GEC Bartonhill, Thiruvananthapuram

In Retrospection

2010-10-13T10:18:00.005+05:30

It was a pleasant morning; here in Dalseo today, I had begun my walk to work early.

It was the thoughts on the sensational rescue mission in Chile that got preference over the intrigue over the Indo-Aussies tests in Bangalore and Delhi.

Pleasant mornings are supposed to bring the good news; for the families of the trapped miners, for the fans of the men in blue and even me.

Mine was delivered in the form of a friend’s Facebook status message;

And it read:

“Hey GECBians ....'Edex', the supplement to Indian Express newspaper has listed our very own Aagneya among South India's most happening college fests..and it’s the only one from Kerala besides NITC's Ragam and CET's Dhwani!!”

And ........

all those small small sacrifices.......

those sleepless nights........

those threats on your lives .......

and those final tears of triumph……

To all the brave young men and women; I bow my head in reverent salutation.

Hope the show goes on forever :)

Where are the Criminals?!

2009-03-05T16:59:00.002+05:30

I can have a glimpse of quite a few notorious blogsters listed as partners in this crime syndicate. But the long stretch of inactivity makes me wonder if all of them are confined in prisons and their keyboards consficated by the newly floated Goonda Act!

Or is that they had run out of topics to blog about? Nothing worth blogging here happening out there?!

Adiós

2008-05-31T17:19:00.001+05:30

GECB...
The life was a mix of funs and falls...of intoxicating highs and intolerable lows....
No hard feelings though.......blame it on the terrain......

Clubs and SIG’s.

2008-04-22T14:24:00.003+05:30

Yesterday while reading Rohin’s Blog about his stay @ IIM A, I had come across a term, SIG or Special Interest Group. I had heard about the SIG’s in IIM’s before also through Pagalguy.com and also from a few books I’m reading about the life @ IIM. One of those is Joker in the Pack, a very good description of what to expect at IIM’s in the two years I might spend there. I’d known about the clubs and SIG’s putting up presentations in front of the newly arrived juniors. Now I thought about what if the same thing happened in our college. What will the seniors pitch to attract the new freshers’ to their SIG’s and Clubs? This is my take on the possible clubs that could be there in GECB.

1 Quiz Club

Since I was a member of this club and possibly ran the show for a long time along with Abhilash sir, I feel that this should be right on top of my list. I feel it’ll be Dhiraj putting up the PPT for the Quiz club. The 1st slide should be about the origin of the club, winding back to 2003(copy pasted from the Quiz Club Community description). Then the next slide would be two smiling poses of me and Alen, for being the most successful team that has represented GECB in various fests and TV Programs and also for winning a few of them(am I asking too much from the PPT?). Next up would be the BENEFITS of joining this club. YES benefits, assuming that our juniors are so illiterate about what quizzing can be, lets think that they need to be told this. The 1st and foremost benefit, they get to escape the ragging sessions on Friday’s coz of the quiz club meeting:). I feel that would be the best benefit for any junior to join this club. Secondly they would have the benefit of going to any fest and ogling at all the gals and buildings in the OTHER colleges and then cursing themselves or their parents for selecting GECB. Then lastly Dhiru can also tell how much money they get by going to quizzing(only if they win it). After this I think a stunning speech from Praseeth would be the finishing touch.

PS: Forgot to mention that Quiz Club can be an excellent bullet point in your resume.

2 Readers club

Something that exists only in the virtual world in GECB, I rate this as the 2nd most useful club for any college going guy/gal. I feel for this the PPT would be hosted by Soji, Sindhya or Hari, assuming he’s not busy with other projects:). Here since there is no MONEY or GLAMOUR involved, I don’t think what they can tell the juniors in the benefits. Maybe they can enlighten the juniors about the pleasures of reading.

3 Placement Cell

Something that I’ve cherished all my student life in GECB are the numerous biriyani’s I’ve had because of lifting a few benches or getting a cigarette for the guys who come to interview in the placement weeks. Thanks to Remesh sir, we’ve had a great placement cell (don’t know the status since he left it). I feel the placement cell would be best represented by Abhijith (not me, but the one in my junior batch). He’d possibly say about the free biriyani’s you could get, and also the number of free question papers, real interviews viewed from outside, contacts with HR people (coz u had shared your biriyani with them, or got them a cig the last time they visited the college), also a look at all the résumé’s of your seniors (so that you know what-not-to-do). This would also mean getting to know how to setup the LCD projector and laptop within 5 mins and getting to know a few things about amplifiers and microphones :)

4 Music Club

We badly need this in place in GECB, I feel many a talented singer and musician walk the hallowed portals of GECB and its high time we recognize these talented guys and gals and get them together to form a band or an orchestra and hopefully put up a good show in Dhwani 2k10 :). For this club I think the best person to put in the sales pitch would be Abhinav (mainly coz I don’t know someone else who sings and plays an instrument and is so good at both).

5 Mudravaakyam Club

This is something that we are in sure need of in the college. The rallies in the college aren’t what they used to be in the old times. We hardly see more than 20 people in them these days. So I feel this club needs to be formed and for this both SFI and KSU can come together and form a single club and derive members out of this whenever they have a need. The sales pitch can be lead by the Chairman of the union assisted by some vaagdanam’s like a seat in the elections for the one with the best voice and so on.

6 Lover’s club

Boy-oh-boy, ithu njan engene marannu! There’s a great need for a lover’s club, or union. They should have some kind of freedom of expression as well, isn’t it? For pitching this I don’t know whom I should name. So many names are coming to my mind, but I don’t want to get kicks in my butt from my dear friends. Also some might name me as well in this game. So you decide who should come for this.

7 Free Software Club

I think the club already exists in college, and if I’m not wrong Suraj is the one leading the pack. So guess he’d come with some free CD’s of Ubuntu to lure the juniors to join up. :)

8 Gundukaad Gunda Liaisoning group

We definitely need a group of students to maintain a good liaison with the people in the colony, mainly to avoid hiccups in future while organizing many fests and intra college events. I don’t want to name anyone here, again for the sake of my good health.

Comments please.

PS: If I missed anything please mention in the comments.

Our College Website - STILL a disgrace!!

2008-04-17T08:03:00.002+05:30

Its sad to see that our college website still has not improved even a bit. So I decided to write a mail to our respected principal. Im copy-pasting what I sent him. Guys... anyone who is interested in taking up responsibility for the website for the sake of the institute, please do approach him and ask him to allow you to take it up.

And here is the mail:

Respected Sir,

I am a former student of GEC, Barton Hill and completed my engineering education in 2007. During my final year in college, I had written an entry in the college blog about the pathetic state of our college website, and hoped that some action would have been taken since then. It is unfortunate to see that the only change that has happened since then is the change in the principal's page.

I feel that the college website is the first point of contact between the institute and the incoming batch of students. We are one of the best colleges in Kerala and try to attract the top rankers in the entrance examination. In such a situation, if one were to visit the college website to gain a measure of how good the institute is, I am sorry to say that our college website paints a very bleak picture.

During my final year, some of the final year students approached the IT head of department regarding upgrading the website, but his reply was that it was taken care of by the IT department and they would handle it. And quite frankly, it's been a disaster.

If we look at the students list, only the IT department list has all 4 years' list of students in it. What happened to Mechanical and EC Engineering? And also havn't we started an Electrical branch as well? Nowhere in the site does it say anything about this branch. Also the list of students is outdated and the current first and second year students have not been included, while our batch still is there.

There are a lot of aspects where the authorities concerned have not bothered to update or maintain the website. I understand that the IT faculty are busy, but isn't it fair and right that if they are unable to handle something of critical importance, they should at least be ready to let someone who is willing to do the job take it up?

I suggest that the website duties are handed over to the student's council or any other body that would be willing to take it up and a mechanism be set in place to ensure that regular updation takes place.

I hope that something is done as soon as possible regarding this, as it's very disheartening to see that even with the progress that our institute is making, no body seems interested in letting others know about it. Isn't it the duty of the authorities of the institute to ensure that such matters are handled?

Please do something about this matter. Hopefully it will not fall upon deaf ears as such important matters always have. This is not something that will cost us anything. All it requires is a little investment of time and effort.

Thank you,

Rohin Thampi
Mechanical Engineering 2003-07 batch.

Aagneya-The festival of fire

2008-04-09T19:57:00.004+05:30

hi all.....
this marks my entry to this blog...it feels like getting
an entry into IPL from domestic cricket.....am only
an average blogger.. to be honest...and ve jus started
with it..and the reason for this post is that i couldn
see many posts abt our own Aaneya.. and felt very
bad about it...so thought i ll tell out my version....
or rather my heart felt feelings about this first ever
mega event of our college...the success of which inspired
me a lot and gave us all another big reason to feel proud
about....here it goes......

"V TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF THIS INSTITUTION HAVE NOTHING TO LOOSE.....BUT V WILL FACE EACH HURDLE WITH A WILL TO WIN...." were the words which unleashed the fire and set stage for a three day mega event Aagneya 08 .....the words were given by none other than our beloved principal at the inaugural ceremony ....which set our minds ignited....and the fire blazing high for the days which followed....the spirited words were in reply to the pains and challenges faced by GECIANS for the past 2 months during the making of the technocultural extravaganza.....a race which we can now be proud of winning in style....the challenges were like sand dunes ...the wind of fate putting new ones in place and they seemed waiting for us each time in the path ahead... or like jigsaw puzzles with just a couple of pieces which never fitted in place......it is ironical that one of the main events had the name Ultimate challenge.....and wasnt even near to a challenge when compared to the ones faced by our army...... one of the smallest yet the strongest in town....just handful yet capable of moving mountains.....and thats what v showed v can....a herculian task it was...no doubt...especially, when u r starting from scratch .....,when there is neither reputation nor money power to set u sailing in the long journey to success....but just a piece of log and a pair of broken oars..... and an added bonus that v had never "seen the sea"....yet v could arrive at the right land...and our target was accomplished....2 months of sweat and tears paid off as a grand climax.....much more grand than v ever dreamt of....The venue, nishagandhi was in full bloom for 3 days…or nights rather…..and all eyes were on the ever glowing stage…

The events kicked off with a brief inaugural ceremony followed by a family night …..an inhouse entertainment program aimed at entertaining families and faculties of our students respecting the importance of family and teachers to any man….The RAAGASHILA(rockshow) followed which erupted the adrenaline within and there were screams of excitement all around…..
The second night began with ALANKARA(glitz fashion) which showcased the new trends in dressing, bringing out ones creativity and dress sense….tradition was given equal importance ….and the crowd was thrilled by this tradition trend fusion……an equally thrilling yet much more dynamic event…..NAATYA(choreo video) followed which set the crowds tapping their feet and clapping their hands with the beats none left blank….all neatly choreographed….With a slight drizzle just before the end of show, the clouds let us know that even they were present for our show….
The final night saw singers performing their best…..in AALAAP(voice hunt)…challenging even the best singers in town…..all their talents were put to test in a 3 round challenge and the audience cheered putting their hands together and appreciating the “sangathis”…..
Every event needs a colorful and exciting climax and this time it was “THANDAVAS “-the fire dancers who made it thrilling during NISAGANDHI(star nite)…these professionals made the crowd gasp with their amazing performance with fire and further with high level acrobatics……..
If all the 3 nights were lit up with cultural events……it was something else that set the days and roads burning…..CHAKRA(FULL THROTTLE-auto show)….and those looking for raw excitement got it to the fullest…..dangerous stunts by professionals ruled the show….with bikes rarely touching the ground and cars taking 360 degree turns as though driving in ice………the crowd hardly blinked their eyes…cos they dared not to miss any stunt……
The 3 day festival of fire came to an end igniting a count down in the minds of every soul towards the same fest next year and spreading the fire of hope………

i beg your pardon ..if that was too short... but u ll need too many pages to bring out all the spirits which each of us ve within us on the event....so grand it was... and i'm sure u guys ll agree with me on that......

Aagneya, 2008

2008-04-05T10:35:00.007+05:30

"Small sacrifices must be made!", uttered Otto Lilienthal from his death bed after breaking his spine in a fatal crash of his experimental aircraft. We have collectively made those small sacrifices and made a humble beginning........

Aagneya is a reality.......

The task at hand was tough but the enormity of it, inviting. At the team-aagneya, we had a few young men and women who relished a good challenge or two and they thrived as the task began to appear tougher than expected. As the famous saying goes; even our 'little squirrels' contributed in whatever way they could ...... :-)

Most people will frown if we say that we had put our lives on the lines, but at least a few will understand the truth behind the statement.

What do you think of Aagneya, 2008?

Could see very little of it myself.........and whenever I could, didn't have the peace of mind to enjoy it.

We understand that it was not above criticisms and we welcome them too.....for we believe that it assists the creative minds in improving their craft.......

Definitely not looking for sugar coated superlatives here.....feel free to speak your mind and enable the team aagneya to perform better in the coming years with your constructive criticisms.

More promises, more engineers… = more standard?

2007-08-19T19:33:00.000+05:30

Quite encouraging a promise it was when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his speech to the nation on 15th August 2007 mentioned about 8 new IITs and 7 new IIMs. It’s a major rollout for higher education sector which caters to the global needs for engineers and managers. This promise if made a reality would bring out even more engineers in India every year, than the number that we see in today’s statistics which is more than 350,000 graduates per year. In a developing nation, which has just entered its 7th decade of democracy, the relevancy of creating more and more technical education centers is quite debatable. When India needs more boost to primary education, to create a stronger foundation, this debate has more points to discuss.

IITs are always known to the world as the de facto of Indian engineering education. It was once a dream for many of us to get there to do our engineering graduation. I’m certainly unaware of how they’re taught in IITs, but as a victim of the JEE I’m pretty sure that those who get in there really needs to have something in their head! So quite naturally all those rare species that pass out from various IITs are looked upon with utmost surprise and reverence by people like me. But lately I realize that this “rare species” are ultimately going to be not-so-rare in the country (if the mentioned proposal of the Planning commission becomes a truth!).

It’s a noble idea to give standard education to the masses when they’re qualified to do their graduation in engineering. But how sure can be this Planning commission about the standard that is expected to be maintained in the future IITs? Not even a week has passed since this proposal was made public; the chief minister of a “very influencing” state in India has written to the PM demanding the allocation of 3 such premier institutions in his state! check out

For any average Indian tracing Indian politics for the past 5 years can be pretty sure that this boon is going to be granted. If politics could influence such areas of higher education, how can we be sure about the standards?

There is another article which many of you would have read by this time. It was published in Education Plus supplement to The Hindu dated 14th August, 2007. check out

It clearly analyses the falls that CUSAT had to bear with, due to the increasing number of engineering colleges under the university. Now, since the final year results of Kerala University (2003-‘07 batch) is expected to be published soon, I don’t know if the newspaper will have to republish the article with proper changes in names!

The government has always played games with higher education sectors with different cards at different times- the reservation cards got lost unexpectedly this year. Since the market is demanding more grads with the engineering feather on their heads, it’s a natural and welcomed move by the government to set up more premier institutions across the country. We can just hope that we have brighter grads coming out to build a better nation…!

OUR COLLEGE WEBSITE .. A DISGRACE!

2007-05-20T21:58:00.000+05:30

HOME PAGE :
Lets start off with the Home page... The first thing that hit you as soon as the page loads is how utterly bland the site is. With just two colours (namely blue and black... yea..very colourful and bright!! ), the initial reaction to the site is ... CRAP!!. And what is it with the "Advances In Material Technology" link on the home page right next to the wonderfully obviously fake pic of a non existent college building? And on top of that not only is that link slap bang in the home page where it should never have been, but IT DOESN'T WORK!! IF IT DOESN'T WORK WHY ON EARTH IS IT THERE?????

Now assuming that the visitor hasn't gone to another site as a result of boredom, and is curious to know how badly a site can be made.... lets see the other pages.

CONTACT ADDRESS:
The second page is an ever so important separate page for "Contact Address".The amazing picture of our hypothetical college building sweeps to the right side of the page (As a result of someone not taking enough time to make a good site) and the blandness continues.)

PRINCIPAL:
Next you click on the link that says "Principal" so that you can know who is in charge and can be held accountable for the site... and what do you get ???

Not Found

The requested URL /ec-ravindranath1.html was not found on this server.

Yea ... thats our principal! NOT FOUND!!
Cmon ... he's the head of the institution!! If the college site cant even get a decent pic of profile of him up, then what's the point in having the site?

AFFILIATED UNIVERSITY
Next is the Affiliated University link ...and another page is wasted just givin the address of the Kerala University.

GOVERNANCE
The GOVERNANCE link .. .the first decent page I found on the site. It serves its purpose sufficiently and effectively. And the background keeps with the central theme of amazing blandness.

PROGRAMMES
Ahh .. here comes the important stuff ... a student seeking admissions will be looking into this with great interest.. and this is the chance for the college to project its best and show its strength where it matters...
So you click "Programs" (It should have been programmes but hey ...who cares right?) and there in all its glory is

"List of Programs acredited by AICTE

Nil "

Apparently we are proud of that fact that we need to advertise it all over our web page...
The cut off rank is probably one of the few good ideas that the site designer came up with. Why on earth is there a "fee" link in here if there is a separate page dedicated to that????
And probably one of the most, if not THE most important section PLACEMENTS is pushed into a nice corner within the Programmes section whereas other VERY IMPORTANT (Please note extreme levels of sarcasm) things such as "AFFILIATED UNIVERSITY" and "GOVERNANCE" and CONTACT ADDRESS are given separate pages.

And not leaving the topic of placements, please people!! This is where we need to project our college positively. Say exactly which all companies came, say how many they recruited. Show them a graph of a growin placement record.Not a drab page.

FACULTY:
Ok.So hmmm ... this section is done pretty decently.. again background sucks.And maybe we can avoid having a separate section for "Faculty - student Ratio" for one single statement by just having that statement in the opening page of that section.

FEE:
Now we dont really need this link do we? Because we've already covered this under another section!!!!!!!

APPLICATION FORM, ADMISSION,ADMISSION PROCEDURE,ADMISSION CRITERIA:
Cmon now people ... do we need four separate pages for this? It doesnt really take a rocket scientist to figure out that it would be much more simple and convenient to have it all under one page called "ADMISSIONS" because each of the above mentioned sections consists of only one sentence anyways.

LIST OF CANDIDATES:
No real reason to have such a section but what the hell ... if you're havin it, make it properly. Apparently from the site, only the IT branch has 4 years worth of students studyin in it and EC and MECH were started only this year because only the 1st year students(now in 2nd yr) of these two branches are mentioned.

INFRASTRUCTURE: (well here comes our college's strength!!)
1)library:
An acceptable job.
2)laboratories
Apparently the area is the most important part of a lab and and according to the site, the electrical lab and mechanical workshops have either infinite area or zero area ... if someone could please tell me what "...." under "area" indicates....
And instead of having all the details of the labs under this single link, we have seperate links for computing facilities,EC labs, IT labs, ME labs
3)"other facilities"
Let it speak for itself

Games and Sports Facilities

A Physical Education Department, headed by Dr. Monikantan Nair, HCPEd, BPE, MPEd, M Phil, PGDSM, PhD (permanent staff member), is functioning in this college. The Department has adequate facilities for its smooth functioning. Students can also utilize the facilities of the Department of Physical Education, University of Kerala and their stadium which is only half a kilometer from our Campus. Arrangements have been made to practice athletics, football, volleyball and weight training items there. Students can also practice basket ball and handball have at the Central stadium and ball badminton, shuttle badminton and table tennis at Jimmy George stadium, which are also only half a kilometer away from the campus. Mean time, the construction of 2 badminton courts is progressing on our campus. The department also plans to construct a volley ball court and a basket ball court on our campus shortly.

Yes ...we now play in the badminton courts everyday ... QUOTE" The department also plans to construct a volley ball court and a basket ball court on our campus shortly."

For normal people this is what "Shortly" means in GEC ... Shortly - definition: NEVER!!

Example sentence: When we joined this college in 2003, we were told that we would be getting a second bus "shortly".Its been four years. No bus.

And under "CENTRAL EXAMINATION FACILITY" we have ...

Central Examination Facility

The existing class rooms are utilized.

That sure as hell needed a seperate page ... dont you think so???

and finally

ACADEMIC:

Yes... this page has some useful information i do admit. and apparently from this site, one can come to the conclusion that an engineering student has only odd semesters.Because the site gives the timetables of the odd sems. Oops my mistake ... its just that the people who are in charge of running the site are soooooo busy with their own lives to update the site once in a year atleast!!!!

S7 was over months back!!! WAKE UP!!!

FINAL VERDICT : in one word ... our college website SUCKS!

PS: If anyone is planning on commenting some thing along the lines of "If you have such an issue with the college website, why don't you make one instead of complaining.Its easy to sit and blog about it. Only we who actually made it know how hard it is to do it ... sniff sniff boo hoo waah waah" then don't. Because you have no right to.People who were really interested in making a good site approaced the IT HOD with plans for a revamped site and the reply he got from the "respected" HOD "it's a thng tht's bein managed by the IT dept and that the students needn't bother about it! They are keeping it at it's best."
I apologise in advance for what im about to say next but I have to ...KEEPING IT AT ITS BEST MY @$!!!!
If you don't know how to make a good site, let people who do know how to do it do it.The designers and the people who do not allow for change as a result of their stupid ego should be ashamed of their job. Look at www.cet.ac.in. Check that out and see the difference. We have students who know how to use Flash and software that could help in makin it a better site. But can they help?? NO!!! His Highness cannot let the mere mortals that dwell on earth lay their hands on his glorious and mighty web page!

Personality Contests....

2007-04-18T19:51:00.000+05:30

Hello Dear Friends,
Do you think that the personality contests that we had seen at Convergence and the Arts Fest were run the way it was required to be run? And the questions were proper? And do you really think that to be a great personality one should always respond to all the rubbish showered at you by someone who in doing so reflects the flaws in his/her personality?
For a moment I thought 'You were worshipping false gods'.
May be I'm wrong......
But if I were a contestant I'd never have strayed from the principles & values that I hold near to my heart to impress some one on his terms & win the contest.
May be I'm too old fashioned & conservative......
But I think & I think aloud, that this is not the way.

Is Orkut Blocked In GeC ? ? ?

2007-04-04T21:11:00.000+05:30

Seems like orkut Is being blocked from the servers in our college.It is not acessible from Library or Cadd LAb (I am not sure abt the position in IT and EC labs).It is not acessible even from Anonymous Proxies(like atunnel)..

Orkut is Being blocked in our college by Internet Protocol filters.Initialy it was easy to bypass the filter with Annonimous proxies (Everyone used kproxy to get into orkut and this led to the blacklisiting of kproxy on server) believe me, it is quite easy to see who is trying to use proxies and whatnot.

I had Created Localproxy servers ( http://orkut.fun.to and http://orkut.sail.to ) it worked in CADD lab but failed in library ( Friends from EC and IT are requested to check these sites from their labs).

Since Google is Still acessible from college, I have made an attempt to use a google service to bypass the filter..just go to http://orkut.up.to [At-times acess may be denied/uncertain as this domain is stil under test]

I would like to put forward some methods for bypassing Orkut access restrictions. I have shortlisted them below:

1. Use IP address - This is the simplest way to bypass domain name based access restrictions. Instead of the domain name such as www.orkut.com use the direct IP address.

IP address of Orkut is 72.14.209.87

2. Use Google cache - To use this method ,Do a Google search for orkut.com and then click on the cached link below the search results.Using Google cache is one of the best methods to bypass filters (but sadly it works only rarely in GeC).

3.. Your own proxy server - This is an advanced technique and is probably the best. This requires your own proxy server hosted either at your home or at a hosting service provider. You can enable SSL encryption and prevent any snooping on the content as well. Also put some access control, otherwise someone can find the service and misuse it (Trust me, there are many who are looking for such an opportunity!).

click to privoxy.org to know more

4.Use Tor- Tor is a free downloadable software which can help in bypassing network surveillance with built-in anonymity options. Tor can be downloaded from http://tor.eff.org/

[plz note: I am not sure about the compatibility of this software with linux]

5.Using Decimal IP address- Filters can be mislead by using decimal IP address. The decimal ip address of orkut is http://1208930647

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Still better ideas/methods are allways welcome..

The Documentation on Worldwide Internet Filtering can be read at--> http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/

***

Well then.. Njoy Orkutting !!!

luv,

..: n E o :..

The experience that was Ragam 07

2007-03-24T11:13:00.000+05:30

Many would know Ragam as the cultural festival of NIT Calicut, some would know about it as the biggest fest in Kerala, others will know it as the place where big names perform in the pro show. But to know what it really is one must go there and feel what it is. It's all about Feeling the excitement rather than getting to know it from people who went for it. Fortunately a small group of students from GECB wanted 1st hand knowledge about all the hype surrounding Ragam. I was fortunate to be the team captain and i found it to be among the best days of my life. Special mention should be made that we went with ZERO preparation for the program and still had a respectable position at the end of 3 hectic days of competitions.

There were just 17 of us. 4 gals, one parent and 12 guys. We started on 14th evening. When we reached the station to board the Kannur express to Calicut, we were shocked to see the large number of students from CET and MBT. When i asked around i got the info that there are more than 200 students from MBT and about 150 from CET. When they asked me all i could say was a handful 17. The trip started off on a good note when we had not many problems in getting our seats close to each other. Since we had booked the tickets just 2 days before the journey the seats weren't close and we had to coax people to shift atleast so that the ladies would be close to each other. We reached Calicut station at 6:10 in the morning and we reached the campus by 7:30 thanks to the fast buses and the taxi that the ladies took.

We registered and the guys were huddled into 1 room in the Men's hostel and from what i heard the ladies had a better stay with just 4 in a room. We guys had a room right next to the bathroom and we thought it will be reeking with bad smell. BUT the best thing about the NITC Campus was the food and the toilets. The food was available round the clock and i mean 24/7 courtesy the mini canteen near the hostel and even though the canteen had not much space the menu was filled with all kinda mouth watering delicacies. We enjoyed eating under the shade of trees around the campus and making friends with people who may never be seen again.

After freshening up we came to the Main Building and the road leading to the main building was bustling with people in all colours, shapes and sizes.

Rajpath-The main road to the campus

Main Building-All lit up for Ragam

After this we went to the prelims of a few events and DAY one ended on a high note for us when we heard that Ananthalakshmy had won the 1st prize in Light music. After this we went and saw the dance in the OAT and stayed there till 2 AM and when we reached the canteen, it was still open and serving hot plates of noodles and omelettes. We had a sumptuous meal and came back to the room by 230 AM and found some sleep.

Sleep-We hardly had any time for it!

The 2nd day started off with the odd events. Items like Vegetable Carving, Clay Modelling and all were slotted for this day. Some of us participated in these and won prizes in this too. Me and Madhuri got into the finals of the senate debate competition. It was a good experience but we didn't win any prize. We had to represent a nation regarding a issue about Arms trade in a UN conference. Due to time constrains they cut short the event and it was pretty bad since we spent all afternoon preparing for this even without having lunch. In addition we had the prelims of some other events too. In short day 2 was pretty hectic.

Prize winners with their creation(Arun Mathew, Aneesh and Razim)

Sadly no prizes for this

At the end of the 2nd day the Shaan Concert was to be held and we didn't think of it as a good way to spend 200 buks. Even otherwise we had lot to SEE and admire in the campus. So we preffered to stay outside the OAT and just loitered around the campus. We found the various departments, the labs, the beautiful PEOPLE roaming around hand in hand. On the 2nd day night we had a conference in the MH and were enlightened on the various actions that a man will undergo after marriage by none other than our Jyothiraj. His beliefs made us laugh like hell and even surprised us at times. By the way he was the one who thought that Ragam had Tech events and had come preparing for that. When he reached here, he found that the only thing closest to a tech event was the rock show and he took a ticket for it and got in on the 3rd day. He was among the LUCKY FEW who saw the rock show by Evergreen AND the fashion show.

Evanvare rock FANaayi

The end of 2nd day we had nothing except the prizes in Light music 1st and the 2nd in vegetable carving. We just were damn tired at the end of day 2 and it was 1 am when we reached the hostel.

He can sleep anytime anywhere........

If day 2 was hectic then day 3 was hell. Many of us had so many events simultaneously that all we managed to do was to rush from one venue to the other. I had 4 event prelims at the same time. Had to call the coords and fix the events 1 after the other and it was a bad time for me to run around from one room to another, especially with my 90 odd kgs. We got into the finals of Adzap, Triple mash and Madhuri got into the finals of Ms Ragam. We got the first prize in Classical music when Anathalakshmy managed to sing a beautiful melody. Thus we had 3 event finals and i thought we stood a good chance in all of them. We also had Rangoli, cartooning and Mono act.

Winner of the Musicals

In the afternoon we got our product for Adzap. It was an energy drink and we had time till 4 pm to make an ad and other features for our drink. We fixed G-Spot as the name. The tagline was TRIGGER THE SPOT IN YOU. We had it like an abbreviation with G-spot standing for Get the spot, where spot was Stimulating Power Oriented Thanni ( i think this was it, not sure). We had a very raunchy ad for the drink and thought we were pretty good with it. Before the Adzap we had the Mr n Ms Ragam finals and Madhuri was the 1st participant on stage. She did well in the 1st round to get the crowd into the arena with a superb dance. Immediately after this we went for the Adzap finals and we had a very good judge who made us all sweat a lot in that small classroom.

G-Spot the drink that we made famous

In Triple Mash we got the 4th position and same was the case with AdZap. At the end of this the ladies in our team left for Trivandrum and we 12 guys were left to loaf around the campus for the last night @ NIT-C. We heard at 6pm that the 2nd in cartooning was for Jinto from our college and at around 7 pm we got the news that Madhuri had won the Ms Ragam title. Even though it didn't have any points or cash prize the title is a big thing and it was pretty good when people were telling that a gal from GECB got the Ms Ragam title.

The 3rd night @ Ragam had Evergreen performing and after this was A La Mode the fashion show. Many of us who were outside were disappointed that we came all the way from Tvm and couldn't witness the mother of all events- Fashion show. But then we had a good time in the campus.

The NOKIA stall was all ours on the last day

Round table conf 2-No xplanations for th awkward look on my face

The time we spent on the benches outside the main lobby proved to be pretty good since the teams going for the fashion show walked right in front of us! So it was PAISA WASOOL for us! We sat there till 2 am or so, then went to the mini canteen, had hot plates of noodles or fried rice and packed our stuff for the next day's trip back home. It was a sad feeling to leave this paradise and get back to the monotonous life of being a GECian. Compared to the fun we guys had there the life as a GECian is nothing! For those who didn't show up, you ppl missed a LOT. Things that i have said till now and many more that you're free to come up and ask anytime you want.

The trip back started on a slow tone. The train was at 840AM and most of the gentlemen had just got up from the beds at 630 and 7AM. The coord's had arranged for 2 buses to drop the crowd of participants back to the railway station. The crowd included the MBTians and CETians who were crowned overall champs. The dejected look on MBTians was a sight to see. They had come with this large contingent to win the title back to back, but the CETians would have none of it and there was also competition from Amrita.

The train ride back was fun and we were all huddled in a general compartment from Calicut till Tvm in the Parasuram Express. It was hard at first when the whole train was filled with students. It was fun to watch people in jeans jostling for space and guys having guitars and cymbals in their hands in the small wooden seats.

Seatillathe DOORil thoongi

Ithinu Oru captionum seriaavilla

Avasana Thullivare njan Nakkum

We had some company on the ride back and the ride was filled with moments of fun and some special moments were:

JK Drinking the last drops off the Maaza bottle
Jyothiraj wearing shoes of 2 different kinds
Karthik in a desp mood clinging onto JK
Dennis and JK not getting to eat anything while all of us had food
Playing DumbC on the ride back and getting amused looks on the face of co-passengers
Jyothiraj ordering everything from Vada's to Sambharam to fill his stomach
Sasi's friend who was silent till Kottayam getting a gal to give her number to him and then they moving out from our seat and finding some PRIVATE moments.

Evane Poovittu Poojikenam

This pic on JKs Demand

We had a jolly good time till Tvm in the jam packed train and met a few INTERESTING people as well. We reached Tvm at 640 in the evening and parted ways with sweet memories about the experience that was Ragam 07.

We came to a respectable 13th Postion(that's what i heard from the reg desk when we checked out). Now one might say what's so good in being 13th. I shall say its damn good for a bunch of people who came to know about the events on the train to Calicut, its good to be 13th when many colleges with 2-3 times more participants managed to get nothing and we had 2 first prizes, 2 second prizes, some 8 finalists and the Ms Ragam title.

So this is what we get when we go with Zero preparation. So if we can manage to prepare decently for Ragam 08, am sure we too can give a good fight for the top teams. Only thing that saddens me is that i won't be there to witness that. It was a great feeling to be the team captain of such a small bunch of students and still get to a respectable position.

What happened to our Intra Collegiate competitions??

2007-03-04T17:59:00.000+05:30

Isn't "All-round development" the keyword for any educational institution? What extra/co- curricular activities are actually happening in the college? The only activity of any importance is probably the Quiz club. And that too has seen a steady decline in participants. Maybe because of a lack of a proper room where this can regularly be conducted.But other than this ... ZILCH ! Isn't it high time we actually organised a common forum where the talents of the students can be recognised and utilised? For those who don't know this, and I'm quite sure that there are quite a few, we have been overall champions at Dhwani three times in a row. So there is no questioning the talent of the students. We have a very good store of raw undiscovered talent. But how can this be discovered if they have no platform to show them? And on top of all this, we have a management that promotes only studies and a PTA that serves no actual purpose than to collect a hefty sum from freshers each and every year. Where does all the money that the PTA collects go? There has been no significant contribution to encouraging extra curricular activities of any kind by this association.
Lets take a "Sector Wise" approach to this .. Firstly - Sports
A few years back, there were promises from the then Principal that cricket nets and a badminton court were due very shortly... .well Sir, you've just redefined "shortly". Its been three years for crying out loud! The first year students may be unaware of this fact but at the time I joined GEC, ie in 2003, there used to be an inter class football tournament every semester.This was also one of the best places where an intense bonding and friendship developed between students of various semesters. It wasnt something of grand proportions but it was fun. There used to be an intense passion in every single game that was played. They were played basically for bragging rights. But isnt that what college life is all about? Shouldn't healthy competition be encouraged? There was also an ever rolling trophy for the champions. There was even a "best player" award. There was also an inter class cricket tournament. Whatever happened to all of this? With zero support, or rather with a large amount of discouragement from the "management" these have slowly vanished. And probably the greatest shame of them all.... We now don't even have an annual sports meet. A shame indeed. We have 3 college teams for sports. Lets take a look at them
1) Football.
With no inter class tournament, talent scouting becomes that much harder. Students are rarely informed about selections (if any actually happen).And when a bunch of good players are finally selected, it'll be too late, because the selections happen a day before a tournament actually starts. So that leaves out practice and coaching. Oh ... wait a minute!! We don't have a coach!! Wait... we do have someone responsible for physical educations don't we? (For those who don't know that fact, you're forgiven. He rarely shows up in college).And unfortunately the half decent football ground that we have now looks like the site of an archaeological excavation site where the battered remains of an ancient city now lay, with just a few pillars remaining.
2) Cricket.
Same as above. Don't think our college has any equipment of its own.We have 1 or 2 district players in the team, but no coaching provided at GEC .. no sir!
3) Basketball
This is probably the only team that actually practises and has any team coordination at all. No thanks to the administration. These boys formed the team on their own, practise whole heartedly with no external support, they scout for talent with every new batch in the college and they've had their share of bright moments. Again, don't think the college has even a basketball.
4) Volleyball
We had a team once in 2003, played one tournament with zero practice. End of story.
5) Indoor Sports.
Non-Existent. How hard is it to actually construct one small room with a couple of ping pong tables and a few chess boards and carrom boards?
Second category...
Technical events at fests
Now being a government college, our college has an abundant supply of intelligent students.And this has been proven time and again.The winner of the US technology promoted Brains at War competition is from GEC.We have a few (Three I believe) very good quiz teams, that have won prizes at many fests. A couple of people take part in debates sometimes. Now the difference between these two are that there is actually a quiz club where the best in the college actually get together regularly and fine tune their skills (Thank you for your support Mr. Abhilash Suryan).
A "debating club" was started a while back but vanished immediately. It was a very good step in the right direction in starting it, but unfortunately it din't take off, probably because of a lack of cooperation. The college is now churning out brilliant engineers who are not confindent in public because of a lack of exposure. I have to admit though that there have been a few instances where the college authorities have taken the initiative and conducted workshops and presentations but with a discouraging response from the student community.

Sector 3
Arts
We have just won the overall championship at this year's Aufait. But let's admit it, there wasnt much of a competition. So why is it that a college that has been a 3 time Dhwani winner still cant give CET and MBT a run for their money at various fests. It most definitely isn't a lack of talent. I would say that it is a lack of organization among the student community. No one knows who is good at what. Isn't it the duty of the Arts club secretary to actually identify talented people and give them the necessary encouragement? We still see only a very small number of students (which does not include the arts club secretary himself) actually participating in the fests. There are probably more talented people sitting undiscovered in this college. We need a combined effort by the students as a whole to be able to score any points in major inter collegiate fests such as Dhwani and Crossroads. And what can the administration of the college do about this?
Well, perhaps a small portion of the massive amount that the PTA demands every year for God only knows what, could be used to provide some basic facilities for the students. For example, how about a room dedicated to arts? Where the students could practice after working hours? And how about a cd player so that songs can be played so that dances can be practiced? Now that surely is not going to hurt the PTA is it ? Lets do some basic arithmetic here.
Number of incoming students per year = 180
Amount collected per year by the PTA = 3000 (2000 for my batch)
Amount collected per year = 3000 x 180 = 5,40,000
Total collected in the 4 years I have been in college = 5,40,000 x 3 + (2000x 180)
= A WHOPPING 19,80,000. Almost 20 lakhs.
Cost of half decent cd player and speaker set = Negligible
Ok now some personal experience. This college has a band. (Please no comments about the quality please :D). We've had our ups and downs but we've never ever had the support from college. As is the plight with any endeavor that our students embark upon. Students from various batches represented our college at Rosebowl's Dhoom. This is probably the first ever time that we've had a gropu representing our college that comprised of students of various batches. But that was totally their own initiative and hard work.And you have to give them a hand for stayin after working hours in college and practicing even with narrow minded people around who think a few boys and girls sittin in a classroom together is a crime.
(Some people may remember incidents which happened in 2003 during dhwani dance practices where a senior staff member showed us how brilliantly narrow minded he was)
Hopefully this year we'll be having an arts fest. (Union... atleast give us an arts fest! No sports day, no annual day ... please? atleast an arts fest?)

Ok.. now Im tired. So please if someone else can talk about how we can improve the situation before major fests like cervello and crossroads, I could sit in front of my PC relaxing and listening to some music and growing fat.
But before I leave, some suggestions to the Principal, PTA, union and students

A) Dear Principal...
1) Allow arts fest
2) Allow sports day
3) Allow Annual day
4) Allow football and cricket tournaments
5) Give us a table tennis room atleast.
6) Hire a football and cricket and basketball coach?
7) GIVE US A BREAK !!

B) Dear PTA,
1) Utilise some of the funds you receive for the betterment of the students
2) Maybe some sporting equipment?
3) Maybe a couple of instruments and audio system for an AV and music room?

If you're funds have been utilized in the construction of the nearly completed new building, the you have my apologies and i retract my statements.But if that money is in the banks accruing interest for no purpose at all, you should be ashamed of yourself.( By the way, why were we forced to give Rs 1500 for the construction of the new classroom blocks?)

C) Dear College union (To the new one to be elected on the 9th)
1) Actually organize something !
2) Think about the possibility of an arts fest happening
3) Maybe a sports day as well?
4) Atleast an annual day? Cmon.. I mean.. which college doesnt have an annual day?

D)Dear students
1) Organise something yourselves
2) Take part in events. It's for your own good. You'll develop confidence.
3) Your batchmates arn't the only ones in the college. Your seniors and juniors can be your teammates. That would lead to a better team.
4) Utilize what you have. Join the quiz club. Join debating and public speaking clubs if they are formed. You have nothing to lose.
5) Let's give a decent performance at crossroads.

My batch will be completing our engineering studies in June (Hopefully). So it's upto the juniors to carry the torch forward. Make it burn brighter. And lets hope that we get an administration ready to promote education and not just textbook studies.

Fests and more fests!

2007-03-04T11:59:00.000+05:30

In the light of the different inter-college programs being planned by the 3 dept's of the college, i would like to hear from you all about what all you think is good with the present plans; ie about the 3 depts going separately with their independent events.

Would it have been better if all branches did the programs together??
Would it be possible for the 3 events to get funding with the reputation of the college??
Will it be a good reflection on the image of the college??
Will it cause any rift between the students of the college??

I had some more questions in my mind, but can't remember them all!

So waiting for the replies or more queries!

Hope that atleast this will create some active posts or comments!

Why GEC, Bartonhill???

2007-01-25T23:06:00.000+05:30

Well let's have something interesting going on in here! If we are to publish an article in the papers regarding the achievements of GECB in the past 7 years, what all will we publish?? Since this is NOT a newspaper article and is not intended to be just an advertisement. Something that shows both the positives AND the negatives, unlike the major chunk of FACTUAL reports we see in the papers after the entrance tests calling our attention to all kinds of infrastructural details and about the profile of the various faculty members.

What i am trying here is to have a realistic picture of what's life @ GECB, What it means to be one, what all can you look forward to if you join this institution, what are the setbacks that you may suffer if you join and so on. I shall try to put in some details about what all i have felt here and if you feel that it's not sufficient enough, you are always welcome to have a comment or even a new post if you feel that would do justice to such a topic!

So here it goes.

The Pros of GECB and of being a GECian:

Well obviously the 1^st and foremost factor that favours GEC over other colleges is the placements that happen here. Not that it’s comparable to that of CET, but then comparing an institution like CET along with us is not being just. I mean CET is a institution with a class of its own. It’s more than 60 years old. THAT itself is a testament to how great it is. Regarding the placements: We have a good reputation among the companies that visit the campus, or rather the students have a good reputation. This is the only area where I feel that the LACK of infrastructure is a major strength of ours. Since the 1^st thing that the recruiters see here are a set of tile-roofed buildings that in no way are good for a ENGINEERING college. But when they find the quality of students who happen to study here, they are awed. I have had the chance of talking to a few people who come here representing the best of IT companies of India, and all have the same opinion – compared to the infrastructure (or rather lack of it) we have, we produce good quality engineers.

This feature is actually the result of the next factor favouring us: A knowledgeable and dynamic team of faculty members who constantly try to improve our knowledge in the constrains of this small college. Am not qualified to comment on the quality of faculty that we have in the departments of IT or EC, but since I have seen a good number of faculty members of CET from the times that I spent in the Mech engg labs @ CET, I can say that our faculty members are on par those of CET, if not higher than them. This again is a debateable topic since we don’t have a strict platform for evaluating the profile’s of the faculty. But even from their degree’s they are too good for a college like ours!
The next factor that’s in favour is the LOCATION. All might be wondering what I am talking about. But it’s true that a college that’s within the city limits has a lot of advantages when compared to other colleges which have acres of land, but are in areas that are not easy to reach. This is a major factor which a student SHOULD take into consideration. This not only means that we spend less time and money on travel, but the fact is that we can reach any cinema theatre in the city within 15-20 mins in a bike or auto from GECB. I don’t think any other engineering college in the city offer’s such a facility!

Coming to the atmosphere @ GEC, well it’s always calm except for the occasional barking dog or the wind rustling through the woods of IMG hostel upstairs! We can claim that ours is the most peaceful campus in the state, since it hasn’t seen a single fight over any kind of issue except some rare occurrences. This is a point that can come as a positive for some, and for some others this can be a negative point too!

Another important point can be the bond that the students share in this college. I have been to numerous colleges and believe me, there are very few colleges which have so less number of students and this is the reason why we see that the students, irrespective of their branches and semester have a good rapport amongst each other and this is a good thing for a campus.

I think these are the major positives of GECB.

Now looking at the negatives:

Most important flaw in GECB is the lack of infrastructure. We don’t even have the basic buildings for classrooms, our labs (the one’s we HAVE) are congested and don’t have the required ventilation and it really is a major area of concern. Each time the AICTE team comes to the college, they point this as the biggest problem. They are happy with our students and faculty, but unhappy with the way the students are being taught in small classrooms and even smaller labs.

The college website SUXX bigtime, it looks as if the designer wanted to have this put up as an entry for the WORST website’s category. The site instead of giving a rosy picture, actually degrades the college’s image and if theirs anyone who knows a thing or two about hacking please do something!

The office staff! If anyone’s gone there for getting a paper signed or for anything else they will agree when I say that they are worst bunch of people to man a engineering college office! This also includes some NICE people in the workshop and the CAD lab too!

The dog’s and cows roaming around in the campus! They may give the idea of a environmentally conscious institute, but that all can come later. 1^st we need a campus for the students, not one with dog’s roaming around as if they OWN the place.

The lack of a proper canteen. I know it serves food at reasonable rates. But what about snacks and drinks?? If anyone’s gone to some other college’s you can see the kind of hygiene that the cooks and the other staff over their have. It’s better if I don’t mention about that here!

Lack of a proper place to hang around. This may not be fulfilled even when we have our building up and running since our campus is too small. But then I have felt the need of a place to just sit and talk at many times. All we have is the small counter near the cooler (now that’s another area of concern), a few steps near the EC labs and the ground with a set of stairs elevating us to the heavens.

I think these are the main reasons for the fame and glory of GECB, pour your remarks and comments if you feel I haven’t done justice to the title!

Postponing exams, isn't it prolonging the misery?

2007-01-23T13:26:00.000+05:30

Well I thought so.
I got the highest marks when I had just a day to study,
and once when I had eleven, I just managed to scrape through.
Exam seasons were the worst days of my college life
and continue to remain the same, in my new avatar as the teacher.
And to prolong it, to cut into the colourful days in the campus!!!!
When will we learn?

Please get rid of this logo

2007-01-16T21:12:00.000+05:30

Isn't it irritating to display a logo with spelling mistakes!!!
At least care for the prestige of our institution.

Good Idea

2007-01-15T07:19:00.000+05:30

Guys..
Great initiative...but for a change, can we have something other than the GEC logo on here?

Testing!

2007-01-13T20:10:00.000+05:30

Well it was Hari's idea to start a blog for the great insti that's helped us get an identity in the increasing population of Engineers in Kerala. So here goes the blog