B Tech toppers Mohammad Aslam, Jayalakshmi want to teach

Mangalore, September 25: P M Abdul Khader and Souda, the couple from Kasargod were on cloud nine at eighth convocation of National Institute of Technology - Karnataka (NITK) as their son Mohammad Aslam A K received four gold medals in Civil Engineering from the chief guest Man Mohan Sharma, Emeritus Professor of Eminence, ICT, Mumbai on Sunday.

Mr Aslam bagged U S Mallya Memorial Prize for the Best Student of the final year B Tech (Civil Engineering), Prof M N Shivashankar Gold Medal for First Rank holder in B Tech (Civil Engineering), Dr R K Yaji Gold Medal for the Best Out Going Student in B Tech (Civil Engineering) along with Institution Medal in B Tech (Civil Engineering).

Having finished his PU Course at Kendriya Vidyalaya Centre at Bangalore Aslam is presently in third semester pursuing M Tech in Geo Technical Engineering at IIT, Mumbai. “It was regular classes and practical classes that helped me to achieve success in academics,” an elated Aslam, who is fourth son among five children and first engineer in the family, said.

On being asked about his choice of career, a firm Aslam said it was academic teaching. “Yes, teaching is my dream field; teaching with research. It can fetch you a good bucks too,” he said.

It was the same story with Jayalaxmi M too, who received four gold medals in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering including Sudarshan Bhat Memorial Prize for the Best Student of Final Year B Tech, Karthik Alloys Gold Medal instituted by Bhupal Gopala, Prof H V Sudhaker Nayak Gold Medal for the first rank holder in B Tech along with Institution Medal.

Daughter of Seetharam Poojary, Retired Principal of Mangalore University College, Mangalore and Sunanda Poojary, a Commerce lecturer at Mangalore University College, Jayalaxmi also wants to become lecturer once through with her post-graduate studies which she is pursuing at IIT, Chennai in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering.

She said she used to study 2-3 hours every evening also she was concentrating on regular classroom teaching. A Bharathanatya dancer, Jayalakshmi has keen interest in Kannada literature too. Poornachandra Tejaswi is her favourite Kannada writer.

She credited her superlative performance to her teachers in the college and parents.