Third Reunion of CET66

          1966 batch of “Boys and girls” of CET are determined to meet every year. Unlike the Civil branch, the Mechanical and Electrical branches started it rather late, the first one in 2011, forty five years after graduation!! Now this one is the third reunion!! If you read my previous blog “Too good days” you would raise your eyebrows and ask what about the second reunion. My answer is that it certainly happened with the notable exception of MPC. So ladies (and gentlemen, of course) pardonnez moi for being silent about it. The third one was organized by our unquestioned leader Kuruppachan (KNC Kurup for short) and his able team. They chose Varkala Beach as the venue and 23^rd and 24^th October as the days of reunion. We all followed. As commanded by our leader we were at Hindustan Retreat on the dot, 12.00 Noon on 23^rd October.

Notable absence

        On assembling in the fourth floor dining hall of the Retreat (whatever that means) we exchanged greetings and noticed the absence of many stalwarts of the earlier event. Although 22 members had registered, two of them namely, Krishna Kumar(Mumbai) and Krishnan Achari ditched at the last moment, reducing the total participants to twenty. A disapponting number indeed. Unnikrishna Kartha’s absence reduced the level of fun and frolic. Four of our  Doubting Thomases, Thin Thoma, Thick Thoma, Tomy(Joseph Thomas) and Pattalam George Thomas probably yielded to their perennial doubts on the success of the party and decided to stay back. Among our celebrities Leslie Lowe was missing but Madhavan Nair was expected by evening. That will be interesting, and we braced ourselves to greet our own VVIP probably surrounded by Black Cat commandos. However, in place of Leslie, the Naval forces were adequately represented by Admiral Kuruvilla and his wife Omana who, in unison made the Long and Short of Indian Navy. Madhusoodanan Nair (Madhu), with all his experience in flying over North and South poles represented the Air. Thus we had people from all the four strata. Kuruvila from water, Madhu from air, Madhavan Nair from Space and the rest of us (lesser mortals) claiming the land. The only one who had any right to claim the land was Sundaresan who produces wealth from the soil that we mindlessly squander. 

Tragedy in U Mani’s life

        I casually asked U Mony why he was in a bad mood. He lost his wife a month ago during an eye operation, a freak accident indeed. We should really appreciate his presence in the reunion even during his painful depression after this shattering experience of a life time. It takes time to heal such a wound, if at all. Onlookers can quote philosophy and lecture about the inevitability of Death to all living beings, or alternatively that you are neither dead nor born, it is just a change of physical form in the continuous chain of Karma. As we did not have a formal meeting we failed to mention the demise of Jacob Koruth. Or, was it mentioned in the second reunion?

Varkala Beach

        All the rooms we booked faced the sea, and we had a great siesta viewing the rolling waves of Arabian Sea. By evening all of us were on the beach. In Varkala most of the sand beach is eaten away by Tsunami and what remains are a few steep cliffs below which is a rocky pathway. Scantily dressed white women (and of course men) were lying face down exposing their hindquarters to the evening sun. People from cold countries consider sunbathing as a great experience!! Prudence prevented me from trying a zoom shot. Half a dozen cops were enjoying the scene  like hawks, and they wouldn’t like intruders with cameras!! On the way we encountered our five single men, Kurup, Sundaresan, Janardanan, Sreedharan and Moni. They tempted my wife Nirmala to climb up 180 steps to the top of the cliff where the view of the sea was more exciting. She was ready to climb, but I was not. That was exactly how Adam and Eve behaved when the Diable tempted them with the fruit. She sang an old Hindi song, “Kya karoom Ram mujhe buddha mil gaya…buddha mil gaya”. We are all a few months this or that side of seventy, and I don’t mind being called an “oldy”(buddha in Hindi). Even after a long wait at the beach the sky and clouds refused to oblige with a proper sunset and I had to make do with what we had.

 Radha Madhavam

        When we returned to the hotel the meager parking lot was full of cop-cars. Thus, at last, Madhavan Nair, the Celebrity of our proud batch has arrived. He is none other than the ISRO Chief who launched many satellites to Space and a few to the Moon. The policemen said he had gone to temple. Most of us waited in the dining hall leaving just a handful at the entrance to receive him. When he arrived we noted with pleasure that ladders of power and fame had not robbed him of the old school charm. He could easily recognize most of us. His wife Radha was equally affable. Some of us converted the discussion session into a detailed technical discourse on rocket propulsion and the problems of cryogenic engine. Madhavan Nair had to remind us that 273 deg below freezing point was the lowest limit of temperature anywhere when somebody exaggerated the temperature of cryogenic engines as a thousand degrees below zero!!. Who could ever sleep in Prof. M P Mathew’s classes when he said the temperature scales of Centigrade and Fahrenheit were purely arbitrary??

A Clickbuff’s woes

        I made an attempt to take pictures of all couples. Thankappan Nair and Susheela were most patient in the effort. They tolerated five clicks before I could get a proper picture. P C Murukesan was a photographer himself, but I had to use a “gentle persuasion” (almost at gun point) to his wife to face the camera. Still she did not look at my lens!!. Murukesh Babu was the one who scouted for the Hindustan Retreat at varkala. It is a pleasure to photograph Babu and Usha full of youthful energy and a happy smile. I had always branded D V Ravi as the most handsome in our batch but was looking a little run down, although he willingly posed with his wife Girija. Subramania Sarma the tallest among us has a tall and handsome wife Lalitha, both of them avid eaters of ice cream. I could catch them in the act!!  Another “made for each other” couple was Rajagopal and Chithra who had no qualms about posing for a picture. Sudha and Murali Mohanlal were equally cooperative. Ayyappan’s wife was quite nice and friendly, but he tried to stiffen his muscle. Sivamony asked me a pertinent question: why are you carrying this heavy Nikon while his cute Samsung phone could do the job equally well. I shall think over it later. I posted all photos to Kuruppachan and PC Murukesh for onward transmission to all. 

Jogans’ Entertainment

        Jogan Easaw Mathew and Elizabeth need a special mention as they were the only ones who knew music and were ever ready to entertain us. Their guitar leaning on to the wall in the dining  hall gave us hopes about a musical evening. Last time they had to take an anticipatory bail from Ayyappan to sing “Ayyappante amma neyyappam chuttu” a hilarious story song. This time they performed only two “Numbers”. The first one was the sad story of Kesavan Asan who unsuccessfully tried to control his naughty disciples. As I was in the same plight as Kesavan Asan’s my heart throbbed for him and I was almost in tears at the end of this tragic “Number”. Poovan and Prasanna Kumari, the other teachers among us were missing this time  and MPC had to swallow Kesavan Asan’s grief all by himself.

The only daughter who came

        Among our sons and daughters just one person cared to attend. That was Akkamma, daughter of Esther and Philip. A redeeming feature was that she is a sweet girl unlike her rough and tough unsmiling mom. Her dad was quite a relaxed person capable of hearty smiles. I asked her about herself and was taken aback learning that she had a ten year old son. She is a busy dental surgeon. I don’t think she can hope for customers among her Mom’s friends as most of us have crossed the age of toothaches and cured our dental problems once and for all. Some of us were unable to keep the secret of shaky dentures while talking, laughing or eating.

Second Day

        We slept late hearing the sweet lullaby of the Arabian sea to wake up in the morning and walk up the hill to the temple. Folklore has it that Tsunami could not puncture a dent in that part of the beach due to the presence of God’s abode. The temple is simple in architecture but ancient and popular.

      Madhavan Nair left in the night itself and Madhu in the early morning on the second day. The  representatives of Air and Space left the group leaving the rest of us to amuse ourselves. We were to go boating in Anjuthengu lake and spend time in the island there. A stupid fellow had blocked our way out of the garage and three of us, DV Ravi, Esther and MPC were left behind. No one had a clue of how to reach our destination. So we resorted to Mohan Lal’s old method: “Choichu choichu poovam”. Many local people suggested different routes and directions, but MPC and Esther stuck together as she had a smart driver who took us to the humble hotel where our midday meal was arranged. Finally we all reached the idyllic place on the banks of Anjuthengu lake.

On the Island

        We sailed to the other bank where the island was. Admiral Kuruvilla captained the ship on its premier journey with his incessant talking although the vessel was an old dilapidated country boat with an outboard motor which hardly needed the skill of an Admiral. On the island was a temple atop a hillock with cool breeze all the time. Below the temple, under a tree Ayyappan sat like Lord Ayyappa and gave a discourse on yoga, meditation and such stuff, eating continuously from the enormous packets of savouries he carried all the time. The armchair yogi’s disciples included his sweet and tolerant wife, Sivamony and MPC, a kind of captive audience who needed a boat to escape from the lecture. We took the last trip of the boat to mainland. As the Admiral was already back on the mainland lesser mortals like us took command of the boat and asked the driver to take as big a circle as possible before homing to our hotel
.

Philosophy and jokes before lunch

        The hotel where we assembled was busy preparing our lunch while we were engaged in idle talk. Murali Mohanlal told us the story of Nachikethas (from Kathopanishad), who went to Yama to learn the secret of Death. Yama finally yielded before the inquisitive boy and told him that no one is born or dead and a person cannot be killed by destroying the body. What happens in this world is only a transition in the eternal journey of the Soul. All traditions in the world knew this, although dogmatism in religions conceals it from the public. Remember the reference to Elijah being reborn as John the Baptist and Elisha as Jesus retaining their Karmic relationship of previous incarnations. We didn’t allow things to get very serious and soon had lighter stuff.

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        A joke heard in the hall was on the large numbers of Achayans in Kottayam and adjoining areas. This dates back to the visit of St Thomas. In Kottayam he tried to convert people by  talking about the miracles of Jesus, like curing leprosy and waking people from dead. Guys were not impressed. Then he told them how Jesus, by the touch of a hand converted barrels and barrels of water into wine, and most people of Kottayam, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts switched over to Christianity.

Lunch and Good Bye

        Among the many items served in the Kerala mid day meal were fried Thilapia and prawns Sambar. We all ate without complaint. Before dispersing we came to a consensus to have the next reunion in Kanyakumari, although MPC made a weak attempt to take it to Vythiri Resorts, Wynad. The proposal was withdrawn because the crowd, mostly from Trivandrum considered the distant land of Wynad a few light years away. Before we could assemble the group for a photo a few of them had slipped away. 

         So, ladies and gentlemen, au revoir. We meet again in October 2014 at the Southern tip of the subcontinent.

Employability of Engineering Graduates

Preamble

A few years back, when IIM Kozhikode was being instituted, there was a meeting of academics and industrialists held in IIT Delhi with a proportion of approximately 50-50 among the 25 participants. While debating on the academic programs the voice from industry demanded that the graduates should be employable straightaway after the degree program. This was not acceptable to us because no education can be a substitute for industry-specific training.  Employability cannot be defined as the ability of the student to take up the professional job straight after graduation.  What best the university can do is to make the graduate adaptable to different types of job situations after a short term training on the job. There used to be a complaint that engineering education is too theoretical with little or no “practical” component. The present scenario is that a majority of them have no theoretical background either. They are not employable in their domain primarily because the four years in the university did not add any value at all.

The Context

In India, nobody can be blamed for setting the sole objective of education as employment. In spite of lofty ideals set by educationists and institutions on academic excellence, the fact remains that  university students, by and large  crave a lucrative employment on securing a degree. One of the reasons why education in Arts and Science suffered a set-back, and pure learning is unheard of, is this race among students for employment, motivated by their parents and society.  Engineering colleges have  mushroomed  near every bus stop, and the student population had an explosive growth in recent times, whereas the population of good teachers did not grow at the same rate. Colleges are compelled to make do as teachers, with those who are rejected in the job market.  Under the circumstances, it is only natural that a good percentage of engineering students are incapable of going through the rigorous academic program of professional education.  There is always a pressure on the institution to reduce the academic standards to suit the capability of the incoming students.  This inward spiral would ultimately result in producing large numbers of graduates with hollow, or non-content  degree.

On the positive side, industrial  growth of the country has been impressive, particularly in the  IT sector, and employment is plenty.  Today, for most graduates, getting a job is not a problem, while getting the right job is. Of late, employers have become more discerning and very choosy. Gone are the days when a graduate earns a job just by his label. In spite of the unemployment in the country, we find a large number of graduates who are unemployable. It is in this context that this article on Employability in presented here.

Employability :

Employability is a person’s capability of gaining initial employment, maintaining employment and obtaining new employment.

A graduate cannot be employed just because he has a degree in a specific area.  There are three essential attributes the person  should have, namely, Knowledge, Skills and abilities.

     Traditionally, Universities and Colleges concentrate on imparting knowledge, and believe that the student would acquire the skills himself, and that the abilities are inborn qualities. In the modern context, the Institution has to be proactive in imparting all the three requirements to make a student employable.  However, the techniques adopted for imparting knowledge, skills and abilities ought not to be the same.  In general it is thought that education brings about knowledge, vocational  training, the skills and life skill training, the abilities.

Knowledge : Acquisition Strategies

            Acquisition of knowledge has at least five different levels as follows :

-         Familiarity with the topic

-         Memory and reproduction

-         Analysis

-         Synthesis

-         Creativity

Of the  40 theory courses and 16 practical courses done  in B.Tech. curriculum, one does not expect  the student to reach the level of creativity in all of them.  But the tragedy of today is that, learning of all subjects is reduced to the level of memorizing and reproducing it in the examination.  Even in courses where the student should reach the level of synthesis and creativity (like design subjects and project) certain shortcuts  are employed to prevent the student from going anywhere above the level of  memory and reproduction. In fact this is the tragedy of our educational system in the  acquisition of knowledge.  An employer expects the student to have a domain knowledge. An electronics engineer should know electronics. There should be a correlation between the label and content.

There is a perception among many employed people that the job requirement has nothing to do with what they learnt in college, and therefore, college imparts useless knowledge.  This is true in the case of many people who enter the profession and do not grow in their technical domain.  The rules of thumb they learn on the job attain predominance over fundamental knowledge and they think that these rules of thumb are enough, and should replace fundamental knowledge and education. They try to eulogise their view by projecting their own theoretical ignorance as “Practical experience”(Courtesy: Dr. KBM Nambudiripad). However, it is also important to appreciate that bookish knowledge alone does not make a person employable. Theoretical  knowledge, complemented by practical skills should form the “Domain Knowledge” of any professional specialization.  There are many who think that Theoretical and Practical are opposites;  they are not. The opposite of “Practical” is not theoretical, but “Impractical”.

Acquisition of Skills

Skills can be classified into two categories namely (a) skill for identification and solution of problems (b) Technical skills to perform routine work efficiently.  The first type of skill is of a higher intellectual order whereas the second is close to the labour skill.  Therefore, the first type of skill is closely associated with acquisition of knowledge.  The second type depends  on the level of training.

Employers generally complain that Universities and Colleges emphasize more on knowledge and less on skills.  The universities in turn argue that they cannot reduce themselves to training schools for a specific industry.  Universities should produce graduates who can adapt themselves to a variety of situations and cannot lose generality in imparting of knowledge and skills.  The industry, on the other hand should provide adequate training to adapt the graduates to their specific situations, realizing  that university education is not a substitute for on the job training.

On the part of the Universities, the whole concept of “Practical Classes” should change.  Today it has deteriorated to a level where the student gains almost nothing from such classes.

Abilities

Today, institutions spend a considerable amount of money and effort on preparing the students to face interviews, thinking that this barrier is the most difficult one to get across.  Abilities have different components, many are intrinsic and quite a few acquired.

Intrinsic Abilities include learning ability, initiative, confidence, passion a sense of ownership, team spirit, organizational skill, attitude, values and ethics.  Acquired abilities include communication skills, time management, stress management, critical thinking, group discussion and etiquettes. These are not mutually exclusive sets and there is quite a lot of overlap among them.

Conclusion

A major factor that one often ignores is the change in attitude of the student community over the years. When jobs were few and education scarce the competition was healthier and most people wanted to do well. Large scale failures were unheard of, in engineering colleges, primarily because only the cream of the student community could aspire to reach an engineering college. Now there are more engineering colleges than Arts colleges and polytechnics. A large percentage are those who are there only for the label of a degree. This attitude is endorsed by many parents too. There is a strong belief that getting a B.Tech degree “somehow” will fetch a well paid job. Incompetence of teachers and greed of managements are accelerating this downward slide. In today’s scenario it is foolhardy to expect all graduates to be employable. My experience inside and outside the classrooms puts the average employable percentage around thirty. If an institution is able to get jobs for more than 30% of its graduates I would say they are doing very well.

If the proportion of employable graduates has to improve quite a lot of effort is needed at different levels of School Education. By removing evaluation and examinations at the end of every year, allowing every student to move to the higher class and finally diluting the SSLC examination to ensure 100% pass, the initiative of the less endowed children has been drained out. Such children are rendered incapable of facing any academic challenge in higher education, using their intelligence. When they reach professional colleges (which they surely do, due to availability of seats) they expect to pass without ever working for it. Finally the political pressure from students, parents and governments compel institutions to dilute their programs and churn out worthless graduates with labels and non-content qualifications. It needs tremendous political will to stem the rot.

Post Script:

·        Knowledge without skill and ability is useless

·        Skill without knowledge and ability is stale

·        Ability without knowledge and skill is hollow