posted by Anil Vaidya

We do not seem to keep quiet at SCIT. We had very respectful flag hoisting ceremony on January 26, with entire SIC staff and the students saluting Indian pride on the cool, breezy morning. This was followed by a terrific Techno-entrepreneurship event SPROUT-IT on Sunday, January 31. Then there have been hectic admission activities in progress over last week, with enthusiastic SCIT aspirants bee lining the atrium. As if all this was not enough we also had a heart-warming faculty meet on Saturday evening.

Our students have been the backbone of our activities at campus. Our iTELF cell members delivered Sprout-IT, another fulfilling event. Interesting panel discussion with experts from various fields and the two workshops made up most of the day. It was a pleasure to see the large number of young students from other colleges participating in the sessions.

Currently admission process is in full swing. Our students have been helping the aspirants in every way they can. They even managed to find place to stay for some.

We always witness a great collaborative effort on every front at SCIT, be members of student community or staff or the full-time or visiting faculty. We are all ONE SCIT.

posted by Anil Vaidya

It was a very pleasing sight to see Savitha trying to herd the alumni into the poolside venue for the cake cutting ceremony. We were supposed to finish the cake-cutting function in 10 minutes and start the main programme by 11 AM. It was not to be. We did not gather in the audi for another 45 minutes. And the sweet reason was that the alumni were really really connecting back to the old days and greeting their former fellow students. How much ever Savitha tried, it was just not possible to miss the warmth of those old relations; interruptions were just not worth it.

It turned out to be a grand gathering of our alumni who returned to their home, their alma mater, after a long gap. The pleasure, the smiles, the enthusiasm were unmistakable. They relived their old days, even performing on stage as they had done in their student days. Some brought their spouses who heartily participated in the bonhomie. None forgot to go around the hostels recounting the memories of their rooms and the roomies. And of course Kagal Madam’s presence was the icing on cake. Everyone connected to her, chatted, tried to get her attention. Same was the case with Savitha and certainly they had heartful interactions with their own teacher mams and sirs– Bharathi, Pradya, Sharmili. They still missed Sadhana, Rajul, Sen, Suprika, Vasundhara, Ajey and others.

The clouds that cast long shadows on our campus were responsible for absence of some of these beloved teachers. Despite the shadow our present students assured us that they would do all possible to make the alumni meet happen. And they did commendable job, they were always in the background and still omnipresent. This was another unforgettable event organized by our students on campus. While the event was one more outstanding example of SCIT’s resilience and perseverance, I do not forget the students and faculty members who are still recuperating. I wish them a speedy recovery and I want to see them bouncing around the campus soon.       

posted by Anil Vaidya

Graffiti took off in style in the morning of Jan 9 with number of events lined up for two full days. Right from morning I saw the outstation students streaming in with their trademark haversacks. It was only the next morning that I realized how eager they were to make the presentations and compete wherever possible. Having seen few of them, I invited them all for a quick chat. They were budding engineers, boys and girls, from far off colleges in Maharashtra and were visibly happy to have a free exchange with the institute director. I enjoyed it too.

Graffiti offered many such sweet occasions; I prefer to call them candies. The T-shirts, the music, the games, the business quizzes and competitions kept people engrossed. It was a very satisfying event for receiving our corporate guests. The special coffee corner at the poolside helped to have free dialogue. It was wonderful to see the corporate guests being escorted by our students all around the campus. And of course the very last event of ‘Epiphany’ aptly presented the close of two days of gala time.

The whole of SCIT was proud to participate in the fresh and extraordinary atmosphere. My compliments to the entire student body for showcasing a terrific event. I was happy that they did not forget to include a frontal view of social awareness by setting up stalls of Peta and the SCIT SSR.      

posted by Anil Vaidya

Anil Vaidya, January 7, 2010

The institute appear to be transforming each passing day. Yesterday I entered the academic block I saw a board asking “What next”. Right below that another board announced “3 days” to Graffiti. This looks like altogether different group of students. The enthusiasm (enthu – if I follow them) is simply overwhelming. Yesterday evening two of the students invited me for their online game. I was quite hesitant but then was forced to appear before the computer terminal. I did not understand head or tail of the game while the ‘next gen’ was going whole hog. These guys are energetic, brilliant, have desire to do something and now redefining their spheres of operations.

Graffiti has brought our students together, working towards greater objectives. They have been going out, visiting companies, visiting other campuses, discussing strategies, operations, finance and so on. There is a Graffiti war room in full swing with a three boards full of planned activities and progress. As if all this is not enough, this morning there was another pleasing site. I witnessed our SCIT Student Social Responsibility (SSR) group canvassing for environment at the Hinjwadi Chowk.

I like what I see. The ‘Next gen’ will be our leaders. What they do today will be an indication of how they will function tomorrow. The enthusiasm simply can’t be missed nor can one keep away from it. If you happen to be anywhere on campus I am sure you will be drawn be into the vortex and enjoy it fully.

posted by Shaila Kagal

When you stand outside the boundaries of a playground and watch the play like a spectator, you know whether you kicked the ball in the right direction; or balls were passed skillfully to the right guys; or how far or close is the goalpost. Else you are lost in the melee in that urge to make a goal.

The last month has been something like that for me. While still being in Symbiosis, I have this wonderful view of what is happening with SCIT.  I can only say I am very very proud…  More so because Anil Vaidya is a wonderful coach and guiding so beautifully that SCIT is closing the distance to the goalpost.

Wherever I go, “SCIT Journal” is certainly a talking point. Prof. Ajey is doing such a wonderful job as an Editor.  Same is the case with our case-studies. Prof. Bharathi and all others have published such wonderful cases from which, I am sure, not just our students but all others too will benefit.  SCIT students too are not far behind. If the MRA camp is any indication, we will certainly see more SCITiians blazing the trail on the horizon!

So, kick hard to the goalpost! I am cheering.

posted by Anil Vaidya

Anil V. Vaidya, December 24, 2009

Change is the name of sustenance and progress. The MRA (Moral Re-Armament) camp that I attended along-with my 78 young friends turned out to be a ‘Road to Discovery’. We were nestled in beautiful cool natural surroundings. IofC (Initiatives of Change) volunteers got into act the moment we announced our arrival with noisy and fuming buses. First suggestion was to bus driver to kill the engine; in that tranquility the engine groan was completely out of place.

I could write essays on four day experience, however here I want to talk about my 78 friends, the SCIT juniors whom I accompanied. The business guys who will be our managers and leaders of tomorrow exhibited an overwhelming enthusiasm in all sorts of activities. Those included not only the most popular dances and bollywood songs but also finer humane angle. They were touched by the ‘Relationship’ sessions and the Morrie’s movie. The family group meetings showed understanding and emotional side of this wonderful generation.

If all this was not enough they also had high level intelligent interaction in the leadership arena. Topping it all were the cultural programmes, the service & wash-up activities  and the multi-faith prayer. These four days really underlined the versatility, the caring emotional and sensitive side of our future leaders. I was glad to be with the energetic and aspiring leaders of India       

posted by Anil Vaidya

Anil V. Vaidya, December 15, 2009

The month of November was a month of churn for me, filled with multiple activities, events and occasions. It opened up with Ms. Kagal, our popular Kagal Madam, moving to another senior role in Symbiosis Society; building the SCIT brick-by-brick over ten years must have been a ton of gratification. On my side, I prepared myself for prime responsibilities and the march into 2010.

I completely immersed myself into tasks on hand. SCIT has been in the midst of placements, internships, preparation for new admissions, annual events and so on. During the fervour of all such activities the most notable and the pleasant interaction has been the exchanges with the present and the past students;  the dinner meetings in different cities with alumni and the pleasantries exchanged during convocation was simply heart-warming. I really felt at home with these groups. During my earlier years of teaching I always had closeness of minds with my students and I experience the same here. 

As a next step, I want to strengthen the bond with our alumni. Our present alumni committee has started putting in major efforts to get in touch with all our alumni. I am sure we will be in regular contact with all our alumni over next few months. The Alumni meet in January will be the icing on cake.

posted by Shaila Kagal

As a student, woes of evaluations never end, whether in favourable or unfavourable circumstances. At UW, in the 1960’s, while I was still getting through the slang of my American friends and assignments of my professors, our quarter-end Final Exam was announced. It was indeed a revelation.

My professor said his exam would be “Open Book”. I was at my wits end trying to manage ordinary assignments and here was something unheard of. Never in my life before did I imagine that books would be allowed in the examination hall which could be referred by students to write answers. My fellow classmates worried that it meant a tough test. I was still not clear why it should be; particularly when we could check out any answer. But real meaning dawned on me when the professor also announced only the starting time and no closing time.

The Indian examinations truly create a huge awe, with notices after notices on what we should not do; or how we might be punished if anything went wrong; and of course students suspiciously resourceful on ways and means of going around the rules; or those harsh sounding exam bells. And here everyone like any Indian student was busy brushing up and ready with “Blue Books” to write answers in, waiting for the professor to walk in. Surprise of all surprises was “Blue Books” –answer books were procured by students and not supplied by the university. The Professor himself came to the class; wrote the question on the blackboard and said he would return after 3 hours but we could take time as long as we needed. He left the class with doors open. Not a single student moved. Total silence. Everyone buried their heads in to their bluebooks. The first to leave kept his bluebook on the table. Still no one stirred. I was totally at bay on how to refer to books and answer. I took time. Finally I left my bluebook on the table, hoping that even if the professor returned to an empty class, all blue books would be intact. I was aghast. No one to see that students did not copy; neither did student make any attempts to look over the shoulders or blatantly copy. Utter silence. Books to ourselves while writing answers; no time limit and on the top of it, no watchdog. Even today that feeling of unspeakable amazement still weighs me down. After all, I had been giving exams throughout my school and college life in India.

I tried the same thing on my students here in India and failed miserably. To make it work, I had to install an invigilator and a set of intimidating rules.

posted by Shaila Kagal

Ages ago when I landed on the shores of Seattle Washington with American dreams of a graduate degree, deciphering the welcoming words of my loving American family was a huge task. Having had no exposure to TV or American movies or western music or cartoon strips or their education system, I soon realised that I was probably in the adventure land. Starting school when I had just graduated from college—rather university topping the charts—was an anathema.  But ruder shock was the all pervasive credit system.

All my student life, I had lived with getting high scoring marks and receiving glowing words from my teachers and parents.  And here I was sitting in a graduate class of students, more seasoned than me, trying to catch all kinds of sounds made by my Professors and take notes.  Because that is what I had learnt all my life…. what questions would be in final exam…. what is an important topic…..etc..etc..  while my classmates were all eyes and ears to what the professor was explaining.  Next came the news from my People-to-People sister, another term for a buddy assigned by the University to a foreign student, that although graduate load was 8 credits, that meant 8 lectures per week, students spent working on those lectures for the rest of the week in the library. My honest question was what did they do in the library. Because we used to go to the library whenever a Professor said we should look up a certain book. Again I was lost.  First of all no text books were prescribed. No professor had mentioned any books in the class that they would follow nor had they told us what we should check in Library.  Once in while there were references about what a researcher had postulated or how other scholars had interpreted and so on. Even then I just decided to visit. I was lost again.  Even the excellent library of Fergusson College had made a great impression on my small town persona but this was enormous.

I was just getting settled, hardly a week had passed, and there were assignments that were to be submitted in the cubbyholes assigned to teaching assistants, written on manila paper and folded lengthwise so they fitted in the cubbyholes. My impression used to be that in colleges or universities we were kind of free and did not have any day-to-day academic controls other than final exams.  But I got wisened by my P-to-P sister. She said we were going to be continually assessed and finally the Professor would grade us like A, B etc.  Of course I did not want to listen to any other grade.  But getting there was a road never taken.  In fact I had not quite understood when I registered for courses why I needed to make a decision on which courses and again for that quarter.  Because my Indian University once enrolled for a programme had just given me a list of courses I had to do. So the first quarter I was just in an unknown stupor not knowing what was happening in my academic life.

Now when I look around I find Indian students have great comfort in American English. Google has changed their lives and taken them on a tour of information destinations. TV has exposed them to a world outside. Several Universities are on credit point systems. Symbiosis is one of them.  I am sure there is far greater confidence than this small town girl faced with credit point system ages ago.

PS– I scraped through it all successfully and hold MS degree.

posted by Shaila Kagal

Ten years are almost a lifetime in making of an institute.  My journey has been just as long and the time has come for me to move on in a new direction where road is smoother and takes less time cut the distance.  Fortunately that still ties me to my main anchor … Symbiosis!  But my greater joy is that there is someone else in the form of Anil Vaidya who has similar dreams as mine and who is fully enthused about the future of SCIT and will carry the baton.

What I see of SCIT today or of the prospering alumni, or when students walk down with shining eyes and trophies in their hands, or my colleagues sit in bigger chairs with larger responsibilities, I think that my decision was absolutely spot on about doing my second innings in education.  How true is the story that Prof. Rajul sent me! What do I make in life? Many other lives! I have always enjoyed it and will treasure it!

SCIT has been my mission and my spirits somehow will keep flying around it. So you will keep seeing me again and again! In classrooms or conference rooms!

Adios but no adios! I will still be blogging here.