National Institute of Technology (formerly, Regional College of Engineering) in Tiruchy is one of the top engineering colleges in India. I had an opportunity to attend part of this – as a Guest Speaker and a panelist – event that is completely organized by students. I did not meet any faculty members there but was hosted by a group of very impressive students. This also gave me a chance to interact with young talented engineering students in India. My impressions will be discussed in a separate blog soon.
My talk was on Regaining Intellectual Leadership in the Indian context. This was a first for me because I never addressed an audience primarily undergraduate engineering students from disparate engineering departments. The talk is available from slideshare.
The panel was on ‘I Do It On my own Terms’. An interesting idea, given Indian youth’s current situation. This basically was to discuss how much a young person should do it for himself and how much because what family and society wants him/her to behave in a particular way. I enjoyed participating on the panel.
There were many other activities at this festival. I did not get a chance to attend others. I did attend another talk by Prof. Ramaswamy. A very funny but very traditional Indian talk to give advice to student.
Thanks for sharing your experience and views.One always gets to learn a lot from youngsters.The topic in discussion was also very important and valuable..i am sure you must have enjoyed the interaction.Great to hear all the news.Look forward to hearing from you soon again.