Happy Teacher's Day !

Wish you all a very Happy Teacher's Day ! I wish to remember some of the lovely & inspiring teachers, who have helped shape my life. 

1. My first teacher - My mom - miss u 
2. Lily miss - my first KG teacher at SNMS (Ellis Nagar), madurai. I still remember her sweet Anglo-Indian voice and the special love & care towards me, as I joined a few months late into LKG. I met her one day, walking on the on the Bye-Pass road, after almost 18 years. She looked exactly the same & caught my eye in a jiffy while I was driving home. She was thrilled when I stopped to tell her who I was and that she was my first teacher. Surprised that she still remembered me, my mom & my dad's bullet.

SSKZM::
3. Mr. G. Soman Pillai a.k.a.GSP sir- My English teacher & house master (VKK house) at Sainik. I still remember him for the calligraphy classes. He always insisted writing in italics. 
4. Mr. Prem Chandran Nair a.k.a. PCN sir - A young at heart English teacher, who ignited my love for poetry & literature. He tossed me high into the sky when he taught RL Stevenson's "The Wind". He was a fit pace bowler (at his late 50s or early 60s) during the OBA vs SSKZM cricket matches.
5. Mr. NG.Babu - My first chemistry teacher who kindled my interest for science, in particular, Chemistry - which remained dear to me, as my mom (my chemistry teacher at home) herself a trained Analytical Chemist.
6. Mr. TGS Panicker - Our Malayalam HOD, who was kind enough to teach 'Lower' Malayalam classes for non-keralites like me. I still remember him teach the lesson 'aana' (elephant) from the std I text book, for the class VI students. 
7. Other Kazhak masters - Mr. SB.Sasikumar (English & House Master - Nehru), Mr. Simon Peter (librarian), Mr. SR. Ramachandran (Physics) and many others.

TVS Laksmi::
8. Mr. Nandakumar - Our principal at TVS Lakshmi , when I joined. Though he never took any class for me, I have admired him from a distance for the way he conducted himself and the aura of his personality. I have heard he was a strict disciplinarian.
9. Mrs. Janaki Ramachandran - My 9th Std English ma'am at TVS Lakshmi. I loved the way she taught Shakesphere's "All the world's a stage.." from As You Like It
10. Mr. A. Sudhakaran - One of the most inspiring and soft spoken gentlemen of my times. Extemely supportive English master who went on to become the school Principal. I cannot forget his encouragement for our "Julius Caesar" play on our annual day. 
&
Mr. Gopalakrishnan - who was the principal at TVS Lakshmi for a brief period and handled physics for us. He was way beyond a normal teacher in personality and conduct. A true gentleman and a fine leader who set very high standards for the students. He was the one who (re- ?) established the student council & the prefect system.

11. Mrs. Saroja Krishnan (Maths) & Mrs. Nithya (Chemistry) - I would always talk about them in unison and would say were loving mothers at school, who knew exactly well how to handle the high school young adults.
12. Mr. Nagarajan (Physics) - for his love for the subject and dedication & efforts towards IIT coaching.
13. Mr. Diwakar (Quiz master) - he never handled any classes for me, apart from a few lab sessions. But, I do cherish the few interactions we had during the Quizzing sessions, esp. during LOSA. All his admirers, would never be able to forget his passion for collecting tit bits & facts, cut & paste in his well-maintained set of dairies. There is a world of admirers from Madurai and beyond, for this man who inspired a few generations. 
14. Mrs. Vijaya (French teacher) - for her love for the language and the way she hijacked us to Paris and Montreal, every day, as she read from the book 'course de langue et de civilisation francaises'.

15. Dr. Durai samy (Physics master near my home) - the most passionate teacher, I have ever come across. His dashing & humorous style of teaching took me away by strom. His short anecdotes and presentation of historical background, grew my interest for science & history to greater heights. He is one man who kick-started my passion & love for what I do for a living. 
16.Mr.Viswanathan (Maths master) - Not to forget this man who played the balancing act to Mr. Duraisamy's antics. His home is a landmark at SS.Colony. His simplistic way in dealing with a problem was simply amazing. A good-at-heart man who raised several generations of global citizens from Madurai.

TCE::
15. Mr. RA. Alaguraja (RAA) - Young man of our generation with highest level of dedication & commitment to his work and students. 
16. All Mechatronics teachers - Along with Mr. RAA, a bunch of young and dynamic team who formed the backbones of the passionate TCE Mect family, which has a global presence today - Mr. SP.Nachiappan, Mr. VK. Manoharan, Mr. Karl Marx, Mr. Amutha Kannan, Mr. Vivek, Mr.Hariharan, Mr. Kumaragurparan et al. I am sure most of us share a personal friendhsip & bonding, beyond the student-teacher relationship. Thats what made every batch of TCE Mechatronics stand out. 
17. Senior Profs - Prof Krishnan (HOD of my times) for his OR classes, where he wrote the theory & problems with his beautiful handwriting. Prof. Baskaran for his Machine Design classes.
18. Dr. Sorna Kumar (Metallurgy) & Dr. Shankara Subramanian (Physics) for their insight and guidance during our project execution. I must say they shared a wealth of information on the approach to research and gathering / processing information.

WORK::
19. Mr. Atul Rane - My first inspiration in professional life & my mentor - whose mere presence beside shoots my energy levels. I must say his first talk on Flight vehicle system design, during our training sessions, instilled huge doses of passion for the stuff we do. I have been lucky to glimpse though several of his vast collection of books/articles. I must say he taught me way more in life that I modeled several aspects of my professional conduct on the way he carried himself. I will not forget the several sessions of gyan I had from him - Asoka Lounge (Delhi old airport before my first Moscow trip within in 2006), at his workplace, home (at Hyderabad & Moscow) & away. 
20. Mr. RS.Chandrasekhar (fondly RSR) - He is everyone's teacher at ISG for the assessment preps. Beyond that, a wonderful human being, with whom you can discuss a wide range of stuff from complexities of the algorithms to general science and spirituality. 
21. Mr. Kannan Muthukrishnan (If there is a level beyond a mentor), Mr. G. Satheesh Reddy (our loveable boss), Mr. Varadaraj (My first boss - will never forget the kiddish altercations we always had, every time we met), Mr. N.G. Vasudevan - my mentors & well-wishers who have been taught me work & beyond, by letting me part of their thought process during day to day struggles (enjoyable though) to reach project milestones. 
22. Dr. ASP & RAdm.S.M - Men whom I have admired from a distance & closeness for their vision, commitment & age-defying passion, for proving time and again, that the said-impossible is possible.

Apologies if I may have missed a few. But, I place my sincere gratitude & love, for being part of the world that is chiseling me into what i am turning into.

Deep mid-wicket

It has been quite sometime since I sat down to pen something. Quite strange today that I ve managed to break out of from this inertia of laziness. or atleast I beleive so. Quite a refreshing moment today and a sigh of relief for all cricketing fanatics like me to see India pull it through at Perth. Though I was nt so optimistic about the chances last evening when the 400+ target was set, I just felt our young pace attack would nt give them an easy way. I was quite confident that these young lads were nt so much in the eye of international cricket and the oz may not have sufficiently prepared strategies against them. It worked exactly the same way. Zaheer khan's injury after the first test at melbourne was a blessing in disguise that we could chip in young Ishant against whom the oz had little prep. Though Ishant may not have done massive damage to the oz batsmen, he did more than enough by keeping the aussie fizz tight under pressure, especially troubling the oz skipper, creating doubt in the Punter's mind on more than half a dozen occasions. The determination and grit he showed without losing heart, over after over in that spell of nine, was a display of character that I wish last a long way. This kind of surprise package was what India brought in during the 2003 tour with rookie Irfan doing damages unforeseen by aussies. The memoirs of Irfan rattling the timber of Gilly with the reverse swinging yorker is still fresh in my memory. A similar trick, in form of a greenhorn, worked with Ishant. Following Irfan, the teen lad Ishant has made a mark early in his career. Let us hope he takes this experience forward to carve himself a special spot in Indian cricket.

Ha. I never thought, I would ever blog on cricket. Here, see what I ve done. Oh dear, enough of this. Not the best of the things to reveal how great a fanatic I am. Me, one among the maddening crowd of tens of million in thi nation. Oh dear! Must I not be standing apart, cheering for some sport like kabbadi that needs a campaigner like me. Good heavens! what is making me so passionate about the game that the whole nation is going ga-ga over.

Come on Jeeves, every Tom, Dick and Harry in this country thinks he knows cricket as much as Wisden. You too, one among them? Wake up man, wake up! You may have been playing the game at your backyard since 1991. You may have deceived batsmen with your left arm cutters and in-swingers, like Akram, for over a dozen years now. You may have mimicked bowling Jumbo leg breaks to fell every batsmen who faced. You may have drove, pulled, cut and smaked the best of the bowlers who threw at you. Still, you are among the millions out and not among the eleven within. You have nt chosen a path to reach the cricketing spotlight, my dear! You cant make it there. Then why passion on something that you are nt going to be part of? Dont tell me, you are passionate to watch and celebrate cricket. Come on dude, back to ground zero. Do you atleast play this weird game these days? How many times did you play this after your student life? Why no answer? Say something, dude. Say Something....... No answer?

I love the game and So, I put my heart into it. Thats all I say.

Come on, you got to reason Why!

... er... er.. forget it. It's time for Turning Point in NDTV. Go rock with Sherry dude! You dint choose to be born in this religious sect, did you? Just go follow the religion.

The Indian Engineering Career – A perspective

The professional world is too large and it welcomes everyone stepping into it with a thousand arms open and all full of opportunities. This welcome no different for an engineering graduate walking out of the fences of his college campus. Most often do we see him walk with an offer already grabbed at the college placements though opportunities lie plenty outside as well.

Today, it is unfortunate that 95% of the campus offers are from the IT sector. I term it ‘unfortunate’ purely because of the brain-denial being met out to the engineering sector, which demands much more quality workforce. Not with an anti-IT sector motive. Through this column, I just wish to gather the attention of the creamy layer of core-engineering grads who will be passing out from campuses across the nation.

Having called the attention of all creamy engineering grads, it has now become my responsibility to showcase what the Indian engineering setup has got to offer. It is a known fact that India is on the progressive path today and we have gained capabilities, in every field, to match the best in the world.

Let me bring to you the opportunities and challenges that each domain in the engineering sector has got to offer.

Aerospace & Defense sector

This field is definitely one of the most technically demanding domains in the country. The industry may look very complex on the outset, but it is just like any other engineering profession. All that is required to survive: an open attitude and an eager-to-learn brain. That’s all. The main organizations that provide opportunities in this sector are Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO). But these are mammoth research bodies that work in vast diverse disciplines. Any domain in engineering will fit within the scope of research carried out in these organizations. With experiences with these organizations, I can tell you that these organizations have incredible scientific knowledge that they have accumulated over these years. The latest of the technologies always flow in. Enormous opportunities for technical growth. Of course, the negatives of a pure govt sector do exist, but not so common. The pay-scales are average but expected to climb up in a year, when the 6^th pay commission gets passed. This is a domain where young engineers (esp. mechanical, electrical, electronics) with a strong inclination towards aerospace arena can step in with confidence.

Manufacturing sector

This is another potential sector where opportunities to learn and grow are quite high. Today’s Indian industrial scenario is on the drive and services of young quality engineers are required to carry forward this momentum. With the govt policies favouring both large and small scale industries, a healthy condition prevails. For example, any transfer of technology (ToT) or a joint venture in defense or space shall be made with the intention of participating the Indian industries in it. Also, when the govt purchases any defense or aerospace product from any country (for eg, aircrafts for Indian airlines or for IAF), at least 30% of the components are supposed to be manufactured within our boundaries. Such deals have created a suitable medium for the industries to flourish and get acquainted with critical technologies and processes, which so far were text book stuff for us. Recently, many of our industries (both large & small scale) have been enlisted to manufacture critical components for aerospace and defense sector. Many of these companies have mushroomed & flourished within a short span of time and have got the recognition that their quality work deserves.

A sub-category in this domain is the Automobile sector. It not only provides massive employment opportunities but also brings in new technologies into the country. With a large number of multi-national automobile companies having set up their plants and more giants venturing, this sector provides vast scope to grow. These companies not only grow vertically, but also help a large number of smaller vendor companies thrive.

This sector too doesn’t limit the engineers to specific domains. There is enormous opportunity for engineers, irrespective of their domains, to prosper in the manufacturing sector.

PSU sector

The PSUs (Public Sector Undertaking) are the backbone of the country’s technical growth. There are a number of companies that provide an incredible technical platform to begin a career. Some of them top the list and feature among the ‘NavRatnas’, viz., NTPC, HPCL, ONGC, GAIL, BHEL, etc. These are not only the cradles of Indian industrial growth but also are profit-making organizations that make the govt proud. Each of the companies specialize in their own field and guarantees great engineering learning and a highly impressive work culture. The salaries of most of them are really good and are comparable with that in the private sector. For instance, NTPC & ONGC not only pay high but also provide facilities that even private sector employees envy upon.

Telecom sector

This is another booming sector in the today’s Indian technical domain. With more and more companies from across the globe, this sector is on the boom. I need not say more the telecom revolution is on its wheels in the country and there is great scope. All mobile phone, broadband co., with BSNL & MTNL topping the charts, and also the mobile phone manufactures Nokia, Sony Ericsson, etc., provide gr8 scope for communication engineers to explore and conquer.

What has been said is just the tip of the iceberg and much greater are the opportunities untold and unexploited. It is a great time for the nation and greater time for engineers with the right attitude to dive deep in seek treasures in this ocean of opportunities. I wish all the readers, great times ahead!

A Noble Cause

My heart leaps...

My heart leaps up when I behold
A Rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a Man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is Father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

---Wordsworth

Tale of a little boy, his little bro & an unborn sis!

Let me give a small break to my Kazhak memoirs. Uttara’s recent blog on her perceptions about having a sibling prompted me to pen down my feelings on what I had been longing for, ever since I was a child. A sweet little sis.

Let me begin my post with a little anecdote. There was this little boy of two & half, who had so far seen his world only in his mom & dad. He was overwhelmed when he came to know that he would be receiving a wonderful gift a few months hence, a new-entrant into his lovely world. He was told, the more wonderful & as-desired the gift would be, if he prayed sincerely for it. So did he. Very eager & excited, he would accompany his anticipating-mom everyday to the near-by hanuman temple to pray for the gift (not knowing that that was the biggest mistake he was doing). He prayed whole-heartedly for a beautiful little sister to play with. He prayed for a sister, just a little sis, beau, calm & loving, to make his world lovely world lovelier. He would pour out much more than all the love & care that he had received as the first child, for her.

The day dawned. It was a June morning, exactly twenty years ago, in a small town in the suburbs of madras, lord hanuman answered his prayer with what maximum he could do in that regard. The boy was shocked on seeing his gift but accepted the gift. He didn’t know, until his grand-mom told him, that lord hanuman had within his jurisdiction the power to gift only a monkey-boy - at the maximum, without a tail. So was born this little bro to this little boy.

The boy still loved his gift. In fact, he loved it so much that he didn’t realize he was committing another serious mistake by refusing to give the baby to the nurse, who asked for it, saying it looked so cute, fair & chubby.

Days rolled on. This little bro of this little boy had begun to exhibit all the talents he had acquired from lord hanuman. Right from climbing over the TV stand, making everyone run up and down the three-floored apartment, imprint nail-marks on the so-far cute cheeks of his caring elder bro. So troublesome that his mom had to either make him stand inside the tub of the newly-purchased Sanyo washing machine or tie him to the little older grinding stone. Still the little boy loved his little bro.

More days rolled on, this little boy has lost all that he so-far possessed to his little bro and was very much happy to do so. The focus of the inmates of his world & also the visitors, his toys, cycle, T-shirts, books et al. So things went on like this and still the little boy loved his little bro.

I think, enough has been told about his little bro, though much yet unrevealed. But there was something untold, deep within this little boy’s little heart. Dreams about his beautiful little sis that he cherished once and hoped he would give them all life.

O Captain! My Captain!

"O Captain! My Captain!" is a poem by Walt Whitman. It was written in homage to Abraham Lincoln after his assassination in1865.After the assassination of Isreali Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, the famous Israeli poet Naomi Shemer translated the poem into Hebrew and composed her own melody, making it a popular song in memorial services. I recollect practising this one for recitation competion, at GSp sir's home, during my 6th std. I think Arun Jacob got to sing it on stage. (Jacob,, just confirm da..)

O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN!

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
---But O heart! heart! heart!
-----O the bleeding drops of red,
-------Where on the deck my Captain lies,
---------Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths--for you the shores
a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
---Here Captain! dear father!
-----This arm beneath your head!
-------It is some dream that on the deck
---------You've fallen cold and dead.

My captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
---Exult, O shores, and ring O bells!
-----But I, with mournful tread,
-------Walk the deck my Captain lies,
---------Fallen cold and dead.


------------------ Walt Whiman