How I became a teacher ?

  Once  my daughter  asked  me “ Dad, how could you  work in the   same  institution for forty years?”. I told  her : “ I am married  to your  mother  for the last 42 years, have you not seen  us living happily? That is loyalty. We, who belong to your  senior generation believed  in mutual respect, faithfulness and above all  loyalty  to the  institution where  we worked. Our  institution has been part of our life and it is not easy to cut it away from our life, whatever be the  temptations”.   Yes, I joined  Calicut Regional Engineering College  on 1 st  Sept 1969 and it was  time  to    superannuate  on 30 th  April 2011. For these  42 years, as a teacher and in a few other roles I have tried my ...

  So, time was approaching fast to bid farewell  to  the institution   which I started serving in 1969. My superannuation  was  expected on 30 th  April 2011, at the ripe age  of 65. Probably, those  who had been  going through my memories  might have  noticed that  I had  my good days and bad  days in my service.  I had certainly setbacks , but by God’s grace I could face them with equanimity and keep  my head straight  throughout my career. Before I   wind up these  episodes in the  next one, I have  to mention the last stab  in the  back from the  administration.   I had  almost six months before  superannuation. The  incumbent   director’s term was  coming to an end soon. Ev...

  Continuing my  note on  professional  society activities, I have a few more  to place   on record. IEEE, Institution  of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is the largest  professional society in the  world with its headquarters in New Jersey USA. Its origin dates  back to 1887 almost the same year  when the  first electrical power system was set up by  Thomas Alva Edison  in Manhattan New York with a  DC system. Currently  IEEE  is involved  in publishing  more than 2/3 of all  publications in the areas under Electrical, Electronics and Computer Science and Engineering. It  has  more than 4 million members spread over  10 regions.  India  belongs to  Region 10, Asia  Pacific and India  Council  is the...

  Calicut Regional  Engineering College started  functioning in 1961 and  in 2011 it was  completing  50 years in 2011 . Golden jubilee celebrations were  on the way. A committee  was constituted for organizing year-long activities. I was  drafted  into  the   committee   for the  conduct  of seminars. As  I was  to superannuate  by the end of April   2011, my role  was  nominal. But as a  parting  gift  to institution  which was  my life  for over 40  years, I thought  of doing my bit  sufficiently early  by organising a seminar as early as possible.   In the course  of these  write ups, I have emphasized on more  than one occasion that profe...

  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  Sing...

  These   days, many institutions sign Memorandum  of understanding( MoU)  between  the institution  and a  university  or institution  abroad and announcement in the  press and media channels are   made  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, there should be follow up activities beneficial to both institutions, with   neither  dominating.   NITC also have  signed  MOU   between a few  universities  abroad...

  It was  the  Director-in-Charge who appointed  me as  Dean (PG Studies  & Research) and when the  full time  Director   took over,  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 and my colleagues,  a few things could be done as already  indicated. While  I was Dean, I was  just  teaching  one theory course only. This 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 of Dean (PG&SR) was ...