"Make friends with your calendar and clock" | "Smart students start building their CVs right from their first semester of their PG" ❤️

Orientation Day for PG Freshers

The Day Today

2nd July 2025 | #Reflections

Five important events happened today, that are worth mentioning.

Firstly, morning while on my way to College, I alighted as usual, near the sprawling wet-land adjacent to the Porur lake, which attracts a host of migratory birds.

I was delighted to spot the Pied Kingfisher - a striking kingfisher known for its distinctive black and white plumage! Clicked a few other storks as well.

The second one is the Orientation Programme for the PG Freshers in the Anderson Hall.

The third one is the rewarding interactions we had today in the II MA English class.

The fourth one is the Second Edition of Think Tank that happened today at 3 pm at Writers’ Nook.

The fifth and final one – the icing on the cake – is the VISA Meet featuring our illustrious alumnus Mr. Renjith Mathew Roy, who gave a soulful talk to our juniors.

Coming back -

Today MCC hosted the Orientation Programme for the PG Freshers in the Anderson Hall, from 8.30 am.

Students of all hues from various parts of India and abroad had started congregating in the good ol’ Anderson Hall right from 8 am today.

The programme started at 8.15 am, and our Principal Dr. Paul Wilson oriented the PG freshers on life in MCC.

Smart students start building their CVs right from their first semester of their PG Programme.

How many internships have you done?

How many papers have you presented?

What are the extra (value-added) courses you have done?

What are the skillsets you have developed?

These experiences are very important to build your personality and thereby your career.

In MCC we have formative assessments and summative assessments. Out of three CIAs, you have one innovative assessment, in which you can ideate and present your ideas to the department, or to the IIC.

We give a cash prize of one lakh rupees for the best innovative presentation. If your idea is scalable or monetizable, we will help prospective investors connect with you and help you with entrepreneurship.

Try to step out of the confines of your department, and be part of the vibrant campus life. Be part of the various Units/Activities in Campus, and thereby involve yourself in skill-building activities, and develop your leadership skills.

In MCC, we value academic excellence! We also value freedom with responsibility,

said our Principal.

Dr. Selvakumari, Dean of Women Students was the Master of Ceremonies for the day and she carried the entire programme with such dignity and grace.

In MCC, we don’t just call a person intellectual or intelligent. More than that, we call them Ladies and Gentlemen of MCC. Wherever you go, be it in the bus station or railway station, be it in Campus or outside, you carry the ethos of the College with you. Always remember that,

she observed.

Dr. Huldah, Dean of Student Affairs spoke on the various activities of the Deanery of Student Affairs, and the Controller of Examinations Dr. Ravi Shankar elaborated on the functions of the Examinations Office.

Major 70 Credits

Electives 20 Credits

Soft Skills 8 Credits

Internship 2 Credits

This was followed by a briefing on campus etiquette by the Dean of Women Students. Then, the Dean of International Programmes outlined the various programmes and activities of the Office of International Programmes.

The orientation was followed by class orientation for the freshers in their respective Departments.

In the meantime, at 10.30 am, we had a surprise rendezvous at the Coffee Room, where most of us – Professors of the Dept of English vibed over coffee in a longgg time. So we also snapped a lovely shot for memory’s sake of this surprise rendezvous over the cuppa! 😊

Today in my II MA Class, we had an interactive session on what is ‘CRITICAL’ about Critical Theory. Was so happy to have our lovely, illustrious alumnae Ms. Jaysudha and Ms. Lalitha joining us in class.

So what is ‘Critical’ about Critical Theory? 😊

Challenges assumptions, challenges status quo, challenges capitalist subjugation, challenges class struggle, challenges commodity fetishism.

Reveals hidden power structures, and imbalances of power.

Identifies Injustice and various forms of oppression.

Transformative action in society is envisioned – by not only understanding societal problems, but involve in transformative action from what is to what ought to be!

Interdisciplinary – Critical Theory is interdisciplinary, beginning with Marx, and then Freud, it encompasses a whole lot of disciplines.

Class / Caste Struggles, Economic systems and ideological systems are examined.

Analyses how power operates through dominant belief systems.

Liberative Tool to examine society – liberates not only individuals but also societies from conditions that bind them into conformities.

Mr. Reji Jacob wins a prize for instantly volunteering to take up the challenge of coming forward and explicating on the eight salient features of critical theory. Congratulations Reji.

Then, we had a quick recapitulation of the seven functions of language. Ms. Shobhana Prakash was the first to volunteer responding to the challenge. Ms. Lalitha, her vibrant senior followed, with a beautiful explication on the seven functions of language, as outlined by David Crystal.

Two students spontaneously volunteered to give a lecture in class tomorrow. Congratulations to you both, Catherin and Nivedha. So proud of you guys.

Today we had the second edition of Think Tank: Staff-Student Study Circle, at Writers’ Nook, MCC-MRF Innovation Park. The topic for discussion today was ‘From Idea to Implementation: Navigating Innovation Roadblocks’.

Ms. Shannon documented the event, and Ms. Lekhaa was the coordinator for the event.

Ms. Benita, Placement Officer gave an impressive talk on How to Write an Effective CV, and also outlined on the demands of the job market today.

The interactive session we had today had students from both the Day and SF Streams.

Dr. Amirthavalli

Dr. J. Logamanya Tilak

Dr. Allen J Freddy

Dr. Hanumantha Rao

Dr. Vijay Solomon

Dr. Nirmal Thyagu

Prof. Vijay Adarsh

Prof. Tony Thomas

Dr. Shiny

Ms. Benita Alex

Dr. Samuel Justin

participated actively in the discussions we had with our students. The report of the event follows.

After the Think Tank session today, we had a lovely time of coffee with participants, at the Korean Café that’s quite adjacent to Writers’ Nook.

We also had surprise showers cooling the woods this evening.

At 7 pm today, we had the much-awaited VISA Event for today.

Mr. Renjith Mathew Roy, our illustrious alumnus, presently pursuing his PhD in Stuttgart University, Germany, joined us LiVE via Zoom Meet, and gave a lot of valuable information on how to pursue a study abroad programme with specific reference to Germany. 

He also outlined the rudiments of writing an effective SoP. “I had even given my draft SoP to my English Professors to fine-tune it”, he remarked.

[The Vibrant Writing Interns with our Office are documenting the final report].

In the meantime, I would like to give a few inspiring takeaways from Mr. Renjith’s talk today.

Renjith played a video from Richard Feynman’s talk –

“You ask me if an ordinary person—by studying hard—would get to be able to imagine these things like I imagine.

Of course. I was an ordinary person who studied hard.

There’s no miracle people. It just happens they got interested in this thing, and they learned all this stuff. They’re just people.

There’s no talent or special miracle ability to understand quantum mechanics or a miracle ability to imagine electromagnetic fields that comes without practice and reading and learning and study.

So if you take an ordinary person who’s willing to devote a great deal of time and study and work and thinking and mathematics, then he's become a scientist.”

says Richard P. Feynman.

“I used to watch this at least once in a month for my quota of inspiration”, added Renjith.

He also cited from Malcolm Gladwell’s famous book titled, Outliers, where Gladwell outlines the 10,000 hour rule.

“The 10,000-hour rule suggests that 10,000 hours of deliberate practice is the key to achieving world-class expertise in any field.”

Make friends with your calendar and clock

Do your own research

Then you network and discuss

I remember doing a lot of course era courses just for fun,

he added.

Dr. Nirmal Thyagu, Assistant Professor of Physics, MCC, who facilitated the discussions today on VISA Meet, was quite impressed when Renjith showed a notebook in which he regularly jotted down all that he read and did, every single day.

Both of them exhorted students to have personal note books for themselves, and write down valuable ideas that they come across every day.

Showing his own personal notebook, Dr. Nirmal remarked,

“Write them down. Every day. Don’t rely only on Chat GPT. Until you make things yours, you cannot be a master of something”, he said.

Prof. Arun Kumar, Associate Dean of International Programmes (Aided) gave the Special Announcements from the Office of International Programmes.

Dr. Serena, Associate Dean of International Programmes (SFS), gave the Vote of thanks.

Ms. Rishitha did the Master of Ceremonies.