Amace Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni 1

April 14, 2012 Issue 1

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni

Editorial Team
Ramki 1985-89

Table of Content
Editors Table Meet the AMACE-ION Business Leader Bala & Friends-A Journey called LIFE Get Togethers Of Alumni In Last Quarter (what we know): 1986-90 Batch Meet the Corporate TITAN-T S Balaji, Asst, Vice President, Tech Mahindra,Pune Painting Talent of Mayashri Rajendran-Art par excellence 2 4 9 11 12 13 15 15 16 17

Ramki67@gmail.com

Nithya Ramesh 1986-90 nithyaramesh999@yahoo.com

Chelli Sreenivasan 1988-92 chellsree@yahoo.com

Meet The Guru-Dr. V.Jothiprakash, Associate Professor, IIT Bombay, Mumbai AMACE Alumni Group at FaceBook AMACE Placement Cell

Shrinivasan 2000 -2004 tshrinivasan@gmail.com

Fun Corner The First Cut

Kulasekar Nammaalwar 1985-89 hellokula@yahoo.com

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni

While there are several names possible for this Newsletter we Zeroed in on AMACE Ion indicating we are Ions with a charge to changeus, our lives and our society. You will notice that most of the charged Editors Table words in English have an Ion in it-PassIon, VisIon, MissIon, MotivatIon (The Photo below is the joyous moment when most of 1985-89 batch kept etc are positively charged while words like DepressIon etc are negatively charged. AMACE Ions are similarly charged-to show the world that we their foot on the college campus after 20 yearsa lot changed but bonds can achieve and prove that we can succeed despite all odds. became strongera moment to cherish and pride-we are still young!!) That makes us special much more than those who had the privilege of joining more established institutions and have the brand of the college or Institution as a passport for success. For an AMACEion, confidence and energy is the biggest asset-we all have this in abundance-a truly AMACEion quality of never giving up. In this first edition of the Newsletter, we try to cover some of the successful journeys made by the Alumni. We want you to be inspired to achieve even more and make us prouder. We also have some fun and open sections which will be evolved more in the next issues and we make this journey more exciting. We will surely cover the Alumni meets in this Newsletter as meeting personally is a great feeling we all relish. Reliving college days and laughing to self is something everyone should do/aim to do by having atleast once in 2 years Alumni meet. 1988-92 batch have done this and will vouch for what I Mother feels prouder when the kids become worthy citizenssuccessful and respected by society- There can be no two opinions on this mention. I personally thank all of (especially Shrini and Nithya) those who fact. When we began our journey to get Alumni of Amace together in the virtual world early 2011 there was just one unstated objective-let us get as contributed in this first newsletter. It is a baby just born. We will crawl, walk and run with your active support. We expect you read this end to end many Alumni as possible as this is first step to achieving something as it really reflects the spirit we want every Amace-Ion to embed. Look bigger. We indeed did that with our FB page having more than 2600 forward to your feedback and strengthening our bonds. Happy holidays to members. The most important thing is there is nothing official about it. all. Share your best photos/experiences of travel as they do make a good Then as every other thing in life the need/Wish became bigger. We reading for all. ambitioned to have a Newsletter which can build a sense of pride among ourselves, create an identity that energizes our future and nourishes our Yours truly common roots. This is the first such effort and I am sure like you, we Ramki, Editor by Default!! recognize this is a Journey just begun.

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni

4 Building relationships and trusting people led to partner with two of his college-mates achieve their dreams while carrying through the successful leadership journey for Bala. Here are my notes from the formal but informal Chat. Shrini: Bala, Tell about your college life. I studied Mechanical Engineering in AMACE 1991-1995. College life was paradise on Earth. No worries, No responsibilities. Fun, Fun and Fun only. That life made me thrive in diversity- students from various cultures, languages, states, attitudes/objectives. Till then, I never knew the variety of human life. As we started our new life at college, it showered us a rain of friendship and challenges. What was your first job? had to find our job-hunting in an open world. No campus interview concept on those days in any college.(It is not there in our college, still Shrini). Though I studied, mechanical engineering, on our inplant training to some factory, I found that I am not fit for that industry. I still feel that invention about my interest is my great victory on my career. After college, I joined a small software startup firm. It was really small. We were only 5 people there. I was writing some small software. They were into consulting industry too. Was it nice to work with a small firm?

Meet the AMACE-ION Business Leader Bala & Friends-A Journey called LIFE
Meeting successful Alumni is something to relish and learn. I share my memorable interaction with Bala & Friends. We stayed in a rented place outside college as there was no hostel for men. That was the golden period as we shared food, books, time, moneythere was nothing personal or private as I evolved into we. Those wonderful experiences and memories still help me in handling various kinds of people and situations. In short, we just did not get our Engineering degree in AMACE but a Lifes Experience Bala Chandra, CEO, Vernalis System Limited.

Yes. As it was small, we all shared the responsibilities. Small companies provide a lot of opportunities to learn tons of stuff. I learnt how do they do From left to right: Krishna, Bala, Shrini and ArulWhere there is Bala business, the interaction with customers, the trust we need to build etc. there is a way

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni How did you start Vernalis? What did you do with those learnings? As I learnt how to do business than how to write software, I wanted to start my own company. Few of my college friends, were also willing to join me. We wanted some money to start our own company. Instead of getting it from our parents or loan, we decided to go for abroad and earn money. Interesting. Where did you go? How did you get business and clients? I went to Singapore. Our plan was to stay there for one year. Return with huge money. The funny thing was that we never planned for expenses of living there in Singapore. Stay, Food, Travel consumed a lot of my savings there. So, I was forced to stay there for some more years. Did you come back to India then? While living abroad, I used to keep on collaborating and networking with many people. My college and room days helped me to build trust and share kindness and love with people around. I still maintain personal and business communication with those people. They trust me and provide business opportunities. Now, our team has people around the world.

E&Y provided an opportunity for me to start a consulting company in India, with my own people. Started Vernalis at 2003. Started building people and business here, while serving the clients abroad. At 2008, I had to take a decision. Scale up the company or sell out to some big player. Decided to scale up. Started Vernalis Capital for our own funding. It is a self sustained Venture Capital firm funded by our partners for our operational scaling up and business development.

No. Life was not letting me to India, before I gain more experience on Impressive, you are truly a Global AMACEion-Tell us how you build doing business. Joined Ernst & Young and moved to USA. Fortunately, we your Team, around the world-how do you hire them? had a decent stay area with enough food. It was not true for most of the Indian people who migrate there. Hiring people who work in remote is tough. But the trust we build make it easier. As we work with people around the world, we come to know each There were 7 consultancy companies playing in the same arena and I had a other over few years. Once the deep trust is build, they are ready to work good challenge. for us with full devotion. EY provided me big exposures on various domains. The trust I built with people made me get assigned as consultant working directly with clients. Where are your offices? At 2001, I worked for the Palm computer devices which died even before Chennai, Madurai, Pune, New York, London, Australia, they became big in market. The exposure to other industries built a Melbourne(Australia) ,Koln(Germany) network of good trust-able people around me.

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni How do you expand your customer base? By word of mouth only. Our trusted customers bring even more new customers as we keep on maintain our words, business confidence and trust. Who are your customers? Ernst & Young is the great customer for us. We have Major League Baseball, Australian Football League, Health First, Oravig are a few others to name too. Krishna joins now in the talk. He starts the conversation. We were in a kind of hell, there without proper communications with people. Bala: Somehow, we managed to start business with China. Again people & building trust helps here.

Krishna: Now, I run my own company Indicool. Thats Bala's special. He finds potential people and help them to build their own world. Shrini: That's nice. Building people is a great one.

I am a Mechanical Engineer from AMACE. I found my interest in Bala: I just help my friends to do what they dream. marketing during my college days itself. In the cultural event, I worked for marketing team and found my skills on that. After College, I was into Arul joins in the conversation now. Concept selling initially and then into Freezer marketing. Arul: Hi, I am a proud civil engineer from AMACE. I just met these guys in the AMACE Alumni meet happened on 2011 at T nagar. I found Bala: Yes. To find our core interest is very important to start our life. interesting people there. [ correct here on your first meet for business talk ] Krishna found that. Bala: It is our pleasure to meet you there Arul!!:-) Krishna: When I met Bala, few years back, I told that I want to scale up. He showed interest to fund me to grow. Arul: I am builder. I built some large civil works in Chennai. But, due to my small scale business, I can not get proper attention in the market. I had Bala: To fund is easy. To whom to fund is very difficult. We have to check to scale up to get even bigger customers. on their deeper interest and dedication on their works. I roamed with Krishna all around the TamilNadu. Bala: We have our customer, in Madurai, Noble constructions, who Most of the customers know him well. He was one of the core known wanted to start construction activity in Chennai. We felt that connecting businessman in the Refrigeration field. Arul and them will be interesting. We analysed the current works of Arul. He had a huge potential on the building constructions. Once opportunity is Krishna: To scale up, I wanted to import Freezers from china. To know given, he can build heavens in earth. the business, I and Bala traveled to China. They were the funniest days. Chinese people don't know English. They rename all the stuff in the world, Arul: We met Noble constructions team and decided to start a new venture in Chinese language. We salute their love of their mother tongue. But, they together. Noble Haru Properties (P) Ltd. Constructions have started. have to open their mind to learn English for interacting with outer world. Sooner you will see us around the Chennai, providing you homes for

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni happy living. Shrini: How do you make business with your friends? Did you came across a situation to maintain either friendship or business?

Bala: hahaha. It never happened to us. First, we have to accept that mistakes will be there. No man is perfect. If they are willing to learn from their own mistakes and others mistakes, they can achieve a lot. We trust each other. We trust on our skills. If we have failure, we sit together and analyses on how we failed. We change the business process and try again until we get success. Krishna: Bala is a great leader. He shows all the leadership qualities on correcting mistakes. So we don't get any conflict. There is 100% transparency in our business. The trust we build keeps us together in all circumstances. Bala. Give your suggestions on starting a new company? Money wont be a bigger problem for starting a company. Before starting it, get work experience for 4-5 years. Get the deep knowledge on how the business works. Build huge network of people who trust you. Find potential people and give opportunities for them to grow with you. Money should not be your goal. Your long term vision should be the goal. Do your best on whatever you do. Have bigger dreams and spend your life on making them into real. Trust your people. Control emotions on handling people. Experiment on getting people from tier 2 cities like Madurai. Bala, What do you think on students from all fields jump into Computer Science field?

Shrini: Bala, What is the secret of your business success? Trust people and make them build trust. Understand the business. Help others to achieve. Come out of fear of failure. Dedication on whatever you do. Shrini: How do you manage family and business ? I can not give huge quantity of time to family. But giving high quality of time. The exposure they get is enormous. Once I took my kids to foreign trip for 23 days. All my friends there, took care of the kids. They get to meet new world and interesting people around. This makes them understand the business and help me to manage both perfectly.

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni Thats not a problem. If they find interest on computers, they can do so. They can't achieve there, unless they love it. Find your core interest. Do all the stuff you come to know, until you find what interests you. Then dream on achieving on your interested field. Make the dreams true. That will be a Joy, in the interesting game called LIFE. Shrini: 'Being connected' is the great passion you have. What can we do for this to happen across our college students? We have to conduct series of events regularly. Meetups will help to get more people. Use online tools like facebook, google groups to stay in tough with friends. But, physical meet is most important than a online Hi, whats up? Invite celebrities for the meets. Find a catchy date for the regular meet like May 1 etc. We have to do it regularly. Shrini : College Life gave us a lot. What can we do for giving back? We are ready to conduct campus interview. We can help the students to educate them on current trends in their fields. We can give the students the real time projects. Ask the students or the placement cell staff to connect with us. Shrini: Sure, Will ask them to do so. Thanks for the great time. It inspires me a lot. I never thought that I will be meeting an inspirational hero with his team. Thanks all for being together. Wishes for all your progress of building people. The joyful & successful journey of explorations of Bala & friends continues. The trio invited me to a nearby Cafe, to have a coffee (or Kaapi as we call it). It is named Zha Cafe. A restaurant with a Tamil Theme. Nice ambiance, designer tables, separate rooms for family with a home theater.

I just find that T-Shirts with Bharathiyar's Sayings are for sale. Notice board filled with nice Tamil writings. I thought that this is their usual meet place. Bala smiled reading my mind. "This Zha (Zha is not exactly the same pronunciation as this letter is unique to Tamizh-zh as in Tamizh) cafe is our new adventure. We thought that it will be interesting to start a new restaurant business. And we started. Come with your family and friends to taste a new world Get Inspired: If you have the passion life will take you to great Heights. Bala is the perfect example-An AMACEion we are to be proud of..

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni

Get Togethers Of Alumni In Last Quarter (what we know): 1986-90 Batch

The homecoming of the batch was in college on 25th Dec 2012. Here is the Youtube video link which shows the glimse of this event. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxPWRxHPXyw&feature=youtube 1988-92 BATCH Leadership of Homecoming events is provided by 1988-92 batch who have done 2 Fiestas (homecoming events) in the last 3 yearsother batches needs to get motivated by them. Apart from this Manick leads a lot of social initiatives despite his busy schedule as senior executive in a Indian MNC. Hats off to Manick and team!!(For those who are not members of the AMACEALUMNI.NET please do so as it is open for all batches.-this is a top initiative of 1988-92 batch who want AMACEions spread across the world in one place) Here is the glimpse of the event as described by them in the Fiesta 2 highlights. http://amacealumni.net/events/Fiesta2/fiesta2_highlights.php To motivate you to have the get together here is a brief description of the experiences they had on 7th and 8th of January this yeardoes your batch have enough energy..it just takes 3 people to organize the thoughts and make it happen.Nithya Ramesh, Damodharan of 1986-90 batch can vouch for this. FIESTA EXTRAVANGANZA The longest word is SMILE because there is a mile between S and E. It was made longer by AMACEIANS 88-92 who could not control the non-stop chatter and laughter, which started on arrival at the resort around noon on the 7th of January 2011 and continued till afternoon of the next day. Manned by our batch mates and sometimes by equally enthu spouses and kids the registration desk was really inviting. The major highlight was the grand support offered by the spouses of our batch mates and the way the kids enjoyed. This was what we wanted to achieve. When Chandru asked for suggestions for the venue for the next Fiesta, maximum suggestions came from the kids section. Some said Goa and some even said Kashmir. The colourful stalls under tall coconut trees were inviting. Kiddos thronged the shooting gallery, ring throw, find your partner, ball in bucket stall and straw-ball stall. There was active participation from the ladies too. There was a long line at the mehendi and tattoo counter also, not to forget the popcorn, sugar candy and the ice cream vandi. Some people were parked in this section permanently. The active participation in the cooking contest offered more delicacies of which none of us omitted anything. When we were just thinking when this constant eating will come to an

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni end, lunch was served. We made a beeline towards the sumptuous spread. North Indian and South Indian food vied for our attention, which we duly gave. The organizers were ready with the next on the agenda. Beach games. This was meant to hasten metabolism and digestion. We joined the big group on the beach side all the time shaking hands with new arrivals and chattering away accompanied by non-stop laughter. The sound of mama and machan filled the air. The races and ball games conducted for us saw full participation from batch mates, spouses and the energetic kids who wanted unlimited fun. The prizes produced amused expressions from everyone. Thanks to Rajagopal & family and GV-Uday. There was nothing but total happiness throughout. Some spouses did not talk much but showed their pleasure with gentle smiles lighting their faces. There existed no barriers of Mech, Civil or E&C, everyone was smiling at every other personboy or girl, batchmate or spouse. Some guessing games were also happening side by side with some of us blinking and making serious identification errors. No one was offended, in fact they were amused all the more. It was time to dress up and get ready for Carnival Nite. We turned up in our best clothes. Ladies clad in lovely sarees and salwar kameezes and men in western wear and ethnic attire. Kids in brilliant colours stole the show. Some of us enjoyed the beach side breeze making use of the sea shore benches. Those few minutes will never come again light in heart and mind. The loud music invited everyone to the beachside stage decorated with cute balloons and a nice backdrop. The rocking show began with songs sung by Manickams father accompanied with music by his group. Family photo session proceeded with digs from Jhotibabu and friends. He spared no one. Soon many were scared to step up on stage. Total entertainment was ensured by Manickam, Amal and friends who sang yester year songs.

10 The Ramp Walk for kids displayed stellar performances and witty answers from them. The continuous addition of more and more kids by enthusiastic parents showed that the event was a success. Some kiddos refused to leave the stage walking all over it. Cute. Keyboard, Guitar, vocal and Flute music filled the evening air along with the sound of the waves. The solo dance performances by talented AMACE off springs was rocking. The shining almost full moon and its shimmering reflection in the sea water added to the charm. Our batch mates and their spouses took part enthusiastically in the Help Your Spouse dumb charades game which saw some quick thinking and superb acting e.g: Acting for Kozhikode. Soon it was dinner time and Dance for Joy time. The dosa counter was a welcome surprise. While some of us filled up the lavishly laden dinner tent the kids and our batch mates started dancing. Some surprise performers on stage among the AMACE girls clearly indicated where from their kids picked up dancing talent. Our boys brought their wives on stage too. The girls made a circle near the beach and chatted away till 2.00 am and some of the boys did the same in their rooms in huge groups with you know what. MV supplied the girls with water (plain) to continue chatting unmindful of the scary darkness, mosquitoes and drooping eyelids not to forget the sleeping families in the rooms. Reluctantly we walked back to our respective rooms and were soon up and awake to attack the beach at 6.00 a.m. Kids and families took dips in the sea water followed by a dip in the pool. Again we hit the breakfast counters for a simple treat and headed to the conference hall.

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni But all of us knew that this was just the beginning to everlasting relations. Not a week has passed but we have been talking and talking to the same friends and some who did not attend ..again and again leaving family members amused. It was a travel back in time on a time machine.

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Meet the Corporate TITAN-T S Balaji, Asst, Vice President, Tech Mahindra,Pune
The wired journey of an AMACE-ion Interview & narration by Nithya Ramesh " Do you believe if I say that one of the first mobile calls of Chennai was made by one of our AMACE-ions. Yes, it must have been a proud moment for T.S.Balaji, a student of the first batch of AMACE (1985-1989).

A proud product of D.A.V. Boys HSS, Gopalapuram, Chennai, T. S. Balaji owes his school for what he is today. He works in the CTO office of Tech We, his immediate juniors, referred him as 'Mirudhangam Balaji' as Mahindra, Pune. he used to play the instrument in our college music troupe.(Yes, we did What was your Childhood dream? have one then). He was always seen wearing a red bag across his shoulders which he says it made him look like an intellect...though he already looked like that even without it. This was how looked then (with I wanted to own a multi-storeyed shop as I found it interesting and challenging-maybe because I lived in T-Nagar close to Ranganathan Street his TV) and how he looks now (with his Smart phone and Smarter Wife the epicenter of Chennais shopping locale my dreams were around this. Hema)!! What made you choose Electronics and what would you assign your success to? I believe in filling the fuel tank of life with dreams. It is my dreams that took me all through the journey in the field of Electronics and Communications to what I am today. I worked as a Communication Software designer, network planner, network operations manager, new

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni product developer, solutions provider. I have been involved in innovation and crisis management on projects, traveling extensively throughout the world for the purpose. But still I think the dream lives on and the fire in me is still burning to achieve more. (A True AMACE-Ion!!) What Drives you? I always got involved in a job only if I am passionate about it. I was part of the BHEL Telecom Engineering team where out of the top 10 innovative solutions, 6 was on me(as published in BHELs 10-year digest for Telecom Group). Later, I dreamt of working in my hometown, Chennai, and joined RPG Cellular. I was in-charge of the complete network planning function for the wired part of the GSM network. The software of Wings Prepaid Service launched by RPG Cellular was fully conceived, designed and a few parts developed by me-I am happy that I created something new and that drives me even today. People also drive me-I coached my juniors at office who were doing a long distance programme in BITS, Pilani. What do you aspire to be-next step in career path? I am now part of the CTO Office in Tech Mahindra and my aspiration is to become a CxO soon. What is your advise to the Young AmaceIONs? Stay curious in whatever you do, develop consciously your soft skills like communication, presentation skills, give more attention to grooming yourself.... We are proud of you Boss! Wish you all the Best to become CxO soon we will demand a treat from you

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Painting Talent of Mayashri Rajendran-Art par excellence

Mayashri Rajendran (2006 batch) is a talented AMACE-ion..she is blessed with painting skills that are admired across sections of society. She recently organized Mayas Art Trove as Solo art exhibition in Ambassador Pallava. We are proud of you Maya..you make us believe Engineers are not Geeks!! Hats off you to you and we wish you all the best in your future Endeavours..

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni

13 Tell me about your college life......any unforgettable incidents (that I dont know)? Each and every incident in college life was unforgettable. They were memorable days and they are definitely becoming sweeter and sweeter as days are passing. I get recharged thinking about the good times in college ( that was a good escapu) What are your passions in life? "STUDY, LEARN, UNDERSTAND, TEACH, IMPROVE." (Ions that charge every success) How do you manage your work pressure? You will have pressure only when you feel that it is a work. Since I love my job, I never feel the pressure. ( I hope I learn from you buddy) Achievements so far in your career? Even though I am one of the engineers in the country with four Young awards (Young Engineer, Young Teacher, Young Scientist, Young Researcher) and many Best Paper Awards, I feel proud of a work that has reached the field, and it has fetched me an ISTE-Maharashtra State Outstanding Research Award in Engineering and Technology for the year 2011. (the list of awards is available in http://www.civil.iitb.ac.in/~vprakash/honors.html) (We are proud of you. Jothi was recognized in our AMAZE Titans 86-90 Meet in Dec 2011 in AMACE college campus)

Meet The Guru-Dr. V.Jothiprakash, Associate Professor, Iit Bombay, Mumbai

The KNOWLEDGE BOOSTER AMACE-Ion (Interview and Narration by Nithya Ramesh) Many of us around here would have aspired to step into the prestigious institution of The Indian Institue of Engineeering as a student. Here we have a proud product-(charged as an Ion as every successful AMACE-Ion is)-teaching the Wiz kids of IIT. He has many laurels in his cap. Given the fact he started his journey from a small town and made it this big is something we are proud of. Here is the extract of the interview I ran with himmy batchmate, I am proud of you!! Tell me about your schooling I did my schooling at Government Elementary School in my Village till 5th standard and then later on till my Higher Secondary in Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Boys' Higher Secondary School at Tiruttani. What were your dreams of your career in childhood? My childhood dream was to become a "School Teacher". I guess your dreams too had grown with you.... Yes...after my +2, I got admission to Engineering and became an AMACE-ion as my father's dream was to make me an engineer. I fulfilled my father's dream and at the same time I also became a teacher. (this is double dream fulfilled)

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni Future plans and any other dreams....

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My future dream is to make India a developed country in water resources and make it greener than it is now. (Wowwe are with you. Mother Earth is proud of you) About your job...how much do you enjoy it? My job at present is teaching and research and I enjoy each and every minute of it. As a successful engineer, what you would like to tell the budding AMACE-ions to face this competitive world? What did you lose to achieve them? If you lose anything to achieve something then it is not an award, it becomes business and I am very poor in business. I have not lost anything or I have not compromised on anything to achieve my awards. Tell us about your family. I married my childhood heartthrob and am blessed with three daughters. (way to Go!!) Having been a student of the second batch of AMACE, You definitely had missed many of the facilities that the present students are enjoying in college......What were they which you missed? Good Hostel, good food, easy communication, etc. But I got the lessons of life-how to survive and succeed in adversity. That is a foundation of success. At present not only our AMACE-ions but all the students have facilities as well as distractions in equal proportions. Enjoy life, but make sure that it does not hamper your studies. Knowledge is wealth you need to acquire to succeed in life. Few words of your life in IIT, Mumbai. My life at IIT, Mumbai is very simple. It consists of Teaching, Research, Administrative Works. Since I love teaching, I never felt bored or tired of my work. I live in the campus..so my family thinks I am always at home, my students think I am always in college. There is no distinction and that makes my work life very unique. Welcome to IIT campus when you are there in Mumbai. Just to let you know I still cant talk Hindi but still manage it. My wife and kids are teachers to me in that..I enjoy being a student for this. Ha..Ha..

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni Your advice to all AMACE-ions: STUDY, Build Strong FUNDAMENTALS, HARD WORK, and PATIENCE Your success is guaranteed. Please remember: "NO PROBLEM CAN BE SOLVED WITHOUT FACING IT".

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AMACE Alumni Group at FaceBook

Facebook connects million people. We use it to be in touch with our friends. Join the group Amace Alumni at the following link http://www.facebook.com/groups/AMACEALUMNI/ We have 2620 members and it is growing. Join and meet your friends.

AMACE Placement Cell

Those days are gone where the placement cell was in our dreams. Now, our College has a placement officer too. Contact the placement cell, If you can provide job openings to our juniors. Udhaya Kumar S Placement Officer, Arulmigu Meenakshi Amman College Of Engineering, Mobile:9962311180 amaceplacement@gmail.com. We are proud of you Jothiwish you make Earth Greener with your knowledge and more budding Talents prosper with your guidance.

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni FUN CORNER Kollege Katta Conceived and written by Chelli Sreenivasan Every individual must be having his/her bunch of unforgetful moments in their life and all of you would agree if I say that the most important and unforgetful phase of ones life is their college student life. It is incomparably spicy and colourful. All sorts of mischief , pranks ,sports and enjoyment all through the college years. The brain works at its maximum potential, the energy levels are always to the fullest, aspirations are sky high and the eyes are full of the most colourful and wonderful dreams (which are far away from the practical reality). Everybody else in the world seems to be stupid, except yourself and your friends Gulping down breakfast after a quick shower, clad in your dirty denims or churidhaars , freshened with some deodorant and leave for college, boarding the college bus or the local city bus . At the parking you give yourself a final look and set your hair before getting down and then enter your class after meeting some friends, 15 minutes after the lecture has begun. You select the last bench despite some vacant places in the front rows... Almost all students keep gazing at the professor but with their minds somewhere down in the canteen or at the door, waiting for `that someone' to come or thinking of that special appointment you have on that day. There are a handful of sincere first-bench-students, who attend each and every lecture and have all the detailed notes, which the outstanding students, (students who are always standing out) can photocopy a few days before the examinations. Joking and gossiping from behind or playing cross and knots in the most boring lecture during which half the class is already snoring, were some of the methods adopted to kill time. By the end of the lecture, everyone is restless and keeps glancing at their watches,

16 slamming books and dropping bags. The professor mercilessly continues teaching. The professors are qualified but yet their spoken English oooooooohhhh ......dont match their his profile.,still remember the day we were doing class and writing notes suddenly one of the guys asked permission from the sir.......Can I go to the toilet?. And in no time the sir replied....... Lets go..instead of Yes go....the whole class was silent and I suddenly burst with laugh and was sent out of the class for doing so. There were innumerable moments The freshers and the farewell parties, the terror of seniors and the bossy attitude for the juniors, the fun in canteen, proxy in the class, making cartoons in notebooks instead of class notes in those boring lectures. No match of that leg pulling and making fun of each other for silly things. Looking for new excuses everyday for late entry in the class. I am sure they are so deeply imprinted on the canvas of memories that one cannot escape from their effect: Things become more enjoyable if you are in a hostel. The unique kind of mixture of the freedom and the restrictions, the homesickness and the hostel fun, the ragging and the hostel partiessimply, no comparison. Another very interesting part of the student life is those infatuations and the beautiful love stories. The bell rings and everyone is out of the class, meeting friends at the canteen. it's fun , to sip a nice hot cup of coffee, drooling over, exchanging secret smiles and then telling your friends of your latest crush. And then the heartbreaks and fights between the couples. I really wonder how many of these love stories actually goes beyond the farewell party of the college. Equally interesting part of this life is the examination fever. A few sincere and regular kinds of students are not very much affected by this but most of the others suffer form this syndrome at the end of every year/semester. The eleventh hour collection of notes and the books,

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni studying all through the night and then next day, writing the exams with The First Cut sleepy eyes and a heavy head. The last minute revisions, the long by Kulasekar Nammaalwar discussions of the tedious topics with friends (biting your nails), making promise to yourself that next time Ill be so regular and sincere through Everybody remembers their firsts, their first time they rode a out the year. And then the resultparties and celebrations at one end, tears bicycle without falling, their first crush, their first favorite song, being a and sadness in the other end. member of the first batch, the firsts hold a special significance for me. The cultural, college sports day, the Sari day and gathering, are the most awaited days in the college when every boy and girl `dress-to-kill' I remember my first class cut at AMACE like it happened and have a gala time. yesterday in reality it happened some 26 years go. Most of us get our best friends of life during this phase only because you spend together the maximum part of the day, doing all kind of fun, free from any kind of responsibilities and worries of life. Everybody in a class or a batch is having almost the same kind of schedule, the needs, the problems and the same age group. So friends become an inseparable part of the life. Most of us are recognized by our respective friend groups, during these times. It is really tough to develop the same level of friendships once you enter the unkind, highly competitive and the most practical, professional world. It was a hot summer day at Vadavamandal, first year classes going on.

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The college then (1985) had no compound wall, the classrooms did not have doors or windows. There was this couple of sheds, two buildings unplastered sitting in this huge expanse of fields, a pathway running from the crossroads to the college. It was more like a scene from a Bharatiraja movie complete with a pond.

We were a group having just met not really knowing each other very well just forming friendships. All of a sudden during a break in The fact is that once you are out of the college and enter professional life, each one of us becomes so busy in our personal lives that classes, some teacher/lecturer dictating notes and as usual we pretended to write it down, one of my friends suggested why don't we cut classes and the everyday masti with friends becomes a meeting once in a week, then once in a month followed by once in a year and then an occasional phone go to a cinema at Kanchi. A collective feeling of thrill broke out amongst call or an email or a sms wishing a Birthday, the Diwali and the New year. our group as it was our first class cut for most of us. Very close friends may remain in regular contact but generally you loose We quickly threw out some plans and the plan to cut classes during connection with those big friend groups with passing time. All those who were once the immediate and most important part of your life become just lunch hour seemed less risky and was approved. Five of us mustered courage and walked upto the cross roads(Vadavamandal koot road) to an entry in your mobile phonebook or the Facebook friend list. catch a private bus to Kanchi. We were laughing, cutting jokes to relieve our tension,furtively glancing towards the college to ensure nobody is Still, when on a fine day you sit back, refreshing the good old coming after us, there was nobody except for some local villagers and as a memories, you cannot help singing deep inside your heart "adhu oru private bus came into view, suddenly one of our friends started to run back nilaak kaalam.. towards the college! We shouted some choice words at his retreating back

AMACE Ion Newsletter for AMACE Alumni and not wanting to go back admitting defeat,boarded the bus to Kanchi. If this was the end then it wouldn't have stayed in my memory. We decided to go ahead with the plan to see a movie and went to a theatre, false bravado filling our hearts. We enjoyed the movie(not so good) but the occasion made the movie a hit, we whipped out our cigarettes as we came out of the theatre very proud of our successful first class cut and slam bang we ran into a person who was a relative of the trustee, (this person later on helped us a lot in arranging our reunion couple of years back) walking down the street. He instantly recognized us,our knees gave away, we threw down the cigarettes, literally begged the person not to reveal our names to the principal and spent the next few days in sheer terror. To his credit he did not do anything and earned our eternal gratitude. It is a different story that we perfected the art of cutting classes later on... The friend who ran away redeemed himself by giving us lunch at his house afterwards. Free blog sites like wordpress.com , blogspot.com provide free hosting to create blog. You can write on anything you wish. Creating an account is so easy. Blog posts can be on any topic and any language.

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I started my blog http://goinggnu.wordpress.com 6 years ago, just to store what I learn on my job. I post the mistakes I do and the solutions for the problems I get. Now, It become a huge knowledge base for my entire career. It helps others too, who get the same problems. The blog crossed 3 lakh page hits recently. Long time back, I wrote on how I recovered deleted files from memory card. It helps hundreds of people who lost their files accidentally. Like this, if we share our experiences, it will be so helpful who are in need. Blogs are the online self of a person. Readers can follow us using email or RSS feeds. It improves our creativity and writing skills. Start a blog today to share yourself ! T Shrinivasan

The Joy of Sharing - Blogs

Can you remember the exam days? Those nights when we completed reading huge pillow sized books in single night? We did sharing the chapters with our friends. We did the knowledge transfer after reading our chapters. Even some of us could took classes on classroom stage too. AMACE Ion is a Quarterly newsletter, which connects the Alumni of Arulmigu Meenakshi Amman College of Engineering Students. We need your suggestions, articles, fun events, college memories, photos, tour experiences, job openings etc.

After college, most of us lost the chances of sharing what we know Send your contents to ramki67@gmail.com to others. We are becoming key persons in our area of interest. It will be more funny and interesting to use the blogs to share what we know.