Monday, September 25, 2006

My first Class... as a Teacher!

Just few minutes back, I finished watching "Jillunu Oru Kaadhal" on Arumika's computer. It was not bad. A. R. Rehman's music as usual is very good. I came to college at about 2 o clock after getting up pretty late. Actually I got some time to sleep peacefully last night after one very tiring week.

Yesterday I conducted the very first quiz for the under grads. Friday is my day to conduct quizzes and unfortunately the very first quiz was on Friday and I was completely inexperienced to begin with. We PA TAs had a meeting on thursday on how to conduct quizzes and that helped a bit. Our supervising TA, a PhD named Mohd. Arsalan from Karachi, Pak, guided me through this uncertain time and was very helpful. Friday morning I had to come a bit early (7:30) to get the photocopies of the question paper done at the Department Office.

At 8:30 I stepped into my first class to find a fairly low turn out (3 as against a roll of 15). But people started walking in as the session proceeded. Welcome to Canadian classroom- everything is pretty informal! Student come in go out, eat, drink and sleep in the classroom as they wish. Students come in all sizes and shapes. Guys come to class in Bermudas, Vests, hair dyed in the craziest colors humanly imaginable, boys wearing earings at every possible place on their bodies except their ears... and the list goes on. We were told at the TA orientation at the begining of the term that all this behaviour "must not be taken as a mark of disrespect". Well, the thought on how the faculty would react if WE had done such things back in Anna University was amusing.

Since this was the first session, no student bothered to do the assignment they were supposed to do (PA sessions are about clearing doubts in asignments and conducting quiz). So I had to work out each problem in tha ssignment for them. But I was surprised at their enthusiasm when I started working on problems. I guess that was partly because of their lack of aptitude. For a college level, I found these students had serioulsy low mathematical skills as compared to those in India. They need help even for elementary Integration and simplification of expressions. But I was happy atleast they had an urge to learn these things. I was not complaining... these students regard us like Professors! First impression is the best impression they say. So I made sure I didn't make any mistake on board. Also, I tried to set the test very simple (Arsalan had asked me to expect all this), yet giving some work for their brain. And I guess I did a good job at it. Over all, my first formal teaching experience was good.

I came back home early because a furnace company guy was coming home to inspect our heater and I had to be at home for that. After he left, I sat down to mark the answer sheets. I was happy to find some 5 of my students getting 10/10. But a couple of guys got only 5/10 and I was pretty much unhappy about that, more so after I had worked so hard that morning to teach them. But I think this is a part of every teachers life.

Today morning, the Weather Network (the 24 X 7 news channel which gives only and ONLY weather news at local, national and internatiional level. We depend on it for all the forecasts and watch it every morning before leaving for college. Their forecasts tell us what kind of clothing we need to take that day. Some times I'm surprised how these news readers maintain their mental stability while narrating the same old things about climate the whole day!) announced that today is the end of Summer and Fall begins. Well, I don't remember experiencing any real summer all these days either. But then we expect the coming weeks to get very very cold. I hope Miss Mary (Mr. Nihal's friend) brings me the blankets soon enough. The thin grey blanket I brought from India is increasingly proving to be insufficient. Every night I get into the bed, I find the whole mattress and the sheet very cold.

The classes are going good. Especially my Materials class. We had been working on Schrodinger's Electron wave equation for the last two weeks and I have started understanding a lot of concepts about Quantum theory I never understood in India. Though we don't do a lot of mathematics in that class (actually no physicist ever does!), we are being taught everything intutively.

I got to meet a guy named Parthiban from Rajapaalayam early this week. He had done his UG here and is continuing with his masters in Systems Engineering. I think Arumika and Parthiban are the only two known Indian Tamils here.

Since last week I have been drinking Black Tea every morning. The reason is more economic than anything else- milk is just too costly here. On cold mornings such as these, hot tea soon after getting up from bed is really refreshing

I came today to finish off what remains of my assignment and also to watch this movie. During weekends no one usually comes ot the lab and we can come here and watch movies, listen to music and do voice chat (Though today Gurpreet is in the lab... listening to Kishore Kumar!). Tomorrow I'll be going to the temple (free food!).

Getting Cold... Getting Used To

Sun shone today after a week of rain and its really good. Finally. the temperature touched the 20 degree mark.

This week was very very busy.

First I got my TA duties assigned. The instructor for this second year under grad course (Basic Circuits and Signals) is a Prof named Tom Ray. He is a pretty nice guy and I doubt he will exploit me. We are an army of about 10 TAs for some 200+ students. So each will be incharge for some 25 students. We had a meeting earlier this week about sharing of responsibilities. I had a choice of either becoming in charge for lab or taking care of Problem Analysis sessions and organizing weekly quizzes. I took Problem Analysis (PA) because Lab means I have to run around to each student clearing bugs in circuits and stuff. I have to come every Monday and Friday at 8:30 in the morning for this session starting from next Friday. My duties include grading the weekly quiz and making sure all students do their assignments. Yet, I had to supervise the first intoductory lab session yesterday morning which was about teaching the students soldering (because the lab TAs haven't been assigned yet). I had a pretty good first class and I believe I communicated the process to my students well. I had some problem with my Chineese students though. I'm not being racist, but I have observed that Chineese students' english is extremely pathetic in general. They ask me some doubt and I have to ask them again and again the same thing to understand what they mean. And each time, they re-phrase it , making the comprehension worse and worse! But I think I'll soon start to get used to their tongue.

I attended my first Materials audit course on Thursday. The class was terrific. The prof (named Tom Smy) is teaching directly from Feynmans lectures on Quantum Physics and its very very interesting. And there in the class, I met some 4th year undergrads from SriLanka. Finally, some one here spoke to me in Tamil! Of course their dialect is completely different. They introduce me to their friends like this :
"Yivar Peyar Aerevinth... Yivar Yindhiya Lirunthu Vanthirikkiraar" !!
They are really friendly people. One of the guy's name is Prakash, there is one Dileeban and one Satya ( I haven't met any Prabhakaran or Nalini yet !!) . They told me that there are over 200 Srilankan students in Carleton! Few of them came here with their families after the expulsion of 1995, but most of them are here only since 2001. Their plan is to come here to do under grad, get a job, and then sponsor their parents back in Colombo and bring them here as permanent residents. Most of them are native of Jaffna.

Even fall (autumn) hasn't arrived yet and already the temperatures have dropped to 8 and 7 degrees in the night! And whenever it does get above the 15 degree threshold by God's grace and I start breathing easy, people here switch on the AC, because its just too hot for them! The colours of the leaves have started changing and soon next month, the whole city will turn Bright red from green and there will be a riot of colours all over.

Some maintenance company guys came home today to inspect the heaters at home. There is a huge boiler and a furnace in every home in Ottawa which heats the house all through the winter. People usually switch it on at the end of October and turn it off only at the end of April when the winter gets over. It needs cleaning every September before the onset of winter. The guy told Mr. Shahadat that he needs to replace the furnace because there are some cracks. And Shahadat is working on it. Winters get pretty nasty here during February when there is freezing rain - rains drops frozen during their descent. That makes roads and pavements very slippery. And also, since days become extremely short then (4 PM sunset against 8 Pm sunset currently), many people go into depression because of lack of light! The cure for this psychiatric syndrome it seems is exposure to a table lamp!

One of Mr. Nihal's friend today dropped by my place and gave me a huge study table and a lamp. Its really great and has helped clear all the mess in my room (i just used to keep books and bag on floor).

I'm reading The Hindu e paper regularly. Mainly because the local and even the national dailies here are very much like the stupid Tamil magazines in chennai- mostly Page 3 stuff. A

First Week in Grad School

The week was sort of hectic. I ventured out into to the downtown a couple of times. The canadian war museum is worth mentioning.

We submitted the first assignment to ram achar and he suggested some changes and has asked us to meet him again tomorrow (tuesday). On thursday I had my first class.

The TA orientations were really good esp the general one where we had case studies on how to deal with under grad issues when grading and clearing their doubts. Its a challenge 100 times more than India to deal with UG people. Because in this part of the globe, college education is just a luxury and leisure affair. Most of the people don't even come here for jobs... all they want is to experience University life and socialize. Compare this with the govt colleges of India where only the cream of a state or the country is selected for the UG programs and every one is serious about t heir studies. Most people here don't even go to Grad school.

Most probably I will not teach- TAs here mostly do grading work and clear doubts and take tutorials. Nevertheles, it would be a great experience for a career in academics.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

From the Warmest Place on Earth

This is the true account of my travel to the North-Western Hemisphere and my first impressions of Canada and Ottawa.

23rd August, 9:30 PM

I arrived at the Anna International Terminal only to find I'm the earliest among the 3. MK arrived shortly and after some wait, KG came at 945 (he had, as you might have guessed, promised 915). Reddy anna had come to seeoff KG. My family, my extended family AND my dad's colleagues came for my send off (you know some times popularity is difficult to handle).
The ban on visitors' entry, which came into effect after Mumbai TRAIN blasts, was lifted soon after the London AIR-scare. I wasn't complaining though. My parents, bro, patti and uncle came inside to talk to me till I went inside for immigration. The check-in guy told me the hand item which is usually allowed in addition to the hand luggage is prohibited after the Heathrow episode. I had to put my Intel bag into my travel back pack to convince him and though it weighed 10 kilos after that, he din't mind. MK had to check in one hand bag (which was done for free) becaue he couldn't squeeze one in the other.

After bidding my parents adieu, we went in for immigration and security check. There were 2 loooooooooong queues. We were confused as to which one is ours. A lady in sleeveless looking at our blank faces offered to help and told u any queue is fine. We stood behind her. I needed to take out my passport so showed my sweater at KG and said, "konjam pudichchikonga..."

KG: (with a dirty smile on his face) yedha?

I looked at him, and then the girl ... Hmmm... this is going to be a looooooong journey!

Since KG entered the airport a bit late, we couldn't get consecutive seats. Only me and MK were together. And as luck would have it, it was the very last seat of the plane. Hmmm... this is going to be one looooong bumpy ride! On a brighter side, I got the window seat. I fell asleep immediately and missed the dinner which was served. KG, of course, hogged.

When I got up, the sun was at the horizon and man how bright the rays were from that altitude! MK and KG came around shortly. KG and MK swapped places. I chatted with KG over the breakfast which was good hot pongal. KG was now and then gaping at the german air hostess who, he said, looked like Monica Belouky. The descent at Frankfurt was cool with splendid views down... cities and towns are planned with human settlements separated by vast tracts of green pastures and woods - lands which would otherwise be converted into engineering colleges in India. We landed at Frankfurt at 1000 hrs local time. The climate was pleasant with gushes of cold wind every now and then.

The airport is huge and beautiful. We went to the gate where our Air Canada flight was waiting. After the security check, we boarded te plane. This time, KG and MK got seats next to each other while I was next to a window seat.

I picked up Canada's national daily "Globe and Mail" and was shocked to see the lead story "Four Tamil Students arrested in Ontario while smuggling weapons to LTTE"... Oh... thats a good start in a new country...

They showed Ice Age 2 and X Men on the flight. My neighbour was a middle aged stocky man in shorts. I learnt that Allen was a psychiatrist in Calgary (Oh yeah... soon MK or Suren or La Chappel will see this guy). He graduated from Cambridge and was born and brought up in Johanesburg. He told me about the conditions which arise out of lack of sunlight in winters in Canada. This syndrome, which results in depression, is cured by exposing the patients to a table lamp 20 mins a day! Allen asked me where am I headed for and said , "Ottawa"

Allen: Pardon?

Me: Ottawa.

He was silent for a while and then exclaimed "Oh! You mean 'Auto-wa' !" (the spelling has been altered to accomodate the pronounciation)

Oh... I must remember that one!

KG, meanwhile, was having his own share of fun. Now, our Ma Kanna was having problem cutting his cheese pizza, and guess who did it for him? A 81 year old patti sitting next to him!
We entered the Terminal 1 at Toronto and after a very long wait at the Immigration at Port of Entry, went out to identify our baggaes and re check them. We bought some calling cards and called back home. I My flight to Ottawa wa leaving in an hour and so I left immediately bidding KG and Mk good bye. Of course I remembered to collect the gift KG had for me- a book on science and philosophy... you know, the things we psychos usually discuss.

It was a window seat again for me and a chineese girl was siting next to it. I stood next to her and she looked at me and asked, "Do you want to go inside?"

Me : Yes.

And in a flash, she just crounched and jumped over and stood on her seat and said, "Hop in!"
Stupefied, I went into my seat. A punjabi guy came and sat next to her. He was about my age and was wearing a college t shirt. I had a feeling that he might also headed for Carleton but I didn't mind asking him. I burried my head into my book occasionally looking out of the window. The journey was short- Toronto and Ottawa are like Bangalore and Chennai.

At the Ottawa Terminal, I was welcomed by Mr Nihal- an associate of my uncle back in Chennai. He is a Sinhalee who is now settled in Ottawa. It seems he had served as secretary to Sri Lankan Finance Ministry long time back (good to have a diplomatic welcome into a country!). He drove me to the accomodation I had booked. The land lord of the town house, Mr Shahadat welcomed us in and inspected my room to be. Shahadat told me he is expecting another student to arrive shortly. Nevertheless the bell rang and I was surprised to find the same punjabi guy at my door step!!!

He was Harjot Singh, the guy I had met in orkut TWO MONTHS back and to whom I had passed on Shahadat's contact details on request. But I had no idea he had actually booked the same town house as mine. And I certainly had no idea that we would travel in the same flight, forget about being in the very next seat! We see each other in the flight, he gets a feeling that I'm Arvind but doesn't ask me because I'm busy reading a book, he is then received at the air port by his acquaintance and I, by mine and then we converge at the town house surprised to find each other... Look at the odds to that!

After we came over our funny little episode, Harjot left to return the next day with his stuff. I moved into the room immediately though. Mr. Nihal soon left after he was convinced I was in the right hands. Mr. Shahadat, is from Dhaka and a staff at the business school in Carleton. The town house is really good, neat, furnished and with a well equipped kitchen. There are 3 rooms on the first floor. Me and Harjot took one each. The last one will be taken by Gurpreet Singh who arrives on Sep 8th from Bangalore for PhD under Ram Achar. My room is relatively small but adequate. I was too tired and just slept off.

The jet lag persisted the next day. I got up pretty early and had sandwich breakfast. Harjot arrived in the afternoon and Shahadat took us to the University in his car and showed us around. I had an appointment with Ram Achar at 3 and he took us to the Graduate Office and got some formalities done prior to my registration. He took us to the CAD lab and showed us our offices and introduced us to the students there. After a briefing about our course work, we headed back home. Later in the evening we went to a couple of grocery stores nearby and Shahadat took us on a tour of the beautiful neighbourhood. People in Canada are very friendly, polite and accomodative. People stick to traffic rules, give way, and show a hell lot of courtesy to the pedestrians. All cultures have been accepted here with a very open heart and there is absolutely no racism or crime here- the Stranger in Black inside me finally smiled after 20 years!!! ;)

Shahadat is a really nice and help ful guy and has made us feel home in here right away. He lets u use his stuff and gave me a sweater to use.

Shahadat and Harjot cooked delicious Rajma and Rice for the dinner. Saturday went eventless and we spent the day mostly at home.

It rained today morning which made it really chill down here. Some 16 degrees. At 11, Ram Achar came over to our place and picked me and Harjot up for the Vinayaka Chathurthi function at his place. There was a small Indian community attending the function and we had great South Indian lunch. We were chatting with Ram Achar's freinds over it. They are from diferent domains, from banking to Ottawa Electricity Board, and were really nice to us and gave us some winter tips. Professor's wife packed us some Idlis and Bisi Bella Bath for home!
On my request, Shahadat drove us to the Temple near by. Its a very huge one like the Birla Temple in Hyderabad. Shahadat keeps recounting his experience as a new student in Ottawa and is always praise for the city, "This city is not so fast but is fast enough... no crime, no hassles. People are very welcoming. It is ideal to raise a family"

Half way around the globe, I can feel my mom's stomach turning!