Staying united holds key

The open air plaza of our college, the most favourite place for all the students that is always bubbling with some activity, looked gloomy.

There was silence despite the large presence of students, teachers and others who gathered there. It was a week after the terror attack on the country’s financial capital – Mumbai.

Everybody was haunted by the wild images of suffering, tension, battle, defeat that were being telecast on the television for the past few days.

The silence of everyone was in fact revealing a lot that the heinous attacks have ‘numbed’ the financial capital of India. Perhaps it is insufficient description of something which has shattered hundreds of families across the nation. These in fact have ‘numbed’ the entire nation”. I could read the feelings from my friends faces that though Mumbai witnessed this cruelty the pain was taken across India irrespective of region and religion.

Needless to say it is Mother India who silently sheds tears of agony, pain for her bereaved and suffering children.

Now it is over but there is no end to the suffering as the damage has been done. On the positive note the last few days have led to another emotional episode for all the Indians as a whole because we were reminded that we are the children of one mother – India.

There was a candle light vigil to pay a tribute to all those who laid down their lives. We prayed that the souls of all those brave and unfortunate rest in peace. And after that there was a unanimous word in the air that we should cancel all the celebrations including the scheduled Freshers Party, which remains in the memories of every student during their life time.

Our decision to forgo the celebrations may be only a drop in the ocean but we take it as an initiative from the entire student community to repel these kinds of attacks. And I agree that we being the face of tomorrow’s nation, mere repulsion is not sufficient.

“United we rule, divided we fall” goes a saying…So, we also emphasised on the concept of staying united in the wake of these kind of attacks and also acting responsible for what is happening around us at least as a token of respect for all those who laid down their lives to save us. With every student transforming as a more responsible individual, we can drive away these attacks and the day when we can restore the entire glory of mother India is not far away. Jai Hind!

click here for the link of the original article

Seniors are friends and mentors too :)

“These four years will definitely be the best in your life,” said a father to his anxious, tensed and perplexed daughter on a fine morning, exactly two years ago.

The child was much tensed as that was the first day of her engineering college life. Those words still ring in my ears as I was the, then anxious daughter. The reason for anybody’s worry at that point would be mainly about facing new people, getting accustomed to a completely different environment.

Needless to say, the main worry would be “Ragging”. Even before you enter the college, people give you different images about ragging. Weirdest thing is that the collage of all these pictures is a terrible image which portrays ragging as a menace where students grapple and succumb.

But, here came the most relieving paradox for me and also for most of my friends.

What we endured was totally different from what we expected. The ambience is the college was not as we expected it to be, but it was one of fun mixed with a friendly reception by seniors and other friends. Soon, the unknown fears were swept away and the best days began. I tell all these things now, because a new season has begun. And another lot of fresh and tender who are in the same confusion as we were then, are going to begin their Engineering journey.

This is for them. To tell them that the worst part of engineering is not ragging but the best part is that seniors are here to help you, be with you through your thick and thin. So, put all your fears to rest. Get geared up to begin the best journey you have made so far i.e., into the never ending “Fun Land”.

I call it the best not because my dad told me but because, I am living it and I am totally in love with it.

this article got published in The Hindu date :  29-9-08

http://www.hindu.com/edu/2008/09/29/stories/2008092950340400.htm

 

 

Sunny days

" SUN Campus Ambassador Induction Program " One thing that hits my mind all the time and indeed a semantic drive for me all these days. Personally, I think there is no need to tell more about this as it was simply an "experience of a life time". We learnt loads of exciting things, understood some really elusive geeky stuff, conceived the fun n joy in taking up responsibilities and above all, made friends for life.I compare all these things to a cadence that eventually forms a melody. After that fun-filled experience,the greatest thing i learnt is "The true
essence of synergy"(as communities are a bridge to open source) and I carried the
same spirit back to my college.

Well ! These were the contents of my diary last month but all the memories still ring afresh in my mind. I returned back to my place. My instinct told me to blurt out all my experiences and share my new gained wisdom with my friends.But then there is always a second side for the coin. My worries started piling up as -"how would my friends take it?" Would they love all these things in the way I did, or would they
simply start a blatant argument saying that "It's not our cup of tea." This pandemonium is my mind could not make me wait till the next day and so, called a few of my friends and started telling them what I desperately wanted to share without even giving them a chance to talk. ;-) .. Well, those were my levels of enthusiasm !! I don't know whom to thank but the fact is that all my friends started echoing "well,these things sound really cool !! We would love to be a part of this". I joyfully confess that it came out as a big piece of relief.

And the very next day in the college, I could not wait myself to share the same stuff with the remaining ones and thus proposed the idea of SUN club for like minded poeple, The Open Source Lovers ! .I was
totally taken aback by the huge response. People showered a lot of interest and showed extreme eagerness join as members of the Sun Club. This altogether gave a new phase of happiness and hence the "SUN" started shining all over our campus.


Then on .. days passed by .. My friends started anticipating the first tech talk
immediately. So, we came up with a bang with an official seminar on "open source" on the 14th of
August. The good thing did'nt stop here.The response was really impressive that guys from all
the disciplines turned up. I don't say we left no stone unturned, but even then it was
a great reciprocation from all the students. After the successful completion of my first seminar, many people
turned up to me saying that they seriously want to launch themselves into open source
projects.

Even my Vice-principal " MRS.INDIRA " was happy by the tremendous response and so she suggested the official inaugaration of the SUN SUDENTS CLUB @ AUCE to mark its importance and
also make it first of its kind in and around our region. The day of Inaugauration of SUN CLUB (2nd September,2008) arrived, and we could count lots of audience for the inaugural meet. Many people
conveyed their deep gratitude to SUN microsystems for giving them an opportunity to participate in these kind of events and above all giving them a scope for working
under the banner of the company. SUN ruled the hearts of the people. The theme of the event was "USE, LEARN and SPREAD"(i copied this phrase from
Abhishek ;-)). Finally, from that very day, we started drawing a plan for the "SFD" and today we are ready with a final plan :-)..

Thanks to my friends who have extended their support right from the beginning and i ll get back with our plan for "SFD"
celebrations in my next blog.

My best wishes to the entire SUN CA community. Lets forge ahead,hope and make SFD a
great success.. :-)

Cheers!!!