Pre-KG
Let me start from Pre-KG, to make this section a little bigger. I studied in a Pre-KG school in Nellithope (Near the Church), Pondicherry. I lived in the very next street and my grandma used to take me to that school. The interesting part is that I used to ride in a tri-cyle till school and give it to my grandma who would bring it back again in the evening and I would ride home. So my life (in) cycle had started way back when I was just 2 yrs old and it continued till I was 24 yrs old.



LKG/UKG
I joined Petit Seminaire Nursery Section in Ouppalam, Pondicherry. There were no interviews / tests in those days and a sister in G.H helped me to get admission there. Sabarivel who studied with me in 11th and 12th standard was actually my schoolmate then. I still remember that during the exams, our LKG madam used to write the correct answers in the desk for everyone to copy. I never used to miss them. When I came first, I said that evenning to my father that the whole class clapped for me, he didn't believe my words till he saw the rank card. I was in B Section in both LKG and UKG. The LKG miss was very patient with us and she even remembered me for many years, always telling my father that I used to be very quiet whenever she turns to the class, but talk with others as soon as she turns towards the board. The UKG miss was quite strict and a bit bulky as well.





Primary School
Primary School (1st - 5th): Once UKG was done, we were taken to the main branch of Petit Seminaire and we had a test for getting into 1st Standard. The test was just for the sake of it and eveyone came through. I was in B section till my 3rd standard. Then we had a choice for Hindi/French/Tamil in 4th standard. I opted for Hindi and moved to 'C' Section which was for the Hindi students. Arun kumar who still is one of my best friends was known to me in my 3rd standard.

I can never forget Father Paul in all my life. He was such a source of inspiration for all of us. Never once had I seen his face tired, or his uniform with a speck of dirt. He was perfection personified. He was so popular that 'Petit Seminaire' meant Father Paul and vice versa. He joined petit when I was doing my LKG and left it when I finished my 12th.

Father Paul




High School
High School (6th - 10th): We moved to the adjacent building for high school. In 7th standard, a few of us were moved from 'C' section to 'G' section since there were too many students in a single class. I studied in 'G' till 9th standard and then moved back to 'C' section in 10th standard. Still I remember having got 53rd rank in that class which was packed with the most brilliant students. Arun still used to remember how tough it was to convince his parents that the rank would have been better had we been in a different section. In 10th public exams I managed 922/1100



Higher Secondary
(11th and 12th): After a hard time in 10th I finally managed to get admission into 'A1' the most respected and sought after group in 11th. It was helped to a large extent by my Maths centum (thanks to Mr. Chandrasekhar, my maths tuition sir). It was the most hectic part of life. There was always a wave of competition in the school. I did not do a great job in 12th public exams but got a decent total of 1101/1200.



Bsc. MLT
Except my close friends many would not have known that I was a student of Bsc. MLT for 3 weeks in Jipmer, Gorimedu, Pondicherry. After getting my entrance results for B.Tech in Pondicherry Engineering College and combining it with the MPC (Maths / Physics / Chemistry) thing from 12th marks, I was 2nd in the waiting list for PEC.
So my father and I discussed and we were sure that I would be getting only Civil and so we decided that I join Bsc. MLT instead. But I did not last long there and instead quit it to join PEC.

Jipmer




B.Tech
I attended the counselling session was offered EEE (Electrical and Electronics Engineering) since a candidate had quit it the previous day. I moved up to CSE next year and did quite well. You can read more about my B.Tech in the other article about the medal.


PEC




MHRM
It stands for Master of Human Resource Management. I really did not have any idea on getting this degree. I wanted to do MBA, but missed out the application form. Someone suggested that it was good to do this and so both Kayarvizhy and I joined it in the 'Distance Education Section' of Pondicherry University. I completed it on June 2003.

Pondicherry University




MBA
Master of Business Administration: When I had completed one year of MHRM, Vaithi came to me saying that he was planning on MBA through IGNOU and Arun was also interested. I did not want to miss the opportunity to study with them. So I enrolled for MBA also and I remember once when I took up 5 exams of MHRM and 4 of IGNOU in a single month. I need to thank SCM (my previous employer) for giving me so many holidays. I am still 3 papers and 1 project short of the degree. Hopefully will complete them by next year end (2007).

IGNOU