#NITTrichy Alumni Network on Twitter

I had been thinking about the leveraging the power and reach of Twitter as a tool for connecting alumni of my Alma mater, NIT Trichy. It all started with #inditweetmeet which created interest among a few from my batch. We all thought of creating something similar for NIT alumni to connect and interact. It has generated quite some interest amount fellow alumni. We started off with the hashtag #nittmeet and then thought #NITTrichy would be more relevant and useful.

I’d like to keep this ‘fire’ burning and would like to see the idea grow. It would be great to see the idea widely accepted and embraced by fellow alumni. It will add a significant web presence to RECAL, NIT Trichy’s Alumni Association.

Why Twitter?

Twitter is a medium using which one can gain access to new people, new information and new networks. Unlike Facebook, Twitter is an open medium, and hence helps you reach ‘far beyond your circle of friends’.. But there is a huge barrier to entry for those who aren’t familiar with Twitter, since it is a bit harder to get your arms around at first.

The usefulness of Twitter is not readily as obvious to some people as Facebook; although it may be more addictive once you get the hang of Tweeting; you get more immediate responses and it seems to live somewhere between the worlds of email, instant messaging and blogging.

Though I would love to see alumni from the 45 odd batches of NIT Trichy, this would be better applicable to younger alumni.

Alumni can post their networking need to twitter, the same way they might use LinkedIn, but in a broader, more casual way. Tweets are search-able, and can be tagged for others’ benefit.It is open for all and hence would be an awesome tool to connect with other alumni.

How it Works?

It is as simple as it can get.

Join Twitter and start tweeting about NITTrichy with #NITTrichy hashtag. Listen to the conversation that is already happening. Give your inputs. DOT

• Any discussion about NIT Trichy and things happening there would be tagged with the hashtag #NITTrichy by users
• Anyone can ‘listen’ to the twitter chatter by searching for #NITTrichy on Twitter search or Google Updates.
• ‘Spread the Word’ -Get more alumni aware of the existence of such a hashtag and the benefits of a virtual meet up. Get more people to join the chatter on twitter. This can be done by the word-of-mouth approach, giving information at Alumni meetings.
• As Prakash Murty suggested, we can use additional or modified hashtags for specific events. For eg, the hashtag #NITTConvo was used for Live-Tweeting during NIT Trichy’s Convocation on 9th Oct 2010.

Benefits?

‘It is not what you know, but who you know.’ This twitter network would accentuate the strength of RECAL. It helps you connect with alumni of NITT who passed out long before you entered college. Being active on Twitter #NITTrichy, gives you easy access to a good range of alumni info, wherever you are in the world, and continuing support with career and personal development.

This Twitter network would also be beneficial for non-NITTians who would like to know more about the institute. Taking advantage of an alumni network should start before you join the institute. School students can interact with current students and alumni of the institute to know more about AIEEE, admissions and so on.

How to take it forward?

We need some active volunteers who can take the initiative to bring awareness about the virtual meet to alumni groups. There are quite a few people who have twitter accounts but aren’t active. The first step would be to bring them back and get them involved in #NITTrichy.

Another step that would be simultaneously be started off is creating a flutter on facebook. Since quite a few of the recent alumni are active on it, we can get the news out on facebook and create some hype about the meet on twitter.

Then, we can contact the various alumni chapters of RECAL and send them details about the meet and seek their help in getting us connected with other alumni. We can have a mailer campaign to send information about the meet to reach alumni.

For now, you can give me links to some twitter lists with a bunch of alumni. (Like this one for eg – http://twitter.com/a4arvind/nitt2006-2010 )

What do you think?

What are your expectations from such a alumni network on twitter? How to you suggest we promote the network to other alumni? If you have any suggestions feel free to leave a comment.

Of Strikes and Protests

There have been quite a few strikes occurring happening regularly in some parts of India. Some feel it is a strong mode of appealing to the government to change an unacceptable decision. Every time I see some such news, I am reminded about the only time when I was involved (involuntarily) in a strike.

This incident took place just few months ago when I was in the final year of undergrad at NIT Trichy. Let me explain the situation to you first. The food in the hostel mess was pathetic and awful. Quite a few souls like mine had quit eating at the mess. Getting up late in the morning, we generally end up skipping breakfast and hurrying all the way to class in order to maintain our 75% attendance. During breaks we used to go to the bakery, juicy or snacky to fill our hungry stomachs. Then came the hot afternoons. Tired of walking all the way from my department to the mess, I end up eating lunch at the Buhari restaurant within the campus.

Dinner was almost always reserved for the roadside dhabas. Almost the entire college used to dine either at the couple of dhabas just outside our campus or at one of the restaurants in the city. We only visited the mess in rare cases when we were out of cash. Of course there were quite a few guys who found our eating habits too revolting. They too were dissatisfied with the mess food but simply couldn’t give in to spending so much cash eating outside. Even though we didn’t eat at our mess we had to pay huge sum of money which was eventually gobbled by the administration.

Coming back to the incident, it was a hot sunday, when a few guys found some insects in the food. Of course, this was a regular occurrence, but this time these guys were really in a rebellious mood and decided to forcibly enter the kitchen and inspect everything. They recorded everything using a mobile camera in the hope of showing some evidence.

Then they sent some really long text messages to everyone in our batch explaining what was happening and so on. The message was soon forwarded in bulk by the placement reps and the class reps. The news spread first among the mobiles and then among people.

So that evening we were all asked to assembled at the hostel lawn. Some guys went room by room calling every final year guy from their hostels. Of course, not many were willing to give up their gaming and movie watching experience, just for the mess, the mess where we rarely ate. The student council president was off for a volley ball tournament. There were large groups formed each discussing some random theories and coming up with the random-est suggestions. Uninterested people like me and a few others felt stupid with every passing minute just standing over there. So we formed a group amongst ourselves and started some small-talk. Soon some of the naive guys started merging all the groups and began explaining their theories. They drew up a plan of what was to be done and expected our cooperation assuming that the united force of the students would make the administration fall on our feet.

The wardens were taken aback by the turn of events and notified the admin. One guy even came to threaten us all off. Determined we were. We didn’t move and he eventually left. Soon after that, the discussion went into a further level of complexity where the corrupt administration was ultimately responsible for everything. Some suggested protest by not attending classes. A few of the guys didn’t want to lose their attendance fighting for the mess. Some didn’t want to create a bad impression in front of their profs. So it was decided and academics and hostel wouldn’t be intertwined.(duh!) Those who used to eat in the mess decided that they wouldn’t be eating in the mess till the issue was resolved and they allotted a new caterer to us. I personally would have loved to see some good food in the mess. I badly wanted to eat  in a good mess with a decent caterer because I was making a hole in my pocket eating outside all day.

The group dispersed for the night. We went back to our routine of movie-watching and gaming. Others were still out there discussing. I’m damn sure that a few of these guys even contemplated a career in politics after that day.

Alas! To our surprise, the next day morning there was a notice written by a few students asking everyone to eat in the mess! (Of course I saw it only in the afternoon). The reason was that these guys were seen by the admin when the discussion was going on the earlier night. They feared some harsh action and asked everyone to return to their normal routine. What seems to have happened is that the administration had shooed of all the allegations and even threatened students. Am not sure about these too.

There ended the only pseudo strike that I have been a part of. Basically nothing happened. I may have been politically wrong in stating the occurrences of the day. Some might have some strong disagreements with what I’ve said here. This is just my version of the story. If you know more, you are always free to correct me, reject me or whatever.

It is Festember X this year!

Though I’ve completed my course at NITT, I still have that enthusiasm when I hear about the upcoming Festember. Hardly a month to go.

Festember X

The next edition of Festember is here in true cowboy style loaded with guns, hats and wagons. This years its being called Festember X instead of the usual Festember followed by the year. Refreshing change.

Sept 24-26th.

One of India’s best college cultural festivals. It has an impressive track record of being organized every year, right from the 1975. Many celebrities have performed at NIT Trichy for Festember and that includes Maestro Ilayaraja among others.

It is a must-participate event for lovers of music, dance, literature and arts. Look into the official site of Festember for further details about the events. There’s also an awesome publicity video this year.

Here are links to a few interesting posts about previous editions of Festember on my blog.

• Festember 09
• Kuraloviyam at Festember 08
• First Day of Festember 08
• Tune In, Drop Out
• Festember 07 and a few pics.