The Entrepreneurship Cell of Department of Management Studies released a report on 'India Venture Capital and Private Equity Report 2009' on Tuesday.
There was a presentation on the outcome of the report. It was a study on the investments from 2006-2008. It had interesting insights on
1. When Venture capitalists invest in a start-up (incubation, 1-3 years, after 5 years).
2. Which sector had highest investment (Finance, Engineering, IT) ?.
and many more..
It's basically a study on the statistics of investors, investments made, profit if any in the investments.
Though I didn't not understand some of the technical terms, I could get a picture of investment scenario in various sectors.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Science Museums: An eye opener for school children
The opportunities for children & school students to understand complex systems has become easier with technology (television, internet, etc).
It's very difficult to give the right answer to some of the simple questions they ask.
In my experience, only very few parents & relatives encourage children to ask questions and atleast try to give answers.
Since, I am a research scholar and I plan for a research/teaching career, I do case studies on the state of education (primary/secondary school/college, etc) & more specifically on Engineering education in India & abroad through discussions and try to understand the thought process among children, students, school teachers, research scholars, and professors.
Having interacted, I find that given the same problem/question, the thought process is different for people from different background (age, social, geographical, etc). I find many people (older) just quitting without giving a try. But, school children in the age group of (5-15) give a try and ask more questions to solve the problem.
In my opinion, if children are encouraged to ask questions and give the right environment to find answers themselves through exhibitions, science centres, books, etc, I think child will chose their career and come with flying colours.
Recently, I had been to Birla Planetarium (near Anna Univ.), Chennai just to know what's out there. They have a dome structure where they artificially create a sky with stars. It's about 30+ mins. of show. It's about cosmos (earth, universe, galaxy). They try to explain how earth is formed, why eclipses occur and so on along with the mythological (Hindu) explanation.
A couple and thier 5 year old son were seated just behind me. During the show, the kid was asking questions after questions which were interesting and difficult to answer. The father was patient enough and answered his questions in whatever way he can.
The Govt. of India has setup science centres (National Council of Science Museums) at various places in India. Birla planetarium is the one in Chennai. 3-4 hrs is sufficient to cover all the items in Birla Planetarium.
It reminds me of my childhood when I had been to Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum in Bangalore and Nehru Science Centre in Bombay. These are two interesting places which had greatly influenced me in choosing an Engineering career.
These exhibitions help school students to get to know how things work in reality on what they learn from books.
It's worth to spend a full day at both of these places and learn from the exhibitions. In fact, Govt. has spent huge amount of money and time in setting up the right experiment to explain the concept/idea/law.
:)
It's very difficult to give the right answer to some of the simple questions they ask.
In my experience, only very few parents & relatives encourage children to ask questions and atleast try to give answers.
Since, I am a research scholar and I plan for a research/teaching career, I do case studies on the state of education (primary/secondary school/college, etc) & more specifically on Engineering education in India & abroad through discussions and try to understand the thought process among children, students, school teachers, research scholars, and professors.
Having interacted, I find that given the same problem/question, the thought process is different for people from different background (age, social, geographical, etc). I find many people (older) just quitting without giving a try. But, school children in the age group of (5-15) give a try and ask more questions to solve the problem.
In my opinion, if children are encouraged to ask questions and give the right environment to find answers themselves through exhibitions, science centres, books, etc, I think child will chose their career and come with flying colours.
Recently, I had been to Birla Planetarium (near Anna Univ.), Chennai just to know what's out there. They have a dome structure where they artificially create a sky with stars. It's about 30+ mins. of show. It's about cosmos (earth, universe, galaxy). They try to explain how earth is formed, why eclipses occur and so on along with the mythological (Hindu) explanation.
A couple and thier 5 year old son were seated just behind me. During the show, the kid was asking questions after questions which were interesting and difficult to answer. The father was patient enough and answered his questions in whatever way he can.
The Govt. of India has setup science centres (National Council of Science Museums) at various places in India. Birla planetarium is the one in Chennai. 3-4 hrs is sufficient to cover all the items in Birla Planetarium.
It reminds me of my childhood when I had been to Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum in Bangalore and Nehru Science Centre in Bombay. These are two interesting places which had greatly influenced me in choosing an Engineering career.
These exhibitions help school students to get to know how things work in reality on what they learn from books.
It's worth to spend a full day at both of these places and learn from the exhibitions. In fact, Govt. has spent huge amount of money and time in setting up the right experiment to explain the concept/idea/law.
:)
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Teacher's day
It was when I was studying 8th Std my mother was worried about my career. So, I joined for tuition with R. Manoharan who had just retired from being a Head Master at Govt. School.
I was the first student who joined tuition with him. He taught me Maths and English. Since, I was the only student, he would use my note instead of board. When I completed my 10th Std., it's almost 10+ short note books for English Grammer and 3-4 long note books for Maths.
He used to share his college experience, teaching experience in schools, different kind of students and politicians when he was at college.
I don't know if this is true.
When former CM Annadurai was at a foreign country a journalist wanted to test his English proficiency. The journalist question him "Can you write a sentence which has three "because"?
Annadurai replied: "No sentence ends in because because because is conjunction"
R. Manoharan was one of the Aacharya's whom I am most indebted.
There are many words to describe teacher/tutor/lecturer/professor etc. but Aacharya means one who profess what he teaches/preaches.
It was during 8th std annual leave I joined typewriting institute near my house. Initially, I thought, let me do it for 2-3 months. But, it went for 2 years. I did lower and higher in English and learnt fingering in Tamil. Then, Government norms allowed students to write Typewriting exam only when they have passed 10th std. So, I had to wait till I got my 10th Mark Sheet to write the higher exam.
I hear that now Tamil Nadu Government has brought it down to 8th Std. Please verify.
This skill has helped me to document stuff easily while others were still searching for letters in the keyboard.
Prof. Ashok Rao, Head(Network Project), CEDT, IISc used to visit TCE. He is an inspiring teacher and social entrepreneur. When I last met him, he was running a MS course on political science, economics, etc on his own. I got introduced to Linear Algebra through his lectures. During my ME course, I was fortunate enough to spend time with him and the interactions with him has helped me in shaping my career.
I am most indebted to these three people.
I was the first student who joined tuition with him. He taught me Maths and English. Since, I was the only student, he would use my note instead of board. When I completed my 10th Std., it's almost 10+ short note books for English Grammer and 3-4 long note books for Maths.
He used to share his college experience, teaching experience in schools, different kind of students and politicians when he was at college.
I don't know if this is true.
When former CM Annadurai was at a foreign country a journalist wanted to test his English proficiency. The journalist question him "Can you write a sentence which has three "because"?
Annadurai replied: "No sentence ends in because because because is conjunction"
R. Manoharan was one of the Aacharya's whom I am most indebted.
There are many words to describe teacher/tutor/lecturer/professor etc. but Aacharya means one who profess what he teaches/preaches.
It was during 8th std annual leave I joined typewriting institute near my house. Initially, I thought, let me do it for 2-3 months. But, it went for 2 years. I did lower and higher in English and learnt fingering in Tamil. Then, Government norms allowed students to write Typewriting exam only when they have passed 10th std. So, I had to wait till I got my 10th Mark Sheet to write the higher exam.
I hear that now Tamil Nadu Government has brought it down to 8th Std. Please verify.
This skill has helped me to document stuff easily while others were still searching for letters in the keyboard.
Prof. Ashok Rao, Head(Network Project), CEDT, IISc used to visit TCE. He is an inspiring teacher and social entrepreneur. When I last met him, he was running a MS course on political science, economics, etc on his own. I got introduced to Linear Algebra through his lectures. During my ME course, I was fortunate enough to spend time with him and the interactions with him has helped me in shaping my career.
I am most indebted to these three people.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Learning Music
It's one of my passions to learn and play a musical instrument since childhood. Infact, I just want to experiment it myself and to play the songs I love and enjoy.
One question which lingered in my mind for long time was "How does Ilayaraja/A R Rehman do it?" As everyone knows Ilayaraja comes from a not wellknown place in Tamil Nadu with no formal training in music! ARR had a different background.
The Experiment:
I learnt to play keyboard through Mr. Jacob who is an architect by profession but has taken teaching music as a hobby. I did learn the ABC's of western music notation from him. I did go for classes for about 6 months. In the mean time, I was also learning carnatic notation and learnt to play songs if I were given carnatic notation.
I was in cloud nine when I played some of my favorite songs. That's a great experience. If one had interest,time,dedication and a good teacher one can learn any art.
It's almost two years since I got my Yamaha PSR 403 keyboard (Rs.15K). In the beginning, it was very difficult to play a song with proper timing. It took me about a year's time to play notes which I found enjoyable :).
With the academic pressure, I didn't have much time to practice and explore further. But, whenever I feel of playing, I just play. Thanks to all of my friends who had patience to listen.
While playing the song sometimes it so happens that your fingers naturally move to the notes of the song which is interesting.
My next experiment is with Violin (the instrument which speaks). Violin is a special instrument (bowed instrument) and this can produce all the frequencies just like a vocal tract.
Got the right person to teach but I just need time to learn & practice which I will do after my PhD thesis. :)
One question which lingered in my mind for long time was "How does Ilayaraja/A R Rehman do it?" As everyone knows Ilayaraja comes from a not wellknown place in Tamil Nadu with no formal training in music! ARR had a different background.
The Experiment:
I learnt to play keyboard through Mr. Jacob who is an architect by profession but has taken teaching music as a hobby. I did learn the ABC's of western music notation from him. I did go for classes for about 6 months. In the mean time, I was also learning carnatic notation and learnt to play songs if I were given carnatic notation.
I was in cloud nine when I played some of my favorite songs. That's a great experience. If one had interest,time,dedication and a good teacher one can learn any art.
It's almost two years since I got my Yamaha PSR 403 keyboard (Rs.15K). In the beginning, it was very difficult to play a song with proper timing. It took me about a year's time to play notes which I found enjoyable :).
With the academic pressure, I didn't have much time to practice and explore further. But, whenever I feel of playing, I just play. Thanks to all of my friends who had patience to listen.
While playing the song sometimes it so happens that your fingers naturally move to the notes of the song which is interesting.
My next experiment is with Violin (the instrument which speaks). Violin is a special instrument (bowed instrument) and this can produce all the frequencies just like a vocal tract.
Got the right person to teach but I just need time to learn & practice which I will do after my PhD thesis. :)
School Education
The sad and funny part of my life. Since my father is a bank officer, I had to change schools. I had to change 7 schools till my +2. I still remember some of the friends from 4th Std. I couldn't recollect anyone before that.
Everytime it's difficult for me to write entrance exam/interview at atleast 2 schools whenever I moved to a different place. My father and mother would have had a hard time. Thinking of the current school scenario, I can't imagine of handling the situation for my kids. I think annual exams are easier, atleast we know we would move to next standard but the suspense/challenge whether you would get an admission or not is ? !!
It was difficult to leave the friends you have at each of the schools, sometimes you don't know whether you would continue to study in the school. Hopefully, someday I will have chances of meeting them.
I did study/learn(?) at small(a house made into a school) and big (as TVS Lakshmi) of schools and varied beliefs (St. Joseph, Pattukottai, SDA, Madurai) Christian/ (TVS)Hindu.
To be frank, I didn't learn anything till my 8th Std. In fact, I felt like a xerox machine. I still remember my mother asking me to do something of this sort in exam.
Question: Which is the longest river in India?
Just cut the last part "the longest river in India" and append 'is' and write the name of the river. Simple !
I still use to kid my mother recollecting this! :)
That's the starting point of my learning curve. Since, then I tried to understand/question myself on each of the subjects/things I was taught/see.
On the whole, it's a great experience to have studied at different schools at different places which gives a notion of the school setting in Tamil Nadu.
Everytime it's difficult for me to write entrance exam/interview at atleast 2 schools whenever I moved to a different place. My father and mother would have had a hard time. Thinking of the current school scenario, I can't imagine of handling the situation for my kids. I think annual exams are easier, atleast we know we would move to next standard but the suspense/challenge whether you would get an admission or not is ? !!
It was difficult to leave the friends you have at each of the schools, sometimes you don't know whether you would continue to study in the school. Hopefully, someday I will have chances of meeting them.
I did study/learn(?) at small(a house made into a school) and big (as TVS Lakshmi) of schools and varied beliefs (St. Joseph, Pattukottai, SDA, Madurai) Christian/ (TVS)Hindu.
To be frank, I didn't learn anything till my 8th Std. In fact, I felt like a xerox machine. I still remember my mother asking me to do something of this sort in exam.
Question: Which is the longest river in India?
Just cut the last part "the longest river in India" and append 'is' and write the name of the river. Simple !
I still use to kid my mother recollecting this! :)
That's the starting point of my learning curve. Since, then I tried to understand/question myself on each of the subjects/things I was taught/see.
On the whole, it's a great experience to have studied at different schools at different places which gives a notion of the school setting in Tamil Nadu.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)