kartik kannan's space on the web

Trip to College

Last Saturday was a small visit down memory lane,when I went to my alma mater, Vel Tech engineering College for getting a recommendation letter from my Head of the department , regarding my higher studies. I took Anand along, to accompany me.Anand seemed to drive the bike pretty cautiously after his mild accident with Joshy 2 years back.



There were quite a few changes in our college and the most visible ones are the following.

1) The College symposium is being conducted regularly

2)It has a sponsor logo on the poster,which was a raity in our times, as we never were able to find a prospective sponsor.Those were the days when all my efforts were annulled by a rather crazy and carping management and staff.When we did the symposium in 202, we managed dishnet as a sponsor, but the current batch has managed to get Infosys a a sponsor which is quite commendable.



The backside of the college near the Mens Toilet is free from all the workshop metal heap that previously used to lie there and now the whole area looks good.It was tough to address the Toilet as a "toilet" as we are used to calling it "restrooms" and "washrooms" :-) .Suprisingly after washing my face I was lookig for the face tissues, after which I embarrsingly remembered I was back in College and not at work. The college toilets were a strict "no no" for a friend of mine called M.S.Arvind, who in his 4 year tenure at the college never managed to go near the toilet citing hygene factors.Anyways after that, Toilet going became a hobby for most of us, after having got used to the luxurius jaquar bath fittings and kimberley's washing tissues at work.


This was the place most of ourmates would remember working on bland C/C++ sessions in the lab,which was devoid of internet connection most of the time, as all the systems had only DOS Preloaded and were machines on which only programs could be executed.Though things have changed now, with a lot of machines having internet access in the Block 8 Labs.For internet we used to walk half a mile to reach the interner lab, which was above the auditorium block.


These are the narrow bylanes, next to the computer lab where we used to remove our footwear and once this was done, with soiled socks all around,this was one place folks didnt want to be for too long.

I spent sometime in the placement department, meeting students who had been placed in various IT Companies.2 years back, we had all sec technologies and Sutherland coming to our college,but things have changed remarkably with Infy,TCS,Caritor,Polaris,Satyam and a few other IT coompanies having regular placement programs with our college.The lpacement department definetely needs a pat on the back to help turn around the image of our college from the students perspective in terms of providing job assistance. It's good to see the college shed its indifferent rustic image to a more professional image.

Oh ya the gates of hell, have just grown a touch bigger and a little more grand, than when we were around.


Though every trip makes me slightly emotional, at the end of it all, I just want to get out of the place simply because of the commuting distance.It did have my spirits up for some time , but I still remained in a pensive mood, and the Indian batting collpase later in the day did my mood no favour.


Trip Video..From College to Avadi