76.So, I have also superannuated

 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 best to serve this institution according to my ability. I believe, I had been true and sincere to my profession. I know  I have not been anywhere  near being perfect, but perfection is not for ordinary mortals like me, it is only for gods or  those  fully blessed  by Him. I know I have committed  mistakes, but I am happy  that I have  not  tried  to hurt  or inflict pain on anyone deliberately. In my work, I think  I have given  highest priority  to the interests of the  institution than my personal gain  or achievements. As a teacher, I know, I could have  done better  in many ways. Still, I don’t think my students  will hate me. I had  been strict  and disciplined inside  my class room, but have  tried  to help the students  to the extent possible  outside within my limitations. I have  never  been   partial  or biased  in my behaviour  to my students. I have  never  given any  preferential treatment  to any of my students  based on caste, religion, region sex or any other.

 

Probably, many of my  students  who have  worked  with me  on their project work/ theses for BTech,  MTech  or  PhD  must have felt that I am a task master. I have seen  they were  not  happy with me  while they are working with me, many of them have realized later  that  I was  not a sadist and did not enjoy troubling them. My intension   was only to make them learn more and do their best, not be satisfied with a  mediocre  work or output. Unless  we sincerely work to   reach  a higher  level of perfection, how can we be  happy from our effort? I was  only trying to tell them, they can do better  and still better, if they try more and more.  Many of them working  in different  parts  of the world are  my good friends  even now. I have dissuaded  many students who have approached  me to do their  MTech   projects in doing their thesis with me as  my requirements are  slightly  higher than many others and if you cannot  work hard, better  choose another guide.

 

Problems  were in plenty  when  it was   REC, and after  becoming NIT and even today, every day new problems, man-made  or otherwise crop up. I have tried  my best  to solve  some of them  within my limited  capability. The  institution has  grown to be one of national /international  level  and I am happy that I could also  grow  with it. Our children, a  girl and a boy have  grown  with  nourishment from the campus atmosphere and have grown as mature  professionals presently  working abroad.

 

As a teacher  in a professional  college, I knew  that my job was not confined to  just teaching  alone. Along  with  my teaching, I have  tried to  do  a little  bit of research. As  co-guide along with  my colleagues, I have  successfully guided 5 candidates  for  the degree of Doctor of Philosophy(PhD)  and  more  than  30  students  for  their MTech theses. From the  research work I have done  in IIT  Madras towards MTech  IIT Delhi  for PhD and along with  my PhD and MTech students in CREC/NITC, we have  published  more  than 50  research  papers in reputed  journals( like  IEEE  Transactions on Geoscience and Electronics, IEEE  Transactions on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, IFAC  journal Automatica, Journal of Institution of Engineers-IEI India and journal of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunications-IETE )  and conferences in India and abroad. From  my teaching,  I have  published a  few  books ,  on Modern Control Engineering (second edition published), A Guide  to Academic Research( both  published  by Sanguine  Technical Publishers  Bangalore), Basics  of Electrical  Engineering and Introduction to Electrical Engineering( both  published  by  EC Reference  books , Ernakulam).

 

Along with my academic work, I have  also tried my best to promote the  extra-academic qualities  of our students. For  this, I have  chosen the way  of professional societies. Starting with Systems Society, I was   with IEEE  since 1981 only to help my  students and younger colleagues. A major  step  taken  in this  connection was the formation of a Malabar  Subsection  of IEEE  under  the  Kerala Section  to promote  networking among professionals and student  members  of IEEE  in the  Northern districts from Palakkad  to Kasarcode. With  strong support  from  our colleagues and student volunteers, Malabar  Subsection is  doing  very well  in promoting the  goal of IEEE, ‘Advancing Technology  to Humanity’. A summer  school on Modelling and Simulation of Engineering Systems, National  Systems  Conference 1997, National  Seminar on Free and Open Source  Software  in Engineering Education etc  were  some  of the other  activities. I have immensely  benefited by these interactions. But my work  was  that of a volunteer and I have  not made any  personal monetary benefit  from any of these  activities. Those  who have worked  with  me as  fellow  volunteers  will agree  that I was  never a  leader  sitting in his  office and ordering them  around. I believed  in working with  my fellow volunteers and sharing  the  work load  to the extent possible. This way  I have  tried to set a  reasonably good example  for  my fellow   professionals and student members in such activities.

 

Within the institution, I have never hesitated  in taking up extra-academic work. I was  Warden of E Hostel  when   Rajan was  taken to custody and tortured to death  in Kakkayam  police camp. His  friend Chaly, who was also taken  into custody, was  an inmate  of my hostel. I was  coordinating  a few projects of  government  of India for helping the  public like National Adult Education Programme (NAEP) and Computer  Literacy and Studies  in Schools (CLASS). In the  NAEP, with the  help of several  senior students, several batches  of  school drop outs from nearby villages were given training  in Electrical wiring, Plumbing etc  in the college. Under CLASS  project  several schools in the  Kozhikode  district  were   helped  to set up their own computer centers and give training to teachers  for conducting  computer classes  in their schools.  

 

I have  taken  up the  responsibilities of Head  of Electrical Engineering, Chief Vigilance Officer, Dean (Post Graduate  Studies & Research) International  Liaison Officer and Coordinator Academic Quality Management  Initiatives. In these  different roles, I have tried  to do many things, came out successful in a few, but failed in many. But I believed  in the principle - It is better to have tried and failed, than not to have tried at all.

 

I  take  this opportunity  to thank all my dear students who were  the  motivating forces and my esteemed colleagues among teaching and nonteaching staff who have  helped me in the  execution of these projects.