Fifteen seconds of fame and embarrassment!

Having your photograph published in the pages of a national newspaper -- if not for the wrong reasons -- is surely gratifying. It is an even greater ego trip when that photograph shows you in the company of famous people, in colour.
However, it can be quite embarrassment if the photograph is mentioned by someone in the presence of many!

Here is the photograph in question:

Yours truly was given the honour of speaking at the Inauguration ceremony of a prestigious conference on Project Management in Chennai, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and supported by PMI India.
Noted industrialist Mr. T T Ashok, Deputy Chairman of CII, Southern Region, welcomed the gathering.
Speaking on the value of Project Management, I started with the rhetorical question, "If someone were to say that Project Management is largely an accidental profession, would you agree?", leading to how PMI was working hard to provide Project Managers with recognition. PMI does this through Research, Standards, Credentials and Training partners.
Mr. Pankaj Jain IAS of the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation spoke about how the Centre was asking IIMs to come up an MBA Program on Project Management.
The event, held at the opulent Taj Coromandel hotel on 21st and 22nd May 2010, was attended by hundreds of middle and senior managers from a number of well-known companies.
Here is a link to article published in The Hindu on 22nd May:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article435457.ece
The same day the article was published, I was conducting a session on Project Risk Management at the Madras Management.
Rather embarrassingly, one of the participants mentioned the article and photograph in that morning's Hindu and commented, "We are in the presence of a famous person here!"
All I could do was go red-faced and say, "It is just 15 seconds of fame that most people get in life!"

Panel Discussion, PM Quiz and PM Cryptic Crossword at the PM National Conference India 2009.

PMI India, along with PMI Team India (all seven chapters in India working together) planned, organized and conducted the mega event, PM National Conference India 2009.
Held at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), the event was a great success, with upwards of 900 attendees, special and volunteers from India and abroad listen to a a number of PM experts and leaders from across the globe.
More details of the event are available at: http://www.pmi.org.in/congress/
I was there at this event based on my position as President of PMI's Chennai Chapter and participated in the Panel discussion on the future of Project Management in India.
This YouTube video includes part of my contribution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FfsNb-Qw4U&feature=player_embedded#!

I was also honoured to be Quiz Master and Crossword Compiler respectively for two unique competitions open to all Conference attendees. These competition were a great success.

A walk down Memory Lane at TCE Madurai (continued).

Continuing my walk down memory lane with pictures taken at TCE, in December 2006:


On the left, there was a game of cricket being played in right earnest.


This medium-fast bowler was really bending his back, and thwack! The ball had been viciously pulled, and a fielder went scampering to the square leg boundary to retrieve the ball.



















On the right side, there is a large new building, housing a well-equipped library named after the founder of the college.






















As I kept walking down, next on the right was the imposing main college building. It's traditional grandeur has not diminished one bit in the last 15+ years!


Another example of how, even as many modern buildings have sprung up in the campus, the majesty of the old has not been overshadowed at all!














To the right of the entrance, there was a huge yellow silk banner on the ICGVIP (5th Indian Conference on Computer Vision, Graphics & Image Processing).


Though called "Indian", this Conference was truly international, with participants from all over the world, including the US, Italy, the UK, Israel, etc.


The list of Corporate Sponsors included international Tech biggies such as Microsoft, Adobe, AOL, GE, Google, HP, IBM, Yahoo, TCS, and Honeywell. If that does not read like a list of "Who's Who" of the movers and shakers of technology, what can? The event was also sponsored by non-corporates such as the GOI's Ministry of IT, ADE-DRDO, IIT-Delhi and TCE.


Now, that's truly impressive!








Just opposite the main building, was the TCE fountain in all its glory, releasing negative ions and truly refreshing the senses.


It certainly looked a pretty picture!




















And then, just round the corner, there was the famous ficus benghalensis (Indian banyan) tree which had "sheltered thousands of TCE students at various points in time. This was the place more fondly known as the "maraththadi"!


The gentle warming rays of the morning sun filtering through its branches seemed to suggest the tons of "enlightenment" it had bestowed on countless TCEians!










Here's a closer picture of that famous "community gathering place"!


There's a new reflective sign with directions to various departments. However, the concrete benches haven't changed one bit, and that's a comforting thought!
















This is a nice picture of numerous branches of the banyan, and the small bridge we used to cross to get to the Computer Center.


TCE students would have certainly crossed many more metaphorical bridges in their lives since passing out of TCE!




























Crossing the bridge, I was now in front of the Computer Center (note the Americanized spelling of the word!) where we had almost all our classes.


The building is maintained well, and the verdant greenery all round hasn't changed at all!


















Here is another long-shot of the Banyan Tree and the bridge across to the Computer Center.


This is what we used to see when we walked back to "The Big Tree" after lunch at the canteen.




















Walking back towards the Guest House (built near the Men's Hostel), I clicked this picture showing the nice tree-lined avenue that ends at the new canteen.


Note the neatly painted yellow-and-black stripes on the edges of the pavements...




























... which were paved with smart hexagonal tiles.






































Most of the trees in the college campus have small dark blue signs with their names in Tamil, in English (botanical), and medicinal values painted in white letters.


































Turning right, I shot this snap showing the long road exiting the College Campus.


It was a road I had travelled many times during my 3 years at TCE, but this time, there was a different feeling, laden with many refreshed memories of those enjoyable college days.






Thanks for taking this walk down memory lane with me.


I hope you enjoyed it, and look forward to your comments.


Please do leave a comment!