‘This is how you go about washing a car, Rufus!’

Early morning walks were a routine for many of us in Professors’ Colony, East Tambaram. And still is!

Once you finish your walk, in the company of a good few, an august few, – the few who could stare their eyes with astonishing success through the clearing darkness of the pre-dawn hours – then you contently move ahead, on to your next schedule for the morning – to wipe your car and/or bike clean! 😊

Well, it was yet another relaxed Saturday morning. A day when the mind slows down its pace to a lethargic ‘lullaby’ish pace! I had just finished my walk, a wee bit early to be able to start quite ahead of time on a weekend sojourn!

So once back at home I take my hose tubing and start in all earnest - my car-cleaning chore!

Cleaning my car is something that I enjoy doing all of the time – what with a wonderful nylonish flexi-tubey for company, and water - water - water - all the way – I do relish and enjoy to the utmost the sheer delight in being ‘water-sportive’ when cleaning my car, and well, yes! it was my first car, a brand new car, a Santro XO car, a precious car, ha ha and what not!

Happily humming away a tune that rhymes to the spray of the shower of the tubey – I was shaken from the stupeficated-world-of-my-own’ by a neatly-dressed gentleman who taps gently on my shoulder!

With a startled surprise, and a bated sigh, I wish him, ‘Good morning Sir!!!’

He was just finishing his morning walk, and was on his way home, when either something about me or my car, bid him stop right on his tracks!!

He stood his gentle ground and asked in his usual inimitable style,

‘How are you Rufus?’

‘Doing fine, Sir. How are you? Please come home Sir!’

I request him as part of the cultural protocol ;-)

Having politely declined my impulsive ‘offer of the day’, he gently persuaded me to first turn off the water from the hose-tubey on a ‘priority-basis’!!!

I did.

He now asked me to quickly fetch him a pail of water and some soft cloth wipes.

I did.

Then he rolls up his sleeves and in a fraction of a second starts on a ‘mission-clean-up-op’ cleaning the car upfront.

He starts to gently apply the cloth-wipes from the bottom of the vehicle up to avoid even the tiniest of streaks or the wimpiest of rashes in the vehicle’s polish.

After five or six ‘swipes’, he soaks the cloth-wipes in plain water and goes about doing the task with a dignified alacrity and consummate ease. The spots and specks of dirt come off loose from the car’s sides, as easy as pie, and he didn’t stop with that.

He soaks the cloth wipes yet again, wringing it damp-dry, and cleans the offside yet again, completely removing even the tiniest film of moisture in its shiny and lustrous teflon-coated surface! And very soon one quarter of the offside are as clean as a whistle!!!

Now he soaks the cloth-wipes again for the umpteenth time, and he was starting off on the nearside, when he stopped, looked at me, smiled clairvoyantly and quipped:

‘Rufus, now, don’t expect me to wash the whole car for you!’

‘Ha ha… okay Sir!’

‘This is how you go about washing a car, Rufus!’

‘Now, here’s the cloth wipe. Go ahead. Have a good day!’

And he was off, in as casual a manner as he had come down to help me out.

Indeed, it was not a help but an ignition! A spark for a life-time!

Maps to a tee with the good ol’ proverb – ‘Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach them how to fish and you feed them for a lifetime’.

Well, here was a ‘mighty-senior-Professor’ who was sincerely teaching me how to fish!

The proper way of fishing!

Without wastage of water of any sort!

With the limited resources available at one’s disposal!

With respect and thought to the needs and wants of the vast humanity around you who are deprived of even a bottle of water at their disposal for days!!!

I had learnt my lesson! must have surely been a decade ago!

And how!!!

Luckily, from a teacher’s teacher!!!

From none other than the Principal of Madras Christian College - Dr. Alexander Mantramurti…!!!

The senior-most (Principal) of the College was not only giving valuable ideas to the junior-most (Lecturer) on how to use water judiciously, but he was also simultaneously teaching me those invaluable lessons in as non-chalant a manner as could be, and with a dignified ease!

This gave me an instant answer to my ‘long-thought-out, seldom expressed’ question:

What makes the Madras Christian College different?

What makes the dynamic Principal, the vast array of illustrious Professors and the committed Students in MCC different?

Why are they always a cut above the rest?

Why are they always

Unique in their thoughts?

Dependable in their words?

and

Exemplary in their actions?

Why can they NEVER settle for mediocrity?

Why-oh-why???

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind!

Viva la MCC..!

Guidelines for Oral Presentations of Book Reviews (used with permission)

1.       Begin with the author, title, and date of publication.

2.       Speak clearly, and look directly at your audience (not just at the Prof.!)

3.   Showing the cover of the book is a nice way to capture the attention of the audience, and to quickly

demonstrate the book’s length, size, and appearance.

4.      Summarize the thesis or main idea (s) of the book in 2-4 sentences.

5.    Mention at least one memorable aspect of the book, so that at the end of class we will remember

something distinctive about your book.

6.      Limit the presentation to less than 5 minutes.  You should time yourself at least once in advance so you

have some sense of how much can be said in five minutes.

7.      You may stand or sit as you prefer.

8.   Give the book a thumbs-up or thumbs-down for inclusion in a future iteration of our class, and briefly

explain why it should (or should not) be included for future students.

9.     Audio-Visual aids (e.g., Powerpoint slides, Web sites, use of chalk-board, posters, costumes, etc.) are always welcome but are not required for this assignment.

My grateful thanks to Professor Chris Carlsmith, University of Massachusetts-Lowell for immediately obliging me, when I asked for permission to use his ideas, and also for wishing us the best, on the Oral Book Review Sessions. Thank you Professor. The original link is HERE

the bliss that taught my heart...

My impish little niece is such a bratty fairy of a girlie, that I discreetly steal time - as much as i could - from the winged charioteer, and surprise her with my presence every once in a while, although for a very brief while, just to get to be with her! To enjoy the prattle and the chuckle! the care and the cuddle! and what not!!!

And the moment she sees me from yonder, - in a longgg time - say two weeks ;-) - this little elf of a girlie all of four years, gets so excited that she strides at a rapid pace or rather  ‘racewalks’ towards her maama (uncle), holds out her hands in a ‘carry me please’ gesture, and when done, just hugs my shoulders as tight as she could, and leans gracefully on me, - a regal recline of sorts - without lifting up her head. Silence becomes her effective prayer from now on, even as she begins to go into a trance to feel the secure solace and the comfort of her beloved ‘rooofi’ maama. I hug her tight and ask her, -

‘How are you paapa (little girl)?’

‘Did you go to school today?’

‘Have you done your homework?’

‘Did you have your dinner?’ etc.

The more the questions from her maama, the more her silence.

Then I tell her, ‘Maama has bought something for you chellam. Do you wanna open your eyes to see it???’

Again, a passive and a faint nod that forebodes a stern ‘No’!

Distractions couldn’t distract her!

Five minutes flit us by.

Fifteen minutes fly by.

Still, our fairy girlie is ‘resolutely determined’.

Like a warrior holding on to his National Flag, and says, I shall not leave hold of the flag of my nation, ‘come what may’, our pretty little snowflake was clinging on to her maama, ‘come what may’!

Coaxings of all hues, and goadings of all colours could only add more vehemence to her cling!

Each tried his/her luck to bring paapa down, but ended up in a ‘disastrous deposit-losing’ debacle!

Proud of y'all... Kudos dear Kiddoes...!

The CIA Tests were on in full swing. So it was a sudden and sweet surprise when today, for their CAs - the class was brimming over with enthused and ignited minds swarming to crouch in their seats to have a go at the ‘English Challenge’ today as part of their first CA with me this semester.

I had just one word of caution for the class. “You guys won’t be able to rise to the challenge of an Internal test, unless you made yourself available in at least fifty per cent of the teaching classes!”

After I gave them their Questions and the classes were almost ten minutes into their test, something unexpected happened.

A girl from Class B stands up from her seat and comes straight to the invigilator (me) and says teary-eyed, 

‘Sir, I need to talk to you. Can I?’

“Sure. Please go ahead”, I calm her.

“Sir, I couldn’t write even my name on the answer sheet, after I saw you ‘taking to task’ some students from Class A for absenting themselves for more than 50 per cent of their classes!”

 “Yes. But what’s it to you?” I ask her, quite puzzled.

“Sir, but even I didn’t attend your classes this past month, as I was, for most of the time into rigorous training as an NCC cadet! But you have allowed me to write, sir!”.

“Great! I’m so happy that you are an NCC cadet! And service to NCC is like service to the nation. I’m so proud of you”.

‘Thank you sir’. And sir, I represented Tamil Nadu in the NCC contingent at the RD parade in New Delhi this January and we also had the pleasant surprise of having tea with the Rashtrapati himself (President of India), she quips.

‘Woww! Congrats’

“Among nine cadets from Chennai, I was the only girl who represented the Madras group, and it was like, a great honour for me to be a part of this prestigious group, sir”

“So proud of you! I’m so happy that you have a good conscience. Just go ahead. Write what you can. I can give you a bit of a relaxation in time too," I said.

‘No sir. I’ve come prepared. I will write well sir,’ she added, and she did!!!

As the test was drawing to a close, and most of the students had gradually made their way out, a couple of her friends came up to me and said, ‘Sir, the moment you took some of those students to task, she felt very unnerved. 

She kept on saying, “I’m not able to write… I have a feeling of guilt and remorse that I’m cheating on my teacher. I can’t write... And she was all tears…”

Then after the test was up, I called her up, and asked her if she had any clicks from the RD parade and tea time with the President (hoping to put em up on the blog).

She said, ‘Yes, sir. The Principal’s Office has also asked for it. I shall give you a copy once I take copies of it from this CD’. 

And yes, she did! 

This incident made me go back to more of such sweet restorative therapeutic anecdotal variants from the past, to be precise, more than a dozen years into the past, in good ol’ MCC.

Muthu, (a Thomasian) from Pbt Class, (2004-07) is an athlete who represented his Hall as well as the College! During his first internal test, he was quite visibly perturbed. Then, after five minutes into the test, he comes straight up to me and says, ‘Sir, I didn’t prepare well for this CA. I’m so sorry at having disappointed you. Please pardon me sir. I shall do my next CA well!’

Such moral courage requires a lot of guts indeed!

There was yet another student of ours, Vidya Venkat (2003-06). She was indeed a topper in class from day one. But one fine day, after her CA, she walks straight up to me, with a melancholic face and says, ‘Sir, I didn’t do my CA well. I’m sorry! Shall do well in my next CA'

Hopeland (2007-10) was a student of Zoology. He had us transfixed even in the very second month of his first year with us, when he dazzled the part II English class with a live and poisonous snake. I almost had the shudders when the snake slithered across my bag, on the table in that huge class. Click HERE for that episode.

After I gave the students their marks for their Internals, Hopeland comes up to me and says, ‘Sir, may I have a word with you?’

Yes!

‘Sir, I don’t think I deserve these marks!’

For the first time I was taken aback!

‘Oh!’ But why do you think so?’

‘Sir, I didn’t do much of a preparation for this test, and hence, the marks you have given me don’t agree with my conscience. Could you please reduce it sir??? Please???’

For once, I was sooo proud of my student!

Prince Shadrack, from BSc Chemistry (2003 – 04). Hope he reads this one! After one of my classes with them, he walks up to me and says, Sir, I found this gold chain (should be around five sovereign) on Campus, and I don’t know how to go about restoring it to its rightful owner!”

I appreciated him for his integrity, and asked him to hand it over to the Dean of Student Affairs, who will then do the needful, I said.

Ramnath Chandrasekhar (2008-11) was again a Zoology student. An avid photographer too! Even as I gave the class their Question Paper, Ramnath, had a look at the questions, and said, “Sir, I think, I can't do justice to the questions, as I haven’t attended many of your classes. I was busy doing wildlife photography out in the jungles. Please pardon me this once, Sir. Shall compensate it by doing well in my next CA,” he said. More on Ramnath and his passion HERE

And the list is only indicative. It goes on… Time is not highly favourable enough to me to wax eloquent on the integrity of my students. Vidya is now with The Hindu as Senior Correspondent, Ramnath is now a professional Wildlife Photographer, Muthu is a Govt School Teacher in Salem, Hopeland does what he loves doing, being a Zoologist! And I earnestly wish, pray and hope that this wonderful NCC cadet would surely make it big one day! Kudos!!!

This takes me back to the year 2007, in this very same February, when Dr. Kalam, the legend was with us here at MCC. After his brilliant speech on Scientific Magnanimity at MCC, when he spoke at length about the integrity of a few great minds like Dr. C. V. Raman, Prof. Norman E. Borlaug, etc, he said:

Friends, if we aspire to achieve great things in life, we need Scientific Magnanimity to focus on the young achievers. It is my experience that a great mind and a great heart go together.

 This Scientific Magnanimity will motivate the scientific community and nurture team spirit. With this background of unique traits of great minds, dear young friends, now it is time for all of you to have a great dream in life, dream transforms into thoughts and thoughts result into action. 

Now I would like to administer an oath on courage: (students please repeat after me, the legend says!) 

“COURAGE to think different, 

Courage to invent, 

Courage to discover the impossible, 

Courage to travel into an unexplored path, 

Courage to share the knowledge, 

Courage to remove the pain, 

Courage to reach the unreached, 

Courage to combat the problems and succeed, are the unique qualities of the youth. As a youth of my nation, I will work and work with courage to achieve success in all my missions. 

My congratulations to all the graduates who are passing out from Madras Christian College. My best wishes to all the members of Madras Christian College in their mission of providing quality education and capacity building among the youth of Chennai and the adjoining districts. Thank you.”

Dear MCC-ians, you’ve proved true the words of this Great Legend. As long as you have the courage to do the right, courage to think different, courage to excel, courage to stand up for what is right, courage to act according to your conscience, and the courage to walk with integrity, a glorious future is indeed assured for our Motherland India!

Viva la MCC!

State Eligibility Test for Lectureship - Feb 2016 - Preparatory Classes

Preparatory & Revision Classes 

for SET – February 2016

@

Vivekananda College,

Tiruchengode, Namakkal District

On 

12, 13, 14 February 2016 (Fri – Sun)

By 

Dr. Benet & Team

Students desirous of taking part in the preparatory classes may contact

Dr. Benet @ 9443248012

Ornithological specimens of identical plumage...

The year was 2003!

I was residing in Selaiyur Hall, as a resident staff, in room no. 178!.

As bachelor-Profs then, it was customary for some of us, to go out on regular jaunts to the city either for a movie or just for a day out in the evenings, whenever we could!

One fine evening, after having had my evening snacks and tea in the Selaiyur Hall Mess, and I was busy flipping through some of the newspapers that were around, that my Prof-friend and a resident staff from another Hall, called me up, and asked me if we could go for a great movie that had recently released in a Multiplex in the City that evening!

 ‘hey, it’s already 5.50!’ I tell him!

‘but the movie starts only at 6.30 yaar!’

Do you think we could get ready in no time and make it to the movies this short time?’ I ask.

‘Why not??? If we think we can, we CAN!’ he says with conviction and determination.

I had the hobson’s choice! To rise to the challenge was my impulsive decree of the evening.

It was six pm when the evening music time was gradually coming to a close in the precincts of good ol’ Selaiyur, when we both kickstarted our Splendor Plus!

Six pm in Tambaram! And any sane Selaiyurian would by all means tell you that thirty minutes was highly impossible! or atleast daunting to the core!!!

I really had to break the back of my ‘paavam’ little beast the poor Hero Honda Splendor! (it’s NOT a Pulsar!!!)

Asking my Splendor Plus to go at 100 is like pushing water uphill with a tardy rake!

No way would it oblige!

There were at least a dozen traffic signals that we had to cruise through, and after crossing a decent six of them, we were nearing the grand Pallavaram signal, when we saw the unfortunate thing unfold!

Well, the traffic light was showing amber! (well, yes, before it could turn red)

My pillion-buddy says, “macha, pull it off! You can do it! Just move on! It might take just micro seconds to whiz past!”

He coaxes and goads me, even as I am still caught in a double bind, between the proverbial devil and the deep sea!!!

Are you good @ Story telling...? Then read on...

Friends, Romans, Indians, Countrymen,

Lend me your ears!

The Chennai Story Telling Festival 2016 is starting this weekend. Inauguration is on Friday, 05 February 2016 at 5 p.m. and the fest goes on till 14 February 2016 (for those of you who don’t know, it ends on Valentine’s day ;-).

Seven story tellers will participate in daily evening sessions. The stories will be related to two themes –

The "Big Rains" and "Storytelling for Communication".

On 12 February, a workshop on 'how to tell stories' has also been organised. This workshop is an opportunity for college students interested in the art of story-telling. It will be held at Dr MGR-Janaki College (in R A Puram, Chennai). Certificates would be given to all the participants.

The festival, hosted by the International Institute of Storytelling in the city, will be attended by noted storytellers from India and abroad. The guest co-host of the festival this year is Ruth Trotter of California, United States.

For more details, please visit the link HERE and HERE too!

PS: And... please don't bunk on your CAs and blame it on this poor soul :-)

The Delightful Kochi 'Saga'!!!

It was a cool December morning, when the yuletide charm was advancing towards its acme!

Here was I, sipping a hot cuppa chaai and reading the day’s The Hindu, ensconced in my favourite rattan armchair in my balcony, when my phone rang! It was a call from Ms. Reethi, The Cochin College, Kochi, asking me if I could deliver the key-note address in their UGC-Sponsored National Seminar in end January.

The Cochin College, Kochi

I was, like Moses in the Scriptures, asking her to please go for someone else, and suggested quite a few eminent names too. But she was persistent and unrelenting! After a brief tug, she won! I reluctantly said a ‘yes’.

As if, this was the word she was waiting all along for, Ms. Reethi now became ‘surprisingly’ crisp! She says, “Okay Sir, we’re meeting ‘next year’… on the 28th of January. This is the topic. Bla bla bla… bye!”

Haiyyadaa ;-)

I had said an impromptu ‘yes’ by the momentary impulse, on the spur of the moment, little realising the enormous work I had to do, to brace myself up for the task!

Do you wanna make a positive social impact...?

India fellow invites passionate young Indians who are looking for a platform to make a positive social impact and while some may see them as the crazy ones, they see genius! Graduates or above from any discipline and aged between 20 to 28 years can apply.

India fellow takes young Indians through an intense 13 month-long leadership journey that sets them on the path to becoming socially conscious leaders of tomorrow, and thus bring about positive change in our society.

Through the India Fellow program they want to capture the attention of young people from all walks of life, with diverse career interests, to dig in and get their hands dirty, to get to know the development challenges through internship, training and coaching. This believe will help them in becoming committed and passionate leaders of tomorrow. And in the process contribute a lot to the development of India.

Give a Shot at the Prestigious 'Young India Fellowship'

The Young India Fellowship (YIF) seeks to groom young women and men who will lead India through the 21st century. The programme brings together around 225 students from across India for a one-year postgraduate Fellowship. It is a fully residential programme, with Fellows residing at the Ashoka University campus in the Delhi NCR region.

The Fellows go through a multidisciplinary curriculum taught by some of the best educators in the world. In this endeavor, YIF is partnered by some top-ranked international schools like University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS); Carleton College; King’s College, London and Sciences Po, Paris. Students from all disciplines and areas of study are welcome to YIF; whether they studied engineering, design, commerce or literature, they are all mentored into reaching their full potential.

Application can be done online or by post.

The students could choose one of the two following ways to apply to the programme:

Essay Contest on 'Plagiarism' - Win a handsome prize money!

Write an awesome essay on plagiarism and win a handsome prize!

Unplag Plagiarism Checker has launched a scholarship contest. Just because they've always been passionate about learning and encouraging students from all over the world to stay original all the way through.

To boost your original writing skills, they'd be happy to give away $2,000 to the one who will create the most engaging essay on one of the topics mentioned in the Essay Requirements section.

To make your writing vivid and full of interesting details, you can choose any style of the essay and switch on your imagination dwelling on future perspectives of online cheating, technologies that are most likely to stop plagiarism, etc.

Application can be done Online only. The student should be above 18 years and should be currently enrolled in full-time undergraduate or graduate program. (current student!)

Mellifluous and Melodious Strains... (That take your breath away...!!!)

The very term ‘lyrical’ implies a form of musical utterance in words governed by overmastering emotion and set free by a powerfully concordant rhythm, says Ernest Rhys in his Lyric Poetry.

Well, the challenge here is: to what extent can the pleasures of sound and sense be fused with the recitation of poetry to such an extent that it takes your breath away and carries you far far away into the Keatsian sublime?

The master pianist who swayed our hearts

How can an eloquent thought be rendered simply to the ear?

Or how best can the grandeur behind an Arnoldianism or the tenor that propels a Wordsworthian 'Immortality Ode', or the sweetness of a Sarojini Naidu’s lyrical 'Palanquin Bearers', or the nobility of a Miltonian epithet be rendered to the accompaniment of a melodious strain?

And that’s exactly what Vijai Vardhan, IAS, Chief Secretary to Govt of Haryana, did, when he recited some memorable lyrical verses to the accompaniment of a melodious strain from the pianist’s grand notes!

For once, the audience was dazed… and like the famous Goldsmithian phrase goes, the more they (g)dazed the more their wonder grew!!!

Just giving a tail piece from his wonderful pianisms! (Video attached)

It’s not quite rare for IAS officers to take to pen and paper and jot down their thoughts! Mr. Vardhan is one such IAS officer who has authored five books till date! And what a felicity of expression! Kudos Sir!

He recited from many of his poems, and from a few of his favourite poets too! Although he had a strain from Leonard Cohen, one of my personal favourites, I would have been a happier person only if he had taken a leaf or two from my all –time favy Cliffy (Cliff Richards!). 

When he recited from Pablo Neruda’s captivating lines, you indeed find a personal touch and a warmth that is indescribable! (Friends, if you haven’t still tried Neruda, it’s high time nay the right time to try him out over a cuppa stronggg chaaai!)

What you see is what you get... ;-)

The man of the moment was obviously Keki Daruwalla. Nowhere in the world would you ever find an august and sublime mix of lovable literary hearts pulsating all the time to the literary impulse that pulsated the length and breadth of snow-crossed Haryana on a snowy  morning in the last week of January! Yes, the temperature was well below 3 degrees, and as you can see in this video, in every nook and corner of all the major roads, one could find people gathered together to make a mound or a heap to raise a hearth to warm themselves! (video attached)

Come! Listen to a Master Narrator...

The Resting Place of the Imagination

A talk by renowned writer and poet

Ramabai Espinet

@ MCC

on Wednesday, 03 February 2016 @ 10 am

in the Selaiyur Hall Indoor Theatre

Be there!

Author Biography

Ramabai Espinet is an Indo-Caribbean-Canadian writer. Espinet’s ageless, angry, and poetic writing weaves the idea of the Asian Diaspora with the struggles and lifestyles of the modern Indo-Caribbean woman. Ramabai Espinet is a woman who writes with the clarity and wisdom of someone who has lived her stories. One example of this is the short story “Barred,” in which she describes an Indian woman living in Trinidad and Tobago. The protagonist of the story is trying to make enough money to sustain herself and her child despite an abusive and alcoholic husband. Her first novel, The Swinging Bridge, was shortlisted for the Regional Commonwealth Writers Prize in 2004. The acclaimed novel carries the reader from nineteenth-century India across the sea to the cane fields of Trinidad and then to modern-day Canada.

For more on the writer click HERE

Wanna be a Legislative Assistant to an MP?

Legislative Assistants to Members of Parliament (LAMP) Fellowship 2016-17

Eligibility: Not more than 25 years, graduates or in final year can apply

Awards: Stipend of Rs 17,000 pm, Rs 3,000 pm for other expenses

Deadline: 11 February 2016

The Legislative Assistants to Members of Parliament (LAMP) Fellowship provides an opportunity for young Indians to be mentored by a Member of Parliament for a period of 11 months. The LAMP Fellows work full time with the assigned MP, from the beginning of the Monsoon session to the end of the Budget session of Parliament. Throughout the eleven months, the LAMP Fellow works closely with the MP, providing extensive research support for his/her parliamentary work.

The primary role of a LAMP Fellow is to provide research inputs to help the MPs fulfill their parliamentary duties such as asking questions, raising matters of public importance, participating in debates, writing speeches, drafting private member Bills, among others. The Fellows will be based in Delhi during the Fellowship Period. LAMP Fellows will also engage with policy makers and experts from diverse sectors through participation in workshops on important policy and development issues. During the intersession period, workshops are conducted on subjects like Health, Education, Infrastructure, Public Finance, etc

Candidates from all academic backgrounds are welcome to apply. Candidates must have at least a Bachelor’s degree in any academic discipline and should be 25 years of age or below i.e. born on or after January 1, 1991.