Gandhi Jayanthi Celebrations the

October 2009
Vol.1 Issue 4
mcc newsletter
the
Madras Christian College (Autonomous)
Tambaram, Chennai 600 059
Theatre Collective
Gandhi Jayanthi Celebrations
On the 22nd of October, the college
union society’s theatre group ‘The Madras
Christian Collegae theatre collective,42’ in
its debut performance staged three oneact plays in an attempt to re-awaken the
spirit of theatre at MCC.
The College Union Society organised several programmes to celebrate Gandhi Jayanthi this year. The celebrations were held on the 31st of September
and the 1st of October. An essay writing competition on “The relevance
of Gandhi in Contemporary India” and a sketching competition were conducted in which the students actively participated.
The plays attempted to showcase the
diverse range of talents of the members
of the collective.
The highlight of the celebration was the exhibition on the life of Mahatma
Gandhi , where the personal collection of Gandhi memorabilia belonging
to Mr. Venkita Kalyanam, Personal Secretary to Mahatma Gandhi (1942-48)
were on display.
The plays staged were, ‘Hidden Fires’,
a monologue by Manjula Padmanabhan,
‘Temporary Matters’ a short story by
Jhumpa Lahiri, adapted for the stage by
Samyuktha PC and ‘A simple Twist of
Fate’ a folktale, scripted by Samyutha PC
and Srikrishna Sekhar.
The exhibition was declared open by Mrs. Hazel Anderson, Retd. Archivist,
National Archives, Edinburgh. Newspaper reports on Gandhiji’s assasination, his letters, diaries, photographs, and the medical report of his death
were the main exhibits.
The plays were directed by Samyuktha
PC. Live music performed by members
of the collective added greatly to the ambience of each play. The plays were well
received and applauded.
A panel discussion was held in the evening with Mr. Kalyanam, Rev. Andrew
Anderson, Prof. Cherian Kurien and Dr. C. Selvaraj sharing their views on
Gandhian thought. The Principal Dr. R. W. Alexander Jesudasan addressed
the gathering and set the ball rolling for the discussion. The celebration
came to an end with the singing of Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite hymns and
bhajans.
The students of the Social Work Department (SFS) staged a street play near
the bell tower to propagate Gandhian ideals among the student community.
Convocation
MCC School of Continuing Education
The fourteenth annual convocation of The MCC School of Coninuing Education was held on 23 October 2009. Dr. C. Christudas, former college
medical officer delivered the convocation address. The Principal, Dr. R.W.
Alexander Jesudasan awarded the diplomas and certificates. Mrs. Padmini
Christudas and Mrs. Nirmala Jesudasan gave away the special prizes.
October 2009
Vol.1 Issue 4
Alumni Chapter Visit
SCM camp at Pammal
The Principal began his Alumni Chapter visits by visiting
the Kottayam chapter on 17 October 2009 and the Cochin
chapter on 18 October 2009. The meet was attended by
around 40 alumni in each chapter. The senior most alumnus
in Kottayam, Mr. Mammen, (94) and Mr. Thomas Chacko
(89) from Cochin were felicitated by the College and their
respective Chapters.
Apart from the Principal, both the Meetings were attended
by Mrs. Nirmala Jesudasan, Dr. William Gnanasekaran (Associate Professor, Public Administration), Mrs. Vasantha
Williams, Mr. Chelladurai Williams (Secretary, MCC Alumni
Association and Mr. John Rajkumar Devanboo (Alumni &
Public Relations Officer)
The SCM conducted a free ‘Dental Camp’ in the Pammal
Medical Centre in association with the Balaji Dental College.
The camp was inaugurated by Mr. P. W. C. Davidar, IAS, Secretary, Information Technology, Govt. of Tamil Nadu. The
camp was attended by a host of officials and students from
the College. Representatives from the local administration
also participated in the camp.
Christian Studies
Rev. C. Somu Ebenezer Ross has
been appointed as the Director
of the Institute for Advanced
Christian Studies. The IACS offers a Diploma course in Christian Studies for the students of
MCC.
Campus Clinic
Campaign Against Global Warming
Students and staff members of the Department of Marine
Studies & Coastal Resource Management are involved in a
series of events to create awareness on ‘Global warming and
carbon emissions’. Their activities included a flash mob on
21 September 2009 at the Spencers Plaza to urge more Indian leaders to go to the COP15 conference. The students
and a staff member staged a street play on ‘Marine pollution
and environment’ at the Marina Beach on 11 October 2009.
Mr. M. Rahul, a student, and his friends led a campaign at
Nandanam traffic signal, one of Chennai’s busiest traffic signals on 16 October 2009, the eve of Deepavali. The campaign shed light on the risks of carbon emission and the
importance of using public transport.
On 19 October 2009, a member of the Tree Foundation
spoke on the impact of global warming on marine mammals.
On 24 October 2009, the month-long awareness campaign
culminated in the “Spaces”, Elliots Beach Road, Besant Nagar, Chennai. The Campaign ‘Chill out’ was organised to
highlight the magic number “350” representing the allowable
limit of carbon in the environment.
Alumni General Body Meeting
The MCC Campus Clinic opened a new facility for consultation in the Science Block on 22 October 2009. Dr. C. Christudas, former Medical Officer of our College inaugurated the
clinic. The clinic will be open on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays between 10.15am-11.15am in the morning and between 3.00pm and 4.00pm in the evening.
The General Body Meeting of the MCC Alumni Association
was held in the MCC Higher Secondary School Auditorium
on September 26, 2009.
Blood Donation Camp
The NCC(Infantry wing) organized a blood donation camp
on 8 October 2009 where 360 students donated blood which
was given to the general hospital, Chennai.
October 2009
Seminars / Paper Presentations
Dr. R. Wilfred Sugumar, Department of Chemistry, presented a paper titled ‘Pet bottles and Informal Recyclers’
in the IV International Conference of the Organization for
Studies in Literature and Environment–India, 25-26 September 2009, at National College, Tiruchirapalli. He presented another paper titled ‘Complexation of macromolecule cucurbituril with metals and acetamide’ at the National
Conference on Perspectives in Lasers and Spectroscopy,
24-25 September 2009, organized by Department of Physics, Women’s Christian College, Chennai and Indian SpectroPhysics Association.
Dr. R. Joel Karunakaran, Department of Chemistry, presented a paper titled ‘Synthesis of Bioactive Iodoheterocyclic compounds’ at the National Conference on Recent
Advances in Chemistry, 18 September 2009, organized by
Department of Chemistry, Bishop Heber College, Tiruchirapalli. She also presented a paper titled ‘Complexation of
macromolecule cucurbituril with metals and acetamide’
at the National Conference on Perspectives in Lasers and
Spectroscopy, 24-25 September 2009, organized by Department of Physics, Women’s Christian College, Chennai and
Indian SpectroPhysics Association.
Mrs. T. Jaba Priya, Department of Chemistry, presented papers (i) “Pet bottles and Informal Recyclers”, (ii) “ Hi-tech
(E)-waste management-the remedy for environmental degradation” in the IV International Conference of the Organization for Studies in Literature and Environment–India, 2526th September 2009, at National College, Tiruchirapalli.
Mathew Kuruvilla, II PG student, Department of Chemistry, presented a paper titled ‘Hi-tech (E)-waste management
– the remedy for environmental degradation’ in the IV International Conference of the Organization for Studies in
Literature and Environment–India, 25-26 September 2009,
at National College, Tiruchirapalli.
Dr. R. Chandrasekaran, Department of Statistics, was a
resource person for UNDP Sponsored Programme on
“Strengthening State Plan for Human Development”, State
Planning Board Sponsored Training Programme on Modern Analytical to the particular Reference to Econometrics,
University of Calicut, held in July 2009.
Dr. K. Mahesh Kumar, Department of Marine Studies &
Coastal Resource Management presented a paper on “Aquaculture biotechnology” at Department of Zoology, Govt.
Arts College for Men, Chennai on 23 September 2009.
A. Saravanakumar, M. Rajkumar, Jun Sun, J. Sesh Serebiah
and G. A. Thivakaran, published a paper on “Forest structure of arid zone mangroves in relation to their physical
Vol.1 Issue 4
and chemical environment in the western Gulf of Kachchh,
Gujarat, Northwest coast of India”, in the Journal of Coast
Conservation.
Dr. V. Deepak Samuel, Department of Marine Studies &
Coastal Resource Management presented a paper on “Teaching and effective presentation of research findings” in ICMR
sponsored National workshop on “Critical perspectives on
research methodology in biomedical sciences” at School of
Bio-technology and health sciences, Karunya University,
Coimbatore on 8 October 2009.
Statistics Association
The Statistics Association organised intra-department sports
and cultural programmes during September-October 2009.
The sports events included Cricket, Volleyball, and Tennicoit
matches, while the cultural events featured events like Rangoli and collage.
Student Achievements
Veluchandiran, II M.Sc., Department of Chemistry (SFS)
won the first prize of Rs. 10,000 in the oratorical competition titled ‘Thanthai periyarum samuga neethiyum’ conducted as part of Periyar Birth Centenary celebrations on 17
September 2009.
Quizzers bring laurels
N. Ajith Kumar and M. Subramaniam of III BA History
won the second prize in the quiz competition conducted by
the Tamil Nadu Archives to celeberate the centenary of the
Government Archives. The prizes were distrubuted by Mr.
K. Ponmudy, the Hon’ble minister for higher education.
Championship for NCC Cadets
The Naval wing cadets of Madras Christian College M.
K. Anand (II B.Com) M. Sathyanandhan (II B.A Tamil),
Rajeswaran (II B.A English), P. Gayathri (II B.A Political Science), G.V. Shylaja (II B.Sc Mathematics) attended the Nausanik Camp at Puducherry from 16-25th September 2009.
The cadets bagged seventeen medals and certificates making
the 1 (TN) Naval Unit NCC the overall cultural champions.
October 2009
Vol.1 Issue 4
Forthcoming Events
Social Science Practicum
Carol Concert
The Carol Concert is scheduled to be conducted on the 14th
& 15th of December 2009 at the MCC School Ground.
Alumni who would like to join the Alumni Choir please contact the Choirmaster/A & PRO at the earliest.
Seminar on Quality and Reliability
The Department of Statistics plans to organize the World
Quality Day Seminar on “Quality and Reliability of the Hard
and Soft” on 12th November 2009 in association with Indian Association for Productivity, Quality and Reliability.
Deep Woods
The Students Union Council is picking up pace for the successful conduct of Deepwoods 2009 which is scheduled to
be held in the first week of December.
Faculty Exchange Programme
The Centre for Internatioal Social Work organized a conference on ‘International Social Science Practicum: Trends in
Cross Cultural Social Work Practice’ on 8 September 2009.
Participants from Taiwan, Australia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Sri
Lanka, Canada, and USA attended the conference.
Service Learning
As part of the MoU with MCC, Students from Chang Jung
Christian University engaged in service learning at Centre for
International Social Work from 5-11 September 2009.
Student Exchange
As part of the Mou with Thompson
Rivers Univesity, Ms. Jane Birkbeck,
Professor, School of Social Work
and Human Service gave lectures in
the Department of Social Work and
other departments in MCC during
September and October 2009.
Student Exchange Programme
16 Students and 2 faculty from the Furman University, USA
are on campus for little more than a month from the last
week of October on a Student Exchange Programme.
Fulbright-Nehru Visiting Scholars
Dr. Anne Walter & Dr.
Michael C. Swift from
St. Olaf College, Minnesota, USA will be
in MCC for 3 months
from November 2009.
Editorial Board
Mr. John Rajkumar Devanboo (Convener) Mr. Surendran Purushotham,
Dr. James Kurian, Mr. Jojan Job,
Ms. Blessy, Rhea Abraham and Blaisen Bonney Tom.
Obituary
Mr. Thomas, Campus worker, passed away on 7th October
2009. May God comfort the bereaved family.
Sponsor of this issue:
New No. 60 South Sivan Koil Street, Vadapalani, Chennai - 600 026.
Phone : 2481 6360, 2481 2081, Mobile: 9283121161, 9962001161
e-mail : [email protected]
Mail news and forthcoming events to: [email protected] Ph: 044 - 22397731
for private circulation only
Four students from University of South Australia were
placed in Family Life Institute, the extension unit of MCC at
Mappedu, as part of the student exchange programme from
August to November 2009.