Then he said, ‘I went to MCC. That was my undergraduate school. Goodness, that’s bringing back so many memories of my life in MCC’. ❤️

Inauguration of Writers’ Nook & Fireside Chat with Ms. Meenakshi Ahamed

Author of Indian Genius | Today in Campus

Weeks of vibrant planning, coordination, and cooperation came to fruition today, with the Inauguration of the Writers’ Nook today at the MCC-MRF Innovation Park, in Campus.

We had the inauguration of the Writers’ Nook, at the MCC-MRF Innovation Park, at 9.15 am, today, by Ms. Meenakshi Ahamed, writer of the celebrated books A Matter of Trust and Indian Genius.

Ms. Meenakshi interacting with our vibrant student authors

[On an aside, a brief bio on Ms. Meenakshi: Well, Ms. Meenakshi Ahamed is a multifaceted personality and such a great inspiration to today’s youngsters. She has worked at the World Bank in Washington, DC, and then for the Ashoka Society. In 1989, she moved to London and became the foreign correspondent for New Delhi Television (NDTV). After returning to the United States in 1996, she worked as a freelance journalist. Among the great leaders whom she has interviewed are Nelson Mandela, John Major, and Bill Clinton during his presidential campaign]

Our Principal Dr. Paul Wilson outlined the functions of the Writers’ Nook.

Dr. Rufus, coordinator of Think Tank – the Ideation Wing of our College, outlined the programmes done by Writers’ Nook over the past two years.

The occasion also saw twelve of our student authors being honoured by Ms. Meenakshi Ahamed. She was awestruck seeing their writing, and had a special word of appreciation and congratulations to each one of them. Finally, they all took a fab snap with Ms. Meenakshi as well.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Meenakshi observed –

I am so happy to see the motivation that MCC is giving to her students for creative writing. It’s very important. As an educational institution, you should all treat your text books as sacred, because within its pages is the accumulated wisdom and wealth of information by scholars that are now sharing their knowledge with you.

When I was young, I remember, when we dropped a book, we used to do an obeisance-gesture as a forgiveness for having shown the disrespect by dropping the book. People don’t do that anymore. Why did we do that? because these books gave us knowledge. Books are so important to transform our lives for the better.

Since time immemorial, we humans as a species have invented ways to communicate with one another. From the ancient Egyptians who developed the writing tools in papyrus, to the Guttenberg Press, which made information available to the masses, to today’s digital formats, we have used writing to communicate, preserve our history and culture, and promote our influence beyond borders and spread ideas.

We are also story tellers. And the world has given us great literature, from Du Bois to Tolstoy, from Maugham to Murakami!

Just yesterday I was telling your Principal, that yesterday at the Taj I ran into Abraham Varghese – who’s now as famous for his writing, as he is famous for his medicine. His famous book titled, Covenant of Water is about Kerala. I recommend you to read that book. It’s truly beautiful writing. And if any of you here is from Kerala, you can easily identify with it. And guess what? he asked me, ‘Are you here for the Hindu Literary Festival?’

Then I said, ‘No, I’m going to MCC’.

Then he said, ‘I went to MCC. That was my undergraduate school. Goodness, that’s bringing back so many memories of my life in MCC’.

I am expecting now that, the next Abraham Verghese should come out from this group of students. So remember, you now have a lot to live up to. One of you, or five of you hopefully would become the next Abraham Verghese, and be on the bestseller list, and Ophrah Winfrey would be begging you to make a series.

There would be no better time in life than now, as a student, to take the time to read. And to broaden your perspectives as much as you can, before jobs, careers and family responsibilities, claim your time. Think of this as a precious gift that MCC is giving you.

Read, discuss and write. BE it fiction or non-fiction – learn from people’s biographies and histories, and explore ideas. But most of all, enjoy the process, and your time here at MCC. That’s what my wish is for you. 

And the fact that you have taken the initiative to publish these books is quite remarkable. The creative spirit that I see in MCC is quite remarkable, and I’m happy that the Writers’ Nook is nurturing it. I’m truly impressed.

And I just want to mention that my journey as a writer started quite late in life. I was a journalist, and I started writing books when I was 50! So it’s never too late!

Just remember that, sometimes you can keep a journal – where you can keep your recordings of your impressions about life.

At times when you are deeply unhappy, or something is not going your way – just write it down! Go back to it and look at it, and see if you can learn something from it.

Remember, there’s no such thing as a bad experience. You can always learn something from it. So talk to each other, learn from each other, and continue to read books, because you can learn a lot from other people’s experiences.

I wish you all the luck,

she signed off!

This was followed by a lovely time of interaction with our student authors.

A total of 16 books have been published by our present students in this current year (2024-25) as follows.

Thanks to Prof. Christina Dhanasekaran for having meticulously compiled the list.

II BA English

1. Lekhaa MeenakshiSundaram

The Werewolves of Brooklyn: Siege of the Dokkalfar

ISBN - 979-8894986784

Genre - children's fiction, fantasy

I Just Wanna Be A Girl: A Collection of Blogposts

ISBN - 979-8895193242 (hardcover)

ISBN - 979-8895193235 (paperback)

Genre - Collection of blogposts, comprising of various topics

2. Veena J

'Metaphorically Metaphorise' METANAFIC - A new genre

ISBN – 979-8896328704

3. Gracelin Patrica J

The Fading Darkness

ISBN - 979-889588048-7

Genre - Collection of blogposts, comprising of various topics

4. Pearlina Gracelyn.P

Red Verses

ISBN - 979-889588024-1

Genre - Poetry, non-fiction, young adult literature

III BA English

5. T ABRAHAM

I ADMIRE YOU: A SELF-ADMIRATION OF MY INNER FEELINGS

ISBN: 9789358316506

BookLeaf Publishing

Loud Inner Voice: Multiple voices ringing inside

ISBN: 9798893223248

Notion Press

Sweetness In Nostalgia: Cherishing the past and living the present

ISBN: 9798894467351 (Paperback)

ISBN: 9798894467368 (Hardcover)

Notion Press

SHOWERED BY STARLIGHT: Oscillating between the past and the future

ISBN: 9798895446225 (Paperback)

ISBN: 9798895446232 (Hardcover)

Notion Press

6. Ganga Santhosh

Aurora: A world in poesy

Genre: Poetry

ISBN: 9360941255

7. Shreya Prasath

Blossoms of the heart

Genre: love, life, friendships

ISBN number:978-93-6083-646-7

8. Mahima (Joshua Mahima S).

Musings Of A Wretched Soul

Genre: Poetry - Tragedy, Romance Existentialism and Christian Literature.

ISBN number - 979-8-89556-559-9

I MA English

9. Nitish Kumar R K

Silhouettes of Solitude: The Unseen Ink of Emotions

Genre: Poetry

ISBN: 979-8896328698

10. Dhanush Kumar

Bye, Sweetheart!

Genre: Fiction

ISBN: 979-8896730798

11. Prakalya

Seized by Shadows

Genre: Poetry

ISBN: 979-8895566589

II MA English

12. Jennifer Sandra

Dandelion Dreams

Genre: Poetry

ISBN: 978-9360833275

13. Krishna Hari, I BA English (SFS) has authored two books. Shall update the titles here asap.

We also had with us Mr. Ravin Carr, our illustrious alumnus, CEO of the renowned Katha Publishing House as our Guest of Honour for the day.

After the interaction with our student authors, our Guests of the day, moved over to the Anderson Hall for the exciting Fireside Chat.

Dr. Franklin Daniel, Head, Dept of English, so beautifully set the tone and the tenor for the launch of the Fireside chat. This was followed by Dr. Rufus initiating the chat.

We had a very exciting round of engaging questions that sparked meaningful responses from Ms. Meenakshi Ahamed.

Reproducing some of the questions asked by the Panelists on the Fireside Chat.

I should appreciate the faculty and the students for their insightful, thought-provoking questions. Ms. Meenakshi was highly appreciative of the calibre and the mettle of each of the questions that were posed to her, as part of the Fireside chat.

Questions from Faculty Members

Dr. N. Nirmal Thyagu, Dept. of Physics

Dear Ms. Meenakshi Ahamed,

I am enjoying reading your book “The Indian Genius” that profiles successful Indian Americans from various fields.

The bio-sketches you brought out beautifully capture not only their bright side that symbolize their inherent talents or acquired super skills that that led them to their stardom, but also the calms and the storms that punched their faces relentlessly. In a way your book stands out as a delectable collection of biographies (and not hagiographies, where only the bright sides are shown).

The stories are relatable; they instruct; they capture the imagination of the Indians who dream to make it big. Your book comes along and matches up to a similar collection written by Walter Isaacson entitled “American Sketches” where great leaders, creative thinkers and heroes of America were profiled.

I have two questions to ask you:

5. In your book “Indian Genius” you have succinctly captured the enterprising spirit behind creative people (from and of Indian origin) who sought and eventually found their so-called “haven” in the United States.

The entry to this “creative haven” has been and still is limited only to a selected few, as you have clearly brought out through all the stories in your book.

Looking at the trend of how India as a country is progressing, do you see if India too could one day create an environment where people can call it their “haven” to discover their creative streak, nurture it and even thrive doing it in India as they do in the US and Europe?

Putting it in another way, do you see a “critical mass” of people who could instrument this change in India?

[BACKDROP - There is a lot of fire-fighting one does in India, with the oppression coming from a range of issues:  population, scarcity of clear air and water, traffic and corruption - you name it - that bothers the general public incessantly and takes away their creative energy.]

6. In this book you have brought together the success stories of some remarkable people and classified them in broad categories - techies, healers, and influencers.

Although there are scholars who wear multiple hats (like Siddhartha Mukherjee) what is conspicuously absent is a devoted section on superstar academicians and thinkers.

Examples include Nobel prize winners Abhijit Banerjee, Venky Ramakrishnan, and the remarkable ones like V. S. Ramachandran and Manjul Bhargava.

Was that a hard decision not to include them in your book? I ask this because academic excellence is the hallmark of almost all the success stories that the Indians got recognized for in the United States.

Prof. Hemalatha. N. N, Dept. of English (SFS)

Dear Ms. Meenakshi Ahamed, My questions are as follows –

7. How did you zero in specifically on these professions, i.e., medicine, tech and public policy? You do sort of offer an explanation on the rationale behind your choice, but could you please elaborate more on it?

Was it simply for practical reasons (I know you’ve been associated with Doctors Without Borders) or is there more to it?

As an avid reader and as somebody who is curious to know of the opportunities in the US, can we expect a sequel to the Indian Genius where you focus on successful Indians from other professions settled in America?

Prof. Adarsh Vijay, Dept. of Political Science

Dear Ms. Meenakshi Ahamed,

My question is as follows –

8. What unexpected vulnerabilities or struggles did these individuals profiled in your work share that aren’t visible in their public personas?

Questions from students

Ms. Catherine, II BA English

1. I wanted to take the time to acknowledge the fact that it's such a full circle moment to interview the interviewer.

So as I was reading through the book, my immediate thought went over to what your pre-interviewing process looks like.

Is there any structure that you go about to gather your questions and how do you narrow down the plethora of information about a specific person and know what to ask them? Does your questionnaire change over the course of an interview?

Ms. Lekhaa, II BA English

2. As someone who lived in the US and returned back here, I personally know the differences that the cultures have.

I'd like to ask you about the differences between the first-generation immigrants and Indian children born and brought up in the US. Did the patterns of their success vary? Did their lifestyle still have the traditional values that we as an Indian society value.

Ms. Ranjitha, I MA English

3. "Your book highlights how trust or the lack thereof has been a recurring theme in India-US relations, shaped by personalities, policies, and geopolitical realities.

Do you think the relationship between the two countries will ever evolve beyond this 'trust deficit' to become truly strategic and symbiotic, or will mistrust remain an intrinsic part of their dynamic due to the fundamental differences in their political systems, historical experiences, and global priorities?

What conditions or shifts do you think would need to occur to bridge this gap meaningfully?"

4. Mr. Sabarinathan Murugan, III BBA

(A Matter of Trust) emphasizes the core values of India and US Relationship with the world Perspective. Also, why after Mr. Modi became the PM, the bond between India and the US became very strong. Finally, I am eagerly waiting for the Next edition of this book.

The Fireside chat was followed by an Endowment Lecture hosted by the Dept of Political Science in the Anderson Hall.

Ms. Meenakshi with our Principal, flanked by the Dean IP & Dean - R & D

The session was well-attended by a packed audience of faculty and students - past & present.

This post also wishes to acknowledge the love and support all the individuals who did an amazing job at the helm and at the background – to make this event a huge success.

Prof. Arun Kumar, Associate Dean of International Programmes, and APRO, was awesome as Master of Ceremonies.

Special kudos to Dr. Tabitha for the meticulous planning and scheduling of the event right from the start.

To Dr. Aarthi Ram, Head, Operations, MCC-MRF Innovation Park for the exemplary way in which she organised the event at Writers' Nook today. 

Thanks to Dr. Franklin Daniel, our lovely and vibrant HoD, for so beautifully coordinating the event for us, and to all the faculty members of the vibrant Dept of English (Aided & SFS).

And we owe our thanks to Prof. Sridhar, our Vice Principal for his effective interventions all through the planning of the programme.

A special note of thanks to Prof. Daniel David, Head, Dept of English (SFS) for ably assisting us with all the help needed.

To Dr. Adarsh Vijay, for ushering Ms. Meenakshi Ahamed. To Dr. Vidya, for doing an excellent MC at the helm.

To our beloved Principal, Dr. Paul Wilson, the brain behind the event, we owe our love and thanks.

And finally, to all our dear students - past & present, who made the event a huge success!

Thank you dear all.

A Special Birthday Wish: Birthday greetings to the birthday kid Ms. Jaysudha on her birthday today. One of our most vibrant kids - you are such a great blessing to all of us. Have a blessed year ahead, dear Jaysudha.