11th Graduation Day Celebration on 17th April 2016 – A Brief Report

The 11^th Graduation Day commenced at 10.00 a.m., on 17^th April 2016. The Principal, the Heads of the Departments & the Dignitaries, came in a ceremonial march inside the convocation hall, with the accompaniment of music. The Principal Dr. S. Nagarajan welcomed the gathering – which consisted of graduates and their parents, who had accompanied their wards for witnessing the event of graduation, which is the culmination of the 4 years of academic toil of their children in the campus. Our College Founder & Chairman Sri M.K.S. Srinivasan made his presidential remarks. He congratulated the graduates for their realization of academic goal in the campus. He appealed to young graduates not to confine themselves within their own branch of learning, but to show interest and eagerness to learn through experience other realms of engineering applications. Thier eyes and ears should be wide open to learn and to improve in their engineering career. Multi-dimensional approach to engineering career is what is essential to come up in life.

The Chief Guest Sri R. Lakshmanan, the CEO of TECTON in the Dubai, made his convocation address to the graduating students. Following are the points which he highlighted. 1) His humble origin: He avered that he hailed from rural background. And after his graduation in Madurai, he moved into a job situation, in which he explored all avenues to learn and to improve. He travelled widely and underwent training programmes. He came into awareness of becoming Number One in his profession – an insight which he was able to cull from the life of the poet Kannadasan. 2) His eye-opening Insights: His interactions with his teachers widened his outlook of life. He was made to think that an engineer is not a job seeker, but a job maker. This outlook triggered in him the desire to become an entrepreuner. He established an organization at the age of 38, and employed a few hundreds of people. Because of his high vision and effort, his organization grew into greater dimensions with several locations across the globe. Now there are more than 30,000 employees in his organization and his turnover is 7000 crores every year. To succeed in life, humility is very essential. 3) His caution about Pride: Pride, when it infiltrates into the mind, breaks human relations and causes irrepairable damages in life. We need to learn from others and from all available situations thrown before us by divinity.

The Chief Guest Sri R. Lakshmanan cited a 4 D principle to make success of life – namely, 1) Desire (passion), 2) Destination (defining the goals & planning for achievement of the goals), 3) Dedication (being focused and working hard towards the goals), & 4) Discipline (not only moral, but also professional, not giving room for deviation from the avowed goals). His caution about Luck: He advised the graduates not to allow the thought of luck to haunt their mind. Luck is what we should not seek. But what we need to do is to explore opportunities and to take sincere efforts to achieve. Our dedication and hard work will bring luck into our life. So, seeking luck is unwise, but getting luck, through one's efforts is what would be highly rewarding. Luck has to come and knock the doors of our life. That is to say, we have to plan our career, and keep taking a lot of efforts in order to progress in life.

The Chief Guest Sri R. Lakshmanan appealed to graduates to read a lot, and to expand their territories of life. Essentiality of Globalization: Their attitude should be global. Their outlook should not be narrowed down to Tamilnadu or India. Their aim is to keep flourishing in all realms of human activities that come into their way. Planning and execution are vital in any career. Primacy of Knowledge for Success: He further added that knowledge is power. Higher is the knowledge, better will be opportunities flooding your way. For enhancing your knowledge, you should explore all avenues of learning through internet and through interactions with successful men in life.

The Chief Guest issued the BE/ME Degrees to 337 graduated students (312 UG & 25 PG) and gave away prizes to 5 university rank-holders (1 UG & 4 PG). The convocation came to an end, with the Principal Dr. S. Nagarajan ordering for the dissolution of the august event.