Tamil Computing Lab Experiences - #1

This post is about my Tamil Computing Lab (TaCoLa) experiences. I actually left TaCoLa lab on 5^th October 2011 but decided to write about tacola only after my final PhD Viva thereby making it totally unconditional.  I strongly believe in the unconditional policy mainly when it comes to relationship at it makes things simple.  I also believe that this particular policy has given me lot of good people in my life.  One such place where I happened to get such people is  TaCoLa. TaCoLa- a true alma mater, a gurukulam where most of us learnt how to think right in terms of Natural Language Processing  (NLP) research arena. Of course, I am yet to learn more but taCoLa gave me the beginning.  I would like to thank the Co-ordinators of TaCoLa,  Prof. Dr. Ranjani Parthasarathi mam, Prof. Dr.T.V.Geetha mam and Dr. Madhan Karky sir at this juncture. They have moulded me like anything and they are my role models.

 Most of the TaCoLa researchers are mediocre students. I think, most of them will agree on this fact. Despite this fact, we all have emerged out with flying colours. I would say it is possible because of the kind of the approach we followed at TaCoLa. The brain storming sessions helped us to think. The kind of freedom we had to ask questions; no matter how spec or unimportant the question may be, we have asked it  and our Co-ordinators /gurus have answered. We have never ever got the reply as “U don’t know this also?” . I think this is the secret of success of our gurus and their students. I still remember one incident. RP mam was very angry with me. She was so angry as I dint keep the reports for weekly  meeting perfectly. I actually got nice blasting in that meeting but in the middle of the  meeting I had a doubt and  I decided to ask her and yes! mam cleared my doubt. Of course with the same angry face on her. That’s about them. I also remember that after the meeting mam called me to her room and offered me a tea and told not to be like this anymore. This particular quality I like in them and I am going to follow  them blindly in my teaching career.  

As I said we all were mediocre students, our gurus had plenty of difficulties with us. Many even quitted in between. Since it was a government funded project, due to funding issues many will leave the job. Even I decided to quit my degree as I was so diffident about balancing my career and family soon after my marriage. But I am thankful to RP mam who gave the idea of taking a break instead of quitting degree.  Not only about technical stuffs, our gurus taught us various other skills too. For example, they always expected   multi- tasking ability from us. We will be assigned tasks every week.  Apart from that, we will be allocated some paper writing works for conferences. Still I remember Geetha mam saying, “parallela work pannunga pasangala”.  We all use to fret and fume initially(Sorry gurus for frankly telling this L). But today, I realise that parallel processing is a quintessential stuff in life. Especially for woman, it is. I realised that only after my kid is born. Not even a single day I could transfer my responsibilities as a mom to someone else and at the same time I had to continue my PhD.  Ofcourse,  Selva use to take care of her and drop her at play school as I had to leave to univ in the morning  but after she returns from school,  I had to manage my degree and her. But I could somehow manage; I started compartmentalising. I would concentrate on my kid, Nila when she is awake and concentrate on my studies when she goes to sleep. Thanks gurus for making us as responsible individuals too.   One more quality I should mention; not only teaching, accepting the ideas what we say is one of the most positive qualities of our gurus. They will also not hesitate to learn about a new concept from us. Perfect gurus right??

Each guru is unique in their own way.  Personally, they  three have inspired me a lot. I like the way Geetha mam takes class.  The way she understands the way we think is incredible.  Still I remember, she will be walking in the corridor for some other reason. When she happens to see us, out of the blue she will say, “kanna antha indexingku etho gold standard iruku atha konjam paaren” . Soon after uttering this she will quickly switch over to her other tasks . I have wondered how she is able to manage multiple responsibilities at the same time. I don’t know if your reading this or not mam but thanks a lot for all the knowledge you have cultivated on us mam.

RP mam’s kind of teaching method is totally different.  She is my PhD supervisor. She will just tell a single word. I remember she telling me, “can we do something on discourse analysis for PhD”? She wont say the ultimate goal. Though she knew it, she will expect me to search  and reach for the goal. She will show the path and say if it is right or not but building the path is totally our work. She gave me lot of freedom in terms of thinking in my research and gave me flexibilities so that I could balance my studies and my kid. Still I remember how mam corrected my journal paper at the IIT Madras campus from 4PM to 8 PM . I had to take Kavin Nila with me along with my parents on that day as selva was not available. Towards the end of thesis completion, a situation came where I had to submit before June  30 2014, else I will have to pay the semester fees. RP mam was on vocation then. She was kind enough to  correct my thesis at her home and because of that I could submit the thesis on time. Thanks mam for the entire support and I should thank Mam’s mom also at this time for her kind nature. Thank you mam !

Madhan Karky sir is such a down to earth person. Though having come from a celebrity family (He himself is a celebrity now. I am talking about his initial years in TaCoLa), he used to be so simple and approachable. His methodology is also totally different. He will assign a work and ask the deadline to be fixed by us. He gives lot of importance to the end result and he always wants us to check and compare our tool with the current day technology.   He always tried to have a good rapport with the lab mates by taking us out for team lunch. Thanks so much for all ur guidance. I am not sure if you are reading this or not but I would like to say that I am thankful to you for attending my marriage with ur wife Nandhini. Still I am not able to believe that!  Good luck in all your efforts sir !

Thanks for reading.