RECMemories.blogspot.com

Thus,   we were   approaching   the   end of the   India   Immersion Programme   of Ngee Ann Polytechnic   students. The    people who had been invited   to take classes    for them were selected    based on their expertise, not    based   on their fame and public image. Of course,   good communication   in English was absolutely essential. A    few     members of   faculty   from our own institution were also included. Many others   from outside   had also   taken   classes. Just   one week before the concluding week of the   programme,   our Director   called   me to his chamber and asked   me. “ Do you need a speaker   for taking class to the   Singapore   students ? I can give you one, he is a close friend of mine”. I could   easily understand his   predicament. He want...

As   part of introducing the Ngee Ann   Ply students    to the history of India, we   had invited   the famous historian Sri.M.G.S.Narayanan to   take a class   for these   students.   In spite of his age and difficulties   in movement, he gladly accepted   the offer. As   he   came   to the   campus, I took him to the office   of the   Director and we went on chatting on various things. Incidentally, our discussion   reached the topic of discrimination based   on caste system in Kerala. Sri. M G S    is known to be a person who gives   some sensational statements   occasionally. While we were   chit-chatting   he was   talking about the ammaveedu in Thiruvananthapuram   where   the royalty   could enter any time   for   extra -marital bliss. Sometime   back, he   made a statement   that   something simil...

Thus,   the   MoU   for the India Immersion Programme   of   Ngee Ann Polytechnic   students at   N.I.T. Calicut   has   been signed by both the   Directors and we returned to Calicut after   a bit of sight seeing. Effectively, it was a programme   to ‘Discover India’. As   Coordinator   to assist    me in the   implementation of the   programme a senior member   of faculty   of ECE   department,   Dr.Ramkumar   Sreedharan Pillai was   nominated. (Unfortunately,   he is not   in NITC   now, as he has joined some self-financing college ). He was very helpful   in the   organization and execution   of the   project. Even   though   I was   insisting that he discusses all important   matters   with me, he conveniently ignored this. In spite of this, he was capable enough to do everything on his   own an...

Very often    memorandum   of understanding( MoU)   between   an institute    and a   university   or institution   abroad are   signed    with   announcement    in the   press    with    photographs   of   foreign   dignitaries   visiting the   institute and signing the MoU. On some   occasions,   a team from   the   institute   may also visit the institution on the foreign soil too. But   often nothing    more happens   beyond that. For such interaction to be   meaningful, the     interaction    between   the two institutions should be beneficial to both   the   institutions, with    neither   dominating. We have   also    signed   MOU    between a few   universities   abroad   while   I was   p...

It was   the   Director-in-Charge who appointed   me as   Dean (PG Studies   & Research) and when the   full time   Director    took charge   I had    two more years   in the   three-year term which I was allowed   to   complete. During those    two years, with   the cooperation of the   director,   a few things could be done as already   indicated. While   I was Dean, I was   just   taking   one course which was     a great relief for me   even in those    days   I was   too busy with administrative work. I was still   enjoying my teaching   work and hopefully majority   of my students   too. As   the term was   coming to an end, I was   happy   to return to my department   to continue my teaching work and   do something   possible research which I could  ...