Many of us joined in different batches on
different dates. The first batch of DOTE students joined on 20th
August 1999. The management students joined in June 1999.
OUR FIRST ANNUAL
DAY - The first annual day celebrations of our college has
held just a week after we joined. It was probably in August 1999.
That was the time to enjoy and interact with people.
PARENTS-TEACHERS MEETING - The first Parents-Teachers meeting was
organized when we were in our First year. The hostel students helped the management in conducting the event. Although most of us didn't agree for the compulsory food and transport program, our parents thought otherwise and supported the management. The management told us that they had suffered losses in the food and transport programs, but still wanted to continue. How funny? So the compulsory food and transport systems came into stay permanently.
HOSTEL STUDENTS
STRIKE IN OUR FIRST YEAR - That was a forgotten incident in our
1st year. We came out of our classes in support for them.
The management consoled were students with the usual words, "Ours is a new college. So
it may take some time to upgrade the facilities. Till then please bear with
us".
'PICNIC' TO MGM DIZEE WORLD - It was funny but we had to bear with it. Just like school kids we were taken to MGM Dizee World during our First Year. We asked the management to arrange for a tour to Ooty and other places but due to severe restrictions and compulsions from the chairman we finally landed in the kids picnic place, namely MGM Dizee World. The people there were surprised when they came to know that we college students had come here in a college trip. Some of them even laughed when our college-name was announced in the public addressing system there. Some of the so-called arrogant students of our entire First year batch, started to indulge in small eve-teasing incidents. Luckily they escaped without anyone keenly noticing them.
THE COMPULSORY IDENTITY CARDS AND THE 'GOOD MORNING' SALUTES - Wearing the identity cards was always a compulsory thing to do in our entire college life. To inculcate that practice, the management appointed many people at various places to check for defaulters in wearing the identity cards. The punishment would be fining them. Some of us were regular payers of such fines while some of us, including me wore the identity card everyday and all the time in the day compulsorily. Some of our identity cards had bad damaged photos after some time and so we just pasted any photos we came across. But some of us including me had an undamaged identity card for the full 4 years and it looked the same exactly as how they gave in our first year!!! Also punishments were given for not wearing the ID cards properly. Another funny thing was the instruction the chairman would give whenever we passed beside him. It was about how we have to wish the teachers and how we have to raise our hands and salute them while wishing them. Here the comic thing was, for most of us, wishing the teachers apart from the class was the unwanted thing, then anyone can imagine how funny it would be if we raised our hands and saluted them as saluting our national flag.
OUR FIRST
MEETING - We were
together for the first time during the first day of the 3rd semester.
It was in June 2000.
A few of us, including myself came late by a few minutes because of the
rush at the canteen for the breakfast. That first class was a
Mathematics class taken by Ms. Shirley.
THE LATERAL ENTRIES - After a few days,
our lateral entry friends joined us. Then our class gained its strength.
VIJAY KARTHIK'S TUSSLE WITH NALLU AND OTHERS - Vijay Karthik
had some tussle with Nallu when Nallu commented about him. There were a few verbal exchanges. This
provoked Krishnaswamy, Sandeep, Sai Prasad, Kelvin etc. to join. Fortunately, it didn't escalate too much.
From that day, Nallu and others started boycotting Vijay Karthik.
SSI CLASS - The SSI computer classes
started. But at that time (3rd semester), they hadn't arranged for
the lab (Unix), so we wasted a lot of hours, some were substituted by
our regular classes. Still we were angry for they had charged the
fees without providing the facility. One day during the 4th
semester, they arranged for the Unix lab. Sadly, that was the only one lab
session for Unix.
OUR DEPARTMENT'S COMMITTEE 'FIENIX' WAS FORMED - Following the other departments, our department's committee called 'Fienix' was formed when we were in our 3rd semester. They asked our opinion about the name that can be given but they finally chose go give it as 'Fienix'.
THE ELECTIONS FOR 'FIENIX' - Then the elections for the various members were held. For the President's post, our seniors Vinod and Allen contested. Vinod had a lot of support from the boys of his class and he also gathered support from us through them in the bus. Allen had mostly the support of the girls. Finally Vinod was elected as President. For the Vice-President's post, two of our senior girls contested. Also elections were held for other posts. Two of the posts were reserved for members of our class. I think Kelvin, Raji, Sowmya, Anitha etc. contested. I think Raji and Anitha were selected.
'FIENIX' AND ITS WORK - Although
there were many members, the committee didn't do much for us and only
arranged for a seminar and a symposium taking money from us. After
our seniors passed out, the committee totally vanished in our days.
Our immediate juniors added life to it by arranging a symposium in August
2003 after we passed out.
SEMINAR ORGANISED BY OUR DEPARTMENT COMMITTEE 'FIENIX' - The most forgotten activity of our 'Fienix' was the seminar that they
organized in our 3rd semester. It was on Satellite Communication handled by an Anna University professor. It was arranged with the help of the then lecturer for us, Mr. Lokesh who taught us for one semester namely our 3rd semester.
THE FOUNDER'S DAY
CELEBRATION - The Founder's Day celebration was held when we
were in our 3rd semester. Prizes (book purchase coupons) were
presented along with the certificates for academic performances and for
100% attendance. That was the first and last Founder's Day
celebrations in our college. On that occasion, some of our seniors
had prepared a comedy skit but they didn't receive proper support
from the management to stage it. So they were angry with the
management. But they managed to do it. On that day, as they
concluded their skit, there were heavy winds and rains which damaged the
temporary stage erected for that occasion. As the rains stopped
the programme continued. The shamiana above us was a virtual water
tank, which had gathered water from the rains and it swelled on us.
More interestingly that was the occasion on which the base stone for the
permanent open-air auditorium was laid on that same location. Only
some of us from our class attended the function.
FIGHT BETWEEN ANAND AND THIRUGNANAM - This was the saddest incident in
our class during the 4th semester. Anand and Thirugnanam had a
tussle with each other in front of our eyes. Even Shivashankar
took a beating from Thirugnanam for supporting Anand. We calmed
them down but they didn't talk with each other for about a semester.
Later they became very good friends.
OUR SECOND ANNUAL
DAY CELEBRATION - Our second annual day celebration was held
when we were in our 4th semester. Prizes for academic and sports
performances were distributed. The location of that function was
the front portion of our college, the place where the volley courts now
exist. Prizes for the best performances in the third semester and
100% attendance were distributed. I got the first prize for the
best performance in the 3rd semester and Kelvin got the
second prize. Some people including myself got the prize for 100%
attendance.
SPORTS PRIZES FOR
OUR SECOND ANNUAL DAY
- There were sports events conducted for our second Annual Day. Thirugnanam and Siva Subramaniam received prizes for badminton in the
competitions conducted within our college. Thirugnanam also got some
other sports prizes.
ANAND BEING
CAUGHT BY MR. SANTHOSH KUMAR - Anand was caught by Mr.
Santhosh Kumar for doing some mischief in a class in his he came as
substitute. But he didn't know Anand's name at that time as Anand
hid his identity card and refused to show that. So Mr. Santhosh
Kumar called each one of us in our class and asked his name.
Inspite of his advice, none of us answered. This angered him and
finally he called Anand in person and settled the matter.
MR. SANTHOSH
KUMAR'S OUTBURST THAT MADE ANITHA CRY - Mr. Santhosh Kumar
once caught Anitha and scolded for not dressing properly although she
dressed properly. This made her cry and also angered us.
THE C++ CLASS WITH SSI - During our 4th
semester, the C++ classes with SSI was gaining momentum. We had
regular lab sessions for that. We were enjoying a lot in those
sessions.
TROUBLE IN THE COMPUTER LAB - Trouble
started between me and some others regarding the issue of printouts for
the computer records in our 4th semester. It settled peacefully as I took the printout
of my own programs while all the others took printouts of programs from
previous records.
IGCAR INDUSTRIAL
VISIT - Visit to IGCAR at Kalpakkam in our 4th semester was a memorable one for
everyone of us, as we went to watch how nuclear reactors work. The
visit was arranged by the husband the then faculty for us, namely, Mrs.
Banurekha. She
taught us for only one semester namely the 4th semester.
LATE TO
UNIVERSITY EXAM - Due to heavy traffic congestion in our area
(Pammal), some of our college buses arrived late by about 20 minutes
during our Network Theory exam in the 4th semester. Myself and
Krishnaswamy alone suffered in our class. Anyway, we got some
extra time.
THE NEW MESS - The new mess was opened up on the first day of our 3rd year. It was much larger than the previous one and had atleast a good look in terms of cleanliness compared to the old godown-style mess. Still that wasn't enough. Atleast things like waiting outside which happened in our old mess didn't happen. Remember when there is a rain, waiting outside the old mess was a bad thing to do. Then they started the scheme of regular non-vegetarian foods and ice-creams twice a week although they had the non-vegetarian food scheme earlier. Other new practices that came into place include the compulsory placing of our plates after eating, into the crate. This was hated by most of us but all of us must know that, even now, that is the practice followed in the canteens of even very big companies. The other funny thing was walking over the seat in the canteen. The chairman may himself or appoint others to watch people walking over the seat and catch hold of them and ask them to clean the place and also to serve as volunteers for a week at the canteen. Whatever may be the upgrade in the mess, the quality of the food served never improved at all.
FRICTION AMONG THE STAFF -
At the start of the 5th semester, friction
between our department staff was noticed openly by us, with heated
arguments exchanged when we were doing our lab. The one notable
argument occurred between Komalavalli and Tamilarasi along with another
faculty whom I don't remember. That faculty taught us for only one
semester.
'MUNCH MAM' - Mrs. Joy Merline took Kelvin's munch when she saw that he was playing with it when she was taking the class. That gave the famous nickname to her, namely, 'Munch Mam'.
ANAND'S ANGER WITH THE MESS SUPERVISOR - Anand became angry with the behaviour of the mess supervisor over some issue in the mess. It finally ended up in the chairman's room where the chairman as usual supported his staff and asked Anand to give an apology letter and also bring his parents to the college. It settled down after some time.
THE ISO CERTIFICATION FUNCTION - I think it happened in the 5th semester and not in the 6th semester because I am not sure. This function to celebrate the ISO certification by KPMG was held at Raja Annamalai Mandram. Mr.Santhosh Kumar of the Physics department received a golden ring from our chairman for his work in the certification process. There were some culturals held on the occasion. We were not allowed to go out until the function was over. But we, in the pretext of going to the restroom, went out and through the backside of the building went out of that campus. Some of us went home while others including me, Krishnaswamy, Raji, Siva Subramaniam, Krishnaraj etc. went to the nearby Marina beach. As we were about to leave the beach at around 7.00 pm, some Mechanical students came there after the function was over.
FUNNY WATCHMAN IN
OUR CORRIDOR - One person in dhoti was appointed to watch out
for guys who slept in the class and also to make the students go inside
the class when the bell rings. Also, another person was appointed
to give spot fines for violating the so-called rules. This guy had
a receipt book and a pen in his hand and used them to give receipts for
the spot fines. I don't remember anyone in our class being fined
by this guy.
OUR SYMPOSIUM - The All-India Level
Technical Symposium organized by our department during our 5th semester didn't invite our
attention to a great extent because it was organized by our seniors.
But some of us including myself spent a lot of time and worked for it. We
put in money and took O.Ds in the name of getting sponsors. God
only knows the result of the O.Ds.
DIWALI TWO DAYS
BEFORE UNIVERSITY EXAM - It was not going to be Happy Diwali
for there was the mighty Control Systems exam in the 5th semester which
was scheduled two days after Diwali. Anyway, we managed it.
CROSSING THE
FLOODED RIVER FOR THE UNIVERSITY EXAM - The buses plying through our route (towards
Pallavaram) always suffered at the hands of an enroute submersible
bridge in Anagaputhur. It was the Control Systems exam in the 5th
semester, that me and Krishnaswamy took a daring attempt to walk across
the river, which had submerged the bridge due to heavy rain.
Though risky, we succeeded in it and went to the exam on time.
Later that bridge was reconstructed as a good, high and permanent
bridge.
UNOFFICIAL TOUR
BY KRISHNASWAMY AND CO. - Krishnaswamy, Sandeep, Sai Prasad,
Siva Subrmaniam, Kumaresan and some guys from the CSE department went for
a tour in southern Tamil Nadu during the 5th semester holidays. It
was indeed the only unofficial tour in our class as far as I know.
FRICTION WITH OUR JUNIORS -
Friction developed with our juniors when one of them picked up a quarrel
with me during a breakfast session at the canteen in our 6th semester. Then it settled down peacefully.
GREAT TUSSLE WITH THE MEASUREMENTS AND INSTRUMENTATION STAFF - The EEE department staff Velmurugan who handled this subject was very bad and rude that none of us liked him. He used to put his tongue out at made some notorious signs with the gesture of harassing us. This was very bad and crude and wasn't expected from a teacher. Once, he asked us to search and download a particular topic from the Internet. When some of us explained that we couldn't do it, especially the hostel girls, he didn't mind that and went on scolding us. He made that bad gesture to Sowmya. She was very angry. When that period was over, we all marched to the principal's room and complained about him and wanted him removed from teaching us. After some arguments it was agreed and Moorthy of the EEE department became the new lecturer for that subject.
OUR FIRST PAPER
PRESENTATION - Our first paper presentation was done by me
and Shivashankar on the 21st of January 2002 in Chennai, during our 6th
semester. That
didn't yield us a prize but they mentioned that it was a good paper.
The topic was 'Free Space Optical Communication'.
ARRANGING
INDUSTRIAL VISIT - Just days before the paper presentation, I
arranged for an industrial visit to the EMU Workshop at Avadi. I
think it was 18th January 2002. Shivashankar also came with me.
We came back from Avadi to Chennai Beach station by traveling in the
driver's cabin of a local EMU. The driver explained how the
various controls worked. That was a wonderful experience.
EMU WORKSHOP
INDUSTRIAL VISIT - This visit to Avadi, arranged through my uncle
working in the Railways was a good one, with the guide assigned to our
batch explaining every minute detail. Some of us indirectly
opposed our staff's move to arrange the same industrial visit for our
juniors because of our friction with them. Anyway that wasn't
severe, so they went on. Most of you left without visiting the
training centre, for the fact that the bus was leaving to college.
Some of us including myself, stayed and got an insight into the
Electrical Locomotive.
THE COLLEGE
STRIKE - The most unforgettable experience of our college
life occurred in February 2002 during our 6th semester. After getting the fee-details, we
were furious and walked out of our college during the break. What
occurred afterwards was a big story in itself. As a result of the strike, we got back the
original fee structure and also saved Rs.5000 for the SSI classes.
Click here for more info regarding our college strike
PARENTS-MANAGEMENT MEETING AFTER THE STRIKE - Our parents were called for a meeting with our management and our teachers immediately after the strike. The management had an easy task of convincing our parents who had not raised a big voice due to concern for us. They agreed for a slightly revised fee structure, which atleast saved Rs.5000 for us. It was only for this reason, they took our caution deposit because our seniors were given their caution deposit in full and that is because they never participated in the strike.
Click here for more
FEARS OF STRIKE
PARTICIPANTS - I went to talk with the management along with
Krishnasamy. They saw me and mistook that I was leading the
strike. Then the outbursts of Anand and Thriugnanam put both of
them on hold. Sandeep was successful in stopping one of our
college buses in Porur. Our fear was allayed with the consoling words from
our staff.
OUR WASHING
MACHINE DESIGN PRESENTATION IN THE CLASS- Myself and Krishnaswamy
presented my washing machine control circuit design to all our class
members during one of Mr. Dekson's classes and also to all the staff in our department. We got good
encouragement and appreciation.
FRICTION AMONG OURSELVES - Friction among
us started over the issue of stolen money, kept for the farewell party of
our seniors. From that day on, the whole class changed
dramatically with lot of 'groups' being formed.
FAREWELL TO OUR SENIORS - That
was a memorable moment when the first batch departed our college.
Myself and Krishnaswamy were in Coimbatore for a paper presentation.
So we couldn't participate.
OUR SECOND PAPER
- I presented my paper on design of automatic washing machine control circuit in GCT, Coimbatore on
8th March 2002. Krishnaswamy accompanied me. We didn't get any prize for that
but it was good especially because our paper was selected in such a
prestigious institution.
VSNL INDUSTRIAL
VISIT - Visit to VSNL - Chennai arranged through our juniors was a good
one for all of us. While returning, there was a quarrel with the driver of our bus because he said that he would not stop the bus only at the destination (our college office premises in T.Nagar). But some of us got down at the Spencer's signal on Mount Road and happily roamed around Spencer's Plaza before returning home.
MY PRIZE WINNING
PAPER PRESENTATION - During our 7th semester, I won the 2nd prize for paper
presentation at Jayaram Engg College, Trichi on 12th September 2002.
Krishnaswamy accompanied me. The topic was "Bluetooth as a 3G
Enabler". It was the only prize from our class for a paper
presentation competition.
DIFFICULTY IN GETTING HALL TICKETS FOR THE 6th SEMESTER EXAM - Getting the Hall-tickets for the University exams even for year-ending semesters was never a very difficult task as it was in our 6th semester. With the thoughts of taking some revenge on the students for their strike a month ago, the management adopted a cheap method of making us come more than once to the college to get the Hall-tickets and also making us wait for a long time during each visit. More funnily some people got the Hall-tickets just an hour before the start of the first exam of our 6th semester because they had avoided the wasteful attempts of getting the Hall-tickets during their study holidays.
ENTERING THE
FINAL YEAR - It was to be last year together as we entered
the final year with joy, for we thought we had only one more year to go
before being freed from the 'prison'.
H.O.D. CHANGE FOR
OUR DEPARTMENT - At the start of the final year, the army man
Antony Muthu became the H.O.D. of our department unseating Uma Gowri who
held the place for the past three years. He also became the
Vice-Principal of the college.
CAUGHT FOR SLEEP
- Our H.O.D. as per the Chairman's guidelines, went around the college
and picked up students who were sleeping in class. Once, the whole
of our class was caught. He then used to advise us against
sleeping in class quoting his examples.
BARBER IN OUR
COLLEGE - This is one of the comic moments in our entire
college life. The Chairman along with the Vice-Principal (our
H.O.D.), went around the college and caught the boys who didn't shave.
A barber was arranged in the hostel and there the boys were forced to
shave and also pay Rs.20 as charge. Luckily our class escaped
because of our H.O.D.'s soft corner for us. I remember that I
didn't shave that day.
H.O.D. CLASSES
- The army man Antony Muthu used to prepare notes from various books and
used to take long lectures. Initially he didn't complete his
lectures on time and so wouldn't allow us to go for breaks. Then
it changed. He used to discuss the Chairman's complaints against
us.
GRE PERFORMANCES
- Vijay Karthik was the first to finish the GRE exam. Then it was
Anand, Lalith, Kelvin and Sai Prasad as far as I know. I don't
know the other people who attempted the GRE exam.
ANAND'S TREAT
- Anand gave treat to some of us, in his house, for his successful
completion of the GRE exam.
ANAND'S TUSSLE WITH JAGADEESH
- Jagadeesh had some nasty verbal exchanges with Anand due to some comments made by one of them
about the other. Luckily, it subsided very quickly. From then on, Anand and Jagadeesh didn't
talk to each other.
ASKED FOR ELECTIVES A DAY BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY EXAM
- This was a funny moment that many of us didn't notice. We were asked our option for our final semester elective when we came to receive the Hall-Tickets for the 7th semester University exams. More funny thing was, we were all eagerly waiting to receive our Hall-tickets and rush home to study. Inspite of making us wait for a long time just a day before the exam, they also wanted to know our option for the electives for the final semester. None of us were in a mood to answer. So they themselves chose the electives.
OUR FINAL
SEMESTER - There was barely 30 working days in that
semester, which was less than half of the normal working days. We
were doing countdowns as when our college would be over.
COLLEGE BUNK
BY KRISHNASWAMY AND CO. - Krishnaswamy and some others bunked
college for one day in the last semester. I think they went to
Kovalam beach. That became a big issue because in the final
semester as no one is expected to take leave because of only working for a
month for the entire semester. Our H.O.D. took them to task but it
didn't make any big impression.
OUR PROJECTS
- We went into the final semester with fear for our final year projects.
Each one of us have our own stories of how we went roaming to several
places for getting a project.
ZEROTH REVIEW
- The starting point of our separation was this. With the start of
the project, we were busy with our own work.
MAKING H.O.D.
SLEEP - I had prepared a lot than required for the Zeroth
Review. I hold the credit for making the H.O.D. sleep with my
explanation of my project in the Zeroth Review. Remember he was
the man who used to punish people for sleeping during the working hours.
OUR LAST ANNUAL
DAY CELEBRATIONS - Our last annual day celebrations was held
on 20th December 2002. There were events on two days, one for the
Christmas celebrations and the next day we had the Annual day
celebrations. The prizes for that occasion were different and
memorable. I got the first prize for overall performance and
Kelvin got the second prize. I got a pair of Parker pens whereas
he got an alarm clock.
RAMACHANDRAN AND
KANCHANA DEVI GET THE BEST STUDENTS OF THE CLASS AWARD - Rama
got best male student of the class award and Kanchana Devi got the
same award in the female category. They were presented these
prizes at the Annual Day functions on 20th December 2002.
RAMACHANDRAN,
SHIVASHANKAR AND VIJAY KARTHIK WON THE 1st PRIZE IN THE INTER-COLLEGE
QUIZ COMPETITION - Wonderful competition to win during the
final semester. They were presented prizes during the Annual Day
functions on 20th December 2002.
OUR LAST DANCE
TOGETHER - We had danced a lot before, but that night on 20th
December 2002 was totally different for we danced together for one last
time before departing. That was the day of our Annual Day
celebrations.
OTHER REVIEWS
- We had started to lose contact with the project progressing. Only some of us could meet during the reviews as we were separated into two batches which had reviews on different days.
BLACKMAIL FOR
CAUTION DEPOSIT - An open blackmail from the management asking
us to sign off our caution deposit of Rs.5000, which we have to legally get back from the college when we pass out. That was the day when we had
our final project viva voce.
OUR FAREWELL
PARTY ARRANGED BY OUR JUNIORS - Frankly speaking, it wasn't
our farewell party for only a very few of us were present at that party
as we were busy with our projects and lot of us didn't even know about
it. It was a satisfaction only for our juniors.
CAMPUS PLACEMENT
- Prasad Studio came to our college for campus recruitment on 24th April
2003. They conducted a technical test. I was selected and
passed through the interview also. But I rejected that job.
Then Krishnaswamy was called and he joined it.
OUR OFFICIAL
FAREWELL - Atlast the inevitable, our official farewell party
was on 26th April 2003. That was the day of our last exam
(Computer Communication). Even then, there was no special treat
from the management. Then we took our last photo together and
departed forever.
GOT OUR SSI
CERTIFICATE - In the last semester, we got our SSI
certificate from our college.
DEVELOPMENT OF
OUR COLLEGE DURING OUR TIME
One satisfaction for us was that our college
developed much and had a real look of a college (enough though) and
expressed itself as a highly advanced college among the colleges started
in its time. Whether this development may be due to our money or
due to other sources of income, we were happy because we could in
future, if needed, can comfortably take someone to have a look of our
college and say "I studied in this college" without keeping our heads
low.
