Heard about dark labs at colleges? You might have. We all heard about theories which say the Coronavirus was found and spread from the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China (shhh).
Surely labs and minds behind that do amazing things that can change the world for better or for worse.
Here come the interesting stories of the Doakian family who worked both in dark and bright labs, where they were sharpened by genius minds.
We, the Doakians of all departments at Lady Doak strive towards achieving excellence, where we have been planted. Be it English, Physics, Psychology, or Microbiology every department had different methods to sharpen the essential skills that a student needed.
The Evergreen English
Our class at BA English was a challenging collage of different students who were from various backgrounds. Some of us were from villages, some from towns and others from cities. Our way of perceiving, and understanding the lectures was different from each other.
We as friends used to sit under the big tree which was in front of SJDH and do group study. The interesting thing about the tree was that she rarely moved to give a breeze, but she provided us with a nice shade and also shelter to many birds. While the young ladies were chatting or studying under their shades, there was also a world of busy birds who were always singing or arguing in her branches.
I have sat along with Maragadham, the class representative and have explained the concepts behind poetry and the wonderful English prose. We were great partners in studying. We understood and helped each other. In class, we used to get enthralled by the flow of the beautiful language from our Professors. They were the guardians of knowledge for us. Their language flowed like rivers with the sweet sound of the English Language. It was this love for the language's sound, that I fell for this English department.
Our English Department provided various opportunities to improve our Speaking skills. One day in the middle of her lecture, the charismatic Professor, Felcia Vasanthakumari of the English Department, looked intently at the class and said,
"You all have to improve Your English". She stressed the words "you" and "your" when she said them.
This quote which I wrote on the front page of my five subject note serves as a reminder to myself, that only I have to work for myself to improve my skills. And I started to carefully work on it.
Professor Felcia Vasanthakumari even talked about how another student improved her vocabulary skills by listening to the English news channel for an hour a day. She also encouraged us to read the newspapers. Fortunately, Daily English newspapers can be found in many places at college. Especially in the grand JX Millar Library. But what caught my attention in those days was the colourful magazine called Young World which was for kids. Our college bought newspapers for each hostel too and I gelled with that young world when it came. Usage of a dictionary during class hours was insisted on by all of our professors. I started to use the pocket-size Oxford dictionary at first. Later after the arrival of laptops, we installed the dictionary on our laptops and benefited enormously from it.
This professor also taught us many other classes. A fine example is a course called Understanding Self. It was there that I learned about the Johari window. A test which will help us to learn about our personality. Yes, you read it right. We can't understand ourselves fully. This test is one proof of that. This statement will surely make sense to psychology students.
Another fantastic Professor named Dr Suka Joshua used to recall her hard work in trying to imitate her American Professor, who she was studying under at The American College in Madurai. The American college is known for its excellent English Department. She succeeded in mastering the language through hard work.
During Dr Suka Joshua's days as a student, she used to speak aloud in English for a long time to practice the language. Dr Suka Joshua used to tell her childhood story to the whole class to encourage us in practicing speaking skills. She was raised by her young widowed mother. One day at school Dr Suka Joshua's teacher called for her mother and complained that her daughter Suka Joshua was not fit to learn English. Her mom took a vow that her daughter can and will do well in learning the subject as she believed that her daughter is capable of learning the English language. Later, her daughter proved that she can not only learn it but can teach, motivate and can shape the lives of many English literature students. She is one of my greatest inspirations. My professor taught me that any skill and credit can be earned only through hard work. There is no shortcut to success. She resembled my mother who often says the proverb,
சித்திரமும் கைப்பழக்கம் செந்தமிழும் நாப்பழக்கம்.
We had a Language Lab on the ground floor of the Newton Block. It was just behind the central stairs of the Block. We were introduced to many interesting things there. We saw our first movie as English literature students there. It was the movie "Matilda", then "Pride and Prejudice", (who will not fall for the character - Darcy?!!)and many more... Especially I remember his cold stature and dialogue about Elizabeth when he replied to Bingley about her, "She is tolerable but not handsome enough". We saw the world of literature unfold before our eyes through those movies. Yet, our Professors insisted that one can get a complete understanding of a novel only through reading.
In the final year, we had these practical classes in the English language lab where we used the computers and headphones to listen to audio which had various accents of foreign speakers with the question and answer. We used to eagerly listen to it. After which we can answer the questions of the audio lessons. It helped us to get used to the speaking style of the native speakers. In the beginning, it was bizarre, But it created the habit of listening to the different accents. Our performance was noticed keenly by the professors and marks were allotted based on our performance. We were asked to practice by listening to news channels for scoring well on the tests. Those were days when we were not able to access YouTube videos on mobile as we are now. With the available technology, the students inside the campus were able to find limited audio content only. However, we had the privilege of talking and listening to foreigners who stayed on the campus from time to time.
At Sir James Doak Hall, there was this small guest room just in front of my dorm, Dorm 3. We the James doakians were excited whenever we see a foreigner occupying that room. Once a couple came to visit us from the United States of America. I had a small chitchat with them in the hallway and soon after, they invited me to their room. I visited their room along with my friend Suganya, a vibrant personality. We were both highly eager to talk to them. The pace of our language was so fast because I then believed the myth that speaking fastly shows the mastery of your language skills and the couple pointed that out and slowed us down. The lady introduced herself as a criminal lawyer. There are many other anecdotes about the foreigners I met at LDC. Let's keep that aside for another episode.
Preparation for the Future:
At the end of the practical classes, we had a mock interview with our Professor as a part of our lab exam. It was Professor Deborah who conducted the Interview for all of us.
We were asked to create a resume for any profession that we liked and based on that our professor will conduct the Interview. I had prepared a resume and I posed myself as a Psychological counsellor in the resume. My first ever Interview at the lab was taken by Professor Deborah. She asked me to imagine and give counselling to a student who was down with depression and had no hope in life. With my knowledge of the Bible and Literature. I answered the question and she liked it I guess because it got reflected in the good score. One of the unique resumes among my friends belonged to Sheeba Mary who applied for the post of Dance Master. We passed the lab course with flying colours. We learnt that, preparation of a resume and efforts to present oneself is the most important things to watch out for before one attends the interview.
We never knew the impact those listening sessions, speaking sessions, preparing and attending a Mock Interview had on us. When I look back now, I can understand that we were being shaped by our Professors to become professional women who can contribute well to society. Till now, I have been to many interviews and have this knack of clearing it. I owe it all to the practical sessions at the class and lab.
The Physics Department Lab story
“Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation.” —C. Everett Koop
While we literature students enjoyed our time on the campus after our morning classes, our fellow Doakians in the Physics department toiled in their lab classes. I always wondered what they did there. I had a very poor, limited experience in the Physics lab when I studied at school. I was surprised to see all the small equipment in the lab at school as I always imagined everything (ammeter, circuit boards, pipette, burette, conical flask) in my physics and chemistry books in a factory-level set-up. Huge tubes, and huge machines are what I imagined.
Here at Lady Doak, my fellow Doakians had great experimentations, stories and memories to share about their unforgettable Physics lab.
I had a great friend named Shobana who was our Hostel President(SJDH GF). She told that there were two physics labs namely the General lab and the Electronic lab in the physics department.
In the General lab, there was a person who worked named Thomas anna. All the Professors were shaping the future scientists in the lab, they will be very strict in watching every step of the experiments, which the girls did. How much ever serious the situation there was something which acted as a mood changer. It was the sneezing of Thomas Anna. No one dared to give a burst of slight laughter at his sneezing.
Some experiments like prism experiments at the Physics Lab were done in the dark room.
That was one of the places where there won't be anyone to keep an eye on them while doing the experiments, the girls used to have fun chatting while working there. Often they found it very difficult to get the answers for those experiments and assumed some answers and recorded them. Never should I fail to mention that one of the girls kept a watch on the door to give them a signal while they were enjoying their chatting time. To my literature mind, these lab setup pictures are like the Ghost house in Theme Park because of its dark setup.
To any action there is always an opposite and equal reaction;
One day Shobana and her friends were working in the Electronic lab. They connected the circuits and started the experiments. They checked the multimeter and everything was alright. They did the experiment with great care yet with no result. They tried again and again for the whole two hours and thirty minutes. Finally, as they saw no progress in the oscilloscope they approached the dear professor named Esther who was well known on campus for her beautiful singing in the choir which Dr Christianna Singh co-ordinated. Esther mam looked at them and said, "Shobana to get the result you should first switch on the Oscilloscope". Only then did the girls realise their mistake. It became an unforgettable incident and memory for them which brings a sheepish smile whenever they recounted it. However, they managed to finish it well the second time.
It was Jebamalar, A junior of mine from the Physics department who revealed an eye-opening statement about the practical learning at Lady Doak College. She previously studied at a very popular Engineering college in Coimbatore for some time before joining LDC. The practical lessons she learned at LDC were huge at Lady Doak when compared it the other institution. She and other students of physics spent hours mastering the practicals which were essential in the learning of a science subject.
I used to visit the lab which was opposite Margaret Clap Hall to visit a friend during my M.Phil days. It was dear Reeta Felcia who helped me tremendously when I was putting together my M.Phil thesis. She spent long hours doing research at the P.G lab. Later she finished her Doctorate at LDC.
The Psychology Lab
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”
—Carl Jung
One of my favourite departments in the college is the Psychology department. My roommate Sujithra used to apply all that she learned to people whom she met. We created many memories to cherish as roommates. I remember her calling me an introvert, of which I didn't approve in the beginning. As I thought extrovert personalities are more likeable than introverts. I have seen her watching me intently when I keenly listen to music from my laptop. She used to check whether I have a diversion or not. She was a voracious reader who had good knowledge about many topics. She participated in the Neeya Naana talk show hosted by Vijay TV Gopinath and was appreciated by Gopinath for her wide knowledge and for the points she brought to the argument. She was a sincere student then and she is now an excellent counsellor. Psychology had this fantastic method of learning about each other's personality by giving each other the personality test, cognitive test, career aptitude test, and colour test. I recall a day when she was on the mountain top when she mentioned the IQ test they had. And she was surprised at her top level of intelligence. I personally am a fan of these tests on personalities. It helps to know more about ourselves. The exercises, debates and conversations gave more insights for the psychology students into the subjects and each other.
Those were days when these psychology courses were not well known. But these days institutions, corporations, and hospitals appoint a psychologist to help their patients heal as mental health and physical health are intertwined. It is a good sign that Mental illness or depression is not looked upon as taboo but as a practical problem which is most treatable.
The most wonderful service provided by the department is the counselling sessions they offered. The counselling centre operated in a similar place where the Christian Studies Centre was functioning.
The counselling centre helped the students to deal with the everyday stress and pressure they faced. Whenever a student faces a crisis there was always support from our dear professors from our respective departments. If the problem is psychological, they sought the help of the counselling centre. Dr Synthia Mary Mathew, Ms Kusum George and Sis. Liza was there for the students to offer counselling.
Some of the common problems were the homesickness that the hostel girls experienced, the stress related to studies and those suffering from an inferiority complex because of the lack of English communication skills. My roommate Suji once encountered a girl who needed immediate help from experts. The girl reached out to her while Suji was working in the placement cell in a part-time job. She was full of tears when she approached Suji. Suji found out that she was suffering from memory loss. Suji directed her to the counselling centre where they gave immediate help and sent her to a hospital. She was there in the hospital for a month. Throughout this time her department stood with her. They offered her enough support that she passed her degree successfully and went for a stable job as an empowered woman.
Be it a joyful time, a challenging time or a stressful time we stood with each other and were growing together as a family. The unshakeable Doakian Family.
- The Lady from Doak
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