CTTE College

Inside
Editorial
- Selvarani 3
Inside At The Helm
- Jothi 4
Our Founder
- selvarani 5
A Chat with our Principal
- Andrea &
Priyanka 6




The Post Graduate
Department of English
-selvarani

Talent Display
- Priyanka
Nature in Bloom
- selvarni

A Trip to Merry land
- Andrea
Dr. C.T. Indra
- Andrea
Who Is He?
- Jothi

Our golden Senior
- selvarani&
Andrea
My Favourite Hour
- Selvarani
Heart Beats
- Priyanka

The Bloomy Sunny Day
- Jothi
The Rhythm of Life
- Jothi
ADEPT - Andrea




My First Day in class
-Priyanka
Let’s Salute CTTE
- Priyanka




EDITORIAL

The in-house magazine gave us an opportunity to be creative. When we were working for the magazine, we got many ideas. We have expressed our opinions. This is our voice. We have gathered our thoughts together into these leaves. We thank our Principal Mrs.Hanifa Ghosh who gave us such encouragement and support. When we interviewed her, in spite of her busy schedule, she kept aside time for us. We are grateful to our Head of the Department Mrs.Beena Thomas, for her incessant encouragement and the scope she gave us to work with commitment.
We thank all our teachers for their guidance and support. Though the magazine was part of our academic necessity, we enjoyed working together. It brought the four of us together. We learnt to operate the technological tools very well. We learnt page layout, designing, word processing and understood the value of team work. When we bring sincerity and dedication to work, it builds a lot of happiness in our minds, we learnt. To be in short we learnt to be responsible.
We thank Mrs. Shakila, who was our constant guide. Without her efficient guidance, we would have found this work very difficult. She was around teaching us the technological nuances every day patiently.

AT THE HELM

Mr. L.Palamalai (retd. IAS) Justice J. Kanakaraj

Our college is managed by the CTTE Trust. The chairman of the trust is Justice J. Kanakaraj, retired Judge of the High Court of Madras. The Managing Trustee and Correspondent is Mr. L.Palamalai, (retd. IAS). The college has seven departments out of which three are post graduate departments. We have many facilities like a well equipped library, a spacious language lab etc.


Our Founder

Our founder is late Dr. Mrs. Elizabeth Thomas. She began the college in 1984. Her dream was to provide higher education to girls.






Her husband was the famous educationist Mr.T.Thomas, who started the well known St.Mary’s Schools of Perambur way back in the 1960s. In fact, Mr. Thomas wanted to start a college for girls. After his demise, his wife made his dream a reality.




A Chat with Our Principal

Our Principal is known for her gentleness. When she teaches us, she takes us to the world of knowledge with the ease of a great intellectual. We enjoy her classes as she mixes humour and kindness with knowledge. Read on to know about this great scholar of our college.


Andrea: Ma’ am could you tell us about your experience in our college?
Principal: As a teacher I joined this institution in the year 1986. Earlier I was working in Fatima College, Madurai. When I came to this College for an interview I was asked to take a class. I was so impressed by the students that I had no second thoughts about leaving Fatima College and joining this institution. I love my students and enjoy teaching them.
Priyanka: What do you prefer to be, a teacher or a Principal?
Principal: I enjoy teaching but now, as Principal I have the chance to do much more and help develop this institution which I have grown to love.
Priyanka: What do you feel about how our college is growing?
Principal: I think in the past six years ever since the new management took over, our college has been doing really well. I’m sure that in another four to five years, under the guidance of this management and with the committed work of the faculty and God’s blessings we can establish ourselves as one of the leading Colleges in Chennai.
Andrea: Are you satisfied with this growth?
Principal: Of course not. We have just taken the first few steps and the sky is the limit as far as our ambition go.
Priyanka: At present, our College offers more facilities than other colleges, like Adept the language Lab, Soft Skill Course and IAS Study Circle? What do you feel about imparting these extra skills to your students?
Principal: I feel really proud and happy that we are able to do so much for our students. We are not just imparting academic knowledge but we are imparting skills which will help them go that extra mile in life.
Andrea: Can you tell us about your school life ma’am?
Principal: My basic schooling was in Calcutta. I studied in Our Lady’s Queen of the Missions Convent. When I was very small I did not take my studies very seriously. But I remember I was good in Mathematics and English. After coming to Madurai I focused more on my studies because my father had passed away and I became more serious. I remember I was a chatter- box in school. The principal of St. Joseph’s Matriculation school, Madurai was a French nun, Sister Louis Filibert. She loved me. When she went on rounds, she would hold my hand and take me with her. She would introduce me to everyone as the little chatter- box of the school. She was a great person and I always remember her for all that she did for me. When I had difficulty in paying my school fees she arranged for free education. She was a great educationist and a person with a lot of empathy and compassion.
Andrea: Which type of genre do you prefer to teach and why?
Principal: I love teaching poetry the highest form of literature because of the language and content. A great thought expressed by an appropriate metaphor always moves me. Also poetry gives one a lot of scope for interpretation. Next to that I enjoy teaching linguistics.
Priyanka: Are you satisfied with your students?
Principal: There is no question of being satisfied. Students who come to us are like soft clay in our hands. We have to mould and shape them. As a teacher, I never punish my students or use harsh words. But as Principal, I have to be different.
Andrea: What do you feel about our PG Gold medalist and what are your expectations from future students?
Principal: The Gold medalist Selva Selin Mary has done our college proud, by securing the I Rank in M.A. English. She is now doing extremely well in Loyola College. Another student Vimala from 1992-95 batches got the first rank in the University in B. A. English Literature. Students from other disciplines have also brought laurels to our College by securing University Ranks. I hope more and more students will excel in academics and make the institution proud of them.
Priyanka: Ma’am we are delighted that you have shared your experiences with us and we pray to God for our institution’s growth?
Principal: I really pray to God that all of you do well in life. God bless you all.
It is indeed a pleasure talking to our dear Principal, and we leave the office thanking her profusely.

The Post Graduate Department of English
The Department of English was started in the year 1985. It became a Post Graduate Department in 2006.Our Principal too belongs to our Department, and takes classes for us regularly.
At present the Head of our Department is Mrs. Beena Thomas. She has 21 years of teaching experience. She is our most caring teacher. She encourages our creativity and has made us very responsible.
The Department arranges guest lectures regularly. We are encouraged to do research on our projects in a very serious manner though our teachers guide us and help us, they often insist on our being independent and self reliant in acquiring knowledge.

We had eminent persons like Dr. Bharathi Harishankar (Reader in English, IDE, University of Madras), Dr. Megala Rajan (Senior Lecturer, Department of English,
Madras Christian college), Dr. Senthil Athiban (Director, Spark), Mr. Karthickeyan (HR Manager, MRF) and Ms. Supala ( Lecturer in English, University of Madras) who spoke on various aspects of literature.We also had a series of lecture on soft skills and personality development. Mrs. Sudha Srikanth trained us on self esteem, goal setting, presentation skills etc,. Mr. Einstein from Madras school of social work trained us on assertive communication.
We will remember our department with respect, love and affection.
















Talent Display

Our college conducts cultural festivals every year. Kala-Kiran is our Inter departmental cultural festival. Chainika is our Inter collegiate festival.
This year Kala- Kiran was held on 13th January and Chainika was held on 14th January. We had Western group and Solo dance, Group singing, Fashion shows, Short Plays, Dramas, Mehendi, Rangoli etc. We also had Quiz, Poetry writing, Essay writing, Debates and so on.
Mr. Bala and Miss Anjana, famous television anchors had come as guests. They also judged various competitions for Kala-Kiran.




On the day of Chainika we had eminent people like Mr.V.V.S.Mani, a play back singer, Mr. Aswin sekhar, an upcoming actor and Mr. Venkat, another actor who had come as judges for the events.

The fine arts club consisted of students and staff that showed excellent team work and commitment. Both the days the campus was looking bright as our friends had dressed for the occasion and we enjoyed ourselves every moment tremendously.

Nature in
















Man can win the game well only
When he knows his horrible sins
Power comes in unruffled silence
When he avoids mean violence
He can realize his ultimate target
When he discerns himself really well
Nature will guard his self truly
If warrior like he protects her
He blooms and glows colourful bright
When nature is quietly contented
Man can end his mystery of life
Reaching the great treasury at last
Till then let us love this life
And live well till the D Day.

A Trip to Merry Land

Our friends from UG went to Queen’s Land for a merry trip. They brought some snaps from the place and shared their experiences with us. Here is a poem on that.
The good old Time came to relax in sloth
Not with our parents ordering us around
But with our friends extending warmth
A trip to merry land, the land of imagination
Brought us to Queensland – land of Queens?
No fear, no tire, no lectures for the day
Giant wheel showed me the paradise in earth
With the actions of mystery, ununderstood
We never imagined it could be so, stepping in.
The American wave pushed me right through
How angry the waves are with humanity?
The thundering storm of Rollercoaster
Raised me to the sky seen at a close up shot
Swinging musical car took me to empty space
Gave me joy and pleasure and unlimited bliss
I am the queen, I am the real queen, I felt
Of this merry, merry land, created by Man.









A Special Day with
Dr. C. T. INDRA
In the month of April 2008 our college held the convocation day for all the UG and PG graduates. The graduates were given yellow robes to wear. They looked like a swarm of butterflies.
The sight was so inspiring. We all began to think about our UG days, when we were so irresponsible. In PG we have become more serious and goal oriented.
We had a great person who has dedicated her life to research as our honourable chief guest. It was Dr. C.T. Indra, Retd. Head, Department of English, and Directior ICOM, University of Madras.
When she was is service she was instrumental in Madras University signing 30 MOUs of understanding with various foreign universities, we realized.
Dr. Indra emphasized the need for women to learn to balance values with ambition. She insisted that women should coordinate their energies and succeed in their endeavors.
She spoke with confidence, scholarship and authority that we will never forget her stature and dignity. I think the college gave us a model to shape our personality that day. We all discussed about how important it was for us to focus our energies on some work. Only such dedication to work will make our life meaningful, we understood.

Who is He?

A Tribute to our Watchman

He is the man who guards us with diligence and care all day long as we are seated inside lost in our academic pursuit. Soft spoken no doubt, but not when we come in late or park our vehicles out of line.
His respect and honor for the superiors, elders, the challenged is remarkable and is a good example for young minds like me to witness day after day. Being a highly conscientious man, we often see how he struggles to speak sense to an erring visitor or colleague. By the blue gate he is glued watching for trouble never ever taking his eyes away from his constant watch over the campus. The lathi and the whistle are his weapons and it is a treat to watch him use them. Every morning and evening the air resounds with his sharp, impatient whistling and the loud repeated thuds of his lathi.
It communicates what he expects us to do and we better obey in time or his lathi and whistle may cause us enough damage to feel guilty about. No one has ever succeeded to escape his sight and leave the premises and therefore nobody tries. From the mountains of Nepal he has arrived to guard over this corner in Chennai. It is a delight to hear him switch tongues and the excitement in his voice when he speaks to those who share his own language. A scholar in his own right, indeed!
Each morning and evening he never fails to greet all those who pass by his stare and believe me he knows who comes from where and who drops whom. A couple of days when he stayed away for his son’s wedding we really understood how much a part he is to our campus and lives. Hats off to this man who keeps watch over us and our college. We salute his unfailing duty and commitment to his job. When we leave the portals of this institution we will definitely have a lot of lessons learnt from this soul who is our college watchman.

Our Golden Senior
Selva Selin Mary

Selva Selin Mary got the gold medal from Madras University this year for her first rank in MA English. She is very busy now with her M.Phil thesis and was just not available for a chat. At last we almost forced her to talk to us. She shares her experiences with us in this special interview.
Andrea: How did you feel about your success?
Selin: I felt extremely delighted. I didn’t have words to express my happiness.
Rani: Who is behind your success?
Selin: I would say that this success is not only a result of my hard work and effort, but the one who was behind this success was the almighty God. Without his mercy and grace I wouldn’t have succeeded in my studies. Secondly, my teachers’ support and finally, the prayers of my family members, friends and my sister.
Andrea: Who is your favourite teacher?
Selin: Each and every one is special to me in their unique manner. The care, concern and love they showered on me was like a mother’s love for a child. They were thoughtful when I was in need. So, everyone who taught me in these five years is important to me. Especially, I am thankful to my Principal, my college Dean and my H.O.D for insisting me to pursue M.A. degree in C.T.T.E.
Rani: Can you share your college day experiences with us?
Selin: I have been in this college for five years. In fact I unwillingly joined both U.G. and P.G. I thought literature is not my cup of tea. But as days went on I got used to it. I began liking it very much. I enjoyed reading. I was safe and secure and felt at home during my college days. The most memorable days are during my P.G. though we were few in number we worked together in whatever we did. God gave me true friends and a loving sister. We are still in touch and will ever be. I can never forget my days in C.T.T.E. I feel proud to be a product of C.T.T.E.
Andrea: What about your present studies?
Selin: At present I’m doing M.Phil in ELT (English Language Teaching) at Loyola College.
Rani: What is your ambition?
Selin: To become a lecturer and my dream is to be called a good teacher.
Andrea: What advise would you like to give your juniors?
Selin: I’m not such a great person to give advice. But one thing I would like to say is hard work gives success. If someone criticizes you, it is better to accept it. For that moment it may taste bitter, but if you take it in the right manner it will help you to prosper in life. I’m saying this out of my own experience. As Churchill “it is no use saying ‘I’m doing my best’. You have to succeed in doing what is necessary”.



Favourite Hour
Lunch Time
This is the best hour of the day. Most of the time, we come to college without eating our breakfast. Our stomachs begin to ring even by ten in the morning. Lunch time is eleven thirty and till then our minds are caught between hunger and listening to lectures.
There are times when we would not have brought lunch from home and would rush to the canteen but lunch would be sold out there too. Such days we share food or buy some snacks. The poor girl who brings lunch that day finally will end up eating the snacks from the canteen, as we would have eaten up her lunch.
What a fantastic commentary follows on eating, chewing, and swallowing! We sit under the trees, and keep on talking incessantly. I don’t even remember what exactly we talk everyday. New friendships are born during this time as we tend to talk to other students too.
Lunch hour can also be stressful, if we have a seminar or have not completed the assignment due for the fourth hour; the hour turns dark with our respiratory organs working overtime.
Even our lunch tastes strange to us, then – bland, and insipid, we wonder what went wrong with our mothers that day, although they ax not at fault.
After eating the lunch from our tiffin boxes, we all march to the canteen once again for the desserts- ice-cream or cool refreshing drinks- but may land up having a second course of meal chapattis and channa-masala.
I think some of the best moments in my life are the lunch hours when we share our thoughts with the utmost freedom. Probably they are the most creative moments of my life. Such moments also have taught me so much other than the academics.
HEART BEATS – three poems

1. Peace and God
I did not believe
Is there a God?
No Peace, no God.

I saw a child
She saved a dog
From dying
Under a car

I saw her face
Saw the smile
Knew Peace
Understood God.





2. Love
I fought with my friends
I argued with my sisters
I told my parents
You all don’t have
Love for me

Give, my heart said
It was easily said
Than done
How do we give love?
We only want it.

Shower love
Shower affection
Get the same back
From every one.



3. A Poem
To write a poem
I should read
Lots of words
I should know
Lots of lives
I should refer
To lots of books

Should I?
I want to live life
I want to read
The poem of life
Including me.




The Bloomy Sunny Day


The Sports Day
Sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play. We celebrate our sports day every year.
It brings joy and bliss. The girls are grouped among the departments in the college compass. The day opens with March Past of the various contingents of our college like the BA Team, BSC Team, BCOM Team etc. All the contingents march in delight wearing colorful uniforms. It reminds us of the Republic Day Parade.
We are the changing roses; colours are muted due to the sunny bath. We enjoy and encourage our department students we encourage the students too, if we happen to know them.
Though we would love to participate in the games we did not. We know lady fortune smiles only at certain geniuses in the sports field, as in any other field. One needs an aptitude for games or anything else to succeed. We did not have that aptitude. Therefore we keep away from participating.
Several events are organized like relay, running race, needle and the thread, Shot-puts etc. How our friends ran! How they jumped high! Great!

The Physical Directress had a tough time managing the energetic youngsters that day. There was this holiday mood in the campus. We all felt relaxed and kept moving throughout the day – a relief from regular sitting hours in the class room. The removed our tensions of the semester and made our lives more interesting.

.

The Rhythm of Life
The Christmas celebrations

We enjoy Christmas season. It is full of songs. We hear music everywhere in the campus. The choir girls practice in the evening, and the songs float in the ears refreshing us in the end of the day.
Christmas is the season of joy. It brings to our lives faith and happiness. “Joy to the World” is the hymn I like very much for its majestic tune and the hope it carries. “Jingle bells” brings such fun and frolic along with it, that all of us sing it together along with Santa.
This year the choir girls were all dressed in lovely blue. The entire stage decoration was done in blue and white. The music came soaring in harmony and synthesis. The balloons on the stage were a beautiful sight.

Singing along with the choir is a fantastic experience. When the girls sang, “We wish you a merry Christmas” and “We want to wish you a merry Christmas”, we all sang along. “Happy, happy Christmas” was another beautiful number we all enjoyed very well. As a last touch they sang “Wish you a happy New Year”. The words touched our heart. Celebrations add spice to our mundane lives. They re-emphasize the true meaning of living life with zest.

ADEPT
Academy for Developing English and Personality Traits
.
This is the place where we learn soft skills and listen to lectures on personality development. ADEPT has thirty one computers with windows 2007 and an internet facility. We have language soft wares that have been bought from clarity.com. We have the Sky pronunciation suite, study skills etc. The entire system is built with Renet software. We learn phonetics, grammar and sentence making through these technological tools. We learnt to do internet research from here. We learnt about Google Book Search only here. This room has become the window to knowledge for us.
We type our projects; have prepared this in - house magazine only in this lab. We are able to edit our documents so many times, as whenever we find free time we automatically come to the lab. All of us are computer savvy, thanks to this lab. We have become familiarized with windows word, excel, page layout, power point, paint, etc. This lab will be forever a part of our memory.




My First Day
It was a sunny day. I was standing outside the college gate wearing a dazzling red churidhar. With wide open eyes with and a fake smile on my face to cover my nervousness I entered the campus. I tried to look confident as I wandered around the college campus, trying to get accustomed to the environment.
I came across newcomers from my stream and met two girls. As we were moving to the class, we talked about our experiences during the admission process.
The bell rang and it was time to begin the class- beginning of the course. Three senior lectures from the department welcomed us and oriented us. After they left, our seniors entered. We were lost and perplexed not because they ragged us but at their confidence and poise.
We wondered whether we would make it. Sensing our doubt they briefed us about the course. What shocked us most was that fifty percent was the pass mark.
They asked us to take our assignments and projects in time. Even as we reeled at the sight of the syllabus I vowed I will do well in the course.
My first in P.G. really taught me what it is to grow up. I decided to take my studies seriously. Now onwards I am on my own. I have to go to libraries, do internet research, keep reading and get knowledge.



Let’s Salute C T T E

To us CTTE is the best. We have a saying in our college: “East or West – CTTE is the Best”. It is true for us. This is our alma mater, and we would always cherish this institution that has shaped us and given us our identity.
The academic environment in CTTE is very stimulating. It ensures freedom of thinking and action as well as responsibility and honesty. We have received a value based education from our college. We have been taught again and again that we have to contribute to society. There is a strong emphasis on moral standard as well as setting a goal for one’s life.
Our teachers insist on quality. Even when we submit assignments, we are asked to make rewrite them. The educational system in our college trains us to be independent and has made us self-reliant.
We thank Almighty God for giving us an opportunity to be part of this excellent institution.