Salutation of the Dawn : By Kalidasa

Look to this day!
For it is life, the very life of life,
In its brief course
Lie all the verities and realities of your existence:

The bliss of growth,
The glory of action,
The splendor of beauty,
For yesterday is but a dream
And tomorrow only a vision,
But today well lived makes every yesterday
a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day!
Such is the salutation of the dawn.

Followership : Workshop Feedback

Feedback received from Students who attended the Leadership Workshop on 17 Dec 2010

We enjoyed a lot in Followership Workshop. It was the best interactive session i have ever attended.Each game we played like( 7 UPS or narrating the story) was interesting and at the same time we gained knowledge in different aspects. I had never thought that just by watching waves i can gain such knowledge.We were motivated by your enthusiasm. I think because of small group it was very interactive and informative. I would like to attend more workshops like this in future.
Last but not the least it would be nice if others in the class also get to attend the same workshop in future.
KavyaShree C V

I never forget today's workshop, because we people had a good session on the topic leadership....
And the events and games whatever we had was superb, especially 7up and Dancing game was cool....
And I hope, Xmas plan what we made in session will come into action, insha allah....
Thank you for such a wonderful class..finally the lunch was superb....
Abdul Kareem M A

The workshop conducted today was very interesting and interactive.We came to know the quality of a good leader through various activities rather than boring lectures.We realized our potential and each one came up with innovative ideas which were communicated to the entire class.This gave us extra confidence to tell out what we feel.Overall session was planned very well and each activity was in such a way that we learned something new.
Nivetheetha.U

Followership : A Leadership Workshop

Conducted a Leadership Workshop entitled “Followership” in Christ University on 17 December for MCA and M.Sc. students

I intentionally kept the attendance as optional and since it was a holiday, I got a small select set of students. My target was twenty but was more than happy to get sixteen who were willing to spend a day for this workshop.

The workshop was called “Followership” as I strongly believe that Leadership ad Followership are strongly connected and a person cannot be a good leader if he is not a good follower.

The workshop as usual included games and team activities. This time I included two videos in the sessions. Like the last time it did have an exercise using Theatre, additionally I got dance in to add a new dimension.

Students seemingly enjoyed the workshop and gave good feedback. Conducting it was fun. The Agenda included

• · Self Belief
• · IPS
• · Leadership Traits (Based on Stephen Covey / Robin Sharma)
  
• · The Road Ahead

The Games included

• · One To 50 Team race
• · Thespian Walk
• · Fairy Tale Enactment
• · Choreograph a dance
• · Listening
• · 7 UP
• · Mirroring

The students showed great leadership potential. Some are already leaders in many ways. The dance and play they put up was pretty awesome. As a follow up of this workshop all the students took the initiative to organize a Christmas Party on the 22^nd Dec.

Thanks to JP Sir(HOD) and Rajeshwari Maam(M.Sc Coordinator) for all the support they gave for the initiative.

Thanks to Dannie, Kavyashree and Kareem for the logistic / planning support.

Book for IT Developers

Must for IT Developer, Should be read cover to cover
(if I have missed something, do let me know)

• C , Kernigan & Ritchie
• Code Complete, Steve Mc Connell
• Thinking in Java, Bruce Eckel
• Software Engineering, Roger Pressman
• Head First Design Patterns
• Introduction to Databases, C J Date
• Unix Programming Enviorment, Kernigan and Pike
• Algorithims (Any One)
• Computer Network, Andrew S Tanenbaum
• Modern Operating System, Tanenbaum
• Programming Pearls, John Bentley

Books for Data Structures

• Pseudocode Approach to DS, Foruzan/Gilberg
• Algorithims Vol 1-5: Robert Sedgwick
• Art of Computer Programming, Vol 1-3 Donald E Knuth
• Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms

Teaching: Odd Semester 2010

This semester had the following classes

• M.Sc Data Structures (~60 hrs)
  
• M.S Data Structures (~40 hrs)
  
• BSc (CMS and CME) DBMS (~50 hrs)
  
• MCA/M.Sc Placement (~25 hrs)
  
• BCA : Pl/SQL (12 hrs)
• Class Teacher for M.Sc 1st Sem and MS 1st Sem
  

I have really enjoyed teaching here at Christ and each semester it is getting better.

Students of B.Sc were a different bunch to the students I had taught in PG Courses and taking their class was definitely fun. I found the class very enthusiastic and it gave me new energy each time I walked into the class.

My Learnings:

• Not to go unprepared for a class as a time gets under utilized and students do not understand, it is not that I have to learn the topic but rather how to teach it.
  
• Came to know that some students felt perturbed by me, need to be more expressive
• I tend to praise students and sometimes it erks other students and they start assuming I am biased. (Need to be careful)
• Stick to the fundamentals
• Learn from previous semester the topics which students had doubted in end sem and tried to revise it or teach it differently
• Used Blackboard more, ppts are not effective in many situations
  
• Trust students, take feedback from them half way thru
• Code along with teaching
• Importance of Test and Assignments
• Teaching Simple Topics I tend to find difficult
• Need to take care of both the Outstanding and Weak Students and not to get one sided
  

Some different methods applied

• Used different games to foster thinking
• Games to improve team work
• Used discussion/interactive mode
  
• Quiz (as teams)
  
• Data Structure / DBMS dumb charades
• Excercises
• Songs / Mime on different computer papers
  
• Assignments (Create a video on DBMS / DS) ; Writing out of box code; Create Notes from Wiki
  
• CMS/CME class created notes as a team and end result we had two version of notes
• Used Java Application (created by me) to explain sorts
• Shared Online resources
  

I tried to repeat topics in rotation rather than just going Unit 1 - 5 sequentially. Took revision classes.

Playback Theatre

Attended 64 hours (in three months) in a Certificate Course in Playback Theatre conducted here in Christ University (along with Script Peoples Theatre) was an awesome experience

Credit goes to the phenomenal trainer we had in Rajesh P I and the wonderful team of playbackers ( a mix of students and industry professionals)

There are no practices or scripts here, the topic is given and we have to perform. No classroom sessions, just games, acting, innovating, creating , feeling ........... We had a final performance on 25th September in front of a small crowd

The impact of the workshop was so high for me that I concluded my documentation for the workshop with the following lines

"When the mind is ready and visualization is clear and with all the positive energy around the universe will conspire for you and when one becomes a witness to so many miracles, one cannot but bend down to say a prayer of gratitude"

Acting : Beyond Boundaries

When Sibu Sir (TIE) offered me an opportunity to act as a murderer just returned from jail, I was excited to say the least. Add to that the murderer(Ashwin) was repenting on the very day of his heinous crime. Three short scenes, but on the same hand a powerful and emotional one. I practiced with the group and even at home. I had to practice staying in a depressed, frustrated and repentant state for the first 6 scenes of the play. The second scene was in the shadow so I had to make sure that I used my hands and the body language more effectively.

I learnt a lot of things in the process of practices. What makes it memorable was the comradeship we shared with the fellow actors, dancers, backstage artists and the director. The environment was friendly and even though the director had a strict eye on quality nobody felt a hanging Damocles sword. The passion and dedication of the fellow artist pushed me to take that extra yard. I was acting after twelve long years and being part of this production and standing under the lights in huge Christ Auditorium was an impossible dream just a month before.

Three shows to remember, my kids loved my performance and kept repeating my dialogues in the next two weeks